#i told my friend about that influential media post like i mentioned and she keeps being like ‘this makes so much sense’

[mildmayfoxe]

“who was your first animated crush growing up” easy. so easy

#chatpost #cats don’t dance #danny if giving off huge trans masc vibes imo. and sawyer is just SO hot #i told my friend about that influential media post like i mentioned and she keeps being like ‘this makes so much sense’ #‘it’s like looking into a mirror’ #ive never been so seen imo

[andromedasstarship]

in the stars - chapter 4

photo credit - @ssa-emilyhotchner​

pairing - aaron hotchner x reader 

warnings - canon typical criminal minds, stalking, angst. pretty tame chapter 

summary - “I’m on a date.” You responded flatly. The other end of the line went silent.

a/n - hi besties. so this chapter is p short compared to the last one, i had like  7k something chapter 4 and it just didnt feel right, BUT that means chapter 5 is basically done i just need to edit it soooooooooooo hopefully wont take a long time lol! enjoy, heart yall forever 

masterlist // series masterlist // read it on ao3 

chapter 3 / chapter 5 

-----

The rest of the team was left in various levels of shock. Everyone was struggling to process the bomb of information that had just been revealed. With hindsight, it was easy to connect the strange levels of tension and intimacy that radiated between you and Hotch. What was more difficult to swallow, was the new understanding that Hotch had been keeping this secret for nearly five years. Random ‘trips’ that Hotch would take out of state or the subtle sprinkles of wealth showing up in the form of gifts suddenly made sense. 

This was completely uncharted territory for the entire team. Given Hotch’s history, it wasn’t too difficult to understand how protective he may be of any relationships post-Haley; but the magnitude of your relationship- both in terms of your status as well as length-, and the withholding of information even on the case was a different form of betrayal that couldn’t be kicked under the rug. 

Hotch had always been one of the fiercest advocates for unity, truth and an equal playing field when it came to information concerning a case,- Morgan was still feeling second hand embarrassment for Jordan- for him to be the one to hold back such influential info was difficult to fully wrap their heads around. Anger, of course, was felt and there would certainly be time for that anger- not even getting started on the amount of questions everyone was bound to have-, but as the team was silently processing, they all reached similar conclusions. Hotch was displaying a softness and side of him they hadn’t seen in a very long time and they wouldn’t let their valid frustrations get in the way of solving this case. 

Morgan was the first to speak, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I need to text Garcia about this.” He said, shaking the phone a bit. Everyone managed to laugh at that, all certain that Garcia would have the most interesting reaction to the news.  

“You know…, the other day when she was giving me a tour of her house, I pointed out a bottle of Dalmore 25 she had on the wall. She got really weird about it and I thought she was trying to play modest, but this, this makes a lot more sense.” JJ remarked lightheartedly. 

“So now we know Hotch has some game then, huh?” Morgan quipped, a large grin on his face. When everyone just stared blankly back at him, even more confused than they already were he continued. “Do you all not remember when he ‘magically’ got a bottle of Dalmore 45, those start at twelve grand” 

Reid was about to open his mouth and add to the conversation, but just as the words were leaving his mouth Hotch stormed back into the conference room. One hand was tightly balled in a fist while the other was gripping his phone. 

“She’s not answering her phone. Three times, it went straight to voicemail.” 

“She isn’t on set today, when she left this morning she told me she had work related errands to run.” Emily recounted, racking her brain for any more info about your whereabouts. 

Hotch strode over to an open laptop at the edge of the table, quickly hitting a series of buttons until a very flustered Garcia appeared on screen; her mouth dropping open when she saw Hotch. 

“Questions later Garcia,” Hotch opened, already anticipating that someone Derek would have informed her of the latest news, “I need you to track Y/N. I want her current and last location.” 

“Yes sir! I uh, I will do that right now for you.” Garcia responded, clearly doing her best to hold back the hoard of questions and comments she had. The sound of her vigorously typing filled the room. “Alright sir, so the bad news is that it looks like her phone is currently turned off, but! The last place it pinged at was outside of Chateau Marmont about three hours ago. Which for those of you who don’t know this place is notorious for being the A-lister hideaway-” 

“Garcia, do a wide search for her name and location for today’s date. Check to see if there’s been any media sightings on her whereabouts.” Hotch ordered. He hadn’t forgotten how uneasy it had made him once he found out how easy it was to locate you. Paparazzi were a different form of ruthless and he’d never realized how difficult it actually was for people in the spotlight until he met you. 

“Let me see…, yes sir you are right! I’m getting a bunch of hits of her entering the-” Garcia’s sentence falling off with an ‘oh’. 

“Garcia, what’d you find?” 

A headline popped up on the screen. 

“Emma Co-Stars Pictured Together Out At Lunch: Has The Love Moved Past The Screen?” 

Underneath, multiple photos of you quickly loaded. There you were, cheerily standing next to your co-star, looking up at him with a big grin on your face. The photos showed the two of you in different positions as you made your way inside. A few of him as he opened the car door for you. One of you with your arm wrapped loosely around his while you walked up the door. One of you ducking under his arm as you entered the restaurant. 

The tension in the room was palpable as everyone did their own mini attempt at profiling the photo. It was difficult, you’d clearly proven to be a great actress and they knew you were capable of manipulating your outward emotions. It was even more difficult considering it was just a handful of mediocre quality photos. 

Hotch was tightly gripping the edge of the table, forcing himself to keep a level head. He knew it was unreasonable to get angry over the idea of you with another man, but it didn’t help the pang in his heart as he recognized the genuine signs of happiness you were emitting. 

“JJ,” Hotch said, voice dangerously calm, “call the restaurant and have them discreetly tell Y/N that ‘Andi’ is calling her.” Discretion was the highest priority for him, the envelope being even further confirmation that the unsub was closely trailing you. The last thing he wanted to do was either trigger a violent reaction or cause him to go underground.

Back when the two of you had been together, out of an abundance of caution, you used to refer to Aaron as ‘Andi’ in public. You hated not being able to thank him in speeches or mention him in any capacity, so this had been your best way around it. 

“Yes sir.” JJ responded, quickly moving out of the room to make the phone call. 

“Garcia, do you have any leads on the kid that dropped off the envelope?” Hotch asked. 

“No sir. The car he left in was reported stolen a few days ago with no leads as to where it went. Camera feeds loose the car about three blocks away and his face was too obstructed to get any hits that way.” 

“Alright, once JJ comes back with confirmation Y/N’s gotten the message, I’m going to pick her up. I want the rest of you to work with Garcia and categorize these photos. Cross reference whatever you can to get a timeline.” Hotch ordered, the rest of the team not being to be told twice. 

-----

“Where the hell are you?” Aaron demanded. 

Even through the phone, you could tell he was absolutely seething. It was bad, by the time you had picked up the phone you’d amassed a total of twenty texts and nearly ten missed calls from Aaron; not even mentioning the individual missed calls you had from each member of the team. It was bad, but in your defense it had been less than an hour from the first missed call to your current response. 

What could you say? You were big on not being on your phone when you were spending time with friends. 

“What do you mean, where the hell am I,” you answered, rolling your eyes as you leaned up against one of the private bathroom countertops. “How did you describe it before Agent? I’m very in ‘demand’.”

You could hear him groan through the phone and wondered if he was running his hands over his face; something he used to always do when you were being difficult; he absolutely was. 

“Y/N-” 

“I’m on a date.” You responded flatly. The other end of the line went silent. As you were debating whether or not you should add the part about it being a publicity date, Aaron’s voice came through. 

“End it. I’m picking you up. The drive there from the station shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes.” Aaron said, his voice dangerously even. 

“I’m perfectly capable of getting back to the station on my own Agent. I don’t need you stirring up an absolute scene-”

“Y/N,” he started, voice commanding in a way that told you he was serious, “a package was delivered to the station today. Filled with hundreds of photos of you over the years,” he paused again and you could hear him take a deep breath before continuing, “there’s photos of us in there. The unsub knows.” 

You went silent, mouth opening over and over, unable to find anything to say. You had always envisioned a world where you and Aaron were some sort of ‘public’ knowledge, but never like this, obviously never like this. 

“Y/N, I need to come get you,” Hotch said, his voice much softer now, “I can’t-, I need to see that you’re safe.” 

“I’ll make something up,” You said quickly, before adding, “there’s a private valet area, I’ll send you the instructions to get past the gates and I’ll let the security know you’re coming to pick me up.” 

“I’ll be there in ten minutes, don’t draw any attention to yourself.” And with that he hung up, leaving you stunned in the bathroom. You gripped the edges of the counter, staring at yourself in the mirror. You wished you could stay in the bathroom for hours, desperately needing some time to privately process what Aaron had told you. 

That wasn’t in the cards for you though, so you quickly did some pointless attempts at ‘straightening’ your appearance- more for your benefit than anything else- before you turned the lock and left back for your table 

You slipped back into your seat across from your friend and co-star Johnny. 

“Your friend alright?” Johnny asked. 

“Yeah, yeah,” you said with a small smile, “she’s fine. But my Agent called me when I was in there, she apparently managed to set up some last minute FBI consult to help me prep for an audition I have coming up. According to her, she ‘pulled a lot of strings for this’.” You said, rolling your eyes. The lie sliding out of your mouth with ease. “Whoever this FBI dude is, is supposed to come pick me up right about,” you looked down at your phone, “now apparently. So I guess our little date has to end early.” You said, giving him an exaggerated sad pout. 

Johnny rolled his eyes at that, giving you a small laugh. The two of you were both equally uninterested, romantically, in each other. But you did get along quite well, so being ‘forced’ into hanging out with each other outside of filming wasn’t bad; you’d probably hang out outside of filming anyway 

“No worries, we still on for running lines later tonight?” He asked. 

You thought for a moment, before nodding. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now, help me flag down the waiter, I want to get one last drink in before I go.” 

-----

About twenty minutes later you found yourself waiting out in the private courtyard of the restaurant. You were doing your best to calm your nerves, this being the first opportunity you had to try and process what Aaron had told you. You should’ve seen it coming, if the stalker was so obsessed with you, he must’ve noticed Aaron in your life at some point. But you had been so careful. 

Then the other obvious thing hit you. His team knew. You were wondering how the team had taken the news when you saw the black SUV come into view. Aaron quickly stopped the car in front of you and before you could move to open the passenger door yourself, he was out of his seat in a flash, coming over to where you were standing. 

For a moment you were both silent. You felt tiny under his unrelenting gaze, his eyes scanning your entire being as he ensured himself you were okay. 

Without thinking, you launched yourself at him, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist, ensnaring his arms tight to his side. As soon you realized what you did, you were internally kicking yourself, moving to loosen your arms nearly as fast as you had put them there.

“Aaron I-” 

Before you could finish your attempted apology, Aaron had pulled his arms from under yours and repositioned them around you, pulling you tightly against him. Your head naturally fit perfectly under his and you took in a deep breath, letting his scent surround you. It was cliche, but you both were thinking about how perfectly your bodies melded against each other.  

You felt his hand rest gently on the back of your head, gently stroking down your hair in a steady rhythm. “I got you.” He whispered, so quiet you nearly didn’t hear it. 

You pulled your head back so you could look up at him. “I’m scared.” You said, admitting it aloud for the first time.  

Aaron was staring hard down at you, his face soft. “I know,” he started, moving a piece of hair away from your face, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?” 

You nodded at that, missing his warmth when he started to pull away from you. He kept a protective hand on your lower back, guiding you towards the passenger seat. He opened the door and helped you in, gently shutting the door behind you. As soon as your door was shut he wasted no time in getting in the driver's seat, starting the car up again. With a quick check to make sure your seatbelt clicked was in, Aaron peeled out of the parking lot. 

A few floors above the courtyard, in one of the private hotel rooms, a curtain was angrily thrown shut. 

-----

taglist - @mac99martin @iwaizumiee @kylorendrip @hqtchner @lieswithoutfairytales @ssahoodrathotchner @midsummernightdream @weasleylovers @evans-dejong @itsmytimetoodream @yoshigguk @28cnn @cuddlyklaus @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @yallgotkik @sunflowersandotherthings @averyhotchner @kimmy-k-k @uwu-sebastianstan

a/n- if youve asked to be on the taglist and dont see urself, please send another message! im really bad about putting people on my tag document lol, even if ive like responded in tumblr!!

no permission is given to copy or republish my writing on any other platform or account. if you see this story outside of my blog or my ao3 it is stolen work. i do not own nor claim to own criminal minds or any of the character involved in it.

#aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner/you #aaron hotchner/reader #self insert fic #'stori talks #in the stars #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic

[winonamedel]

A Star yet to Shine.

Do you believe that the Philippines has the potential to be a country of paradise? Yes, we all know our beaches and islands boast the most exquisite view; however I am referring to its economical and political state. For a while, the economy and politics of the Philippines have been in some kind of apparent haywire, to the point that majority of the youth have been aware of it, and this is why I chose this one person of great renown from my personal life.  

Her name is Jana, an unforgettable childhood friend of mine, who will soon rise above to be a modern heroine of the Philippines.  

(photo by my mother)

When we were children, she had possessed an aura of empathetic nature that will soon be a factor to her staggering growth. Perhaps it was because she was two years older? Nevertheless, she really was a one of a kind even among her age group. Once, I fell down from a small tree after I climbed it; the other kids laughed at me, while Jana showed her obvious concern when she immediately rushed to my side as she asked if I was okay, even stooping to my level despite the insect-infested soil. “Don’t laugh at someone when they’re hurt! Have a little bit of sympathy, you guys,” she told the petulant children, pouting and stomping her tiny foot on the moss-covered landform. This was the moment I thought that she stood out from the other kids, where her kindness and empathy for others made her seem like a sun among the stars—that is why I could never forget her in spite of our estrangement over the years.  

Around early June of 2014, she had transitioned into a high school student. At this point, we’ve stopped talking to each other anymore, leaving our momentary childish antics behind childhood doors, but every school day, I see her walking down the familiar concrete street full of mirth, always in high spirits, never listless nor negative. You usually never see a student that was so jolly in the morning, and that image stayed in my mind ever since. It further proved the notion of her being so unique. During this era was the time I found out Jana involved herself with Filipino politics. On her social media, she spoke about it occasionally, her words were heavy and held great importance, I could see how she meant every single word about how she wants a better world for this country.  

“I know that the Philippines can change for the better, but I want to let you know that it will only begin once we take actions that do not betray our beliefs and morals, and it should start with the government! I love my country, and I will do everything in my power to help it grow.” Jana wrote on her post, which received so many support from people she knew, encouraging her to take a stand. Not only did she want to take a stand, but influenced others to do so! At such young age had she become influential enough to make changes in people, raising the standards for brilliance in her generation. Saying that I admire her is an understatement, and that is coming from someone who has not talked to her in years.  

Delving in into her senior high, she begrudgingly had to move to the U.S. Now, a person would be overjoyed to be rid of this country, but Jana? Oh, she wanted to stay here, to be in the country she seeks to help. Jana dreamt of making the Philippines grow into a country of prestige, a paradise of a country where there is justice and equality. She mentioned that moving to the U.S felt like abandoning her country like a coward, and I knew her words stood genuine. Oh, how she yearned to be back in her country, not even giving a glance to the advanced world of the U.S, even though the Philippines can never hold a candle to its ascendancy.  

On to her social media during her stay in the U.S, she often mingled with Filipino economics and politics, not wanting to miss a single event. Every time a relevant political post goes viral, she showcases her sophistication and wisdom in all of her opinions, wanting to keep herself civil and graceful. If anything, she knew more about Filipino politics more than me even if she lived in the U.S. Jana rarely posted about her stay in the U.S, seemingly only wanting to be involved with her home country. Her immense passion for this country was, no doubt, inspiring! To me, and certainly to others.

Now, the moment that she had anticipated had finally arrived, and she came back to the Philippines after she desperately begged on her knees to her mother, whom relented and allowed her daughter to come back, though not without being skeptical for her daughter’s future.

(photo from Jana)

Finally, Jana is now back in the Philippines, happy to return, but not contented with how things had turned out, and that is precisely what influenced on the major that she took, and you guessed it! It is none other than Political Science. She had shared her plans for the Philippines on how she will refine it and make it rise from the bottom to the top, when the Philippines will one day climb at the ranks of countries in many categories. If you ask me, I will not hesitate that she will make a name in the Philippines someday.  

I want to end this article with a reminder to have passion and motivation to be able to live a fruitful life like Jana. Thank you for reading!

#schoolproject

[hobbitkiller]

She-Ra, Supergirl, and Tangled: A Tale of Three Female Relationships: Part 3

*SPOILER WARNING FOR SHE-RA, SUPERGIRL, AND TANGLED: THE SERIES*

Previously on “A Tale of Three Female Relationships” AKA HobbitKiller clearly misses grad school but not enough to find secondary sources for a multi-part tublr. post (or thoroughly proofread):

In Part 2, I discussed the impact narcissistic mother figures, resentment for chosen ones, and repressing emotions has had on three female relationships in three different series: Adora and Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Lena and Kara from Supergirl, and Rapunzel and Cassandra from Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.

These posts are a deep dive into where these relationships went wrong and will eventually culminate in a discussion of what these relationships say about the portrayal of female characters and female relationships in media.

For today’s installment, I will be covering two subjects: Blond Bulldozers and I Don’t Care (I Ship It). WARNING: This one gets reallllllly long. Like, possibly multiple sittings.

PART VI: BLOND BULLDOZERS

In my first post in this series, I jokingly mentioned that one half in all three of these relationships is a superpowered blonde who saves the world.

There are of course many implications in the fact that, though all three of these shows strive for increased diversity compared to their source material (It is also interesting that these are all shows based on pre-existing franchises), the main character continues to be a fair-skinned blond woman. 

That’s mostly a matter to be discussed another day, but I do find it interesting that all of these relationships feature one blond and one not-blond. Lena and Cassandra have black hair, and Catra is...well...a cat-person. Beyond that, the blond is not only the hero, but is typically depicted as morally superior and more righteous. Kara, AKA Supergirl, was literally declared the “Paragon of Hope” in the latest CW crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. That title could just as easily have gone to Rapunzel whose chief characteristics are her optimism, desire to see others achieve their dreams, and belief that everyone gets a second chance no matter their criminal past and exploits (seriously, everyone in Corona--the name of the kingdom unfortunately for right now--gets one total pardon as long as they’re sorry even if the tried to kill multiple people). Adora is a little less cotton-candy that Kara or Rapunzel. She has the same moral righteousness, but actually has more of an edge to her than many of her friends due to her upbringing as a child soldier. Still, all three blondes are meant, for the most part, to be the moral center of their shows.

But, the thing is, when I look at these relationships, I can’t help but think of another popular blonde/not blonde friendship that went wrong:

Ahhh, Wicked, the prototypical female friendship story for so many of us. Wicked aims to take this classic dynamic of the morally pure blond protagonist and their dark-haired frienemy and turn it a bit on its head. Throughout the musical, Glinda is treated as pure, superior, and good because she is flattering and pretty. In reality, Glinda is often selfish and lacks the courage to stand up to people and systems she believes are wrong. Elphaba, on the other hand, is treated like an outcast because of her green skin and social awkwardness. Yet, for most of the musical, she is the one with the moral righteousness. She is labeled “wicked” by those in power for challenging them and standing up to them.

We’ll discuss Wicked more in the finale of this multi-part post.

For now, I’d like to contrast that relationship to the three being analyzed right now. None of these three shows goes as far as Wicked did to undermine this trope of the perfect blond versus the darker brunette. This makes sense as none of the three properties is seeking to deconstruct their source material or turn it on its head in the way Wicked aims to do so for the Wizard of Oz (the movie more than anything else). They seek to update and diversify certain aspects to be sure (someone heard loud and clear the criticism that there are no people of color in Tangled), but not to challenge them.

That being said, each show does try to layer in flaws in their blond protagonists approach to relationships. These flaws tend to be more subtle than those of the people around them, perhaps to protect said blondes from becoming too unlikeable, but they are clearly there.

In the last post, I talked a lot about the resentment of the non-blondes in these relationships and how that helped lead to the relationships falling apart. Those characters are also much more the aggressors in said relationships and are much more set on taking down the other party.

However, the blondes in each relationship are not without blame for it falling apart.

In the previous post, I discussed how being friends of a so-called “chosen one” or “golden child” can breed resentment. I also mentioned that raising someone as a “golden child” is its own form of abuse. It creates a level of unrealistic expectations to always be perfect and responsible. It can be the same for a “chosen one.”

Adora, Kara, and Rapunzel all feel a tremendous amount of responsibility as the “saviors” of their respective worlds. This manifests itself in a need to constantly “fix” everyone else’s problems. Adora frequently describes her need to fix whatever goes wrong in the Rebellion. Kara feels it’s her job to fix things so much that she contacted her former boss’s estranged son behind her back to try to reconnect them. Rapunzel frequently becomes involved in the personal lives of her friends for the sake of fixing their problems.

To an extent, this is a good quality. All three of our blond saviors have good hearts and don’t want to see anyone else suffer, partially because all of them have suffered their own childhood traumas from being raised as a child soldier to witnessing one’s entire planet and species destroyed to being held prisoner for 18 years.

However, as the title of this section suggests, all three of these characters tend to take a bulldozer approach to their involvement with their loved ones’ lives. This creates tension in many of their relationships, not just those discussed in these posts. Adora’s attempts to help her friend Glimmer after Glimmer becomes queen come off as controlling and as though Adora doesn’t respect Glimmer’s position of authority. Kara, in addition to the incident with her boss’s son, had also tried to control the life of another alien (and eventual boyfriend), Mon El as well as did things like break into her sister’s apartment when she was sad. Rapunzel promises to fix everyone’s problems, which leads to friends feeling betrayed when she can’t follow through. She also frequently intrudes in Cassandra’s life and plans.

One of the most threatening things for people like Catra, Lena, or Cassandra is to feel as though they do not have control over their lives. When you already have trust issues, feeling like someone else is trying to control you can feel like you’re being trapped. Control is particularly important to Lena. In many ways, she has the same feelings of responsibility as Kara. Like Kara, Lena, having been raised by one of the most powerful and influential families on the planet, feels a sense of responsibility to be a world leader. She feels that even more keenly in light of the villainous actions of her mother and brother--that she has to restore honor to the family name. As discussed in the previous post, this feeling in Lena manifests itself in her actions towards her friends through buying them things or trying to solve problems for them such as buying Kara’s and James’s place of work, Catco, to save it from being purchased by a scumbag.

This need to take back control of her life and legacy, to me, is why Lena reacts so drastically to discovering that Kara is Supergirl. Being mad at Kara for keeping secrets is, frankly, hypocritical on several counts. Not only does Lena keep many, many secrets from Kara throughout the show, but she is also fine with the fact that Alex, Kara’s sister, never told Lena explicitly that she was an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO). Of course, the reason why Lena wasn’t mad at Alex is because Lena had already known who Alex was, thus giving her power and control in that relationship. Finding out that her friend had successfully hidden her identity for years and had been influencing events without Lena’s knowledge took away the control Lena felt she had over that relationship.

Cassandra also feels a keen lack of control over her life and her relationship with Rapunzel due to the fact that Rapunzel is both her monarch and direct employer. Cassandra serves Rapunzel and that is the first avenue through which they formed a relationship. Early in their relationship, Cassandra resented Rapunzel’s attempts to become friends and said the chance of a Lady in Waiting and a princess becoming friends was a million to one. Rapunzel, by nature of being “irrepressible” (as her friends call her), manages to worm her way into Cassandra’s heart to the point that Cassandra almost forgets that she and Rapunzel are not equals.

What I find interesting about both Cassandra and Lena is that they both, in some ways, considered themselves the protectors of their naive blond friends. While it’s true that Cassandra always knew her station was below Rapunzel, part of her job early on was teaching Rapunzel how to be a member of the court--what to do, when to curtsy, who was who, etc. In fact, Rapunzel had so little exposure to the outside world, Cass was partly responsibly for teaching her how to interact socially in general. There’s also the added factor that Cassandra is 4 years older than Rapunzel, which can seem like a lot at their ages. Lena, as previously discussed, saw herself as a major figure in shaping the future of the world. She went out of her way to help Kara by buying Catco and tried to protect Kara if they were ever in physical danger together.

Both of these characters suffered from an abrupt challenge to the relationship roles they previously thought they had. Cassandra in this scene and Lena when Lex tells her that Kara is Supergirl.

It’s interesting that, in that scene, Lex emphasizes the idea that Lena has been a fool. (And, fair enough, I’m pretty sure everyone who’s ever watched the show found it hard to believe that Lena never once realized her best friend was Supergirl. I mean...really, glasses?) But this idea, that she had been a fool plays right into Lena’s fear of losing control. It’s the idea that someone else was pulling strings while she was oblivious that taps right into her deepest insecurities.

