Tumgik
#anon messages that tell me to go k myself in 3 2 1
michaelsheens · 4 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
i don't ever wanna see anyone complain again about lack of content because it's your own damn fault that more and more creators stop posting. we spend hours upon hours making edits and this is what we get. and then people go whining about how this site is dying and how there's barely anything in the tags anymore. fuck off, honestly. how about you actually do what this site is for? REBLOG to share with others. otherwise there's not gonna be any more content for you to LIKE because this shit is getting old real fast.
203 notes · View notes
Note
Hey!! I was wondering if you had any advice for a character concept I've been playing with? :) long story short, my character wasn't born blind, but throughout the story she progressively becomes blind from cataracts- cortical vision impairment to be exact. Is this inherently a bad concept? I really don't want to misrepresent this, and the last thing I want is to make people mad about it. Is there a way I should go about this? Thanks!!
Later message from same Anon: Hey! Just following up on my ask of writing a blind character in the Victorian era- sorry if I missed it
Note: in a message between the first and third, anon added that this story takes place in the Victorian era.
You certainly did not miss it, I’ve just been lazy (struggling) with blog maintenance and have been procrastinating answering several asks.  Historical fiction is out of my area of expertise, so this required more research than general advice.
Also, my first and second attempts at an answer were eaten away by computer/tumblr difficulties, so I had to rewrite a lot.
I think it is a fantastic idea to have your character go blind slowly over time. It is also ambitious, so it is something you need to be careful with, but it’s totally doable.
So the era throws me a little because I’ve never had much practice with historical fiction and history wasn’t a fave subject of mine. Most of my research into blind history has been after World War I, because the sudden surge of blinded veterans changed the course of history for the blind community. This and technology overall led to those huge changes.
So I did a little reading up on the recent evolutions of blindness and the world’s general understanding of it in the 1800s.
Conclusion: society was shit with disability, but I already knew that. There were some remarkable inventions and innovations for blindness in this century, which I will get to later.
 So this post will be: 1. The more personal aspects of going blind over time (instead of all at once) such as acceptance vs denial, life changes, and internalized ableism. 2. Speculating on society’s perception of the blind. 3. Innovations for the blind in that era and what comes after.
 So, part one. The Emotional…
As someone who has slowly lost vision over the course of years and has no idea how far this will progress, I can tell you that it’s an agonizing process of realization, denial, understanding, acceptance, adaption.
Realizing you’re going blind comes in small pieces that eventually add up to become a puzzle. And for this reason, adaption follows a similar pattern.
You identify a problem, feel conflicted about this change, wonder if you should ignore or investigate, and regardless of which path you take, you find a new way to adapt.
I’m going to use an example of my process through this, so you can see the actual thought patterns and how they circle between “this isn’t a problem” – “wait this is a problem” – “no I’m fine!” – “this is a problem.” – “I’m fine, what am I complaining for” – “I made this change and now my life is 100x easier??? Who knew? Why didn’t I do this sooner?”
Example from my life: Light is bright. That hurts but I’m fine. I get sunglasses. The pain with bright light is getting worse. Okay, that’s concerning, maybe I should talk to a doctor. Doctor says I’m fine but now I’m thinking I’m not okay. Why are my eyes doing this? Why do I hurt? Oh, and now bright lights at night are becoming a problem, and I get more headaches associated with light. I could wear sunglasses at night and indoors, but society has given me a negative and judgemental opinion of that, so I don’t want to do it. Best friend pushes me to give up on that negative view for the sake of my health. Finally I listen and life feels much better, but I’m still a little uncomfortable with this change. I feel very blind with my sunglasses, but that’s the only way to not feel pain. And now I feel blind when I’m not wearing any light protection, but I’m in pain this way. What’s wrong with me?
And this is just my internal argument with sunglasses and light sensitivity, from age 17-22. On the other side is my struggle with “do I need a cane” from age 21-22, which goes like this-
It’s August and I’m walking through a semi-familiar but gigantic and ridiculously crowded park with a group of friends. It’s bright out and I need to wear my sunglasses. And now I’m realizing there is a dilemma. I can’t see. My sunglasses are too dark to see. But going without is painful and just as bad vision wise. BUT I CAN’T SEE! I’m scared, I’m going to run into someone or something, I’ll get lost or separated from my friends and not be able to find them. I can’t see curbs or pillars or people and the only thing keeping me safe is holding onto K, who knows my current vision situation when no one else does
And I think to myself- this day would be so much easier if I had a cane.
But I haven’t needed one before, and I don’t ‘normally’ need one. Just every time I go outside on a sunny day. I don’t need it all the time, so I can’t have one, I’m fine.
But these things keep happening, where I’m outside and terrified but I think I’m still “sighted” and my only problem is some light sensitivity and not-super-great sunglasses. My glasses let me see 20/20 (or they did, which they did not a year later) so I definitely don’t need a cane at all.
Young past self, you were so wrong. You needed that.
Eventually I had a breaking point when one year later I’m seeing 20/50 with best correction (so, by legal definitions I’m not even visually impaired yet) but I’m terrified of leaving my house and can’t travel alone and am a literal danger to myself because I can’t see and can’t tell people I can’t see because of social anxiety and internalized ableism-
And the breaking point was that I finally got seriously hurt because I was in a situation where I couldn’t see and wasn’t brave enough to ask my current company to be a sighted guide. That’s the day I ordered a cane, and when it came two weeks ago, I finally remembered what it’s like to not be so terrified for my life every time I left my home.
Your character will over time find problems with her daily life that she didn’t have before, and she’ll deal with each one individually, but with all of them will usually be a repeating thought pattern that is unique to her. It depends on her internalized ableism and society’s ableism (and that era is full of it) and accommodations available to them at the time (also not great).
She’ll solve each problem at a different point that may coincide with other problems and yet still seem like entirely separate problems to them. Like how I wouldn’t relate my need for sunglasses and my need for a cane at the same time because they felt like separate battles to me with their own timelines and similar but still different thought processes.
You will have to decide on a case by case basis what accommodations or accessibility she can have at that time.
 Society’s view on blindness:
It’s shit.
It’s not great now, in the world of information available at your fingertips. It’s desperately worse in history.
 (TW: abuse of disabled people mentioned -thoroughly- in the next two paragraphs)
Everyone with a disability was treated like shit. Sensory disabilities (Deaf or Blind or Deafblind people) and mental illness were treated the worst. There is historical religious persecution against them, saying that they were made ill by the devil or a vengeful God. Which lead to abuse. They were seen as helpless or unproductive, defective, and so were treated as burdens upon their family and society. Because of this, abuse from parents and family members was horribly common for disabled people. Disabled people were often left in asylums by their family members because they were seen as a burden, where there was usually still more abuse to come.
There are still children with disabilities who are abused by their parents, families, care givers, or any facility they’ve been placed in. The cases of abuse are less, but by no means over.
 Ableism in general is just rampant and it’s only cured through the distribution of information. Most people (today) have never met a blind person in real life, had a conversation with one. Through the internet they can find information, but in pre-internet and media eras I can’t imagine how much ignorance runs about.
Most people think blindness is something that only happens with old age, birth defects, or tragic accidents. Or that blindness is obvious in a person. Not the case, as we both know, but certainly a cause for many misunderstandings.
 This section is where the development of technology and understanding of blind people begins, but there’s still some ugly history involving abuse of the disabled to come.
