#i know media literacy is trash these days | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goodluckclove · 16 days

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I've been meaning to say something. (100 follower hot take)

Hey! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've had a nice day. Why don't you rest with me for a while? I made some chocolate chip cookies - with shortening instead of butter, so they're very soft and very chocolatey. I made way too many and they aren't my wife's favorite, so I could use some help in eating them.

You're probably a writer, right? Or maybe you think about how you could be. Browse the tags here, or on other social media platforms. Maybe you used to write stories as a kid. I bet those were fun. Teachers might've thought they were impressive, or they dissected them line by line until the words didn't make sense in your head anymore. Either way, if you're here you're probably here for a reason.

(rant alert)

I dipped a toe in online writing communities on and off. My last attempt was forty-five minutes scrolling through the writing hashtag on Youtube Shorts (so TikTok, I guess? I don't know). I didn't like it. I really didn't. The thing that sticks out the strongest in my mind is one particular video where a woman claims that every story needs a second act plot twist.

Huh? Every story? All of them? Why? Since when? Who are you? What qualifications do you have to make a statement like that?

That's the common thread that makes a lot of writing spaces very uncomfortable for me. Successful writers are really only successful in their genre and for the given moment, so they don't have that much objective authority in the craft. And yet I see a lot of people deciding the things that you can't do in writing. Or the things you have to do, and how you have to do them. It was so much of Writeblr at first glance that I almost dipped out once again. I didn't, though, and I'm glad I didn't because now I get to watch some of the next great storytellers from across the world grow and examine and forge their way forward.

No one can teach you how to write. No, that's not true. Teachers teach literacy. Handwriting. Typing maybe - do schools still teach typing? Let me try saying it in a different way - no one, not one single person on this goddamned planet, has the right to tell you how to make a story.

I was supposed to get my MFA in creative writing before my first breakdown. My uncle stayed in the program I was meant to be in, and a few years after I dropped out he graduated. Recently I had the thought to look up his thesis novella, and as I searched I found myself regretting my decision to leave school. If I stayed and got to develop my writing in an actual class, with other writers and a knowledgeable professor, how much further along would I be than where I am right now?

It was bad. His novella was terrible. It was so bad I had a small existential crisis for, like, three days. He spent so much money on years and years of professional education and came out with a truly soulless story that read as if you prompted an AI to write the next Great American Novel. So if you think you need a writing degree to be a legitimate author, it could help connections-wise, but it ultimately won't be the thing that does the work for you.

Not all advice I see online on writing is bad. I find the people who are able to capture the "I" statements of therapy and phrase advice as things that have worked for them, or things that they personally enjoy, to be fine. Some writing advice can spark inspiration.

But if someone is the type of person to boil every story down to troupes and cliches, and then immediately say that every story that uses the trait they don't like is automatically bad for everyone? I'm dropping the kindness for a second - that's trash. That's a trash take and I see far too many writers use it as a reason to stop before they begin.

I don't like whump. I say my reasons in previous posts if you go back through my blog. But you will never hear me say that any story with whump in it is bad, because I don't know that. You might prove me wrong. I am an adult human being and I have the humility to admit that I can like something I didn't expect to. I genuinely enjoy the direction of The Human Centipede (only the first one) and if you cringed just now that probably means you haven't seen it.

There are so many types of books and movies and plays and comics out there. To enjoy a specific genre is fine, to ignore the existence of everything else is a really, really, really odd thing to do. Maybe someone will hate your story because they think everything should be Neil Gaiman, and therefore have no way to understand your epistolary high-Western. You are not the wrong end of that situation just for existing.

And at there is a definite threshold on how many writing tips you can gather before they stop being useful. If you find them interesting, that's one thing. That's fine. But if the culture of creativity online has made you feel like you need to educate yourself on every possible angle before you can write a story, you are actively harming yourself.

Imagine taking the level of structure you put on yourself in that way and putting it on children playing pretend in the backyard. Oh, Susie, don't you know that it's overdone for your Kitsune have dead parents? Xyler, shouldn't you ask someone else before you decide how Spiderman would react to this? It would make no sense and they do not need it. Kids will make a whole world out of nothing and it's the most fucked thing in my heart that at some point they get access to Reddit and dipshits start insisting that's wrong.

They aren't wrong and you aren't either. Your favorite creative influencer can't tell you your story, strangers on the internet can't tell you your story, your teachers and loved ones can't tell you your story. They can influence it, but they can't write it honestly the way you can.

You do that. That's the thing you do.

Man that makes me upset. I can't tell you how to make a story, either. If anyone sends me asks for writing advice the most I'll do is say what I've done before hopping into your DMs and starting a direct conversation. it's so personal to each individual artist, and I'd like to think that the people selling these classes and software and promoting these platforms haven't thought about that before. Otherwise it does feel manipulative. If you have a willingness to practice and imagine and really experiment with the possibilities, you are ready to write your story.

And if it doesn't work? Try again. That's what you do.

Stephen King has written roughly a thousand books and maybe five of them have decent endings. He is unimaginably successful.

I'm rambling now. I think I got that out of my system. I was really worried to say this out of fear of being too weird or somehow reverse-gatekeeping so hard that it circles back into also being a bad thing. I've just spoken to a lot of people who I still think of throughout my day, and I truly ache for them to get past the fear of creation. Because it's worth it. It's worth it and it's fun, even when it's messy and you're tired.

Let it Be just came on. Beatles. I haven't listened to The Beatles in a long time. Feels a little apropos.

I love you, reader. Reader, Writer, Colleague. Take care of yourself. Especially the little you, still sitting there in the backyard of your soul, bathing in the sun with their bare feet in the damp earth.

Consider joining them, maybe.

#writeblr #writing community #writers on tumblr #queer writers #authors of tumblr #on writing #writing #actually writing #writing resources #writing tips #writing help #writing advice #how to write #writing tips and tricks #writers supporting writers

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theliterarywolf · 3 months

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I feel awful for the people who worked on Hazbin Hotel. First, it’s been the punching bag of Twitter for a couple years now and when it finally comes out everyone is either using that 50,000 dollar porn thing to mock it or just completely trashing the show. Anyone I see on Twitter who does like it has their opinion completely discarded if their tweet about liking it gets too far out of their circle

I can’t imagine my passion project starting off with that much support and then when it’s released is instead shit on by what must seem like millions of people

Anon, can I tell you something? Come here.

I know it's been a while since the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (especially since it was back in the 'making movies not only to make money but to also have a mainstay in the cultural zeitgeist' era), but I'm not sure if you remember a certain scene.

youtube

"You are, without doubt, the worst pirate I've ever heard of." "...But you have heard of me."

Every person who creates, be you an artist, a writer, a filmmaker, actor, musician, whathaveyou, who also strives for recognition knows that success and popularity isn't just a game of creating a following of incessant praise.

You will get some negative pushback. That much is inevitable. Hell, even if you create something as mundane as singing about how much you like girls as a straight man, that can bring in swathes of critical reception and memeing.

So, Hazbin finally releasing? Of course there's going to be people who have a critical impression of it. However! Critical doesn't always come from a negative place.

When it comes to creators, we actually strive for critique. Any creator worth their merit should always strive to become better and, in order to do that, you need to kind of feedback that can only come from a third set of eyes.

However... The field of critique often gets swamped with people who want to exhibit sour grapes and, despite what they think, continue the reach of early 2000s review-culture (i.e.: nothing but negativity and complaints because you're so smart and aware, unlike all of the sheep that call themselves fans~)

That's when I get frustrated for creators who make it big. Because how are they going to legitimately improve when they are inundated by nothing but sour grapes and purposeful discarding of media literacy?

But, I will end with this and it ties back into that scene mentioned above: the ones who have done nothing but complain and be negative and harp on and on? Even when they themselves will insist that no one should watch shows like this or give them any attention?