Catra’s issues with feeling controlled by Adora are mostly revealed in the episode discussed last post called “Promise.” They come up again in the third season finale when Adora tries to convince Catra to come with her and leave a world that is crumbling out of existence and Catra declares that she will never  go with Adora, and that she won’t “let you win” and “would rather see the whole world end (which it’s doing BTW) than let that happen.” Catra believes the way to get control back from Adora is to “win” at any cost. 

In the end, this idea of “winning” becomes part of all three relationships. It’s no longer about working together or “us against the world” for the not-blondes who have felt crushed under the weight of their friends. Now it’s about achieving their goals in spite of the collateral damage.

And the most frustrating part is that the blondes are largely oblivious to the fact that they make their friends feel this way or that they are overstepping boundaries. They just think they’re doing the right thing because they’re “taking care of” or “fixing” the problem. They’re so concerned with taking care of or protecting their friends, that they don’t realize how patronizing and condescending that can feel.

So, even as these relationship turn so sour, why are so many people not only rooting for the friendship to return, but for our ladies to go the next level beyond?

PART VII: I DON’T CARE (I SHIP IT)

I sometimes wonder how the greatest point of contention, the biggest source of toxicity, and the most exhausting part of fandom became shipping. I have seen more nastiness among fans and toward creators and actors about shipping than just about anything else.

Shipping has a long history in fandom, though that term is relatively recent. People have been writing fan fiction about Kirk and Spock getting together since the show was on and fan fiction was written and shared at either in-person gatherings or through semi-underground fanzines. 

And, trust me, I’ve been in the trenches of a ship war. Back when Avatar: The Last Airbender was airing, I was a hardcore Zutara shipper. And, to be more honest, it made me a jerk. Part of that is just because I was a teenager at the time, and teenagers don’t always realize the potential impacts of their actions due to brain chemistry etc, etc. But still, the intensity with which I argued that my ship either would or should become canon when the creators of the show clearly preferred the other relationship embarrasses me when I look back at it.

These days, fandom shipping has gotten even more complicated and contentious.

Back when those women (and it was mostly women) were typing their Kirk/Spock fan fiction and mailing it to other fans, they knew Kirk and Spock would never actually get together on the show. That was the case for the majority of fandoms until very recently--that there was no expectations of actual canon lgbtq representation. People could claim there was deliberate subtext or coding, but very few, if any people, expected shows to actually have openly lgbtq characters.

Then, it started to actually happen. Not just in a, “the actor said they saw their character as gay” or “the creators said they coded that character as gay” way. Characters actually started being lgbt on screen in ways that weren’t demeaning or stereotypes. Major characters, too.

For me, a big moment that gave rise to the hopes of many that their lgbt ships might actually have a shot at being confirmed as canon was, funnily enough, the sequel show to Avatar: TLA, The Legend of Korra.

The above was the closest the couple got to an on-screen intimate moment, and some fans didn’t believe it was romantic until it was later confirmed by the show creators. Nickelodeon was only willing to go so far, after all. The followup comics, however, are much more explicit with the relationship and the two share multiple kisses and intimate moments.

Many fans argue that Korrasami (as the ship between Korra and Asami is called) was too subtle to be considered real representation. But a wave could certainly be felt throughout the world of animation afterword. Shows became even more bold about confirming lgbt characters or at least became less subtle in their coding. 

And suddenly, the idea that a main character’s finale pairing might be anything other than straight became a real possibility and, in some cases, an expectation.

In addition to the growing visibility of lgbt relationships in media, another change was slowly taking place within fandom. 

For much of modern fandom, the most popular ships have been male/male (mlm). Back when I was getting into fan fiction (because I love reminding people that I’m old), this was called “slash.” Slash was exclusively a term for mlm relationships. Same-sex relationships between women (wlw) were labeled “fem-slash,” and were much more rare.

Multiple people have discussed theories for why mlm was, and continues to be in many cases, the most popular type of ship. Some believe it has to do with the prevalence of straight women in fandom who might fetishize mlm relationships. While I have no doubt that’s partly true, I believe the other common argument has a great deal of merit: there were more mlm ships because male characters were more interesting and more prevalent. 

Star Trek: The Original Series had only two main female characters and neither of them was given close to the emotional depth as Spock or Kirk. Lord of the Rings, which was one of the most popular pieces of media on which to write fanfic when I was younger, has so few women the movies had to add in a boat load of new scenes for Arwen.

Recently, though, not only have more shows invested in writing dynamic, interesting female characters, but they have included multiple diverse female characters with relationships with each other and not just the men in the shows. 

So, not only do more people ship wlw ships, but more people expect to actually see those ships represented in their media. Never before has a wlw ship becoming “endgame” seemed more possible.

In many ways this is fantastic. More representation being not only more possible but more expected is absolutely necessary for our media to progress and grow. This has, however, lead to some growing tensions in communities where shipping has, in some ways, become its own form of activism, which means that there is not only people’s personal feelings and preferences for ships on the line, but people who feel that fighting for their ship to become canon is a proxy battle for their own acceptance. 

All three of these wlw ships mean a lot to the people who ship them, and all three have been met with the desire, and occasionally demand, of canon validation as well as a heady mess of coding, accusations of queer baiting, and the lingering question of which, if any, relationships might get the same, and hopefully more explicit, validation that Korrasami had.

Let’s start this deep dive into these relationships as ships with the one that has, in canon, already been resolved.

Yep, that’s definitely a Disney twirl going on there.

One of the first points often made when the validity of a mlm or wlw ship is questioned is that, if you say an m/f couple do the same thing, no one would question that it was romantic. This makes it interesting, and sets off the shipping alarm for anyone who’s a fan of wlw ships when Tangled: The Series goes out of its way to not only give Cass and Rapunzel (ship name: Cassunzel) romantic moments like the above “Disney twirl,” but also directly parallels relationship moments that occurred between Rapunzel and her canon boyfriend/future husband Eugene (AKA Flynn Rider).

Look familiar? It’s almost a shot-for-shot remake of Rapunzel and Eugene meeting for the first time. In this episode, Cassandra accidentally wipes Rapunzel’s memory to the point where Rapunzel thinks she’s still in the tower. It plays out, in part, as “What if Cassandra had found her instead of Eugene?”--something every shipper had doubtless already asked themselves at least once.

Another major moment of paralleling between the two relationships is the endings of both the movie and the series. 

Eugene dies in the end of Tangled only to be resurrected by Rapunzel’s love. Cassandra dies in the series finale of Tangled: The Series, only to be resurrected by Rapunzel’s love. And it is love, that much is very clear.

The only debate really, is whether it’s romantic or platonic love. 

Cassandra and Rapunzel never get official validation in the show or by the executive producers. The most confirmation fans get outside of the text of the show are comments made by some people who work on the show saying that they deliberately coded Cassandra as gay as they could whenever they could.

Yet, for the most part, the creators of this show are largely given a pass by Cassunzel shippers for not making their ship canon. Most understand that, as a Disney property, many hands are tied, particularly given that, due the previous establishment both form the end of Tangled and from the short Tangled Ever After that Rapunzel and Eugene do get married. The reaction seems to largely be that Disney and the show got about as close to confirming it as they could without doing so.

So let’s transition from the show that met, and in some ways, passed expectations to one that has set expectations super high: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. 

She-Ra is perhaps one of the most lgbtqia coded shows out there right now. The first season even ends with them saving the day with a rainbow.

Here is show-runner and executive producer Noelle Stevenson on queerness in her life and She-Ra:

Yet, despite these deliberate attempts to show representation and to challenge heteronormative ideas, the show has yet to show any of its primary characters or even second tier characters in queer romantic relationships. We have seen a few parents, one pair on in a photo, and their is one married couple of women, but none of these characters are prominently featured on the show.

She-Ra has set expectations incredibly high and has yet to deliver.

Even so, part of what sets She-Ra apart from the other two shows discussed here is that there are multiple queer shipping opportunities. Catra and Adora (ship name Catradora) are one of, if not the, most popular ships, but both Catra and Adora have other female characters with which they could be just as easily shipped.

On the one hand, the pressure is pretty high to establish at least one major queer ship before the end of the show. On the other hand, the pressure is much less that the ship specifically be Catradora.

The near-certainty that there will be one or more wlw ships confirmed before the end of She-Ra means, to me, that Catradora has the greatest chance to become canon.

So, there’s Cassunzel that never really had much of a chance for canon confirmation and Catradora, which has a better chance of becoming canon, but also has less pressure to become THE ship. Where does that leave Lena and Kara?

Anyone who has been in the Supergirl fandom knows that it can feel like a battleground. While all fandoms tend to have their issues, Supergirl’s can be so contentions that it, frankly, makes watching the show less fun. This doesn’t all fall on one groups shoulders, I’ve seen nastiness from many sides over different issues. However, the biggest point of contention tends to center around the potential ship of Lena and Kara (Supercorp). 

Supercorp, as a ship, is completely valid. Kara has way more chemistry with Lena than she has had with any of her male love interests, and two of those guys were played by people whom actress Melissa Benoist was actually in relationships with (though the first was an abusive dirtbag, so lack of chemistry probably makes sense there). Lena once thanked Kara by filling her entire office with flowers. There are cuddles, and Kara’s unwavering (until recently) faith in Lena’s goodness. It’s hard not to ship them.

The issue in the fandom, is not so much that people ship Supercorp (though there are increasingly more people who have issues with the ship itself, which is something I’ll address about all three of these ships in the next post) but the vehemence with which some who ship Supercorp approach whether it will be endgame.

In a way, the frustration is understandable. Supergirl is, in many ways, a show that has made a point of including LGBTQ representation. The second season featured a multiple episode story arc of Supergirl’s adoptive sister Alex Danvers (I will stan her until the end of time) realizing she was a lesbian, coming out, and eventually starting a relationship with another woman. Supergirl also made headlines for featuring the first live-action trans superhero on tv with the introduction of Dreamer in Season 4. The trans actress who plays Dreamer, Nicole Maines, has even had input on how the character is represented including a recent episode that discussed the often ignored violence targeting trans people, particularly trans women of color.

She-Ra and Supergirl have different approaches to representation. She-Ra takes place in a fantasy world and appears to take the approach that nothing about identity or sexuality should be assumed about anyone. There is no heteronormativity in Etheria, yet no major characters are in non-m/f relationships. Supergirl on the other hand, is set in a world more similar to ours which has heteronormativity, homophobia, and transphobia, which leads to the show making episodes and story-arcs specifically about those topics while also somewhat constraining the show. There are arguments to be made about the worth of both approaches and both can serve a purpose for viewers, particularly young viewers, who are searching for characters like them in media.

So, why are the people behind Supergirl so often accused of homophobia?

I mentioned in the Blond Bulldozers section that it is a bit telling that all three shows being discussed here attempt to create diversity while having the whitest, most mainstream character as the lead. There are many who would argue that the true values of the shows are represented by their main characters, and that the rest are window dressing to try to make the show look good as a form of tokenism. The point being that shows won’t really show a commitment to diversity until the main characters are just as diverse as the rest of the cast.

These are all valid arguments. 

A less valid argument is the claim that Supercorp is being deliberately baited by the creators of the show. Queer baiting is a term that seems to have a lot of subjectivity tied up with it. The general idea is that it is when creators purposefully use queer coding or other means to inspire queer shipping of characters as a means to draw in the queer community to their show but then never delivering on that potential.

In some ways, all three of these shows could be accused of queer baiting. The direct parallels in between Cassandra/Rapunzel and Eugene/Rapunzel were no accident. The coding and “anything can happen” while very little does on She-Ra is much the same. And Supergirl is trying to center a large part of the show around the relationship between Kara and Lena, a relationship they know many of the fans see as romantic.

Yet, to me, Supergirl, is actually a less guilty party, at least when it comes to Supercorp. One can, again, argue that the canon LGBT ships and characters exist to pander and draw in those audiences, but Supercorp, I believe, genuinely came out of a place of wanting Kara to have a strong female relationship with someone other than her sister, mother, or boss, and I’m sure this falling-out was in the plans fairly early on.

Has the show completely shut down the idea? No, I don’t think they would be foolish enough to do that. But I don’t believe that it rises to the level of baiting. Shows like Sherlock or movies like Pitch Perfect 3 are, to me, much more egregious examples.