Technology and History
 (TW: abuse towards historical disabled people in next paragraph)
In 1785 the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, the world’s very first school for the blind was established in Paris, France. It was opened internationally to children who society had previously deemed unteachable. Valentin Haüy witnessed acts of bullying and cruelty done to blind hospice patients and it inspired him to attempt teaching a blind beggar. He taught the boy to read through raised letters (because Braille was not yet invented). The school he founded could better be described as a trade school, because its primary purpose was to teach work skills like letter press and weaving (going back to Valentin’s childhood, whose family worked as weavers)
Due to criminal activity (he was labeled as a terrorist related to the French Revolution and was a member of the Panthéon Club) he was forced to leave the school in 1802. He later moved to Russia (1806) and began a new school upon the request of Alexander I of Russia.
(TW: child abuse mention in next paragraph)
After his leave, the school had a change in leadership and location, and subsequently quality. Sébastien Guillié became the new director and was later forced to leave because of the inhumane conditions of the facility and welfare of the children. Those children lived in a French Revolution prison that was refurbished as an asylum/school for their education. It was cold and dirty. They were kept in the dark, only allowed to bathe once a month, and poorly fed. This went on until 1821 when he was forced to leave.
Louis Braille (the inventor of Braille) was a student of the school until Guillié’s reign of terror.
The school was later moved to Boulevard des Invalides, and it remains there today. Information with this school is hard for me to access. It doesn’t have the prettiest history, so I can only speculate how much was left out of the books to save the school, and what information I could access is in French.
However, back to Braille.
Braille was invented by Frenchman Louis Braille in 1824. Before his invention, he was taught to read through raised lettering, and he concluded that raised lettering was impractical because-
1.       It is difficult to read, the letters had to be printed in huge font to be fully felt out and printed on thick paper.
2.       Thick paper means higher quality, more expensive. Larger font means more paper is needed for a single text.
3.       This made it inaccessible due to expense and the sheer volume of a text.
4.       If today’s Braille books are hard to access and giant compared to traditional books, I can’t imagine how inaccessible those raised letter books really were
 Five years later The Perkins School for the Blind was founded in America, making education accessible to blind and deafblind children, and this time it focused on reading and mathematics, more education than trade school.
Though it would not have been possible for your character to attend the school herself, it could be possible that she became acquainted with a teacher or former student of either school, who might have passed on some O&M skills to her or some not so pleasant tales.
Side note: the Perkins Brailler (a typewriter machine for Braille) was developed by a wood working teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind – in 1951, so not applicable to your character’s time period, but I didn’t know this, so I must info-dump
 This is before the eugenics movement of 20th century America, when the belief that people with “poor breeding” should be prevented from breeding. The eugenics movement targeted not only the disabled, but lower class and people of color.
  The white cane as an accessibility tool was not “discovered” until the 1930’s by Philip Strong, who painted his walking stick white to make himself more visible. This piece of history is a little flimsy in my opinion. Techniques are discovered and lost and rediscovered all the time. You can’t prove he was the first person to “wave a stick” in front of him to find obstacles.
But he is credited for making the white cane something that could be a standard identifier to tell people (moving obstacles) “hey, I’m blind, don’t hit me with your loud vehicle” and made a movement of other people getting white canes to identify themselves.
I very much thank him for it, seeing as I’m so sighted-passing sometimes. If white canes weren’t standard everyone-must-know-what-this-means sort of thing, I think people would just watch me “wave a stick” around and think I’d lost my mind.
(TW: suicide of disabled character mention in next paragraph)
So when you see something like in Downton Abby (season 2) when Thomas and Sybil are trying to teach a blinded soldier how to use a cane to navigate… it could be possible, something that actually occurred to some people then. Although, now that I think about it, that character killed himself by the end of the episode and that still upsets me.
Downton Abby got the period-typical ableism right, I will give them that. Both the internalized ableism as well as how strangers treat you, they got that right. What they did to their disabled characters still bothers me (i.e. death and cure subplots)
(TW has been lifted, you made it past.)
But with World War 1, there was a huge number of blinded veterans entering the world and that did make way for big changes in the world of blindness-
Within a few decades guide dogs were being trained, white canes were becoming a thing, Schools for the Blind were thinking, “hey, maybe we should teach adults these skills too!” and life continued on until it eventually reached out modern world. Which, not applicable to your era, but I think it’s important to know what wasn’t available or common knowledge for your character.
If anyone has other information about historical fiction, the Victorian era, and historical ableism and disability, please feel free to reblog with your input and I’ll reblog it.
As always, this post can be found on my blog through the tags: reference, blind character, historical fiction
63 notes · View notes
musicdork · 3 years
Note
thank u for letting me keep my anonymity for the time being v much appreciated😌 altho wheres that rattling coming from?? keeps getting louder but ohhhh wellll ,🧎🏽 pppsshhhhh dont worry about making long answers i LOVE RWADING ALL OF IT. its like getting a handwritten letter from someone exciting and its just not long enough!!! :,) plus like...i went on a chipotle tangent for like 1/3 of that last message i sent u.....so its ok dont worry about anything being too long bc i do long-ass messages+if anything long messages r the best
also holy SMOKES kakyoin as a streamer???? u bet ur ass id have notifs ON for his account😫 but SHHHH SHUHSH SHUSH OK the modern au means egypt=streaming hiatus, nothing more, no dying no injuries😭😭 also omg..if u start reblogging more bruno and kakyoin fanart i am going to be L O O K I N G maybe just a little bit disrespectfully.(maybe ill reblog more josuke fanart👀✌🏼)
ok so—it is jusabout one in the morning for me(probably 2 for u) and i have three assignments left before my semester is OVER WITH!!! whats ur major? how long have u been in school? also have u seen all parts of jojo anime? i would love to know. i have and im trying to read but i only finished part two. i also worry deeply if i am going to pass college : ) ok now GO TO SLEEP(tbh im lowkey telling myself this too), get that sleep schedule back on track!!!💨💨 i am going to be doing a bootyload of painting and moving tomorrow which i think overall is going 2 b very fun :^) i hope u have a nice day filled with fun things and yummy food!!
—u already know who it is ;) the stealthy healthy ;) anonymous anon ;)
[ u just sent in the ask about what i posted and im gLAD U SAW IT HAHAHA!! it’s such a good meme bro, hell yeah to you for being able to recite the whole thing. i mix up the words sometimes h ]
oo, im gonna timestamp. it’s 2:57 am hehe
very glad you don’t mind the long messages, that makes me feel better :’)) depending on how awake i am my replies will be either pretty long or short,, tired,,
aNYWAY!! i will lure you Out if i have to but respectfully >:] also i would Die if you reblogged more josuke art im,, i’d have to hunt down the Good Stuff(tm) for you my dude. we love our pretty men,, also might just reblog crack stuff too bc that shit’s funny hehe u bet ur Ass i will be lookin at josuke a lil disrespectfully hehe he’s,, pwetty im,,, wanna know what i like about kakyoin? his eyes... they are such a pretty purple,, brb sobbing
i have Given Up on my sleep schedule and just try to get things done when i can srkjefskj but doing school work is,, hard hhh. this is my freshman year!! so i just finished my first semester like,, on wednesday lmaoo exams are done but Not my assignments ahaha. need.. to do that >:( but for now i’m thinking of majoring in psychology + social justice with a possible minor in business hehe
what’s your major? :0 has this semester been difficult for you? it has for me tbh not the content itself but,, finding motivation to do work, you know? it’s weirdd. OH ELFEKFEKL I ALSO WORRY- about passing college,, ion know man idk how,,, i’m gonna survive next semester hhh i hope we both survive with good grades aaaa. 