'This is the worst show ever! Everything about it sucks! I'm going to sit here and list everything bad that I encountered while watching!' '...But you did take time out of your day to watch.'

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 3 months

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Wow, well now we know why the creators walked away from Neflix's travesty of an adaptation. i.e. The showrunners wanted to "tone down Sokka's sexism". They completely overlook that his sexism is an intentionally-written character flaw that he is supposed to gradually overcome as a part of his character development. Media literacy and nuance is truly dead.

I'm surprise so many people are surprised this is happening. It's Netflix. They're completely incapable of making a story that isn't completely based on making as bland and innofensive as possible, with cheap "girlboss" and/or fanservice added in the mix in the hopes that no one notices it is complete trash.

I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix also tries pandering to the "Zuko is a saint that didn't do anything wrong ever" crowd, making his redemption arc, and his presence in the story really, useless.

It's the same as Disney removing Li Shang from the Mulan remake because "it's inapropriate for them to have a romance considering he is her superior" - nevermind that he never used his status to get anything from her, and was more focused on, ya know, teaching everyone to fight so they wouldn't fucking die. Just a bunch of executives that don't give a shit botching a story because they don't understand what makes it work and what fans like.

I was talking it over with my best friend, and we concluded that Netflix would be the kind to make a Mulan adaptation and go "Her dad is perfectly good health actually, and women are allowed to join the army. Mulan's dad only doesn't want her to go because she's 12 or something, while he's a grown man that has been a war before, but she goes anyway because she's a Feminist Icon Girlboss Queen (because "princess" is sexist)" and not realize that this removed the central theme of the story, killed half the fucking stakes, and made the main character unlikable, unreasonable, and unsympathetic.

Seriously, think about it for a second - if Sokka doesn't have his VERY mild, very teenage-like sexism early on, why does Suki even need to exist? Her only two roles in the story are "Make Sokka rethink sexism" and "Date Sokka." Netflix is so paranoid of seeming sexist that, instead of fixing the actual problem of "Hm, this female character that fans like is kind of irrelevant outside stuff regarding her boyfriend, let's flesh her out some more" they went for the route that makes her useless and doesn't allow her to show she is both willing to stand up for herself when disrespected AND to forgive and help someone if they show genuine regret and interest.

It's all downhill from here, folks. Brace yourselves.

(Also the fucking nerve of Netflix. They gave the lead actress for Wednesday absurdly long days of work while she had fucking covid, and made the pedo-bait attrocity that was "Cuties", but a story having a 4-episode mini-arc of "Male character realizes sexism is bad" is "iffy", sending a bad exemple and disrespectful to girls and women? Fuck off)

#fuck netflix

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luciusgerard · 2 years

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How to tell if someone is going to have the absolute worst Stranger Things takes:

If any of the things on this list apply to a user on any social media site (particularly Tumblr, Twitter, or TikTok) or a person IRL, chances are they're not worth engaging with because their opinions and theories regarding the show will be hot garbage.

This is just my opinion by the way, if you disagree you may continue on your merry way and continue having crappy opinions. That said, let's begin.

1. They stan this bitch.

Now, don't get me wrong. When I say this, I don't mean people who like Billy as a character because of what he adds to the show. I'm talking about people who have allowed themselves to become so obsessed that they make excuses for his abusive and racist actions. A place of understanding is not a place of justification. I'm also talking about the people who ship him with Steve (or anyone), believe he and Eddie would be friends, hate Max because she "insulted" their "baby," and the people who shit on Eddie and the Steddie ship as a whole because they view Eddie as some kind of carbon copy of Billy. You know who you are, and you suck.

2. They hate Robin or Lucas.

Neither of these characters have done anything wrong. I've never seen anyone justify their dislike of Robin for a non-ableist or non-homophobic reason (because they don't exist), and Lucas, one of two Black main characters in the show, gets criticised so harshly and so often compared to White characters who have done inarguably worse things. Y'all don't realise how damn quick you are to antagonise a Black boy in situations where he's behaving in entirely reasonable and rational manners, like when he was "mean to El" in season one when he's doing what the majority of people in his situation would do, meanwhile I hardly ever see people calling Mike out for being so needlessly rude to Max in season two. Case in point: If you hate on Robin or Lucas, your opinion is trash.

3. They're strongly against Byler and its shippers.

I honestly don't care whether you personally ship Byler or not, you can't deny that people who are 100% against even the idea of Byler are at least a little homophobic (well, technically you could, but you'd be wrong).

"Mike is straight!"

Has that been confirmed? Did Mike tell you that? Did the Duffer Brothers tell you that? No? Exactly. Besides, even if it were outright confirmed that Mike is only into girls, why is it so difficult for you to let people enjoy things that aren't causing you or anyone else any direct or indirect harm? God, please just make some friends.

"But Mike has only ever shown interest in girls!"

Tell me you have little to no media literacy skills without telling me you have little to no media literacy skills. Seriously, babe, that's not even remotely true. I can guarantee that if Will and/or Eddie were women, people like you would be all over the Byler ship and the Mike-having-a-crush-on-Eddie headcanon.

"Mike and El are in love, didn't you hear his monologue?"

See the first sentence of my last point and shut up.

4. They unironically refer to Will as "the gay one" or a variation of it.

This one is more specifically talking to the allocishets: Why is it that for three seasons Will Byers got to be referred to by his name like every other character, but season four comes out (no pun intended) and all of a sudden he's being reduced to his sexual orientation? Answer quickly.

Anyway, I'm done ranting. If you have anything to add, comment or reblog. Have a good day, people these points don't apply to.

#stranger things #stranger things fandom #stranger things opinions #byler #anti billy hargrove #anti harringrove #anti mungrove #steddie #robin buckley #lucas sinclair #steve harrington #eddie munson #anti mileven #will byers #mike wheeler #max mayfield

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magxit · 11 months

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Taylor is NOT wallowing in sadness over Joe.

Taylor is NOT hiding because she’s ashamed of how everything happened with Matty.

She is PISSED at fans. Pissed at the world. Fed up of the insanity of the fans.

Either they’re waiting hours on end and tracking / sharing her location, chasing her car or waiting outside her house or they’re ripping her apart and trying to control her life.

This woman LITERALLY wrote songs like Tolerate It, You’re Losing Me and Bejeweled about being stuffed in a basement, about not being allowed to be her and shine and about being her most authentic self and used those songs to describe how it felt to be treated like that. Like her thoughts and feelings don’t matter. Like she doesn’t matter. Like she isn’t good enough. Only for her to find someone who loves her the way she BEGGED Joe to do and share that joy with her fans by saying she’s the happiest she’s ever been only to have those fans completely invalidate her and her feelings and attack her all because of herd mentality and the inability to actually practice skills that involve research or media literacy.

Look at that People article - and people generally supplied by Tree.

"He likes to provoke a response out of people. She's a grown woman more than capable of forming her own opinions about people," the insider adds. "No one forces her into anything, especially not these days. She's on top of the world."

If her fans can’t tell how pissed she is at them with that statement then they’re just ignorant.

When was the last time she “hid”? 2016 and it was because of media backlash and hate from unreliable sources. This time it’s worse because it’s her fans. She literally told them she was the happiest she had ever been and they kept the attack on. Not just on her but on people she loved.

I mean death threats to Matty and his family? Death threats to fans who didn’t support the hatred? The blatant ignoring of any POC or Jewish fan that was trying to explain that it was misinformation twisted by the media and to do their own research - which baffles me because you have these fans hell bent on being total asses to people they think they have the right to control and use the narrative of Taylor not caring about her marginalized fans all while doing exactly that - bullying, ignoring and trying to silence those same marginalized fans because they don’t fit a narrative that is being pushed.

The best being a well known POC tiktoker being called a white supremacist and racist because they were explaining media literacy and explaining the whole situation with a level head that did research.