Still, as I said, I can understand the frustration of Supercorp shippers, I just feel like the level of anger directed by some not just at the creatives who make the show but at other fans as well is not fully justified. (And yes, I know “not all Supercorps” and I also know other fans have been jerks. Sanvers shippers who are being asses about Kelly are just as bad.) And who knows? I’d never say never to the ship maybe becoming canon eventually after Kara and Lena work out their issues.

That being said, all three of these ships, regardless of canon status, are incredibly popular, and I want to examine more of what that is and the reason some people are wary of these ships and the potential messages they send. This leads me to our topics for our next installment:

MY WIFE IS A BITCH AND I LIKE HER SO MUCH

and

POISON PARADISE

I will try to make the next one shorter. Also, sorry for typos, I did not give this a thorough read-through. I used all my brain power just writing it.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #supercorp #she ra #spop #adora #catra #catradora #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #tts cassandra #cassandra #cassunzel

[lastsonlost]

Just when you thought this story could not get any more disgusting.

Now we have one slimy disgusting trash person being offended by a whole group of slimy disgusting trash people.

The Des Moines Register reporter fired in the wake of a scandal involving offensive tweets — posted by a viral star he interviewed and then his own — broke his silence Friday, telling BuzzFeed News he had been “abandoned” by the newspaper after following standard editorial practice by performing a social media search on the person he was profiling.

“This event basically set my entire life on fire,” reporter Aaron Calvin said.

Calvin, 27, was dismissed by the Iowa newspaper Thursday evening following criticism online in the wake of his article about 24-year-old casino security worker Carson King.

On Sept. 14 at the Iowa State University vs. University of Iowa football game in Ames, King had appeared in the background of ESPN’s College GameDay holding a sign that said “Busch Light Supply Needs Replenished,” along with his Venmo handle. After King received $600, he announced he would instead donate his growing beer fund to a local children’s hospital. The fundraiser soon went viral, and Venmo and Anheuser-Busch offered to match the donations. King wound up raising over $1 million, and he was quickly catapulted into being a local legend and viral internet hero.

Upon the fundraiser hitting the million-dollar mark, Calvin decided to profile King, whom he’d already covered in several stories. But soon Calvin, who worked as a BuzzFeed employee between 2013 and 2014, found two racist tweets King had posted when he was 16. Calvin wrote that the tweets, which have since been deleted, were jokes “comparing black mothers to gorillas and another making light of black people killed in the Holocaust.”

Calvin told BuzzFeed News it’s standard practice at the Des Moines Register to background check people they profile through court records and social media. “I was reminded by an editor to background Carson...and I found a few tweets that he published in high school that were racist jokes,” he said. “I knew if I found them, other people would find them as well.”

Des Moines Register executive editor Carol Hunter declined to comment for this story, but referred BuzzFeed News to an op-ed she published in which she called “backgrounding” an “essential” part of reporting. “The process helps us to understand the whole person,” she wrote.

Calvin said his editors told him to ask King about the tweets, so he did. "He was deeply regretful, and I recognized that these were not representative artifacts of Carson,” Calvin said.

In writing his profile, Calvin said he decided to include just a “brief mention of these tweets and his apology at the bottom of this profile, after the glowing synopsis of his charity.” The reporter said he felt an obligation to share the information he’d uncovered with the public, but thought he did so in a “thoughtful” way that showed the tweets no longer showed King’s worldview.

He also maintained he did this with the full blessing and awareness of senior editors. “Throughout this entire process of the discovery and inclusion of the tweets, the editor knew, the editorial board knew, and the executive editor knew how I’d included them and handled them for the article, and as far as I knew, approved of that,” he said.

On Tuesday night, before the profile was published, King held a press conference to apologize for the tweets, which he said had been found by a reporter. He said he wrote the posts when he was a high school sophomore and had been making reference to the show Tosh.0.

“In re-reading it today — eight years later — I see it was an attempt at humor that was offensive and hurtful,” he continued. “I am embarrassed and stunned to reflect on what I thought was funny when I was 16 years old. I want to sincerely apologize.”

Anheuser-Busch cut ties with King after the press conference. King said he did not blame Calvin, saying that he appreciated that he’d pointed out the tweets and had simply wanted to apologize. “The Des Moines Register has been nothing but kind in all of their coverage, and I appreciate the reporter pointing out the post to me,” he tweeted.

Upon publishing the story, Calvin said he was immediately met with criticism from people across Iowa who accused him of trying to denigrate a local hero.

But any media ethics debate about the newsworthiness of tweets written by someone when they were a teenager was soon swept aside by a tidal wave of harassment, doxing, and death threats Calvin received.

Soon, influential right-wing media figures also began circulating screenshots of Calvin’s own past offensive tweets that had been uncovered. In posts dating back to 2010, Calvin had used “gay” as a pejorative, written “fuck all cops,” and spelled out the word “niggas” twice when he was quoting others, including a Kanye West lyric. “Now that gay marriage is legal,” he wrote in one 2012 tweet, “I’m totally going to marry a horse.”

Calvin told BuzzFeed News these were “frankly embarrassing” tweets that he “would not have published today,” but said they had been “taken out of context” and were being used to “wield disingenuous arguments against me.”

Calvin said editors at the Des Moines Register directed him to apologize in a tweet, which he said he agreed to do because he was “afraid and just trying to comply with what I was being told so I could possibly hold onto my job.”

In the tweet, Calvin apologized for “not holding myself to the same high standards as The Register holds others.”

“I regret publishing that tweet now,” Calvin told BuzzFeed News. “Because I was never trying to hold Carson to any kind of ‘higher standard’ or any kind of standard at all. I was trying to do my job as a reporter, and I think I did so to the best of my ability.”

As soon as the story broke, Calvin said he began receiving a barrage of death threats. He said HR reps at Gannett, which owns the Des Moines Register, forbade him from speaking to the media and told him to leave his apartment for his own safety. They offered to put him up in a hotel, but he stayed with a friend instead.

“I recognize that I’m not the first person to be doxed like this — this whole campaign was taken up by right-wing ideologues and largely driven by that force,” he said. “It was just a taste of what I assume that women and journalists of color suffer all the time, but the kind of locality and regional virality of the story made it so intense.”

On Thursday, while he was speaking to police about the death threats, Calvin said he got a call from Gannett representatives. “They told me they were going to offer me an option — that I could resign or I could be fired — with no severance,” he said. “It was really a semantic difference, I guess, so I chose to be fired.”

A Gannett spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the company does not comment on personnel matters.

In her op-ed, Hunter, the executive editor, wrote they were now evaluating how reporters perform background checks on subjects and what information should be published from those checks. She said their focus was partly on “the shift in social media culture and how activities on those platforms reflect upon a person’s newsworthiness in general.”

With regard to Calvin’s firing, Hunter wrote that they “took appropriate action because there is nothing more important in journalism than having readers’ trust.”

King did not respond to a request for comment on Calvin’s dismissal.

Calvin said he hasn’t heard from Gannett or his newsroom leaders since his firing, but said some of his former coworkers have reached out in support.

Though Calvin said he regrets his tweets, he thinks they were taken out of context by bad actors to make him look like a racist and homophobe. “As I said when I was speaking with Carson, I don’t think people’s past social media statements should be made to make blanket characterizations about them,” he said.

He also expressed his frustration about the “false narrative about me ‘canceling’ Carson.”

“Carson was never in danger of being canceled — there was no attempt or intent to quote-unquote ‘cancel’ him,’” Calvin said. “He’s raised hundreds of thousands more dollars since this happened. The governor of Iowa declared a ‘Carson King Day.’”

(“You can make a mistake in your life, and still go on to do amazing things,” Gov. Kim Reynolds tweeted Wednesday. “@CarsonKing2, thank you for reminding us all of that! #IowaProud.”)

Calvin said he’s still afraid to go out in public and is still staying at his friend’s house. He isn’t sure what he will do next, but hopes he can keep reporting.

“I’m just taking it day by day,” he said. “I feel like I’m a good writer and a good reporter and I was doing my job to the best of my ability.”

Calvin said he also still deeply believes in the “necessity of local journalism.”

“Frankly, it’s really disappointing to me to be abandoned by my former employer,” he said. “I still in a lot of ways support the Register — I just wish they had believed in me.”

Have you ever read so much bullshit that it made you almost vomit in your mouth?

This motherfucker just try to roast a man's life and is now trying to play the victim after he got a dose of his own hypocritical medicine.

Also BuzzFeed is in rare form today. We have both the right-wing Boogeyman, online harassment and women and people of color being in votes for pity points.

Did you ever see obvious manipulation look so obvious?

#carson king #Aaron Colvin #buzzfeed #call out culture

[theoldestsoultrilogy]

First and foremost, it saddens and sickens me to hear that yet another Hollywood child star has died. The world woke up to the shocking news this morning that, according to about 20 billion articles online which all contain a freakishly consistent uniformity,

“Cameron Boyce, best known for his roles in a number of Disney Channel films and television shows, has tragically passed away at the age of 20. According to Boyce’s family, the young actor, dancer and singer passed in his sleep after suffering a seizure, the result of an ongoing medical condition.”

This young, absolutely adorable, freckle-faced boy at the beginning of his life is now gone. For good. How are we to make sense of this utterly tragic news? But, what if I told you, like with most if not all child star deaths, all is not what it seems.

What if you knew there was more to the story? A lot more.

It took me less than 20 minutes of digging to connect Cameron Boyce to shady charities involved in child slavery, pedophiles and predators, and dicey elites like Richard Branson. All while the evil overlords at Google seem to have begun dramatically ratcheting up their control of the flow of information. These draconian measures seem to have increased in the past week, which was not a good one for squeaky clean, allegedly family friendly Disney.

https://twitter.com/Tiff_FitzHenry/status/1145017021794529281

Disney megastar Bella Thorne revealed that she was being molested from the time she was 6-14, AND EVERYONE AROUND HER KNEW, AND NO ONE DID ANYTHING.

I want you to think about that for a moment. Let it sink in. Who could or would allow the sexual abuse of a 6 year old to go on? Why might they do this?

Once you begin to allow yourself to mull these horrific questions, and mull them we must, you’ll start to find the timing of Cameron Boyce’s sudden death particularly odd. Are other Disney child stars, with stories like Bella’s to tell, becoming emboldened? Had Cameron experienced similar things? Did those closest to him turn a blind eye? How plausible is it that a person who’s been famous for 11 years dies suddenly of a supposed health condition that’s serious enough to take the life of a perfectly healthy-seeming 20 year old and yet this mystery condition has never been mentioned before? Not anywhere that I can find at least.

Today I just want to present you with 10 relevant facts you likely may not know about Cameron Boyce his career and the people who surrounded him, but as always I want you to draw your own conclusions, think for yourself, and feel free to share your thoughts with me on Twitter.

Start here: Cameron’s IMDB. It is extensive and includes not only a long list of Disney shows and films such as Jessie, Shake It Up, Good Luck Charlie, and the recent Descendants, but also Grown-Ups and Grown-Ups 2, a new TV series called Paradise City (a spin-off of the very obscure and not successful 2017 film American Satan) cause, obviously.

As well as films such as Mirror and Eagle Eye which Cameron starred in alongside fellow former Disney kid Shia LeBeouf

and Cory Booker’s reluctant “girlfriend” Rosario Dawson, whom an inside source has shared with me has no say in the situation whatsoever. A virtual slave.

https://twitter.com/Tiff_FitzHenry/status/1144082428551712768

Alright, here we go.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA DEATH HOAX IN 2017

When you start to understand more deeply that the information that reaches you is being shaped and molded in order to shape and mold YOU, and that celebrity influence is owned and controlled for the very same reason, you’ll begin to look at things like “leaked nudes” and even “death hoax’s and rumors” a little differently. You’ll start to consider that perhaps these are tools used to influence the influencers, to modify behavior when they’re off message, or stray from their instructed course. Here Cameron Boyce and his Descendants co-star Dove Cameron joking about the ‘death hoax.’

But can you imagine anything more traumatizing than seeing headlines tearing across the internet announcing your own death to the world? Consider the possibility that things like fear, humiliation, and loss of control are used to keep celebrities in line. Consider the possibility that this was a veiled threat.

Case in point, the front page headline on Snapchat the very next day after the recent bombshell Bella Thorne interview [posted above] went viral.

The humiliating ‘story’ was snagged from a random Instagram post back in 2016, but it just happened to be front page news the day that articles in major outlets were carrying the story of the revelations from her recent interview.

For the record, Bella herself retweeted the video of her interview from my original tweet. Kinda makes you think, right?