i’ve seen all the parts of the anime!! i’m rewatching diu in sub and vento aeuro (?? i can’t italian im sorry) in dub!! diu is kinda a comfort part bc josuke,, and i wanted to get to know the p5 characters better bc it felt like i cruised through the season without paying much attention to the characters themselves. i commend you on reading the manga sldrfkrk all the way back to the first part,, to the second!! i started reading part 6 but i’m not very far in it haha. i got to the.. tenth chapter? ye. i think,,
i will try to sleep after the obligatory scroll through tumblr haha please sleep too! it looks like you have a big day ahead of you. please hydrate or die, eat what you can, snuggle kakyoin n bruno, they wanna snuggle you too don’t worry. i hope you have a good day tomorrow!! <3 [ 3:27 am, i spaced out a lot,, ]
OH IF YOU HAVE SPOTIFY, HERE’S A KAKYOIN PLAYLIST IT’S GREAT SLFMEKLS
0 notes
elementalheroneos · 7 years
Note
Why do u care so much about killing stalking if u don't like it tho? Why don't u just ignore it? Not being mean just wondering
Ok so this is going to be long bc the whole “Don’t like it? Ignore it.” shtick has annoyed and frustrated me for months and I’m just going to vent it out now. I’m sorry anon if this comes off as angry bc it’s not directed at you, but again, this has bothered me for months now and I feel like more people are just going to say this until I put all this out there.
Also if this ends up in the main tag bc tumblr is a broken website: I don’t care what any of you nasties think and I don’t want to interact with you, so why don’t you all help me ignore it by blocking me and moving on.
TLDR tho: Ki////ing Sta///king makes me extremely uncomfortable and seeing people support it and the abuse in it scares me. I’d love more than anything to be able to ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist, but because of its popularity, it is impossible to avoid unless I completely change my life. So because I have to be exposed to it against my will, I’m going to grit my teeth and express discomfort with vent posts on the internet and involve myself with people who also dislike it.
If I were to try and ignore it tho, I would pretty much have to delete all social media and avoid most of the internet.  Tumblr has recommended blogs about it to me, the main tag trends when it updates, i’ve gone into tags completely unrelated to the manhwa and seen crossover stuff, when it came out I had to unfollow 15 people who posted it, just a week ago someone who posted it followed me (despite me having it in my byf to not follow me if you enjoy it), people have interacted with my posts with icons of the characters, and so on and so forth.  As far as I remember I’ve only directly gone looking at the main fandom/character tags on tumblr/instagram about 6 or 7 times since it became popular.  One was when I first heard about it and was looking through the tag to see wtf it was. 2 or 3 were because I got into such a distressed state that I was trying to block as many people who supported it as I could so that they would never interact with me. 1 or 2 were to actually know what was going on to have an informed opinion. And the last one was bc y00bum-in//drag was saying that no one said anything like my vent post so I searched keywords to get screenshots. Beside that the only time I willingly look at it is also if someone’s blog pops up on a post on my dash who is a fan I might look at it for a moment because it’s already there in my face.
I really don’t actively look for that shit tbh it’s more it finds me. And the same goes for instagram and facebook and even I think I saw someone with a character dragon/icon on flight rising??? And uhh instagram allows you to block zero tags so guess how many times it’s come up there with cosplayers (and guess how many had self harm sfx makeup that freaked me out :) ) I’ve also had people message me/my friends about cosplay advice and commissions and saw posts about it on their blogs. 
I cannot avoid it at all on the internet, and to an extent the same thing goes for irl. I enjoy cosplaying and want to use as a springboard for my dream career in costume design and construction. I also work for an anime vendor booth and go to almost every con in my state and even some out of states.  My boss knows zero about k////s and tbh he wouldn’t care about what it was/if me and my friends who also work for him were made uncomfortable by it.  So when cosplayers show up to our booth, we can’t just leave to avoid them. We can’t tell them to leave because were extremely uncomfortable either. It’s basically a retail job so we have to smile and help sell things to them. One con for 2 days straight a pair of sang///woo and yoon////bum couple cosplayers kept coming back to our booth every 2-3 hours and hanging out for 20 minutes straight because we were the only booth at that convention selling yoi merchandise. Our boss even encouraged us to keep trying to get them to come back and buy more since they spent so much money. It was honest to god awful??? Like all three of us just kept praying they’d leave and not come back every time they showed up cause we did not want to see them. Esp when they would also loiter by our booth to talk to friends and do shippy things and joke about the abuse in the comic. 
I also was talking to a really popular cosplayer once who also is uncomfortable with k////s and he told me that a yoon//////bum cosplayer ran and tackled him at a con and damaged his cosplay. Or I had the scare of my life when I was going under a table to sort through the boxes and I came up to a yoon////bum cosplayer right there with wrist bandages and felt uncomfortable for the rest of the day.
And also umm going off that and onto a semi tangent: do you have any idea how many k/////s cosplayers love using self harm as a prop????? Ever since the chapter with self harm came out I have yet to see a yoon////bum cosplayer without wrist bandages (bloody or not) including that one that kept coming back for 2 days which is god awful. Esp considering one of my friends who works at the booth is extremely triggered by that stuff.  Anytime we see yoon////bum cosplayers now we have to go out of our ways to avoid our friend seeing it by either getting them to switch tables or trying to distract them all while WORKING and helping customers. And ofc one with bloody wrist bandages went right up to their booth one time when they weren’t looking and when my friend looked back bc they realized a customer was there they had to sit and help them purchase something before going to the bathroom because they were having a panic attack and needed to get away from that. And ofc the rest of us had to cover for them and pretend to our boss they were just taking a bathroom break. So uh yeah not fond and if you think I can ignore that….. what world do you live in???? It’s in my face on the internet and at cons I attend to enjoy and at my job.
Even though this has gotten super long I’m going to say this one thing before someone jumps on my dick for it: “But Ceili, why do you follow/interact with anti k////s blogs???? Lmao you secretly enjoy it/want to see it” Bc like I’ve said above, I have zero way to completely ignore it. If I’m going to be forced to see it against my will, I want to see it through people who also hate it bc its a huge comfort to know that some people don’t get off to the abuse and torture of a gay man and think its disgusting as well. I’m not going to just internalize and try to pretend I’m not disgusted and uncomfortable for the sake of protecting poor k//////s fans’ feelings. I’m going to vent about it and I’m going to talk to other people about why I hate it because it helps make me feel safer and allows me to get shit out. Anti blogs also talk about the contents of the manwha so that I can stay informed without reading it/having to see posts about it because if you dare try to criticize it and say you dislike it without reading it every fan jumps down your throat with “Youre making assumptions!!!!! You don’t actually know anything!!!!! Stop lying about my favs!!!!!” I also sometimes like reading anti’s posts bc there are times where I have problems articulating my feeling so seeing someone else write it out more cohesively than I can helps me sort things out so that I’m not thinking as much about how I feel and what I’m trying to say about this garbage bc someone already said it. And also if a fan is saying something extremely nasty, yes I’m going to sometimes jump in bc I’m at that point already upset and angry.
So yeah again: I legit cannot ignore it and once I see it I can’t stop thinking about it until my discomfort passes which can either be for a few minutes or a few hours depending on the situation. Unless all fans go and keep their content super private and dont put it out there which yall will never do, we’re at a stand still and if you want me to not continue to talk about this block me and dont interact bc I want to move on with this and be done already.