And the times she has done anything to make a difference or make a statement has been ripped apart. Like her pride statement. That was trashed. Completely. Fans were disgusting over it. She donates to food banks in every location she performs at - that’s rarely mentioned at all. She donates bus loads to foundations and charities that help marginalized fans and sick individuals and no one breaths about it.

All while ignoring the fact that Matty has been a more vocal and active activist in his career then Taylor ever has. (I love Taylor but this isn’t something to argue) all the way from the abortion ban, trump, women’s rights, gay and trans rights, violence etc.

So no. She is NOT wallowing away in sadness because of joy.

Believe it or not - You’re Losing Me was very much a “I’m done” type of song and when you have experienced what she did and you finally hit the point of walking away then it’s been over for months or years and you’d never go back to them. Ever. The breakup brings you peace. Even if you miss them you still find the happiness in life but wallowing isn’t something you do.

And she knows the truth behind who Matty really is. So she’s not hiding in shame.

The fact that the fans who did this to her are completely unable to actually take responsibility for their choices and claim she is wallowing or embarrassed… that’s disgusting.

It’s them. They’re the problem.

And before anyone comes from me - not a the 1975 fan. Big Taylor fan though.

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mermaidsirennikita · 3 months

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Hmm... you know what you said about people not actually reading books they claim they've read? I feel like this can basically apply to most media. We're living in the tik tok generation attention spans and media literacy have never been lower. I know people who watch everything speed up or they fast forward through movies and shows or they watch those movie plot summary videos on youtube and facebook and count that as watching the actual movie! (big yikes) I saw my sister the other day watching Friends via tik tok clips despite the fact we have the whole show on dvd. This is how people consume media nowadays and it's worrying!!

It's true lol. And I won't pretend to be super invested in everything I watch, but if it genuinely doesn't interest me I'll just kinda stop and move on (when it comes to shows--with movies I usually soldier on unless it's REEEEALLY bad).

Me and my lovely lady friends have had a movie watching group for... like four years now (since right before the pando lmao but the pando made it a lot bigger) and I think that our commitment to watching trash, amazing, and mid things (we've given up on VERY few movies) has made me believe even more that you need to watch or otherwise something before really getting into the discourse. Like. I just said I watched The Bear season 1 (or near to it) and decided it wasn't for me. But I absorbed like, none of that show lmao. It REALLY wasn't for me. So while I can say "I didn't like The Bear", I don't feel like I consumed it, so I can only say on the surface level what didn't work for me, and maybe what I dislike about it on a cultural level (see: the way romance arcs are handled and discussed in the media).

But if I REALLY wanna get into critiquing? I'll watch it. Maestro was such a bad movie. So hard to watch. It wasn't even so bad it's funny, it was just bad. But now I can tell you that with an informed eye, because I WATCHED IT. And there have been movies that have surprised me, too! We just rewatched one of my all time favorite movies that only us and Adam Driver's wife have seen, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. That movie is so weird! We only watched it because Adam looked good in it! And it's AMAZING to me. I LOVE that movie. I also love so many random little movies people trash. I hate movies like Wonka yet I get through them so that I can properly drag them with an informed heart.

I feel like a lot of people have really lost the ability to invest time and thought. I mean, I know this because Zaslav has asked creators to make things that don't require attention from viewers. For HBO Max, dude. When HBO has been the home of shows that offer so much more nuance than the initial dialogue, based on line readings, expressions. Succession's dialogue, for example, is practically incoherent at points on paper. I mean, Roman Roy sounds so sadistic on paper lol. But when you see Kieran Culkin deliver his dialogue, there is a totally different read, and you see what Jesse Armstrong was actually trying to convey.

I also think this is one reason (other reasons are cultural lol) that people give such surface level readings even when they do consume the content. Like, if you've trained your brain to only read into the most straightforward, "the dialogue and actions are the single truth, there is no other truth, there is no other meaning than EXACTLY what is being done and said in a literal manner"... You are almost never understanding what truly great work really means.

I mean, I just discussed this re: Dreaming of You. Derek Craven stealing Sara's glasses is not meant to convey "Derek Craven is a tool". That is a completely surface level reading. Kleypas is conveying "Derek Craven is obsessed with her" and honestly? Some character work about his background (he steals impulsively because it's super easy to him because even though he's rich now he had to grow up stealing shit because he was LESS THAN dirt poor) and the way he sees the world (he wants her, he doesn't think he can have her, he covets her, and what he does when he covets is take, through theft if need be). And I don't know, probably some subtextual shit about stealing Sara because she's engaged and shit, but that's more interpretive lol.

And I don't expect people to get as granular and obsessive as I do, because a) I am super analytical by nature b) I am A Nerd c) I write a lot so layered meaning is something I'm obsessed with. But like... in the above example, the MOST BASIC reading of "he wants her so he took her glasses because he doesn't think he'll see her again" is so obvious lol. Lisa leads you to that reading. I think he literally has internal dialogue like "he'd never see her again so whatever" while holding the glasses.

The same with the Succession example. If Roman shakes off his dad's weird abusive comments going "it's whatever" you shouldn't go "Roman is devoid of emotion" lol, you should be able to pick up Roman actually deeply caring based on the line reading and expression and a million other line readings before that.

I don't know, dude. Just take the time to consume shit. Not everyone does have a lot of time, I get it. So consume fewer things. Take more time. It's okay. You don't have to be on top of the cultural moment all the time, and if you're faking it to be in it, you're not getting the full experience anyway.

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monriatitans · 1 month

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Ta-Da! List: Thursday, March 14th

I share my "Ta-Da! List" every day so everyone gets a daily update and I have a reminder of what I’ve accomplished.

To learn more about "Ta-Da! Lists", check out @adhdjesse's book Extra Focus.

Abbreviations

– MT: MonriaTitans – TMA: TitansMonriArt – WGS: The Weekend Game Show – O&T: Opinions & Truth Blog – VGQ: Video Game Quote – LQ: Literacy Quote – BMAC: Buy Me a Coffee – TDL: Ta-Da! List

Ta-Da! List

✧ March 13th: – BMAC: added a link to the Ta-Da! Lists in the "Welcome Gamers" pinned post ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ throughout the day: – kept emails manageable – loaded the dishwasher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: – O&T: the scheduled VGQ & LQ posted and they were manually shared on other social media; added a link to the Ta-Da! Lists to the "SITE MAP"; shared today's TDL – SITE MAPs: added a link to the Ta-Da! Lists to Tumblr's and Medium's – TMA: wrote the poem "Blade", then published it on the TMA Medium and other social media ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: – MT Carrd: added the Cause of the Month Page link to the WGS section ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores and miscellaneous: – watched "Blade" repeatedly – had breakfast with the parentals – watched "Charlie’s Angels" – swept and swiffered the floors – checked the mail – vacuumed – took out the trash – "watched" Upper Echelon‘s video "The Scam Ring is GROWING" via YouTube – "watched" I’m Autistic, Now What?'s video "When Autistic Special Interests Go WRONG" via YouTube – "watched" The Financial Diet's videos "10 Purchases You Think Will Improve Your Life, But Won't", "7 Common Self-Care Tips That Actually Make You More Stressed" and "9 'Responsible' Decisions That Secretly Waste Your Money" via YouTube – "watched" Career Contessa's video "How to Create the Perfect Writing Sample to Get the Job (+ 28 Writing Prompts)" via YouTube – started, then unloaded the dishwasher

—

Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy what I do? Please consider supporting via Buy Me a Coffee! Like what you see and want to know when there’s more? Click here to subscribe for updates and/or hit the Follow button! Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch and YouTube! For more about MonriaTitans, click here! The image was made in Canva!