2. MEET KENNY ORTEGA

Friends, if you haven’t heard the name Kenny Ortega, I guarantee that you soon will. He is an A-list Hollywood Choreographer and Director whose #MeToo moment is rumored to be decades overdue. He is the Director of Cameron Boyce’s most recent Disney project, the Descendants (parts 1, 2 and 3) where he played the fictional son of Cruella De Vil.

With a long list of impressive credits including everything from Disney’s Newsies, and the mega-hit High School Musical franchise to Dirty Dancing, and Pretty in Pink, as well as a distinguished run directing iconic music videos and live tours for the likes of Gloria Estefan and Michael Jackson, Kenny Ortega is the Hollywood equivalent of a mafia ‘made man.’ As if to prove it, which the cult loves to publicly do, Netflix (cough cough the C.I.A.) just entered into a very lucrative multi-year overall deal with Ortega, announced April 9th 2019.

So, how does one become a ‘made-man’ in Hollywood?

There are several ways, all of which involve selling your soul.

One way is to appear as the key witness in the $40 million dollar wrongful death lawsuit brought by Michael Jackson’s mother and three children, and lobby on behalf of concert promoter AEG.

‘He wasn’t being very responsible!’ This Is It producer Kenny Ortega testifies Michael Jackson and Conrad Murray were to blame for untimely death

What’s the big deal anyway? Ortega’s longtime ‘friend’ and admitted ‘greatest inspiration’ is already dead, Dr. Murray is in prison and everyone who profited the most off MJ rode off into the proverbial sunset. Zero accountability. Suffice it to say, Kenny Ortega is on Paris Jackson’s very telling shit list, right next to Oprah and David Geffen.

3. CRAZY DAYS AND NIGHTS 

Another way to get on the inside of the Hollywood Prison Pyramid is to be a compromised and or compromise-able person (depending on what level you’re at.)

You see, Hollywood might look like it’s about movies and TV shows and acting and stuff, but it’s really just about something called “controlled influence.” It’s about owning and controlling all those who are ‘given’ the platform to influence YOU. In order to get that platform you have to be ‘willing to do anything.’ Even as a screenwriter with several hot projects, I was instructed to say these very words. Words which I was told, in no uncertain terms by my high powered agent, that the head executives at places like ABC (Disney) were waiting to hear me say. Yeah, let that sink in.

And, think about it, isn’t it easier to own people who routinely do things that could put them in jail if anyone ever found out? This is why sick degenerate behavior is rampant amongst the influential. They’re not only enabled to get away with it (see Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Louis C.K., James Gunn, Brett Ratner, Les Moonves, etc.,) criminal behavior is encouraged! Yes, Hollywood and Washington are a cesspool by design! Neat, right? 🙄

It’s my opinion that the death is referring to Cameron, the ‘director’ is Kenny Ortega, and the franchise is High School Musical or the Descendants, where underage actors and actresses were and are being ‘turned out’ — all as a part of this cesspool system. When it comes to the children, it’s the parents who sell their soul on their behalf.

There’s a long list of Creepy Kenny Ortega stuff to dig up, the latest clip wigging people out is his handsy way with Cameron Boyce’s Descendants co-star Dove Cameron.

Moving on.

4. THE KENNY ORTEGA JEFF BEZOS CONNECTION

As if you needed one more reason to claw and hiss at Kenny Ortega should you ever encounter him, he’s been involved with C.I.A. Amazon Jeff Bezo’s now ex-wife’s ‘anti-bullying’ organization, Bystander Revolution, which she founded in 2014 for whatever dumbass reason.

No seriously I bet this foundation is really changing the world you guys (she said SUPER sarcastically)

5. ORTEGA, EISNER, SANDLER OH MY!

You can learn a lot by who says what, and when. The very first ‘public figures to address Boyce’s death on social media this morning was Kenny Ortega, followed by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, and quickly thereafter by Adam Sandler. Sandler wrote, starred in and produced Grown-Ups and Grown-Ups 2; Cameron Boyce appears in both.

To the keen observer, this little tweet parade felt extremely coordinated, intentional and quite frankly pre-planned.

View this post on Instagram

My Love, Light and Prayers go out to Cameron and his Family. Cameron brought Love, Laughter and Compassion with him everyday I was in his presence. His talent, immeasurable. His kindness and generosity, overflowing. It has been an indescribable honor and pleasure to know and work with him. I will see you again in all things loving and beautiful my friend. I will search the stars for your light. Rest In Peace Cam. You will always be My Forever Boy! 💔

A post shared by Kenny Ortega (@kennyortegablog) on Jul 6, 2019 at 7:42pm PDT

“My forever boy.” Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.  Ortega later clarified that this was a Peter Pan reference, which makes it even worse if you understand the pedophile troupes in Peter Pan.

https://twitter.com/RobertIger/status/1147858501021995008

https://twitter.com/AdamSandler/status/1147859788794961921

Nice picture Adam, real subtle. Don’t worry, you’re ‘signal’ has been sent and received.

Adam is being such a good cabal puppet these days ya’ll.

Here you see he’s being rewarded:

Netflix reveals 30M accounts viewed Adam Sandler-led ‘Murder Mystery’

At a time when box office is limping along like the terminally wounded wildebeest it is, allegedly this film would have CRUSHED opening weekend, had it been released at the box office of course, which it wasn’t. I guess we’ll just have to take Netflix’s word for it since they (somehow) get to keep all their data to themselves for whatever as yet explained or justified reason! 👍

Now that I think about it, there’s someone else who does that too. They’re really powerful and super secretive, who is that again? Oh that’s right, it’s the C.I.A.! (Netflix is the C.I.A.)

I’m sure the fact that Murder Mystery was filmed at cabal kingpin George Clooney’s favorite lake in Italy where weird high brow art/child trafficking things go down, and written by an actual fucking Vanderbilt has nothing to do with anything.

I’m sure all that’s random. It’s not like there’s this handful of psychopathic elite bloodline families feasting on the blood of children who’ve held humanity hostage for generations or whatever.

Alright, onward internet friends. As you may have noticed, there are thousands of images of Cameron Boyce online. You have to really search to find this one where he’s got two fingers framing his left eye and covering his mouth, as if he’s been silenced by some group (hint: see above paragraph).

Well done, Adam. Good thinking choosing this picture to post alongside your tribute. This might even get you an Emmy nomination. You see, Adam isn’t bloodline, so he has to do stuff like this to keep his cult membership in good standings.

Note another very recent sudden celebrity death. This is Mac Miller’s final Instagram photo, which posted just hours before his death by ‘accidental overdose.’

Well would you look at that, 2 fingers framing his left eye, and his mouth covered. Almost as if it’s a sign to others not to speak out or they’ll whack you

Here’s the final Instagram picture Cameron “allegedly” posted of himself, also just hours before his death. There’s that left eyes again. Hmmmm.

6. CREEPY JOE BIDEN

Cameron introduced former Vice President Joe Biden at his Biden Courage Awards back in March. Today, Biden tweeted his condolences.

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1147991178689810437

I think we can all agree that children and Joe Biden don’t mix.

6. HE RECENTLY FIRED HIS AGENT OVER SEX ASSAULT CHARGES

After Stranger Things child star Finn Wolfhard fired APA agent Tyler Grasham over sexual abuse allegations which came to light, Cameron, who was also represented by Grasham, fired him the same week.

However, in predictable Pedowood fashion, the LA prosecutor won’t prosecute the felony rape charges from multiple accusers. Now it looks like he’s escaped criminal charges altogether, and Hollywood is even looking at rehiring him in a talent agent capacity.

At this point, there’s no disputing that Hollywood protects pedophiles. The question you should be asking yourself is, why?

7. RECENTLY DISCUSSED THE DARK DAYS

“For about a year of my life, if I didn’t have to leave my house, I wouldn’t,” he said in a recent interview of his darkest period. “It was a bad way of dealing with fame, but it’s a scary feeling to know that everybody is looking at you all the time.” Cameron has learned to cope with it, though, and is adamant that he’ll use his platform of over 7 million Instagram followers for good. He’s started working with a charity called The Thirst Project, and is spreading the word about the group’s push to bring clean water to millions around the world who desperately need it.”

8. THE THIRST PROJECT / WE CHARITY

It appears that Cameron Boyce was involved with two separate but equally suspicious charities (side note: charities are just slush funds for rich people).

The Thirst Project’s list of partners includes the notoriously dicey Clinton Charities among multiple Hollywood studios. By its own admission they appear to be all about water but in reality focus most heavily on tailoring curriculum to influence political activism in school children in the United States (which is what the very powerful are most focused on right now).

Similarly, WE Charity, formerly known as Free The Children, is “an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization implements development programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America, focusing on education, water, health, food and economic opportunity. It also runs domestic programming for young people in Canada, the U.S. and U.K., promoting service learning and active citizenship.”

So, the same thing.

This link is a must read eye-opening article about the 2 brothers who started We Charities – The Cult of Kielburger

We Charity – connected to child slavery  

We Charity is connected to Unilever, Microsoft

We Charity – connected to Richard Branson. The brothers co-authored a book with Holly Branson, daughter of Richard Branson. Richard and Holly also produced the docu-series Shameless Idealist with the We Charity founders.

I am certain there is much more to be unearthed down the rabbit hole of these two charitable foundations/elite slush funds. For Cameron’s part there’s a good chance he was either unaware of the corruption or if he was aware, involvement was not his choice but a decision that was made for him.

Side note, Necker Island (Branson’s) is about thirty five miles from Epstein’s island.

You know Jeffrey Epstein who was arrested Saturday and being arraigned as we speak for running an international child sex trafficking operation to entice, entrap and ensnare elites particularly in Hollywood, DC and the UK, in order for even more powerful people to control their influence. His indictment was unsealed at 9am this morning.

Is it all connected?

9. HOLLYWOOD GAY MAFIA

Michael Ovitz, once President of Disney and founder of Hollywood mega agency CAA, who was run out of town, famously said that Hollywood is run by a cabal led by  Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen which Ovitz described as the “gay mafia.”

Here’s a little deep dive on Geffen/Oprah

In addition to Geffen, the list he rattled off of this “gay mafia” included The New York Times Hollywood correspondent Bernie Weinraub, Disney Chairman (and former employer) Michael Eisner; Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane, and Richard Lovett, partners at CAA, Universal Studios president Ronald Meyer (Ovitz’s former partner at CAA); and Barry Diller.

In regard to Cameron, I can’t help but think twice about the very first episode of Disney show Jessie, his break out role. For a good portion of the episode, he’s in his underwear.

It is no secret that young boys are systemically abused in Hollywood, but how deep does all this really go?

10. DEBBY RYAN

Cameron’s Jessie co-star Debby Ryan started her career on Barney and Friends

Alongside future Disney starlets Selina Gomez

And Demi Lovato

If you remember, the actor who played Barney was arrested for selling child pornography of children as young as 10.

After that, Debby Ryan had a stint on the Disney show Suite Life on Deck for which Disney hired Brian Peck to work as dialogue coach with the kids, after he’d been to jail for child molestation and was a registered sex offender.

Yes, you heard that right.

Disney hired a convicted child sex predator and registered sex offender to work on their children’s show. Did I mention he was hired specifically to work with children?

Brian Peck remains a registered sex offender to this day and was still being employed by Hollywood as recently as 2016.

Ryan was also featured on The Jonas Brother’s, Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana before getting her big break and a starring role in her own Disney Channel show, Jessie.

We’ve all watched the personal issues Gomez, Lovato and Debby Ryan have had over the years. It’s time we understand what we’re looking at, a system I call The Prison Pyramid.

Conclusion

I hope you’ll dig further into all these data points and start to connect all the dots that need connecting. Cameron Boyce’s death strikes at the heart of why I’m building a new Hollywood. 

Love and Light to all.

In Unconditional Love,

Tiffany

    Cameron Boyce, Pedowood, and The Disney Death Machine First and foremost, it saddens and sickens me to hear that yet another Hollywood child star has died.

[k-hiphopshit]

Cause I'm Lying (Dok2 x Reader)

First off, I know I dissapeared, sorry I had exams and as I wrote this scenario it got deleted and I had to write it all over again. This was requested by @hiybbprqag who is now one of my online friends. Here you go girl, enjoy!

You weren’t something phenomenal. You were just a youtuber, no one really expected a relationship between a youtuber and a rapper, you had a fair amount of fans but looking through so many others that have tons of fame and power, you were just tiny in front of them. You did a lot of things, from vlogs and skits to reaction videos, mostly for khiphop but also some kpop.