5 notes · View notes
keiths-salt · 7 years
Note
(1/6) as a kl shipper, i wanna say from the bottom of my heart: thank you thank you thank you. so many times i've wanted to shout stuff like "why do yall hate k/eith so much" and "you guys never cared abt s/hiro or a/llura, let alone s/hallura" and "why do you want so bad for this writer/artist to be a p/dophile godDAMN" like, holy shit. u beautiful salty jem of a pearl at the bottom of this tumultuous fandom ocean. -
- (2/6) even your blog title is golden, bc it feels like so many people are so deluded, trying to make a ship, something you’re supposed to sit back and enjoy, into a sort of spiteful activist bullshit-filled “movement” like what??? and telling folks to unfollow if they ship s/haladin bc they’re “cleaning out they’re blog”, like, fuck off??? sorry but here’s a salt-filled rant and i don’t know where else to put it so here! -
- (3/6) side note, i’m rly trying to get across to you that i’m NOT being sarcastic abt how much i want you to keep doing your thing, bc now they’re trying to tackle RACISM. in grosser and grosser ways every day! calling some of the only asian rep i see in media “white-passing” and saying that l/ance can’t have a last name that isn’t 1000% authentically cuban, whatever that means, buncha hypocritical racists. i have never been so angry and ashamed of a fandom. -
- (4/6) it’s gotten to the point where i, someone who ships kl and NOT sk (just my personal tastes), am rly happy to see any sk on my dash bc that poster must have been so brave! to post something as simple as sk hugging or smooching or whateverthefuck, i don’t care! you do you! fuck all these nasty haters, THEY’RE the toxic ones who just want someone to hate! yall deserve props! -
- (5/6) also, my compliments to the chef regarding that pining k/eith theory, it’s So Good, like i ghostwrote it somehow. the whole “projecting onto l/ance” thing (which is being done to a painful degree, i can testify) tries so hard to remove or overvalidate his flaws that it’s laughable. making lance into an insecure martyr angst-sponge hybrid with no agency and no room for personal growth, it’s sooo bad. -
- (6/6) and villainizing everyone else! reminds me of that jaden smith tweet: “when i die, then you will realize” shit he wrote when he was like 14. transparent af, like we get it, you’re insecure. and sometimes i WANT to hop aboard the black paladin lance train, but it’s always this idealized version of him that’s almost unrecognizable, and it’s at the expense of better black paladin candidates. goddamn ok, that was all my salt for the time being! much love, thank you and goodnight!
This is one of those asks that I’d love to keep in my inbox forever, but I’ve spent the last three days trying to come up with a response because you deserve one.
I think we’re all aware that tumblr is an explictly shitty place when it comes to “activism”. There’s this black-white-mentality that anything and anyone needs to be put in a box based on whether they agree with someone’s world views. Everything needs to conform to a specific label too, fiction is only allowed to be healthy, you condone what you enjoy etc., and the #1 argument by people on this site, also widely used by antis, is “Think about the children” but also “Expect everyone else to take care of you”.
People actively go into tags of pairings they hate and then yell about how triggered they are. Really? I’ve been repeatedly told to kill myself because I liked something they didn’t (and I’m talking about my 99.5% discourse-free main blog, not this one where I passively seek out conflict). You either conform to the popular way of thinking (shipping, in this case) or you’re irredeemable trash and a threat to the public. Any shit you get over having your own opinion will be justified because you deserve to be punished for thinking on your own. Tumblr mentality is the modern equivalent to medieval politics.
Fandom always has a terrible side - I know - but the Vo/tron fandom has become a place where people tear each other down rather than block the content they don’t want to see. Converting people to one’s own thinking has becume such an essential part of “activism” to the point where people forming their own opinions and learning about an issue on their own pose a threat.
In the Vo/tron fandom you see this toxic mentality with K/ance, rabid L/ance stans, anti Sha/adins and so on. You said everything I’ve been trying to say since I made this blog, and it saddens me that people can only safely voice their opinions and concerns when hidden behind the Anon feature.
Fandom isn’t always fun, but the Voltron fandom has become a place where people are too scared of posting their art or speaking up because they’ll legit receive death threats over liking a fictional ship. I don’t know if I’m doing a good job at pushing back against the anti side or if I’m just making it worse at this point. But salt, spite and messages like yours keep me going. 
97 notes · View notes
iheartbuckynat · 7 years
Note
If you know, then don't ask stupid questions kiddo.
Well hello there, dear anon, and thank you for the following reasons:
1. Calling me ‘kiddo’. I have actually reached the age where no one really mistakes me for being younger than I am any more, so it’s a nice change! Kind of like getting my ID checked at a bar, you know? (Ah, look at me, chasing after my lost youth…)
2. For having sent me one of those first anon messages (at least I think it was you… of course I’m making an assumption here, so please do correct me if I’m wrong) because it meant I got to finally vent properly about something which had been upsetting me for a little while now (also it’s a great way to procrastinate from my real-life, imminent deadlines).
Now that the pleasantries are over, let’s get some things straight:
1. Do not talk down to me like that. I do not tolerate rudeness aimed at me from anyone, and I certainly will not take it from a person who tries to patronise me anonymously.
2. Might I recommend that you take a refresher on English Lit/Lang? (I’m assuming from the fact you that you called me ‘kiddo’ you’re doing so under the false impression that you have authority over me due to your age. As such you’ve probably finished/are just about to finish some form of schooling and thus should have already studied the subject, hence the suggestion of a refresher).
In the meantime, let me clarify something for you: that “stupid question” in my post was actually ‘rhetorical’. Rhetorical questions (in case you are unfamiliar with the term) are basically questions which are not actually intended to be answered, but rather serve as a means to express the point more emphatically. There’s actually this delightfully old-ish book called, “A Manual of Composition and Rhetoric for Use in Schools and Colleges” by J S Hart (Philadelphia, Eldredge & Brother, 1897). I suggest you check it out; Section VIII “Interrogation” might be especially useful (‘interrogation’ was an old school way of talking about rhetorical questions). I could have recommended a dictionary definition, but where’s the fun in that? (In case you’re still confused, that last question was also rhetorical).
3. Even if my question was real, and I genuinely did not know that HYDRA!Steve was going to be the main villain of Secret Empire, what on earth would possess you to feel like it was acceptable to put me down in the way that you were trying to do? (Not rhetorical because I actually want to know). You know what would have been an altogether better approach? Not trying to show me up. If you thought I was incorrect or missing large chunks of information, perhaps you could have *nicely* offered to help me understand the current Marvel world a little better instead of metaphorically sneering at my supposed ignorance.
If you were *not* the anon who sent me the initial questions, then why would you add such venomous snark to the discussion when you obviously saw the whole thing had been resolved? In some ways that’s even worse than just straight up swearing and yelling abuse (at least then I’d be able to dismiss your behaviour as irrational and heated). Imagine if I’d been someone of a more sensitive disposition. Imagine how terrible that could have made me feel.
“Don’t ask stupid questions,” you say. Just what authority do you have to make that demand of me? Are you, in fact, the Questions-Police? Do you have a system to rate just how clever a question is? Do you go around all of Tumblr telling people off because the questions they’ve asked don’t meet this (I’m assuming) very scientific and important questions-rating-system you’ve developed? Can we see it? Do you have a staff topped with a question mark like the Riddler does? (Let’s play a game, shall we? How many of those questions were actually rhetorical?)