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bethestaryouareradio · 6 months

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World Kindness Week

MIRACLE MOMENT®

“Forget everything else and remember your humanity.” Albert Einstein

A MESSAGE from Founder/Executive Director, CYNTHIA BRIAN

November 13-19 is World Kindness Week and if there ever was a time that we all need to consider kindness as an essential human emotion, it is now. Life is complicated, chaotic, and constantly challenging. When we pause long enough to consider the feelings of others and be kind, we can connect in a meaningful way. Kindness breeds kindness. With kindness as our guiding light, cooperation and community evolve and multiply. Our Kindness Coordinator, Karen Kitchel, offers ways for you to act with kindness. At Be the Star You Are!®, we encourage kindness in all of our daily activities and spearhead outreach programs that are kind and inclusive. We donate uplifting books to those in need. We produce and host radio broadcasts that empower and inspire. We organize and participate in events that create and foster community while making a difference. Kindness is king!

My parents taught me to treat others as I want to be treated. Most of us practice this lesson as a basic need of every human is to love and be loved, to appreciate and be appreciated, to be effective and make a difference.

How can you be kinder? First, be kind to yourself. Treat others with respect. Offer compliments and speak in a positive manner. Find the good in someone and let them know you appreciate them. Compliment often and criticize less. Donate your time and resources to a charity or cause you believe in. Help someone in need of support. Open your heart.

Practice being kind and you’ll feel a big boost of the love hormone, oxytocin. You’ll be less stressed and discover joy in the little things. Kindness is contagious. Pass it around!

Smile with kindness and remember you humanity.

Cynthia Brian

Founder/Executive Director

Be the Star You Are!®

PO Box 376

Moraga, California 94556

[email protected]

DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1504

A WEEK OF KINDNESS

by Karen Kitchel

This week promotes the importance of being kind. The purpose of the week, celebrated in November each year, is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together.

What to do?

Interrupt the ordinary

Think about the people who help you get life done (trash collector, mail delivery person, etc.) Interrupt them with a bottle of sparkling water or candy bar and a “Thanks for what you do.”

Ice cream scattering

While at the grocery store, pick up a box of ice cream bars and drop them off at a local shelter. All you have to say is “Enjoy!”

A line to say to make someone’s day

“You are really good at what you do!”

Magazines for the homeless

If you enjoy reading, gather your used magazines and take them to a homeless shelter.

Kindness cards

Make up a few note cards to keep in your car or purse to randomly give to those wonderful folks who keep restrooms clean or the person who fills your water glass. Cards can simply say: “You are appreciated."

Treat Someone

Going out for lunch or a cup of coffee? Choose a random person and tell the server you will pick up their tab.

Karen Kitchel is the Kindness Coordinator volunteer with BTSYA. She purchased the book, No Barnyard Bullies, as a gift for every kindergarten student where she is a volunteer teacher. www.scatteringkindness.com

BOOKS TO INCREASE KINDNESS

For teens and adults, check out the Be the Star You Are! series of books offering positive, uplifting stories for living, loving, laughing, and learning to make a difference. The trilogy includes Be the Star You Are!, 99 Gifts, Be the Star You Are! for Teens, and Be the Star You Are! Millennials to Boomers. All purchases benefit Be the Star You Are!® charity.

The holidays are coming and books are gifts that keep on giving.

Buy all five books in a package at https://www.bethestaryouare.org/book-gift

Buy individual books by clicking on the ONLINE STORE at

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR SANTA DAY!

On Saturday, December 2, for Santa Day at 5A in Moraga. Be the Star You Are!® collaborates with 5 A Rent-A-Space to provide this annual family-fun event. Volunteers will help kids write letters to Santa and enjoy crafts. Enjoy hot cocoa and snacks, plus get a photo with Jolly St. Nick. FREE event. 5 A Rent-A-Space: 455 Moraga Rd. #F, Moraga.

Thanks to Mark Hoogs State Farm Insurance www.TeamHoogs.com for once again sponsoring Be the Star You Are!® at Santa Day. https://www.bethestaryouare.org/events-1/santa-day-at-5a

SIMPLE WAYS TO HELP!

We have suggestions for you to shop, save, and stay safe. Please use these web sites for all of your shopping essentials.

1. Discounted books at��Amazon

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4. Buy “Read, Lead, Succeed” black tanks and books at StarStyle® Store:

5. Are you a gamer, lover of new software, or other digital content? Buy all of your favorites at Humble Bundle. This fall, look back with gratitude and pride and look forward with hope and optimism.

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November is also the month where we express our gratitude. As we celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, we wish you a wonderful, healthy, and happy day of appreciation. Thank you for being part of our galaxy.

Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him. ~ C.S. Lewis

DONATE TODAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THANK YOU FOR BEING KIND!

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goddessgardener · 6 months

Text

World Kindness Week!

MIRACLE MOMENT® “Forget everything else and remember your humanity.” Albert Einstein A MESSAGE from Founder/Executive Director, CYNTHIA BRIAN November 13-19 is World Kindness Week and if there ever was a time that we all need to consider kindness as an essential human emotion, it is now. Life is complicated, chaotic, and constantly challenging. When we pause long enough to consider the…

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MIRACLE MOMENT®

“Forget everything else and remember your humanity.” Albert Einstein

A MESSAGE from Founder/Executive Director, CYNTHIA BRIAN

Practice being kind and you’ll feel a big boost of the love hormone, oxytocin. You’ll be less stressed and discover joy in the little things. Kindness is contagious. Pass it around!

Smile with kindness and remember you humanity.

Cynthia Brian

Founder/Executive Director

Be the Star You Are!®

PO Box 376

Moraga, California 94556

[email protected]

DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1504

A WEEK OF KINDNESS

by Karen Kitchel

This week promotes the importance of being kind. The purpose of the week, celebrated in November each year, is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together.

What to do?

Interrupt the ordinary

Think about the people who help you get life done (trash collector, mail delivery person, etc.) Interrupt them with a bottle of sparkling water or candy bar and a “Thanks for what you do.”

Ice cream scattering

While at the grocery store, pick up a box of ice cream bars and drop them off at a local shelter. All you have to say is “Enjoy!”

A line to say to make someone’s day

“You are really good at what you do!”

Magazines for the homeless

If you enjoy reading, gather your used magazines and take them to a homeless shelter.

Kindness cards

Treat Someone

Going out for lunch or a cup of coffee? Choose a random person and tell the server you will pick up their tab.

BOOKS TO INCREASE KINDNESS

The holidays are coming and books are gifts that keep on giving.

Buy all five books in a package at https://www.bethestaryouare.org/book-gift

Buy individual books by clicking on the ONLINE STORE at

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR SANTA DAY!

Thanks to Mark Hoogs State Farm Insurance www.TeamHoogs.com for once again sponsoring Be the Star You Are!® at Santa Day. https://www.bethestaryouare.org/events-1/santa-day-at-5a

SIMPLE WAYS TO HELP!

We have suggestions for you to shop, save, and stay safe. Please use these web sites for all of your shopping essentials.

1. Discounted books at Amazon

2. Coupon Birds: Visit our website and click on the logo. Shop. Earn. Give!

3. Earn a $5.00 bonus by choosing Be the Star You Are!® and shop at over 1900 stores on IGIVE

4. Buy “Read, Lead, Succeed” black tanks and books at StarStyle® Store:

5. Are you a gamer, lover of new software, or other digital content? Buy all of your favorites at Humble Bundle. This fall, look back with gratitude and pride and look forward with hope and optimism.

DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1504

DONATE TODAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THANK YOU FOR BEING KIND!