You were reacting to dok2’s and the quiett’s new m/v ‘beverly ills’ when you said that if this video hits a specific amount of likes, you will try to do a video with them. Surprisingly your fans loved that idea and hit that number in just a few days, having you in excitement but also in fear, since you just now realised what you signed up for.

When dok2 replied to your message, it had you jumping through the roof. You were acting like a pure fangirl and you could not wait for the day of shooting.

Likely, they were just as chill as they seemed and had each other in a very comfortable level when you turned on the camera.

“What’s up guys, it’s me again. But today I am not alone, I am joined by two of the most influential men in khiphop, please welcome dok2 and the quiett”

You said as you started clapping by yourself and they said hello.

“I’m going to start being honest and let you know that I never thought you would reply to my message”

“when I first saw it I didn’t really think about it, but we were with Jay park at the time and he had seen you before so he told us to look you up, we did and here we are”

This time the quiett said. His reply made you give a very creepy comedic smile

“jay watches my videos, jay I see you baby. Call me”

You turned to the camera and did the basic phone gesture with your hand and winked to the camera, wiggling your eyebrows after and making the duo laugh.

Joon kyung had to admit that he was very quickly developing a crush on you. He had the chance to talk to you before the cameras started rolling and he had already started noticing things, your energy, your smile, your compassion, your comedic personality. Everything was making him more attracted to you as the seconds passed by.

“So that’s it for today. Thank you for watching and leave a like and subscribe to my channel cause hey! I had these two do random stuff with me in a video…. content! Bye”

you got up giggling at your self to turn off the camera, as they got up to stretch and move around a bit.

“Thank you guys so much, it really was an honor”

“Don’t mention it. Actually we were wondering if you wanted to come to the our studio tomorrow, maybe do a vlog of yours”

“really?”

And that is how your relationship with joon kyung started. It felt like it was meant to be, he slowly started to appear in more of your videos and you became a regular at his studio.

You were lucky enough to be one step ahead from the media and actually be the one to announce your relationship.

The tabloids had already suspected something but it was not until you posted a vlog with him shopping and calling him “babe and him calling you "baby girl”, the highlight was a kiss on the cheek and had everyone tripping balls.

You mostly stayed under the radar, you didn’t share a lot of skinship or anything like that. Not only it was not your cup of tea, what was also not helping was that your man was on the spotlight and everyone would love to see some skinship, most of them wanted it so they can judge you for it. So you both agreed on keeping that behind closed doors.

“ So what is so important that could not wait”

You said as you hugged joon kyung’s cat cash, well now that you had a house together it became ore of your cat, although rollie stayed loyal to his original owner.

“you know the show infinity challenge? they asked me to be in one of their episodes”

“oh I love the infinity challenge”

You were struggling to stay awake. Joon kyung pretty much demanded for you to stay awake for some “special news”

“They want me to do a house tour, and I want you to be with me”

“I will be in it if they want me to”

“I told them I won’t do it unless you are there”

You slowly turned your head to look at him with a glare that could kill a man.

“you’re slipping on the couch”

“dammit”

-

You were the one to open the door for the crew to come in, with your boyfriend right beside you. Your profession might be around cameras but right now you were having a mini heart attack.

You smiled politely and greeted the MC with a warm smile. Acting like having multiple cameras and microphones on your house and recording every second was normal.

“this is your house? Wow it’s beautiful”

“yeah y/n did the decoration”

You knew very well this was Joon kyung’s way to get to your good side. You just smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder

“if I left it up to him it would be all gold and we would have no money”

You joked but there was some truth in it. Joon kyung is kind of extreme and he has an addiction to gold.

“should we take a look around the house?”

“Sure, let’s do it”

“And this is the last room which we call it 'chill time’ ”

You opened the door and then the light. Here it was the bade of the things you both liked to do in your spare time.

“Wow, you got a lot of history comics”

“don’t get fooled. He has not finished half of them, he always picks new ones and leaves them to catch dust”

“hey, I will finish them”

“you have some of them before you even met me”

“woah, she is feisty”

the MC butted in, as he tried to control his giggle.

“she is right though, I promise i will finish them”

“why don’t I believe you?”

“cause i’m lying”

#dok2 scenarios #dok2 imagine #khh scenarios #khh imagines #khiphop scenarios #khiphop imagine #illionaire #illionaire imagine #illionaire scenarios #khh #khiphop #request #imagine #joon kyung scenarios #joon kyung imagines #joon kyung #scenario #dok2

[artstartart]

Providing Perspectives: Geoffrey Aldridge

ArtStartArt offices out of a co-working facility on the east side of Austin that mostly houses artist studios. The space next to the ArtStartArt office was just rented by an Artist, Geoffrey Aldridge, who recently relocated from NYC to Austin. When we were introduced to Geoffrey and his work we were immediately impressed with his breadth of experience and wanted to ask him a few questions on how he got to where he is today. Below you’ll find an interview with Geoffrey which we hope you’ll find interesting.

Before we dive in, a short background on Geoffrey:

Geoffrey received a BA from Northeastern University in Chicago and an MFA from American University in Washington, DC. His work has been included in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. He has participated in residencies and is a recent transplant from the New York City area to Austin. In addition to his practice, he has two cats, a husband, and operates Art File / art on paper.

ASA: Can you give us a bit of background on yourself?

Geoffrey: Sure. I grew up in the rural Midwest.  I knew from an early age that I was different from the rest of my community and I quickly learned how to perform masculinity (well, tried to anyway) and to pretend that I was like any young boy in America. I won’t detail the story of a gay kid growing up in a heteronormative place because many know this story, but it is important to mention because my work is rooted in ideas about constructed identities.  As I grow and change over time, so does society, and my work is a way to explore or try to understand how those constructions impact all of us, me included.

ASA: What is the current focus of your work?

Geoffrey: Overall, I’m interested in how skewing traditional thought, visualization, and process is responsive and related to disrupting everyday societal norms that attempt to define and place individuals or groups. The foundation of my work as a multidisciplinary artist is rooted in these ideas, through formal and conceptual painting, collage, drawing, sculpture, photography, and video.

Currently I’m making abstract paintings that want to defy traditional painting conventions. Abstraction allows me to formally explore these concepts by denying the edges of the surface with arbitrary shapes, working varied grounds, drawing on the painting, or referencing the backside with tacked remnants of linen.  The relationships between flatness, dimension, imperfect geometry, fluidity, dullness, resurfacing, flip, cover-up, push/pull attempt to mirror the flexibility and multi-layered realities that compose human identities.

ASA: What do you think are biggest challenges presently facing university-level artists?

Geoffrey: Well, I’m a maker with a studio practice so I’ll approach this question from that perspective.

I think one of the biggest challenges is deciding how to continue studying art and continuing your practice if that’s your goal. My guess is that a lot of students start their post graduate days in the workforce, in any work environment, thinking that it’s temporary until they can finally land their dream job in the visual arts or attend graduate school only to find themselves years later far from their initial plan. A temporary displacement for some, but my guess is that it’s a common reality for most. There’s nothing wrong with these choices either, but I think “life” can sometimes make decisions for us. My encouragement is to keep your eye on the ball but be kind to yourself as “life” happens.

Many will mistakenly conflate art-related work with art making. I think setting up a structure around work that provides studio time is important in maintaining a dialogue with your practice and opportunities to connect with colleagues. It’s also important to keep in contact with your fellow art school peers. This is a community of folks who understand the challenges in making, keeping up with making, and will be an asset in years to come. I still keep up with my peers from grad school. In fact, we recently celebrated a ten year reunion—all of us attended except for one, and that’s only because she was out of the country—she was there in spirit. Anyway, I cannot emphasize the importance of community enough, and it’s important to identify what community needs to be for you as it’s a flexible structure that will take on various forms throughout your career.

ASA: In your opinion, what are the best and worst trends currently going on in the art world today?

Geoffrey: The best, which I hope isn’t a trend, is the inclusion of more and more otherness. We need more academic, cultural and institutional representation of artwork by artists who aren’t white heterosexual males (love ya guys, but there’s room for all of us).

The worst is social media. I just think tools like Instagram dilute a lot of artwork these days; I prefer to experience in person.  Social media seems to eliminate dialogue criticality as we pursue a perfect digital portrayal.  And yes, I’m on Instagram. And yes, I post my work all of the time.

ASA: You've practiced in a lot of cities - Chicago, New York, DC, and now Austin to name a few. What is your advice on any or all of these cities as it pertains to pursuing a full-time career in the arts?

Geoffrey: Well I think it depends on what you want to pursue. When I was in undergraduate school initially my concentration was art education. By my junior year I was lamenting being an art teacher, for whatever reason. The best advice came from an adjunct professor, who was a practicing artist showing her work all over Chicago. She told me to lose the education degree and focus on studio art as my major. She told me that if I didn’t want to teach and continued with the art education degree, I would most likely feel like I needed to use it. To me, her advice made sense—art education would have distracted me from my real goal, so I dropped it and never looked back. What I’m saying is that if you want to be a curator, or an artist, or an educator, then find the path towards that specific goal and lose the distractions. Wherever I live, I always set up my studio and continue with my process. I’ve been fortunate to maintain and grow valuable connections along the way.

DC and NYC were the most influential places for my practice and work. I attended graduate school at American University and the arts community in DC was intimate. This became a place for me to access and connect with curators, collectors, gallery directors more consistently than let’s say NYC because of its size. NYC was beneficial because of the vast community and access. It’s a city of culture so being an artist is truly embraced and opportunity is endless.

ASA: What additional "real-talk" advice do you have for artists still in school who are seeking to pursue a full-time career in the arts?

Geoffrey: Don’t give up. I know it’s a bit cliché but it’s true. They say life is short, but it’s also very long, so allow time to be your friend. Approach your future thoughtfully.

ASA: If you are able to trace back your success in the arts to one or more pivotal moments, what are those moments and why were they so pivotal?

Geoffrey: Wow, good question! My most successful moments were when my work was responsible for itself, approached naturally, and I was confident with intention. Things just clicked. Oh, and I never stop making. I might take breaks, but sooner or later, I’m back in the studio. Ah…AND…very important: don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. You will be surprised by how many folks will positively respond.

ASA: Where can folks go to get more information about your work?

Geoffrey:

www.geoffreyaldridge.com

Instagram:  @geoffreyaldridge

Email:  [email protected]

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

Titans Academy

The prompt for cassiestephkara week day 1 was High School AU and I definitely got carried away. I’m going to post it here but rather than reading it on my blog I highly suggest reading it here on ao3. PG rating; 9,632 words cassiestephkara, background dickbabs, Please feel free to reblog and leave comments!

To say that their school was a bit odd was… an over-simplified under-statement. Their weird gymnastic/cheerleading cross boasted the best acrobat in the world, students could take actual college courses (not just AP but actual professors from ivy league schools), the track, archery, swimming, and fencing teams all had world class athletes and quite a few teenaged Olympians. Their theater and music departments regularly produced award winners and art students often received gallery openings before graduation. Students participated in actual scientific research and published papers and interned at places like the UN and Catco Media, all as high schoolers.

Yet the student body was just as perplexing as their accomplishments. Sure there was the Wayne family and the Queen gang, all the (mostly) adopted children of multi-millionaires. Most were there on full scholarships though, some thanks to influential family members or friends but for most it was due to talent and a desire to learn. For nine months out of the year, teenagers from all walks of life and all over the country with all kinds of interests and talents lived and went to school at the huge mountain turned prep school not far from Gotham City.

Cassie Sandsmark had known that she would be attending the prestigious Titans Academy, her older sister Donna was a student and her cousin Diana was an alumnus and a diplomat meaning Cassie would most assuredly be attending. Move in day was odd, a group of kids, mainly boys, had been directing traffic and yelling insults at each other across the parking lots. Donna had ended up stopped behind a large pickup truck, the driver of which was jovially chatting with one of the teenaged boys helping with traffic. She rolled down her window and waved when he turned towards them. Cassie caught sight of dark black hair, blue eyes, and an easy smile. The boy turned back to the truck and tapped his palm on the door before waving as they pulled away.

Donna inched her car forward, “That’s Dick. He spent the weekend with us this summer?”

Cassie vaguely remembered the group of teenagers who had visited Donna though she couldn’t remember what all of their names had been. There was just too many redheads and too large of a crowd of loud noisy teenagers at the time. Now Cassie wouldn’t consider herself a shy person but Donna’s friends were just overwhelming so she spent most of the time they were there at the museum with her mom.

“Troia!” Dick called as they pulled up beside him. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing your car with!”