Alright, perhaps I am being just a little bit unfair, dear anon. For all I know, you really were one of those initial anonymous posters and my resulting answer (which segued into a spirited discussion about the follies of Marvel’s decision to make Steve Rogers a HYDRA agent) somehow embarrassed or offended you (was it because I called Marvel “fu*k!ng a$$hats”?) and as a result you took a pot shot in the hopes it would make you feel better.
If that is the case, I’m sorry you feel that way. My HYDRA!Steve rant was not in any way aimed at you (after all, you’re not Marvel Entertainment LLC… are you?! Because if you are, then I have several burning, non-rhetorical questions which need answering).
And if helps, all is forgiven on my end, so there’s no need to worry.
Less snark, more love next time, ok? (Rhetorical).
(Sorry, last one. I couldn’t help myself).
6 notes · View notes
takeawaypizzas · 7 years
Note
Nope. Do it x
urgh loser.
1. Would you have sex with the last person you text messaged?- yes!
2. You talked to an ex today, correct?- nope
3. Have you taken someones virginity?- euh, no, wel kinda? sorta haha
4. Is trust a big issue for you?- yeah…
5. Did you hang out with the person you like recently?- NO BCS STUPID EXAMS 
6. What are you excited for?- Seeing my girl
7. What happened tonight?- the question is whats going to happen tonight ! 
8. Do you think it’s disgusting when girls get really wasted?- a bit, not a fan of the whole lets get mortal thing
9. Is confidence cute?- it is ! :) 
10. What is the last beverage you had?- Nalu 
11. How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust?- uhm, 3 people i think
12. Do you own a pair of skinny jeans?- ofc hahaha 
13. What are you gonna do Saturday night?- I hope cuddling with my girl… 
14. What are you going to spend money on next?- probs food
15. Are you going out with the last person you kissed?- ofc, thats my girl ! 
16. Do you think you’ll change in the next 3 months?- I’m changing everyday to be a better me! so yeah hahaha 
17. Who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything?- @gay-as-f-u-c-k​ and @foxavnue​
18. The last time you felt broken?- Monday, bcs I don’t really feel good at home
19. Have you had sex today?- nope 
20. Are you starting to realize anything?- that imma fail my exams …
21. Are you in a good mood?- in between hahah 
22. Would you ever want to swim with sharks?- i dont wanna die thank you very much 
23. Are your eyes the same color as your dad’s?- a bit 
24. What do you want right this second?- my gf
25. What would you say if the person you love/like kissed another girl/boy?- probs “it’s okay, i love you”, i’m a pussy and I love her too much to lose her… but I know she won’t do that, she loyal!  
26. Is your current hair color your natural hair color?- yes ! 
27. Would you be able to date someone who doesn’t make you laugh?- nope
28. What was the last thing that made you laugh?- my gf’s stupid cat situation hahaha
29. Do you really, truly miss someone right now?- yes!
30. Does everyone deserve a second chance?- depends on what you did 
31. Honestly, do you hate the last boy you were talking to?- nooooooooo 
32. Does the person you have feelings for right now, know you do?- i hope she does, i tell her everyday hahha 
33. Are you one of those people who never drinks soda?- nah im not one of those 
34. Listening to?- the new ed sheeran song yay 
35. Do you ever write in pencil anymore?- I just did hahaha 
36. Do you know where the last person you kissed is?- she’s at home 
37. Do you believe in love at first sight?- yes
38. Who did you last call?- @gay-as-f-u-c-k​
39. Who was the last person you danced with?- myself lol hahahhaha 
40. Why did you kiss the last person you kissed?- bcs i’m crazy about her 
41. When was the last time you ate a cupcake?- a year ago or so ? 
42. Did you hug/kiss one of your parents today?- yes
43. Ever embarrass yourself in front of a crush?- all the time … 
44. Do you tan in the nude?- i dont tan hahahha 
45. If you could, would you take back your last kiss?- hell nah, i would give more hahaha 
46. Did you talk to someone until you fell asleep last night?- nope 
47. Who was the last person to call you?- @gay-as-f-u-c-k
48. Do you sing in the shower?- i sing everywhere i am ! so yeah 
49. Do you dance in the car?- ofc , who doesn’t 
50. Ever used a bow and arrow?- once
51. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?- never lol why would anyone take a pic of me haha 
52. Do you think musicals are cheesy?- im not really a big fan of it 
53. Is Christmas stressful?- YES PRESENT SHOPPING OMG 
54. Ever eat a pierogi?- a what ?
55. Favorite type of fruit pie?- strawberry 
56. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?- a vet, cs i love animals, also a nurse cs i wanna help people , but here i am studying to be a film monteur
57. Do you believe in ghosts?- a bit
58. Ever have a Deja-vu feeling?- all the fucking time 
59. Take a vitamin daily?- yes
60. Wear slippers?- nooooo
61. Wear a bath robe?- nooooo
62. What do you wear to bed?- shorts (and shirt but not always) 
63. First concert?- Metallica 
64. Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart?- none , we don’t have those 
65. Nike or Adidas?- nike 
66. Cheetos Or Fritos?- cheetos , idk fritos 
67. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds?- peanuts 
68. Favorite Taylor Swift song?- lol none hahaha 
69. Ever take dance lessons?- i did haha 
70. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?- professional traveler would be nice 