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queerwrock · 2 years

Text

Anti-fascist Wizard Rock

Accio Equality by The Elvendorks

A Flower and a Hufflepuff by Moss Bliss

Arthur Weasley by Sonorus

At the End of the Night by Hawthorn & Holly

Aurors Fight by Tonks & the Aurors

Azkaban Abolition/Elf Uprising by Bisexual Harry

BS by Draco and the Malfoys

Classico Gas by Dawlish and the Archies

Death Eater Masks by Tonks & the Aurors

Dolores Umbridge by Potterwatch

Down with the Ministry by Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills

Draco Doesn’t Know by Undesirable #1

He Wants Me by Newt Skabander

Hogsmeade Row by Undesirable #1

I Pity the Death Eaters by The Whomping Willows

Just Say No by Ludo Bagman and the Trash

Lumos by Harry and the Potters

On the Importance of Media Literacy Under Authoritarian Rule by Harry and the Potters

Owl Post Strike by The Owl Post and the Mudbloods

My Boyfriend is a Deatheater by The House of Black

No Pureblood Supremacy by Harry and the Potters

Not My Minister by Aguamenti

Not Your Friend by Tonks & the Aurors

Potterwatch Anthem by Potterwatch

Running With the Wrong Crowd by The Whomping Willows

Shout It Out! by RiddleTM

Tired and Old by Mulciber Zerstorer

The Army of Dumbledore by The Weirdos Are Out

The Banality of Evil (Song for Albert Runcorn) by Harry and the Potters

The Other Minister by Detention with Dolores

The Trace by Harry and the Potters

The Wizards of Egalitarianism by The Hermione Crookshanks Experience

Til We Go Off the Air by Potterwatch

VoldeTrump Day by The Mudbloods

We’re Not Giving Up by Slytherin Soundtrack

What’s Up by Newt Skabander

Wizard Ⓐnarchy by Candle Wix

You’re Not the Wizard by Harry and the Potters

Masterlist

See also: Political mobilization and Black Lives Matter

1 note · View note

warninggraphiccontent · 3 years

Text

16 July 2021

Food for thought

At last week's Data Bites, I noted how 'Wales' is a standard unit of area. This week, along comes a map which shows that all the built-up land in the UK is equivalent to one Wales:

The map is from the National Food Strategy, published yesterday (and the man has a point).

It has divided opinion, judging by the responses to this tweet. I understand where the sceptics are coming from - at first glance, it may be confusing, given Wales isn't actually entirely built up, Cornwall made of peat, or Shetland that close to the mainland (or home to all the UK's golf courses). And I'm often critical of people using maps just because the data is geographical in some way, when a different, non-map visualisation would be better.

But I actually think this one works. Using a familiar geography to represent areas given over to particular land use might help us grasp it more readily (urban areas = size of Wales, beef and lamb pastures = more of the country than anything else). It's also clear that a huge amount of overseas land is needed to feed the UK, too.

The map has grabbed people's attention and got them talking, which is no bad thing. And it tells the main stories I suspect its creators wanted to. In other words, it's made those messages... land.

Trash talk

Happy Take Out The Trash Day!

Yesterday saw A LOT of things published by Cabinet Office - data on special advisers, correspondence with parliamentarians, public bodies and major projects to name but a few, and the small matter of the new plans outlining departmental priorities and how their performance will be measured.

It's great that government is publishing this stuff. It's less great that too much of it still involves data being published in PDFs not spreadsheets. And it's even less great that the ignoble tradition of Take Out The Trash Day continues, for all the reasons here (written yesterday) and here (written in 2017).

I know this isn't (necessarily) deliberate, and it's a lot of good people working very hard to get things finished before the summer (as my 2017 piece acknowledges). And it's good to see government being transparent.

But it's 2021, for crying out loud. The data collection should be easier. The use of this data in government should be more widespread to begin with.

We should expect better.

In other news:

I was really pleased to have helped the excellent team at Transparency International UK (by way of some comments on a draft) with their new report exploring access and influence in UK housing policy, House of Cards. Read it here.

One of our recent Data Bites speakers, Doug Gurr, is apparently in the running to run the NHS. More here.

Any excuse to plug my Audrey Tang interview.

The good folk at ODI Leeds/The Data City/the ODI have picked up and run with my (and others') attempt to map the UK government data ecosystem. Do help them out.

Five years ago this week...

Regarding last week's headline of Three Lines on a Chart: obviously I was going to.

Have a great weekend

Gavin

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Today's links:

Graphic content

Vax populi

Why vaccine-shy French are suddenly rushing to get jabbed* (The Economist)

Morning update on Macron demolishing French anti-vax feeling (or at least vax-hesitant) (Sophie Pedder via Nicolas Berrod)

How Emmanuel Macron’s “health passes” have led to a surge in vaccine bookings in France* (New Statesman)

How effective are coronavirus vaccines against the Delta variant?* (FT)

England faces the sternest test of its vaccination strategy* (The Economist)

Where Are The Newest COVID Hot Spots? Mostly Places With Low Vaccination Rates (NPR)

There's A Stark Red-Blue Divide When It Comes To States' Vaccination Rates (NPR)

All talk, no jabs: the reality of global vaccine diplomacy* (Telegraph)

Vaccination burnout? (Reuters)

Viral content

COVID-19: Will the data allow the government to lift restrictions on 19 July? (Sky News)

UK Covid-19 rates are the highest of any European country after Cyprus* (New Statesman)

COVID-19: Cautionary tale from the Netherlands' coronavirus unlocking - what lessons can the UK learn? (Sky News)

‘Inadequate’: Covid breaches on the rise in Australia’s hotel quarantine (The Guardian)

Side effects

COVID-19: Why is there a surge in winter viruses at the moment? (Sky News)

London Beats New York Back to Office, by a Latte* (Bloomberg)

Outdoor dining reopened restaurants for all — but added to barriers for disabled* (Washington Post)

NYC Needs the Commuting Crowds That Have Yet to Fully Return* (Bloomberg)

Politics and government

Who will succeed Angela Merkel?* (The Economist)

Special advisers in government (Tim for IfG)

How stingy are the UK’s benefits? (Jamie Thunder)

A decade of change for children's services funding (Pro Bono Economics)

National Food Strategy (independent review for UK Government)

National Food Strategy: Tax sugar and salt and prescribe veg, report says (BBC News)

Air, space

Can Wizz challenge Ryanair as king of Europe’s skies?* (FT)

Air passengers have become much more confrontational during the pandemic* (The Economist)

Branson and Bezos in space: how their rocket ships compare* (FT)

Sport

Euro 2020: England expects — the long road back to a Wembley final* (FT)

Most football fans – and most voters – support the England team taking the knee* (New Statesman)

Domestic violence surges after a football match ends* (The Economist)

The Most Valuable Soccer Player In America Is A Goalkeeper (FiveThirtyEight)

Sport is still rife with doping* (The Economist)

Wimbledon wild card success does not disguise financial challenge* (FT)

Can The U.S. Women’s Swim Team Make A Gold Medal Sweep? (FiveThirtyEight)

Everything else

Smoking: How large of a global problem is it? And how can we make progress against it? (Our World in Data)

Record June heat in North America and Europe linked to climate change* (FT)

Here’s a list of open, non-code tools that I use for #dataviz, #dataforgood, charity data, maps, infographics... (Lisa Hornung)

Meta data

Identity crisis

A single sign-on and digital identity solution for government (GDS)

UK government set to unveil next steps in digital identity market plan (Computer Weekly)

BCS calls for social media platforms to verify users to curb abuse (IT Pro)

ID verification for social media as a solution to online abuse is a terrible idea (diginomica)

Who is behind the online abuse of black England players and how can we stop it?* (New Statesman)

Euro 2020: Why abuse remains rife on social media (BBC News)

UK government

Online Media Literacy Strategy (DCMS)

Privacy enhancing technologies: Adoption guide (CDEI)

The Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset is now available in the ONS Secure Research Service (ADR UK)

Our Home Office 2024 DDaT Strategy is published (Home Office)

The UK’s Digital Regulation Plan makes few concrete commitments (Tech Monitor)

OSR statement on data transparency and the role of Heads of Profession for Statistics (Office for Statistics Regulation)

Good data from any source can help us report on the global goals to the UN (ONS)

The state of the UK’s statistical system 2020/21 (Office for Statistics Regulation)

Far from average: How COVID-19 has impacted the Average Weekly Earnings data (ONS)