Donna laughed, “It’s a surprise! Plus we both know that had I told anyone before getting here Wally would’ve called dibs on shotgun.” Dick laughed and nodded. “Dick, you remember my little sister Cassie? I need to help her move in to the freshmen dorm.”

“A little, you weren’t around much when I visited.”

Cassie shrugged, leaning forward to better speak with the boy who had stuck his head into the car. “I was helping my mom with her exhibits. Also, the house was a little full.”

Dick laughed again, Cassie was starting to get the feeling that he laughed a lot. “Yeah well, I don’t think any of us thought that we’d all be able to make it. Wally, Garth, Roy, and I are rarely ever not busy at the same time during the summer. Not to mention Kori with her modeling, Vic with sports, Raven with her strict parents, and Gar is just Gar,” he ended with a chuckle.

Cassie raised an eyebrow at her older sister, “You didn’t tell me you were actually popular.”

“Rude!” Donna scolded but her smile betrayed her true feelings.

Dick turned back to look at the line of cars. “Well we’ll have to talk more later. Did you see where the truck in front of you went?” Donna nodded. “It was Clark Kent, he’s dropping off his little brother and cousin, they’re freshman too, so you’ll be heading the same place. Oh! And keep an eye out for Tim and Steph, since we don’t live on campus they’re helping with the move in.”

Donna gave him a thumbs up and headed onward towards the parking lot nearest the dorm. Finding a spot in the first row she parked and tapped Cassie on the knee, “C’mon girlie. You’ve got a lot of crap to get out of my car.” Donna smiled over at her as she opened the door. Cassie climbed out and took the huge suitcase from Donna’s arms. The older girl pulled a canvas grocery bag and a plastic tote box from the trunk. “Would you look at that, I’m the one with all the crap,” Donna laughed as she pushed the trunk closed.

Cassie pulled her backpack from the backseat and slung it over her shoulders before pulling the handle out on her rolling suitcase and following after Donna. The dorm was a long, two story building set between the athletic fields and the large mountain that somehow had been hollowed out and made into the main academic building. At the door stood a perky blonde girl with a face full of freckles and a pale boy with longish dark hair and a clipboard. A tall man held a small stack of crates and was bookended by a blonde girl and another dark-haired boy, both with backpacks and large duffle bags.

Clipboard boy drew what looked like check marks and pulled two small envelops out of a box by his feet. Cassie caught him saying “And Steph here will show you to your rooms. Oh, uh and my name’s Tim. I’m also a freshman so I’ll probably see you around.” The boy smiled a little awkwardly before handing them the envelopes and the blonde girl bounced off down the hall.

It was Cassie and Donna’s turn to talk to the boy with the clipboard. “Tim? Like Dick and Jason’s little brother?” Donna asked with her best smile.

Tim smiled a bit sheepishly, “Yeah. That’s me. You’re Donna, right? Dick talks about you a lot and I think you came to the Manor once.”

“You’d be right on both accounts!” Donna then elbowed Cassie. The blonde glared at her older sister before turning to Tim.

“Hi, I’m Cassie. Sandsmark. Cassie Sandsmark, cause there’s always a lot of Cassandra’s.”

Tim smiled at her, his blue eyes sparkling with laughter. “Yeah, my sister is actually named Cassandra too but she goes by Cass and I met a Cissie earlier today too.”

Cassie blinked, “Whoa. That could potentially get confusing.”

Tim nodded, “She’s blonde too.”

“That’s… weird.”

Donna laughed a bit, “You know that isn’t the strangest thing I’ve heard at this school.”

Tim smiled and turned back to his clipboard, “So uh, you’re going to be in room 205 with Kara Danvers. That was actually the girl just in front of you,” he said looking up at her. He bent down and pulled an envelope out of the box, double checking the number before handing it to her. “Steph should be back… here she is. I’ll see you around then?”

Cassie smiled at Tim as the blonde girl who must have been Steph skipped down the hallway. “Sure. Nice meeting you.”

“Bye Tim! I’m sure I’ll see you around!” Donna grinned and marched into the hall. Cassie sighed before following her, Tim shot her a wry smile and Cassie instantly knew that the two of them would get along brilliantly.

“Hiya! I’m Stephanie ‘Spoiler Alert’ Brown! But you can call me Steph.” The blonde said with a voice that matched her sunny disposition.

“I’m Cassie Sandsmark. This is my sister Donna Troy, she’s a junior.” Donna grinned and wiggled her elbow in greeting.

“You seem very familiar. You’re one of the older boys’ gang aren’t you?”

“Does Jason have a ‘gang’? He likes to deny he has friends, even though Roy, Kori, Kyle, and I regularly hang out with the grouchy nerd.” Donna raised her eyebrow at Steph who cackled in return.

“Now I see why he actually likes you. What’s your room number?” She asked Cassie.

“Um, 205.”

“Oh! Sweet! You’re gonna be Kara’s roomie! I was just there! She’s a sweetie pie, you’ll love her.” Steph’s smile somehow got even brighter as she punched the elevator button with her index finger. The doors slid open and the three girls immediately filed in. Steph pressed the button for the second floor before leaning against the wall. “So where’re ya from?”

“Gateway City originally, but my mom got a new job in D.C. last spring so we’ve been living with our cousin there until we finally found a house in Alexandria,” Cassie told her, fiddling with the handle on her suitcase.

“Cool. What does your mom do? Sorry, I’m nosy.” Steph said sheepishly.

Donna chuckled and Cassie turned to shoot her a look, Donn just shook her head at her younger sister. “She’s an archeologist originally but she’s worked as a museum curator the last few years now.”

“That’s awesome!” Steph grinned as she somehow hopped backwards out of the elevator. “My mom’s a nurse, which is exciting only in Gotham, being an archeologist is so cool!”

“Yeah,” Cassie replied. “I actually want to be one too.”

“You and I practically grew up in ancient Greece, you’re definitely going to be an archeologist.” Donna told her confidently.

Cassie blushed at that as Steph lead them down the hall. Her room was on the far end from the elevator and she could see other students setting up their own rooms through the open doors she passed. She could hear rock music blaring from one room and when she passed she saw a redheaded girl looking at a platinum blonde with concern, the redhead seemed to be gesturing to the music and asking to have it turned down but the other was simply staring back with a raised eyebrow. Another held a pair of boys, one with blonde hair and what looked like snake tattoos on his arms and another who had a lightning bolt shaved into his hair, who were trying to set up a large fish tank on top of their pushed together dressers.

Steph came to a stop in front of the window at the end of the hall, “Ta-da!” She trilled throwing her arms out into jazz hands. Cassie giggled at her as she passed. Taking a glance into the room across the hall, the boy from outside was there and Cassie noticed that in addition to an undercut he also had a gold hoop in one of his ears, she smirked a bit at that, his roommate was a scrawny hyper-active boy who could be heard chattering from the hall as he bustled around the room constantly pushing his auburn hair out of his eyes.

Cassie turned to her own room and peeked her head in. “Um, hi? I’m Cassie,” she smiled and slowly stepped through the door.

“Oh! Hi! I’m Kara! I hope you don’t mind that I took the left side of the room?” The girl gave her a warm grin as she turned to face Cassie. The other girl’s bed was half-made and there was knick-knacks, posters, and school supplies scattered across the desk.

“That’s fine. Uh, this is Donna, my sister.”

Donna smiled and placed the stuff she had been carrying down next to the bed. “Hi Kara. I’d love to chat but I need to go move in myself. I’ll text you and we can meet up for dinner?” Cassie nodded and Donna pulled her into a hug before waving to the other two girls and heading back down the hall.

“She seems really nice. You know she’s like super popular?” Steph asked from where she leaned on the door frame.

“She never really mentioned it but I’m starting to get those vibes,” Cassie replied honestly as she started opening drawers to sort clothes into.

Kara gave the other two girls a small smile. “I’m just hoping to make friends,” she told them softly.

“What do you mean, ‘hoping’?” Steph practically screeched with exaggerated air quotes.

“Well, I’m from Midvale and it’s this little town in Kansas and everyone there thinks I’m really weird cause I really like movies and books and writing, like really, really like them. But I’m also really good at soccer, that’s why I’m here, but I don’t act like the other girls and people don’t like that. Plus here everyone is from the city and what not so I’m an outlier and yeah…” Kara trailed off and peered at the other girls through the strands of blonde hair that had fallen in front of her sky blue eyes.

“One: I thought I talked fast, wow,” Steph gave a quick shake of her head. “Two: you’re from Kansas, not the planet Krypton or something like that! I met a girl from Blue Valley, Nebraska earlier! She seemed super cool btw, name’s Courtney. So, there’s not going to be any problems in that department. Three: being weird is kinda everyone’s thing around here. Trust me. I’ve been practically a Wayne for years now and they all go here so I know what kind of weird people get accepted. I mean, I’m here!”

Cassie laughed at Steph’s statements before turning to Kara. “Look, I know we just met but you seem really nice so I’ll be your friend. I’m mildly obsessed with mythology and I fence so if being a soccer super star and lit nerd is what you’ve got going on then I’m not one to judge.”

Kara beamed at that, “Thanks. So um, what’re you into Steph?”

“I’m a junior detective and gymnast,” she said proudly. “How I got into this place I’ve got no idea. Probs cause Bruce has all but adopted me, I’m still holding out hope though.”

“Hope for what?” Cassie asked, partially confused by Steph’s words to begin with. From talking to Steph the past few minutes Cassie gathered that she knew much more than either Cassie or Kara and didn’t realize or didn’t want to explain it all.

“Oh, that Bruce will adopt me too. But I guess having my mom and I move in is close enough.” She shrugged as her phone dinged. Cassie glanced over at Kara who was definitely equally confused. “Timbo needs assistance. Well I shall return! Oh! First phone numbers.” Steph pulled a sparkly purple gel pen from what appeared to be thin air and scrawled her number on the back of each girl’s hand. “Text me!” She called before skipping out their door.

“She seems like a-”

“Tornado?” Kara suggested.

“I was gonna say handful but that works much better,” Cassie grinned.

The two laughed before turning back to their unpacking. Soon they were chatting and laughing, Cassie knew that they were going to be great roommates and even better friends. She learned that the boy with the earring across the hall was Kara’s cousin Conner but everyone just called him Kon and figured out that Kara’s cousin Clark and Cassie’s cousin Diana were really good friends and met up once a month with some other guy for coffee.

They had ended up rolling out a rug that Kara had brought with and just sitting there on the floor getting to know each other. A knock on the half open door drew their attention to the boys standing there. “Kon!” Kara cried with a smile. “This is Cassie, Cassie my cousin Kon.”

Cassie raised a hand to wave and smiled. “Hiya,” he said in return. “D’you guys want to come to dinner with Bart and I? Oh, this is Bart by the way.” Bart-by-the-way peered out from just behind Kon and waved.

“I’m supposed to grab dinner with my sister but I’m sure she won’t mind. We can always get dinner another night,” Cassie smiled and got up to look for her converse.

She was just pulling them on when another silhouette filled the doorway. “It’s a regular party up here!” Steph said brightly. “Are you all heading for food? Can Tim and I sit with you? I’m one of the few non-related people he knows and so we need to find more people to sit with so we have an excuse to avoid the related people.”

“You make it sound like I have no friends and hate my family Steph,” Tim gave her an exaggerated eyeroll and Cassie couldn’t help but smile.

“Well you don’t and you do,” Steph shot back smugly.

“None of us have friends! We just got here! And Jason and Damian hate me, I have no problems with them and Dick, Cass, Babs, Duke, Harper, and Cullen love me.” Tim quickly replied.

“Ok, well only two and half of them are related to you so…” Steph’s sass, if possible, rose to another level. Cassie looked around at the others and they seemed just as interested and confused as she was. Cassie got the feeling that Steph and Tim would always be mentioning people only they knew and that she was just going to learn to live with it because she had already decided she wanted to be friends with the bubbly girl and clipboard boy. Kon was smiling broadly at the soon to be snark off while Bart seemed to be shaking with silent laughter.

“C’mon Steph, don’t act like the only person from my family that you’re on speaking terms with is Cass right now. Because if Harper and Cullen don’t count for me then they don’t count for you either.” Tim’s smirk had a victorious edge to it and Steph narrowed her eyes.

“At least Damian tolerates me. That’s more than you can say.”

“Am I the one who set off a glitter bomb in the game room last week? No. Who was that again? Oh yeah, you.”

“You know that was an accident! Babs vouched for me!” Steph’s blue eyes glowed with rage and her fists were balled.

Tim raised his chin a few centimeters higher as the smirk grew. “I know. That doesn’t mean they believe you.”