71. Can you curl your tongue?- uh yeah 
72. Ever won a spelling bee?- noooooo
73. Have you ever cried because you were so happy?- yesh! 
74. What is your favorite book?-  looking for alaska was nice ! also every harry potter one hahah 
75. Do you study better with or without music?- with!!!!
76. Regularly burn incense?- nope
77. Ever been in love?- i am rn! 
78. Who would you like to see in concert?- you want a list ? 
79. What was the last concert you saw?- bring me the horizon 
80. Hot tea or cold tea?- no tea … 
81. Tea or coffee?- chocolate milk hahhahahha 
82. Favorite type of cookie?- the regular one’s with chocolate chips 
83. Can you swim well?- yes 
84. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?- ofc hahah
85. Are you patient?- sometimes hahaha 
86. DJ or band, at a wedding?- a band would be awesome !! but probs a dj bcs i like to dance hahaha 
87. Ever won a contest?- euhm not that i can remember 
88. Ever have plastic surgery?- noooooooo
89. Which are better black or green olives?- i dont like olives 
90. Opinions on sex before marriage?- go for it hahaha idc that much 
91. Best room for a fireplace?- living room , cosy 
92. Do you want to get married?- maybe some day, but that would be nice yeah! dipshit ! but ayyy anon , now you know too ! xxx Fleur 
2 notes · View notes
Text
QAnon Conspiracy podcast link https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/4783994
jason blazakis: (00:00) It's exploded, unfortunately, via social media and it has inspired individuals to carry out acts of violence. dana lewis - host : (00:13) Hi everyone. And welcome to our 20th edition of backstory. I'm your host, Dana Lewis. This backstory is about a right w dana lewis - host : (00:13) ing conspiracy group that got started online. It's called QNR. There is nothing funny about paranoid conspiracy theories winging their way across the internet. They influence people to think things like COVID-19 is a virus created by the so-called dark state in America to remove president Trump from the white house or Democrats like Hillary Clinton or part of a child sex ring, torturing children. There may be hundreds of thousands of Q Anon followers, including the guy who recently drove his truck with weapons through the Gates of Rido hole prime minister Trudeau's residence in Ottawa, Canada, and in 2016, a man armed with a rifle, stormed comet ping pong pizza in Washington, believing the Democrats were running a child sex ring there. And then there was the case of a man who murdered a reputed mafia boss on Staten Island, who now says in court, he was a follower of Q Anon. And if you look closely, you will see Q posters and t-shirts at Trump rallies. Speaker 1: (01:25) A curious theme popped up at the president's campaign style rally last night signs t-shirts stating we are Q or Q Anon. Speaker 2: (01:34) Some even think Trump is Q and he seems to speak to his disciples. Yeah, Speaker 3: (01:40) This represents what store, what store mr. President, dana lewis - host : (02:08) Dangerous stuff. So here we are in an election year and the FBI identifies conspiracy theories as potential domestic terrorism threats, specifically citing Q Anon, a group that believes there is a deep state working against president Trump. The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories, very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve into a modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts. And that's why on this edition of backstory, we are doing a Q story because there are people running for Congress who are followers of Q Anon. I kid you not like Marjorie Taylor green, a Georgia Republican, unknown : (02:54) You know, about the Q movement. Are you familiar with what that is? I Speaker 4: (03:00) Am familiar with that. So I'm very familiar with it though. Do you think he was a bad thing or, or is it just sort of, I mean, what's your opinion, honestly, everything that I've heard of Q I hope that I hope that this is real Speaker 5: (03:13) Then Lauren bull bird who just won the GOP nomination in Colorado's third district. Speaker 4: (03:19) The other thing that Q says, and this is the stuff that we don't, we just don't want to think about. Um, and many Americans don't want to know about, but Q is saying that they participate in pedophilia and spirit cooking and spirit cooking. They had that spirit cooking dinner. That was something else that came out in those. Um, John Podesta, WikiLeaks email re release. Remember that Q is trying to tell people on these forums unfortune, and he's trying to tell people the truth. dana lewis - host : (03:50) So to understand whether Q Anon is a cult or a new religion or a widespread mental disorder, this Jason Blazakis written a piece for the Soufan intelligence group on QAnon. And he joins me now from California. How are you Jason? I'm doing well. Um, Dana, it's, it's good to be here. I'm on your show. The Q in the Anon, meaning the Anon is anonymous and who the heck is a cute, yeah, that's a, that's a, it's a great question. Even the people who call themselves a nons are essentially followers of Kew. Don't really know they have a, there's a lot of speculation ranging from president Donald J. Trump could be Q, um, John F K a, um, um, Kennedy jr. Um, didn't really die in a plane accident. He could be cute. Um, he could be a guy and, um, the government with a military intelligence background with, uh, accused security clearance, which means, you know, when you have Q clearance and the governments, you have nuclear, um, access secrets, uh, it could be any number of individuals. jason blazakis: (05:02) Um, you know, who could be que, um, you know, I have my own theory, my own theory, which hasn't really been written about. And I, I may write something on it later is that it's, it's part of a large disinformation campaign, um, organized by a state to stir up trouble. Um, and, and the way that Q communicates, um, certainly has led to a lot of individuals becoming adherence to, uh, this, this movement, a state, a state, I have some concern that it could be part of a state disinformation effort. And if you look at the timing of the creation of cue, um, it was created, um, in essentially the first queue and non post was in 2017. Um, not that long after, um, president Trump's election, less than a year after it. And, and, uh, the focus of, of Q is to ensure that, uh, president president Trump stays in power as he does battle against a deep state network of individuals who are trying to use SERP his power. dana lewis - host : (06:05) And you're going to tell me it's another Russia conspiracy? jason blazakis: (06:08) I wouldn't go there yet. Um, but I do have some concerns that at a minimum, at a minimum, um, there are States like Russia who may be amplifying the messages of the individuals who feel that they are Q Anon followers or adherence, um, making it look like it's a movement larger than it really is. Um, but one thing I hope to do, and I wear many hats. I work at the Soufan center as you introduced me, Dana as a research fellow, but I also am a professor at the Middlebury Institute of international studies in Monterey, California is we're going to start studying the syntax of the messages related to, um, Q Anon, um, when Q and nom posts a new message. Um, it's called a huge drop. Um, generally, um, in the past he has posted in, um, various, uh, uh, freedom boards, like four Chan, eight Chan, eight Kuhn, and then study sort of the, that transition in terms of language, um, how it's evolved, um, to get any kind of insights as to whether or not, um, the syntax could be traced back, um, with Stickley, um, perhaps to another country, maybe this is an individual, um, that's publishing, um, in writing that that is not really using, um, English or does not have English as a first language. Speaker 5: (07:21) So this is one hypothesis I have that I'm really interested in exploring here. Um, dana lewis - host : (07:28) Why Jason, are you taking your time because you're a serious analyst to write about this group and why am I taking my time? Cause I think I'm a serious correspondent to broadcast something about them. Speaker 5: (07:39) I mean, they have suddenly been held Speaker 6: (07:44) With serious regard by a lot of different agencies, including the FBI. Speaker 5: (07:48) Yeah, absolutely. So I guess a little background about myself. I have been in the federal government for 20 years, I guess Q a non folks will automatically say, whatever I have to say is, is null and void because of a significant trust they have with individuals who worked in the federal bureaucracy. You're another one of the deep state. Yeah. They said, yeah. And I left the DC deep state. So maybe that makes me a little bit better than those who remained in. Right. But I worked in the counterterrorism Bureau at the state department studying terrorists. Um, you know, whether it's ISIS, Al Qaeda, um, understanding who the individuals are within these networks. So the U S government could sanction them. Um, and to sanction individual or organization, you have to study them deeply. Um, so I've always been interested in extremist movements. Um, you know, 10 and a half years, I was following counter related issues, primarily focusing on, um, uh, Salafi jihadist groups. jason blazakis: (08:40) But in 2016, the British government actually made a decision to designate a white supremacist group called national action. And it was from that point forward, I started looking at the more of the radical right, mill you in which Q Anon certainly sits. Um, I've become more in Q Anon. Um, given that background, um, more recently over the last couple years, um, because it's attracted a very wide following, um, it's exploded unfortunately, um, via social media. Um, and it has inspired individuals to carry out, um, acts of violence. Um, one was the situation in New York where an individual killed a mafia boss, um, because, uh, he felt that he needed to do justice. Um, by carrying out that attack against the mafia bus, you had a situation and, um, the Hoover dam area in