Health

Shock treatment: can the pandemic turn the NHS digital? (E&T)

Can Vaccine Passports Actually Work? (Slate)

UK supercomputer Cambridge-1 to hunt for medical breakthroughs (The Guardian)

AI got 'rithm

An Applied Research Agenda for Data Governance for AI (GPAI)

Taoiseach and Minister Troy launch Government Roadmap for AI in Ireland (Irish Government)

Tech

“I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Go Back”: Return-to-Office Agita Is Sweeping Silicon Valley (Vanity Fair)

Google boss Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom (BBC News)

The class of 2021: Welcome to POLITICO’s annual ranking of the 28 power players behind Europe’s tech revolution (Politico)

Inside Facebook’s Data Wars* (New York Times)

Concern trolls and power grabs: Inside Big Tech’s angry, geeky, often petty war for your privacy (Protocol)

Exclusive extract: how Facebook's engineers spied on women* (Telegraph)

Face off

Can facial analysis technology create a child-safe internet? (The Observer)

#Identity, #OnlineSafety & #AgeVerification – notes on “Can facial analysis technology create a child-safe internet?” (Alec Muffett)

Europe makes the case to ban biometric surveillance* (Wired)

Open government

From open data to joined-up government: driving efficiency with BA Obras (Open Contracting Partnership)

AVAILABLE NOW! DEMOCRACY IN A PANDEMIC: PARTICIPATION IN RESPONSE TO CRISIS (Involve)

Designing digital services for equitable access (Brookings)

Data

Trusting the Data: How do we reach a public settlement on the future of tech? (Demos)

"Why do we use R rather than Excel?" (Terence Eden)

Everything else

The world’s biggest ransomware gang just disappeared from the internet (MIT Technology Review)

Our Statistical Excellence Awards Ceremony has just kicked off! (Royal Statistical Society)

Pin resets wipe all data from over 100 Treasury mobile phones (The Guardian)

Data officers raid two properties over Matt Hancock CCTV footage leak (The Guardian)

How did my phone number end up for sale on a US database? (BBC News)

Gendered disinformation: 6 reasons why liberal democracies need to respond to this threat (Demos, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung)

Opportunities

EVENT: Justice data in the digital age: Balancing risks and opportunities (The LEF)

JOBS: Senior Data Strategy - Data Innovation & Business Analysis Hub (MoJ)

JOB: Director of Evidence and Analytics (Natural England)

JOB: Policy and Research Associate (Open Ownership)

JOB: Research Officer in Data Science (LSE Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science)

JOB: Chief operating officer (Democracy Club, via Jukesie)

And finally...

me: can’t believe we didn’t date sooner... (@MNateShyamalan)

Are you closer to Georgia, or to Georgia? (@incunabula)

A masterpiece in FOIA (Chris Cook)

How K-Pop conquered the universe* (Washington Post)

Does everything really cost more? Find out with our inflation quiz.* (Washington Post)

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cupofcowboys · 5 years

Note

What advice would you give to new fanfic writers? And, if you don’t mind answering, how long have you been writing fan fiction?

Hey there, friend!

I have only been consistently writing fanfiction for 5 months, so you may want to take my advice with a pinch of salt. I’m still learning and I’m nowhere near as knowledgeable as others, but I do have some advice for you!

Write. It seems obvious, I know, but do it. Put your pen to the paper, your fingers on the keys, your voice to the recorder, however you write - and go. Don’t wait around. Don’t “do it tomorrow”. Do. it. now.

Write what you want to write. No matter what you think the fandom wants or what others are doing - remember that you are writing for you. You don’t have to write anything you don’t want to, even if it’s a request.

Read. Read and share other’s creations in the fandom. Read books. Read writing advice. Read up on topics that interest you or are useful for your writing (i.e. research guns, horse care, 1890′s dress etc). Reading will teach and inspire you in new ways and research will make you more knowledgeable on what you’re writing.

Find your niche. Are you writing a ship? Self-inserts? OCs? A specific character? Characters? Tropes? Fics? Headcanons? Requests? All of them? Figure it out and find others in your niche or with overlapping interests and surround yourself with them and their content.

Be a critic. Critique your own works, but also critique others. No, I don’t mean send people unsolicited constructive criticism, I mean when you ingest media - think about it. Think about it’s strengths, it’s weaknesses, the parts you like, the parts you don’t. Do this with all media you ingest. It’s a useful life and literacy skill. You can learn a lot by doing it. If you don’t know how or where to start, watch film/TV/book critics on YouTube.

Encourage yourself! Don’t depend on external validation. Notes don’t mean anything. Do not judge the value or quality of your fics based on numbers. Not notes, not followers, not comments, not requests, not even how many reblogs you get. Judge your value on your own terms. This is hard, but you will be discouraged from day one if you don’t. Write for you. Write for fun. Love what you create. Create what you love. Be happy in your successes, however you define them to yourself.

Encourage others! Other content creators are not your enemies. They are not rivals. They are your friends. Love what they create. Share what they create. Comment. Like. Request. Send asks. Private message! Be nice, be supportive, be who you want others to be to you. Do not tear someone else down to pull yourself up - you will build your creations on a negative foundation.

Blog smart. Blogging seems simple, just post and go! But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Make sure to tag smart. Tag everything and tag it well. Don’t tag anything that isn’t relevant to your fic though, only tag what is in or important to your creations. Don’t forget to add a unique tag to your fics so they are easy to find on your blog! They get buried easily, especially if you have an active blog. (i.e. #hanateawrite, which is mine)

Create a Masterlist. Having a simple, easy to update hub for reader’s to find your fics makes such a difference. It draws traffic to your older creations that might not otherwise be seen!

Create Rules or an FAQ. This is extremely important if you take requests. Have an easy to access and read list what you create, what you don’t and what you like. This will greatly reduce your number of requests for things you have no interest in writing. Even if you don’t take requests, you might still want to make one.

Adopt easy to read formatting. Make sure your fics are “viewer” friendly. Break up massive chunks of text, use text formatting, full stops and apostrophes, titles, content warning tags, ship tags, etc.

How to handle criticism. This is different for everyone, but here is my take. There are two kinds of criticism - Constructive Criticism and Hate. The latter might look something like “Your writing shit, delete your blog”. If you get something like this, just delete it. It isn’t constructive. Don’t give it a voice, don’t react to it - throw it in the trash where it belongs. Don’t let it get to you. Acknowledge that it only exists to hurt you and that it can’t if you don’t allow it to.

As for criticism, it can take many forms. But it’s important to always view thoughtful criticism with positive intent. Do not assume criticism is an attack. Assume it is someone who cares about your creations trying to help and advise you, even if it’s not well-written at first glance. Dissect it and learn from it, even if you only take 1% of their critique.

Don’t be a workaholic! You are not a machine. You are not being paid. You do not owe anything to anyone. Write on your own terms, in your own time, and never at an expense. Take breaks. Relax. Have fun. That’s what fanfiction is all about!

And finally, don’t compare yourself to others. Let you and your writing be themselves. Don’t try to be like someone else. Only compare your creations with your past creations, not someone elses. Writing is a form of art and there is no “right” way to write. There are good ways to format, use syntax, descriptions, etc but there is no perfect writing formula. Your creative voice is unique to you - so only compare it you.

I hope that any of this helped. I can’t tell you how to write fanfiction, that is unique to you - but I can give you tips on how to manage yourself, your blog and how to improve your craft. There is so much fun to be had as long as you always remember that’s what you are doing it for. Good luck anon, I can’t wait to see what you do!

#ask #anon #advice #writing advice #writing tips #fanfiction advice #hanatea

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grouchomarxiste-blog1 · 4 years

Text

Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite: Marx and Violence

Warning: A majority of this was written pre-pandemic, so please excuse my overly optimistic tone. It was a different time.

Yes, another Bong Joon-Ho film. Can you blame me? The guy’s a genius. Parasite was another one of those great films that will never leave you. You can watch the movie simply without doing a major analysis in your head and you will still agree that it’s a great movie. Which personally, is why I believe it's made its way into the major American awards season. Parasite winning Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes was one of the few decisions I’ve agreed with. I didn’t see any of the winners in the film categories besides Parasite, and I’m very much ok with that. It’s making its way into Hollywood and the favorite lists of celebrities. Elon Musk said he loved Parasite (he also turned Grimes, the former “anti-imperialist,” to the mother of his future child). Chrissy Teigen loved Parasite (a lot can be said about her, so let’s not). Obama loved Parasite (but I have some serious doubts about the authenticity of his yearly favorites list. Mainly because I can’t imagine him listening to Summer Walker). I was completely boggled at all of those tweets. How? How is one so blind? How did one watch Parasite and not feel a thing? After I watched Parasite, I rushed back to school to attend the discussion section of my Political Theory class so I could read and discuss primitive accumulation through dispossession with revolutionary fervor. I recommended it to everyone near me. I even wrote a note to my professor who tucked it into his book. But is that the problem- that all these beloved figures (not mine) end up loving the sheer adrenaline of the story and tweet to their followers about how great the movie is. Those followers, with their favorite celebrities’ seal of approval, watch the movie, not putting it together either. Bong Joon-Ho is critiquing those very figures! In every post-Parasite interview, Bong Joon-Ho has said that Parasite is about America and capitalism, but we have just reduced those statements to memes on Twitter. As funny as they are, Parasite is rich for its class analysis. The Hollywood reaction is just as important. Marx is all over this movie, there's no question about it. I also want us to understand these controversial moments from a Fanonian perspective, again all with relation to Marx. I hope for us to understand that everything about this movie is intentional and every bit of it is worth pages and pages of discussion. I nearing 11 pages as I write this. I also hope that this film can be a way for us to understand economic exploitation in the 21st century. While many celebrities have misunderstood it, it is important that you, us, the people, the working class, grasp every bit of this radical film.

I’m not going to bother with another one of my “brief summary” because I’m assuming, we’ve all seen it. It's on Hulu now and I believe Apple TV. If you don’t want to pay for either platforms, watch a pirated version online, I genuinely don’t think Bong will mind.

I want to talk about the home. I know we all had the same reaction to that beautiful home: awe, admiration, and envy. The Park’s home itself is significant, but also in contrast to the Kims’ home. The Kim’s live in a small semi-basement home, where they have to reach up in order to look out their window and see the street level. Their home is dirty, cramped, just not a place where anyone wants to be. But immediately, I thought of Fanon and the native sector. I know that Parasite isn’t about colonialism, but space is important to Marx (I’ll return to Fanon). In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels attribute many things to the process of proletarianization. To name a few: literacy campaigns and public education, the politicization of the proletariat towards the end of feudalism, expansion of media, etc. One that stands out, is the mass migration and urbanization of the proletariat. Through that, the proletariat was concentrated into the poorest parts of the city where they shared their most intimate quarters with workers like themselves (Marx and Engels, 15) One might dismiss this as a historical example specific to Europe, but if we go back to my thoughts on Memories of Murder, we’d note how Korea’s transition to a modern capitalist society, was a fairly recent one (from 1987 onwards). As the agricultural sector suffered, Koreans living in the rural provinces were forced to move into the major cities. Park (Song Kang-Ho’s character in Memories) was lucky enough to become a successful businessman, unlike the Kims who earn their livelihood by holding pizza boxes- the most insignificant work. Along with urbanization, the proletariat also occupied the small space of the factory, where they are reminded of the everyday brutality of their work. The Park’s home is not cramped, but the one scene where everyone is rushing to hide from them, results in Ki-taek, Ki-jeong, and Ki-woo hiding underneath a coffee table overnight. After that lengthy battle with Geun-sae and Moon-gwang, the Kims are exhausted. They do not want to be laying side by side hearing the Parks have sex. My friend Sef also reminded me that the Parks had weird sex as Mr. Park recalled how their old chauffeur possibly had sex with a drugged-up prostitute, a scenario that previously made Mrs. Park scream out of disgust. Revisiting this, I believe this definitely deserves a psychoanalytic analysis.

This isn’t their breaking point, but also hearing Mr. Park say that Ki-taek smells like the subway is a factor. Once making their break they run outside where it's raining heavily. They come to their home which is flooded and destroyed. Here is where I’ll start talking about Fanon. [READ NOTE]. Again, I know the colonial system is not the case in Parasite. Fanon was a Marxist and expanded on Marxist theory in the colonial context. I just want to warn you that I am using Fanon as carefully as possible, not using concepts that are distinctly racial. I know there’s probably also much more relevant work out there on spatiality and violence, but I think Fanon’s prose style in The Wretched of the Earthis quite appropriate for the film. Let’s consider the colonial bourgeoisie as the Parks and the natives as the Kims. Fanon calls the colonial world, a “compartmentalized world.” The colonists’ sector is clean and protected whereas the native sector is overcrowded, envious, and starving. Sounds about right so far.

The colonist’s sector is a sector built to last, all stone and steel. It’s a sector of lights and paved roads, where the trash cans constantly overflow with strange and wonderful garbage, undreamed-of leftovers. The colonizer’s feet can never be glimpsed, except perhaps in the sea, but then again you can never get close enough. They are protected by solid shoes in a sector where the streets are clean and smooth., without a pothole, without a stone… The colonized’s sector or at least the “native” quarters, the shanty town, the Medina, the reservation, is a disreputable place, inhabited by disreputable people. You are born anywhere, anyhow. You die anywhere, from anything. It’s a world with no space, people are piled one on top of each other. (Fanon, 4)

This becomes extremely relevant when the Kims run out of the Parks’ home in the pouring rain. I kept noticing that they were all barefoot, only focused on getting out of there. My toes curled in the movie theater watching that. Running away from that traumatic house to find your own home destroyed, relocating to a displacement camp, THEN going to work the next day for your unaffected employer who has the audacity to audibly take a sniff of you. I don't know about you, but to me, this sounds like the conditions for a proletarian revolution. Besides the literal allegory, the tone sharply shifts. One could argue that it began to change when they found Geun-sae in the bunker or when Moon-gwang hit her head but that was just some good old dark comedy for me. After the flooding, things are different. Ki-taek has this unmoving face. Things turned grim and we knew something climactic was about to happen. Fanon’s most famous chapter, “Concerning Violence,” maintains that decolonization will always be a violent event because colonialism is a violent system itself. Something that I absolutely love about this chapter is that it isn’t some dense, theoretical work. It’s a revolutionary call to arms for all colonized people. It has a strategic pace which parallels Parasite so well. He sets the scene- the compartmentalized, Manichaen world. He slowly intensifies the antagonistic relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, until this culminating point:

The colonized subject thus discovers that his life, his breathing and his heartbeat are the same as the colonist’s. He discovers that the skin of the colonist is not worth more than the “natives.” In other words, his world receives a fundamental jolt. The colonized’s revolutionary new assurance stems from this. If no longer strike fear into me or nail me to the spot and his voice can no longer petrify me. I am no longer uneasy in his presence. In reality, to hell with him. Not only does his presence no longer bother me, but i am already preparing to waylay him in such a way that he will no longer have any solution but to flee (Fanon, 10)