Arizona where a Q Anon follower, um, parked his vehicle and blocked the bridge, um, and he was armed. jason blazakis: (09:37) And then you, the more recent incident showing next to a non has gone overseas, where you had an individual who was consuming, um, to a non content, um, and people could argue, um, other experts say, well, he wasn't that actively involved in Q Anon. He only had a few posts. Um, but that individual carried out, um, a ramming, um, attack against the prime minister of Canada premise or Trudeau's house in Rideau. Um, and thankfully, um, he was stopped. He couldn't do harm. Um, he was well armed, um, but 30 minutes before he actually did that attack, um, where he worked on Instagram, he reposts that one of the conspiracy theories that, um, QNR has put forward before talking about so-called event two Oh one, talking about a pandemic, talking about COVID and how all of this is being created by essentially, um, a deep state, what bill Gates in cahoots. Speaker 5: (10:31) Right. So, um, for me, I'm running to blink my eyes fester and fester Jason, as we get lost in the mud here with this, but I mean, they're pretty incredible events. And then there was one with pizza gate, right? He's one of the highest profile one. What would you absolutely. So pizza gate, um, predated Q Anon, but a lot of people point to pizza gate as being sort of the, the father of the, the Q Anon, um, conspiracy and, and pizza. Gate's really important to understand in the context of Q Anon, because what Q Anon about is about as a conspiracy theory directly relates to the pizza gate conspiracy. So you had, um, an individual who was within the, um, um, uh, Hillary Clinton campaign who had essentially, um, his emails hacked. Um, his emails were published on WikiLeaks and 2016. Um, and in those emails, he's talking to the owner of a Washington DC pizzeria called comet ping pong. And in those, um, exchanges, um, there are discussions between the proprietor of comment thing, pop pizza, and, um, the campaign, um, individual Podesta, um, within the Clinton campaign. And they're talking about pizza, they're talking about toppings and there are conspiracy theorists looked and examined this language and felt that somehow that's code words for children, um, who are being exploited by adults essentially, um, Speaker 6: (12:06) That they believed that Hillary Clinton was deep in bold. Then Democrats were deep involved in holding children hostage and pedophiles and be assaulted. And that allegedly this, this man came to believe that that was taking place in the basement of the pizza store. Speaker 5: (12:23) Correct. So they're, they're the, the, the final thinking was essentially as in, at punk pizza, there is a basement where children are being held. There are part of a, um, you know, being captive part of a pedophilia ring run by, um, people like Hillary Clinton and Podesta, um, in this man from North Carolina was reading all this online and all of this was being discussed online and it felt he that take it upon himself morally to do something about that. So he traveled from Carolina to Washington, DC, armed [inaudible], um, started shooting, um, went downstairs to the basement, um, and didn't see any children. Um, there were no children there. Um, it was clearly, um, false information, Speaker 6: (13:04) Got his weapon, as I understand it kind of with the revelation of, Oh gosh, this actually isn't taking place. Right. But exactly the fact is that people like that on the internet come to believe some of these wild conspiracy things from Q a Speaker 5: (13:20) Oh, absolutely. People read this, not just individuals who are associated with pizza gate, which predated Q and on, but afterwards you had individuals who actually have taken action. And this is part of the reason why the FBI and the Phoenix field office, um, Q and on to be a domestic terrorism threat. Um, and I, I think for good reason, because individuals, particularly during a pandemic when people are trapped at home, um, they're reading information online about all these conspiracies. They feel helpless. And if they have some kind of secret understanding, um, which maybe these conspiracies, um, give them that they have some kind of secret understanding about this, like conspiracy has happening by the deep state, they could do something about it, um, because they now are empowered and they can take power back from these two are running the world, Speaker 6: (14:08) Be clear, Q Anon says there isn't really a pandemic. It's a concern. Well, I shouldn't say that they say it's a conspiracy created by the left, by the Democrats against president Trump. Speaker 5: (14:21) So you have individuals most certainly, um, uh, based on my research, a preponderance of individuals who are adherence or say that they believe Q Anon, um, guidance that believe that there is a plan demic. There was even a movie made by Q and non followers, um, called pandemic that said this was a stage by the new world order and people like George Soros, um, to essentially, um, you know, take power, um, and to eliminate eMoney enemies. Um, but in terms of the, the actual Q and on, um, the individual who posts, um, Q drops as they're called, um, essentially posts on the various boards, he's under like little coded messages from yeah. Coded messages that Anon, um, adherence, decode. He said that COVID-19 was real. Um, but it was a good thing be prepared for it. Um, and I think the thinking behind that as many decoders believe is that either Genesis for the beginning of what a non calls, the great awakening, many Speaker 6: (15:24) People are going to get this great awakening. And we're talking about a few dozen people on the internet, are you, Speaker 5: (15:30) And I know it's impossible to tell, but, you know, take a guess just it in the tens of thousands, or is it, I think, I think we're at least in the tens of thousands now, there's, um, you know, individuals who are essentially what they call it like red pilled, um, people who have seen the light, um, they see that there is first and foremost, a deep state that exists that is trying to, um, work as a secret cabal, um, to, uh, you serve the president, president Trump, who is essentially the white Knight of this, this movement. Um, and on the second part of this thinking is that if this great awakening occurs, once you see and become enlightened, um, there's going to be a battle for the soul of, of, of America. And you have to do something about it. And is there potentially an armed battle? Speaker 5: (16:18) Um, I look at Qanan as a cult, um, and cults, particularly Paul step leave. And apocalyptical like thinking, um, you know, things like a great awakening where there could be a battle between good and evil, um, you know, white hats versus black hats in the context of how [inaudible] describes them. Um, white hats being essentially the Q Anon followers, um, within the government who are doing battle against the black hats who are, um, sickness and part of this deep state conspiracy. Um, whenever you had to think about the world and Manichaean terms like human on puts forward, there is this definite risk of, of turning to a via apocalyptical like scenario. And if president Trump were to say lose, or it looks like he will lose, my fear is that you have to, and on adherence who may try to take, um, you know, matters in their own hands and carry out acts of violence to try to stop the, the, from the state to make sure the great awakening occurs or to stop those who are trying to stop the great awakening, Speaker 6: (17:16) Like the guy who went into the pizza store, they have been convinced, and they've been consuming this stuff Speaker 5: (17:23) They'll believe that this wasn't a fair election, but in fact it was something done by the deep state and they have, they have got to stand up maybe with weapons and fight it. Absolutely. And, and even, um, Q post on COVID-19, he said, um, this is going to be used by the Democrats to create COVID-19, to create mass hysteria. Um, and it's all of an eye towards the election. So Hugh himself is talking about COVID-19 in the, of the election, how Democrats could use it as essentially a bulwark against president Trump, um, and therefore making the election look illegal. And at the same time, you have the rhetoric of the president, of course, saying that, um, the, the president poll numbers aren't as bad as they're saying. Um, but if you have say male and voting, um, which would be a responsible thing to do during COVID-19, um, that that's somehow cast as a dispersion upon the possible results of the election. So I think the president himself unfortunately, has played in the hands of some of these two non followers by saying that the election itself is already perhaps not credible because of COVID-19. And because of the ideas behind Malin voting, which he said will lead to fraud. And if there's fraud related to the election, then president Trump loses because of fraud. That's going to be very upsetting to Q a non followers. Speaker 6: (18:37) So Jason, does the president unknowingly unwittingly plate Q a non followers, or do you think that he is aware of QA, Speaker 5: (18:48) Um, and actually dropped some Speaker 6: (18:51) Things that may benefit him in, in with certain things? Speaker 5: (18:55) Well, I'll tell you, Q Anon thinks the president is messaging secretly to them. Um, I have no evidence that the president believes that he somehow was secretly messaging to Q Anon, but if there were a couple of tweets, right, one was quarry, we had over a hundred team. The other one used something about with his friends in the UK who supported the UK and the queen, and saw that in Q Anon is a coated drunk. No, absolutely the Q and M people that see how you use quarantine and how you made us a hand gesture that looked like a queue. Um, but he has indeed retweet it. Um, Q Anon followers over a hundred plus times. I think last night I read through, um, media was maybe up to 145 times, um, Donald Trump jr. Eric Trump have tweeted and retweeted memes, um, and, um, other Q and non