As corny as it sounds, when I first read that, it brought me to tears. I’m not sure if it was just because I was up for three days straight writing my midterm and I was finally breaking, or because it just meant that much to me. But that section in which the colonized discoversthat his life is worth as much as the colonizer is such a crucial moment. This parallels the infamous birthday scene. Geun-sae gets out of the bunker, stabs Ki-jung, the Park’s kid (I’ll look his name up later) has a seizure, and Chong-sook is wrestling with Geun-sae. Shit is going down. If we recall, Mrs. Park mentioned that it takes a few minutes for her son to die after a seizure and needs to go to the hospital immediately. So much is going on and Mr. Park starts screaming at Ki-taek to give him the keys. Ki-taek is immobilized at this point. His daughter has been stabbed, son attacked, wife almost killed, the Parks’ got him dressed up in some cultural appropriation, Hollywood Indian regalia. In fact, I find it very fitting that he’s dressed up as a Native American at this moment. I see this as Bong’s satirical nod to old ultra-capitalist Hollywood. But if enough wasn't going on, Mr. Park sniffed. He got close to Geun-sae, a man who’s been living underground for 3 years and audibly sniffed him in disgust. The same way that he sniffed Ki-taek. Of course, there’s probably a difference between a “subway” smell vs. “I haven't showered in 3 years” smell but at the moment it feels as if it's almost the same thing. In my initial viewing, I thought what happened next was because of that, but no. Ki-taek realized that his life was worth the same as the Parks, and their presence no longer bothers him, but he is now plotting against him, and the time of action is now. Ki-taek stabs Mr. Park and flees. Annoyingly, the YouTube section for this clip is filled with people feeling bad for the Parks and discussing how what Ki-taek did was wrong. Of course, the average viewer will view the Parks as some sympathetic rich suckers who only treated the Kims kindly. The casual reader who picks up Fanon for the first time would also dismiss his theory of violence as immoral in comparison to non-violent methods like Gandhi’s. A lot can be said about Gandhi, but Fanon says that non-violence is a strategy created by the colonizer to deter decolonization and paint the colonizer as a gentle ruler who wants peace. This is not the case. Colonialism is a violent system. Capitalism is a violent system. Colonialism can only be undone violently. Capitalism can only be undone violently. Now I don't mean to make this all about colonialism, as my friends say I often do. But the similarities are clear. The question isn’t whether the murder of Mr. Park was a justified act, but what were the conditions that forced Ki-taek to murder. Geun-sae killed Ki-jung, but no one in the comment section is having a debate on whether his murder was ethical. Because in our heads we feel bad for him, and the life that he’s lived- why don’t we feel the same towards Ki-taek? Geun-sae and Ki-taek are two sides of the same coin. Geun-sae’s exploitation is naked. He’s confined to the basement, controlling the lights of the home. A feature of the house that Mr. Park doesn't even pay attention to, never mind considering that there is someone manually operating it. A clear example of how our labor is alienated. All while blindly worshipping Mr. Park- a man who knows nothing of his existence. Honestly, I hope some of you see yourselves in Geun-sae the next time you defend billionaires online. But Ki-taek is just another exploited worker. I understand this can be hard to understand in our current understanding of the world. How is Ki-taek exploited? Him and his family conned their way into their jobs and leech off of the Parks. Again, we must return to the system as a whole to understand. None of this wouldn’t have happened if the Kims weren’t desperately poor in a capitalist society, which enables families like the Parks, to live a life of excess at the expense of the Kims. Capitalism is a system of exploitation; we cannot forget that. Quite simply, no one is rich without thousands that are poor.

The levels of the home are also this unforgettable feature. I just want to make this quick note about the issue of the ghost. Did you forget about the ghost? Da-Song didn’t (yes, I finally looked his name up!). I find the story of the ghost such an interesting touch. Not just as a way for Bong to warn the audience about Da-Song’s history of seizures. When Mrs. Park tells Chung-sook of the story, she says “they say a ghost in the house brings wealth.” This, of course, is true since the exploitation of those like Geun-sae are responsible for the wealth of the Parks, in the larger picture. I’d like to look further into this. There's a twofold meaning to this. I do believe that this ghost is symbolic to the exploitation of the Kims, and the proletariat in general, but that’s Mrs. Park’s understanding of this ghost. The way she understands this ghost, is as a source of wealth. Maybe Mrs. Park isn’t as ditzy as we imagine- she to some degree, understands her class position. But like most, she doesn’t question the ghost, or her class position. She knows that if she looks into either, it would result in the ugly truth. Da-Song, however, is just a child. He’s too young to really understand the economic and social relations which are responsible for his wealth. He’s also too young to consciously suppress any desire to investigate the matter like his mother. He is a child after all and is naturally curious. But his first encounter with the ghost was the one that resulted in a near fatal seizure. This can be his body’s reaction to the life-threatening figure of a ghost. The ghost isn’t just a threat to his mortal life, but his wealth, some may argue that these are the same. Mrs. Park pays for therapy for his “trauma” so he could forget the event, but he still knows. He saw this ghost and is the only one to seriously consider its threat. Mrs. Park knows it's real but chooses to not think about it. I want to return to the Manifesto. Let's hear these famous words: “A specter is haunting Europe- the specter of communism… Two things result from this fact: Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers itself to be a power...” (Marx and Engels, 8). Don’t think I’m just including this because he’s talking about a specter, in fact, I think this story of the ghost is an intentional allusion to the specter of communism. Da-Song represents this figure of the bourgeoisie who is in constant anxiety over the threat of his wealth. When he reappears at his birthday party, he has another seizure. Also, at this time, the family, and all of their guests are witness to the horrors of their wealth and what it's created. This naked, hideous display, this moment of confrontation is a pivotal point in the dialectic. Of course, this murderous moment is not seen as a success to the viewer with Mr. Park, Ki-jung, and Geun-sae dead, Ki-woo presumed to be dead, and Ki-taek missing. This just shows us that the bourgeoisie are their own gravediggers- to again invoke the Manifesto. On a larger scale, this would be the moment of a revolution- but we don’t. Ki-woo survives with Chung-sook and is put on probation. Ki-taek is missing to the police, but Ki-taek realizes that he’s living in the bunker in hiding. Ki-woo declares that he will make enough money to buy the home and free his father. At first, I wondered “why couldn't he just sneak him out of the house when the new owners were asleep?” “Why did he have to buy the home?” As much as I wanted to portray the Kims to be revolutionary figures, Ki-woo has the common fate of most. Instead of usurping power from the bourgeoisie, he believes he can free his dad from the home, by owning the house. Everyone who lives in the basement is stuck there for a reason, because someone is forcing them to stay there. A perfect allegory for the relations of production as I have repeatedly mentioned throughout this text. Ki-woo desires a bourgeois life (as most working-class folk do!) in order to lift his father out of the despair of poverty. He believes the only way he can save his father is to own the home, which could easily be seen as the means of production. A nice touch which I had to look up, was as Ki-woo tells us of his desire to buy the home, a song plays called “546 years”- the amount of time it will take for him to earn enough money. I wish this song title was more obvious for the American viewer. I am not trying to take away from this film by saying that, but for a viewer who knows Korean or the song title, they’ll understand the tragic nature of his dreams. Whereas the American viewers will sympathize with his dreams- as we’ve done with immigrants and “the American Dream” or the bootstrapping mentality of some people. In some way I do think Bong didn’t want an overtly revolutionary ending. I don’t think the average viewer, especially in this day, could handle an ending like that. Not to say that we don't understand class inequality and such. We are not living in, say the 60s/70s where there were Marxist movements all throughout the world. I don’t think we have the conditions for a revolution at this moment, although I do think the mass unemployment and the other severe economic consequences of this virus will radicalize the working class in large numbers, to a degree that we haven't seen in a long time. But to make my point, I feel that we are living in historic political times and we are coming to understand ourselves in a liberating way. It is my hope that films like Parasite will awaken the revolutionary potential in us all.

Note: I wanted to use Fanon’s theory of violence and diagnosis of colonialism as a violent structure, in relation to capitalist society. I don’t want us to interpret his writings as something that can be isolated from the racial structure of colonialism, but i do think it is a beneficial guide to understanding this film.

Work Cited:

Philcox, Richard, translator. “On Violence.” The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon, Grove Press, 2004.

Joon-Ho, Bong, director. Parasite. Barunson E&A, 2019.

Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto. International Publishers, 1948.

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