follower rhetoric before. So they're, they're, I think they're, they're not doing it because necessarily there are two and on followers, or believe in Q I think they're not just being careful with our social media feeds and then two and non followers, you know, being the conspiracy serious, they are read something into it. I'm like the president is signaling something special to us. Um, Speaker 6: (20:08) I understand that though, that sounds pretty sinister to me. Speaker 5: (20:12) They have retweeted tweets from Q and non followers and the president, I'm not Q and himself, but QNR followers adherence people on social media who believe in Q, um, and, and the president has retweeted them. Um, so, you know, he probably doesn't know that he's retreating Q and non followers. Um, I don't think he's being necessarily careful about what he retweets. Um, clearly he has a, uh, a capacity to, to retweet many things, um, later, which he has removed or deleted his own tweets, um, or his campaign team or the waste house have disassociated from those tweets. Or they've said that that's not really what he was meaning. Um, so I, I don't think tensional on purpose, um, by the press. I think it's unintentional, but the, the problem is because he's not careful about what he says over social media. It is really riling up these individuals who are not followers and then believe essentially in bolsters. The theory is that somehow president Trump is, um, perhaps to himself or trying to motivate, um, to a non people to support him in some fashion. And there is a political element to this too, beyond the Trump's. Um, you know, there are, um, last count, there was a journalist who said that there was more than 66 Q and non followers running for various state and federal offices. So you have this normalization that's occurring with Q Anon as well. And that makes it really dangerous. How many more than 60? Speaker 6: (21:45) I mean, I'm shocked by that. And I, I was reading in the Atlantic and they, by the way, they didn't call it a cult. They call it a new religion, Speaker 5: (21:55) The kind of religion. Yeah. There's religious overtones to it. Absolutely. They think it'll be adopted current at least Speaker 6: (22:02) 35 current or former congressional candidates have embraced Q according to an online tally, but a nonprofit media matters. Speaker 5: (22:12) Yeah. Yeah. And I think that same journalist who has continued to study this as they put it at 66 and there's another 30 plus who, um, are running for office right now, um, many, uh, lost already. Um, but people who were running to be become members of Congress. And I think there was one member, um, potentially, um, one individual that may get elected, um, out of Georgia memory serves, I forget her name off the top of my head, but you may actually end with a scenario where you have, um, a que non follower in Congress. Um, and that's the danger of, of this movement, um, that somehow it becomes more normalized. Um, a lot of people call it a fringe movement, but slowly, um, you have more and more people reading, um, consuming, watching videos like planned DEMEC who actually believe what's being written, um, and then may become followers themselves, or somehow by virtue of passing along this video to other people in their Facebook group, um, it becomes more of a normal thing. Speaker 5: (23:11) Um, and, and that's really dangerous storing a pandemic. You're taking it very seriously. Oh, absolutely. Um, you know, there are people who, who are trapped. Like I said, who are, we are living in uncertain times? Um, when you feel uncertain, you feel powerless. Um, conspiracy theories have resonance in ways in which can motivate individuals to join the movement or at worst, um, you know, become, um, an entity or individual who carries out violence on behalf of a moon because of something they saw online. Um, you know, pedophilia is a terrible thing. Um, and if people actually believe some of the things going on, like the most recent conspiracy theory put forward by Q Anon that somehow Wayfair the furniture company was selling essentially, um, material. Um, and, and, um, for really high prices, $13,000 for a stack of cabinets, um, people are saying, well, um, that's some part of a ring of, of children being sold by, by Wayfair, which was completely wrong. And, but it took off on social media and had an impact on Wayfair and they had to respond. So, um, you see this danger, if you actually think a child's in danger, um, you want to do something about it. And if you believe that conspiracy, um, you may actually do something about it and there was no, there, there, and that's the challenge with, with Q and on, and, and the threat it poses, please, Louisiana, Speaker 6: (24:34) Like wildfire through the internet, um, over, over several years now. Right. So now you, um, from, from Reddit to Facebook, to Twitter, Twitter now has taken down some 7,000 accounts, um, linked to Q Anon. Do you think that that's a good idea? Is it going to do anything or is this just sort of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted? Speaker 5: (25:00) Um, I think unfortunately it's more the latter, but I will say it was a good decision, um, to take down, um, in authentic, um, Twitter accounts and handles associated with the Q and M movement. And I think, um, in addition to taking down those 7,000 and removing them outright, um, probably I think I read 150,000 we're, we're limited in some way as well. That's a positive action Reddit, um, was the first out there in 2018 to take action against Q Anon. Um, particularly those that were, uh, putting out conspiracies on the subreddit board known as our conspiracy board. Um, and then you have YouTube actually I noticed about three or four weeks ago, and this could be happening much longer than that, but [inaudible] videos now have underneath of them a box that says like, this is a far right conspiracy, um, which it is, and it's good. Speaker 5: (25:49) They have that fact checking box. And then I think we probably both read that Facebook may be taking a decision soon, um, to remove to a non-related, um, groups as well, um, to non is all over Facebook, um, private groups and public groups in the context, from my perspective, these are good decisions because these are mainstream social media platforms that touch so many more people than say four Chan, um, eight Chan or eight Q and ever have. Um, so you're, you're I think, inherently making their reach, um, less impactful by taking those actions. My fear is though, um, it's, it's a little too late, um, and they may migrate to another service, uh, and, and the, the, the conspiracy will continue on and particularly problematic is the fact that they may have a member of Congress or people on state assemblies in the United States who are, um, politicians who could be advocating things, um, from a policy perspective that are problematic. Speaker 5: (26:44) Um, so yeah, I think again, barn door, um, was closed after a horse left. Like you said, Dana. Well, I mean, that's always been the intelligence debate with, uh, terrorism. Do you, do you allow these things to kind of bubble at the surface so that you can monitor them or do you pull them off and push these people underground? And it makes it much more difficult to get after some of the more extremists that, that may be contemplating violence. Yeah. Now that is the dilemma. You remove them from open source platforms in which you could observe them. And they go to the encrypted communications in which they're more difficult to track that is, that is the dilemma. From my perspective, I'd rather have fewer individuals as part of a movement, um, and have a more difficult time monitoring them. Um, you know, you still can go into those encrypted apps. Speaker 5: (27:40) You can break the encryption, you can insert an individual who pretends to be part of a group and it gets bad at, um, online and can still, you know, infiltrate that encrypted network. Right. Um, in, in that chat group where if it's telegram that joined that telegram group. So there are still law enforcement tools, um, time honor, that can infiltrate in groups that are more secretive in nature. Um, from my perspective, I'd rather just have them fewer have fewer recruits and members in adherence. And I think that's why I think the actions taken by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, um, Silicon Valley writ large like Reddit's action in 2018. It's very important because it can limit the, the number of individuals who are consuming this information. I just want to also add tech talk has unfortunately become another Avenue in which the pizza gate conspiracy, which a lot of people thought was dead in 2016, had a second life because it took off, um, and tick tock again. Speaker 5: (28:34) And then tick talk actually made a decision to, I think, remove the hashtag, um, pizza gate, um, remove some of the other Q Anon hashtags. And that's really important because tech talk is now sort of the viral social media platform. And it seems like they're taking early action against that, um, proliferation over their platform, which is a good thing. Jason Blazek is with the Soufan center, mind blowing stuff, and really intriguing. And thank you so much for taking the time to kind of lay this out for me. No, my pleasure Dana is a pleasure to be with you and to be with your listeners in may Speaker 2: (29:13) Follower of Q Anon was arrested in New York, attempting to assassinate democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, a woman from Illinois armed with a dozen knives. When Trump tweets about the dark state, he feeds conspiracy theories that are not harmless Spiricin theories and their close cousin, fake news are socially destructive and dangerous, especially for those with mental illnesses. You and I will no be hearing more about Q and even if we don't care to I'm Dana Lewis, thanks for listening. Please subscribe to backstory and share it. We need your support to make this grow, and we'll talk to you again soon. [inaudible].
0 notes