The two Gothamites stood like that while the other four glanced between each other, no longer amused and now thoroughly unsure of what to do. Suddenly someone’s stomach growled and Bart cleared his throat, “So food?”

This seemed to bring them around as Steph pushed a breath out of her nose and Tim smiled before flinging his arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick squeeze. “C’mon, dining hall is this way,” he said and the two started walking off back down the hall.

As they walked Cassie felt her phone buzz and pulled it out of her back pocket. The screen was lit with a text from Donna, “On my way to dh. See you in a few.” She slid it back into her pocket without responding, figuring she’d just tell her sister when she got there and that Donna would understand. She tuned into the conversation around her as she walked with her new friends to the large, cave-like door set into the side of the mountain.

Bart was trying to explain that he had two second cousins and they both had the same name and were both going to school here but the one was the same age as him and the other was two years older. Cassie’s head swirled but Tim seemed to be keeping up with the other boy perfectly. “Wait, the older one is he a ginger?” Bart nodded quickly at that. “Yeah, he’s my oldest brother Dick’s best friend,” Tim said with a smile.

“Is your brother friends with everyone’s family members?” Cassie asked, only half sarcastically.

“Well, kinda? I mean he’s pretty much friends with everyone but there’s a lot of people in our grade whose siblings or whatever are his good friends,” Tim’s cheeks started to flush and Cassie gathered it was a touchy subject for him.

Steph bumped her hip against his as they walked, “Cheer up Timmy-boy! That just gives you, and by extension me, a slight advantage in the social hierarchy!” Tim simply raised an incredulous eyebrow before shaking his head at her in disbelief.

Inside the dining hall Cassie found Donna sitting at a large table which was already half full. She waved before making her way over to where Cassie stood with her group of new friends. “Hey! All moved in?”

“Yep. Everything’s good. Do you mind if I eat with my friends? We can grab dinner together another night.”

Donna smiled at Cassie and then the group of teenagers waiting for her, “You guys can all join us if you want.” She used her thumb to point over her shoulder at the table. A boy with black hair and a white streak in it appeared to flip Cassie and the others off but when Steph stuck her tongue out at him and Tim rolled his eyes they realized it was not directed at the group at large. The boy from earlier, Dick, lightly whacked him upside the head before waving to the group. A redheaded guy on Dick’s other side gave them a quick jerk of the chin greeting. Bart raised his hand in a half-hearted wave.

“Um… I think we’re good finding our own table,” Cassie replied as she turned back to Donna.

Donna frowned at her friends but nodded, “That seems best. I’ll talk to the boys, see what’s up. I swear my friends are normally nice.” Cassie just smiled and shrugged before following after Tim as he lead the way through the crowded tables.

One table started waving at him and Steph as they neared it. Steph eagerly waved back and called, “Hi Cass! Hi Harper! Hi Duke! Hi Cullen! Tim doesn’t feel like dealing with family today.”

The girl with blue and purple hair laughed and called back, “Then what are you?” Steph responded with an exaggerated shrug before she kept walking.

A kid with bright green hair bumped into Cassie and then started profusely apologizing. She kept telling him it was fine but he just kept talking. The others had stopped to see what was happening and when the green boy saw Tim and Steph his face split into a grin. “Hey guys! Are you avoiding the others cause they’re all over there with us. Well, not all, but Dick, Jason, and Babs are. I had to come get a vegetarian option. Oh! I get it now! You’re trying to make friends! Ok, wow, sorry. And sorry for bumping into you again. Peace out!”

Cassie looked at Tim and Steph for explanation. Steph had already started walking toward an empty table while Tim stood with an amused expression on his face. Cassie noticed that Kon and Bart were waiting for Tim to explain too, when he didn’t Kon took things into his own hands. “So do you just know everybody?”

“What? No. Just most people. That was Gar, he’s a friend of my brothers and they have a lot of friends so…” Tim trailed off with a shrug and turned to follow Steph. Kara, Kon, and Bart all exchanged glances with each other and Cassie before moving on themselves.

Cassie put her jacket on a seat at the table Steph had claimed before heading back the way she came to get food. The group of freshmen reconvened at the table almost simultaneously. Cassie suddenly felt awkward sitting between Tim and Kon, Steph directly across the table from her with Bart on the left and Kara on the right. Steph and Bart were laughing, swapping stories about pranks they did or wanted to do. Kara caught her eye and smiled, Cassie smiled back. Kon raised an eyebrow at Steph and Bart and before joining in on the tales of pranks. As Cassie twiddled her fork in her pasta she began to feel more settled with these people. The conversation swirled around her as topics changed and the meal wore on.

Kara checked the time on her phone and grimaced slightly. “I hate to sound like a party pooper but we’ve got class in the morning and it’s getting late.”

“You’re right. Steph, we should probably find Dick and find out who’s riding with him and who’s going with Alfred.” Tim said, gathering up his dishes. They soon parted ways with Tim and Steph, after promises of meeting up again were made. Cassie enjoyed joking with Bart and Kon on the walk pack to the dorms, Kara laughing at the three of them.

Cassie woke the next morning promptly at 6 am thanks to an alarm blaring. Kara groaned from the bed next to her before violently kicking off her covers. The other girl slid out of bed and shuffled to the small bathroom, a few minutes later she returned wrapped in a fluffy pink robe with her hair piled in a towel on top of her head. “Sorry ‘bout the alarm,” Kara murmured from behind a yawn.

Cassie forced herself out of bed and shrugged. “No biggie, mine was going to go off soon anyway.” Cassie showered and got ready for the day. In the main room she was surprised to find herself effortlessly orbiting Kara as they each went through their morning routines.

They walked to breakfast together and chatted over cereal and eggs. Cassie pulled the folded piece of paper with her schedule printed on it from her backpack. She brushed a stray curl from her face as she smoothed the paper out on the table.

“Oh! I totally spaced on asking about your classes!” Kara gave her a small frown and Cassie waved her off.

“I literally did the same to you. Here let’s look now.” They bowed their heads over the sheets and began smiling. They had 4 out of nine periods the same, one of which was lunch. “Well we have second period together so I guess I’ll see you soon!” Cassie told her as she began gathering things up to go find her 8 am.

Kara nodded and grinned, “I’ll try and sit with you.” Cassie beamed as she walked away.

Cassie wasn’t late getting to class, but she was one of the last to arrive. Kara had saved her a seat and Cassie was pleasantly surprised to see Stephanie was sitting on her other side. “Hey there Cassie!” Steph called.

Cassie smiled and sat down. “Hey guys.”

“How was your last class?” Kara asked, genuinely curious.

“Good. Boring. How about you guys?”

Kara shrugged. “Oh you know, average first day of school stuff. Paperwork, expectations, how they know you’re going to disappoint them by the end of the month.”

Steph laughed loudly, causing the other students to shoot the three blondes looks. “You’re not as sweet as you look Kara Danvers. In first aid they gave us a supply list.” Steph reached down into the purple backpack at her feet and procured a sheet a paper which she smacked onto her desk. “Look at this! Tape, gauze, shock blankets. You’d think we’d be learning to survive the apocalypse or something? But no, this is just a first aid and CPR course to get us our certifications.”

Cassie leaned over Kara to pull the page closer to her. The list was long and detailed, giving preferred brands and even websites to purchase the items form. “This school is weird,” Cassie shook her head as she leaned back into her seat.

“You can say that again,” Steph said with a scoff-like laugh.

“What do you mean by that?” Kara asked, a slight tilt to her head.

“Besides the obvious?” Steph smirked and gestured to the subterranean classroom they sat in.

Cassie rolled her eyes, “We wouldn’t be asking if we already had guessed.”

Steph quirked an eyebrow at that. “Wait. You don’t know either?” The other girls shook their heads and Steph let out a low whistle. “I’m surprised. Well, for one, people here are like freakishly talented. I mean, why else would they be here? But the cliques aren’t… they’re… it’s hard to explain.” Steph made a bit of a frustrated face, her eyebrows furrowing and nose and lip scrunching up in distaste. She grinned suddenly and pointed a finger, tipped with sparkly nail polish, just under Kara’s nose. The other girl was forced to go cross-eyed to ensure she wasn’t poked.

“Ok Cassie, you know how your sister is part of that huge gaggle of Juniors, and a couple sophomores?” Cassie nodded, unsure where this conversation was going. “Well they definitely wouldn’t be friends outside of Titans Academy. See Dick is a rich pretty boy and a cheerleader, yet he’s the leader of their little pack. Wally and Roy are his right-hand men, but Wally comes from the Nowheresville of Nebraska and is the track team’s golden boy while Roy is as much a rich white boy as Dick (even though Dick isn’t actually white and Roy actually grew up on a Navajo reservation but semantics) cause he’s the adopted son of that billionaire from Star City, Oliver Queen. Now as much as Wally is a goody two shoes Roy is a hell-raiser. The archery team’s bad boy he can be found beating up bullies with Jason just as often as holding court with Dick.” Steph sucked in a breath while Cassie tried to process the rapid fire word vomit.

“Ok, so you’ve got all that? Well there’s also Garth who’s an international student and like a completely insanely awesome swimmer. And your sister, Donna, she’s the president of the yearbook committee and the lead photographer as well as the photo editor for the newspaper. Now, yuppie teenage cheerleader plus cornhusking track star plus rebel without a cause archer plus exchange student swimmer plus miss congeniality photographer? Error. Error. Error. Does not compute. But wait! There’s more!” Steph threw her arms up and did her best impression of an infomercial.

Cassie glanced at the door, the teacher was nowhere in sight. Glancing over at Kara the other girl just shrugged and mouthed “We asked for it.” Cassie sighed before resting her chin in her hand, giving Steph her undivided attention.

“So then you’ve got Vic, the next all-American with his football and basketball and lacrosse and just sportsball in general plus the guy’s a genius and VP of the Coding Club. Babs is the president, she’s part of the Gotham gang with me, and she’s currently dating Dick plus she’s an actual genius and a ballerina. A ballerina! And Kori, Dick’s ex-girlfriend and still bestie, who is an heiress to some crazy tech company and she’s like always the lead in drama club productions. Lemme tell you, that gal can sing.” Steph nodded seriously before charging on. “Then we have the sophomores: Gar with his green hair and greener thought process with his animal rights activism and eco-friendly everything. Even the hair dye! And there’s Kyle, he’s an artist and somehow got roped into being friends with Jason. Connor came with Kyle, he’s Roy’s little brother, also an archer and is in charge of the philosophy club. Raven, quiet, a little goth, super sweet. She’s also an artist and does some super cool fashion design. And wrapping up the young’ens is Jason! The second oldest of the Wayne boys he’s what your mothers would warn you away from. ‘Cept he’s a giant nerd, like loves classic lit and writes angsty poetry nerd, and a social justice warrior. Between him and Gar you could go to an on-campus protest once a week!” Steph grinned and started giggly madly before finally getting out the words “And that’s what you missed on GLEE!”

Cassie exchanged a look with Kara, neither truly knew what to say. Steph had spit a lot, A LOT, of information at them. Cassie knew she had met most of the people mentioned over the summer thanks to Donna but she was struggling to attach names and personalities to faces. Kara looked even more lost. With her blue eyes wide Cassie was struck by how well she mimicked a deer in headlights.

“I don’t know a single one of those people… How? Steph? Are you some internet stalker or something?”

Cassie waved a hand in Kara’s direction. “Yes. What she said.”

Steph rolled her eyes. “I’m not a creep. Wayne Manor is not even ten miles away, it’s like a 15-minute drive and since my dad decided to get himself arrested and my mom decided to get clean and I was already besties with Cass and Timbo, Bruce had the two of us move in. Now I live there and pretty much so do all of they, they’re around enough. See, I’m just observant.”

Cassie’s head continued to swirl, she was coming to the conclusion that this was just how Steph talked and if she hung around her enough Cassie was sure she would get used to it eventually. Until then, she had to pick out and rearrange the relevant pieces of information. From what Cassie worked out, Steph and her mother had been invited to live at Wayne Manor which, due to its proximity to school, was were Dick Grayson and his incessantly large group of friends chose to hang out in their free time. This was how Steph came to know so much about Cassie’s sister and her friends.

“Ok…” Kara began slowly. “So, what you’re saying is, the lines between cool and not don’t exist?”

Steph pursed her lips and tilted her head from side to side. “Eh. No, not exactly. It’s just that no one really acknowledges them. You don’t have to be ‘cool’, just yourself.” Steph shrugged and faced forward just as the teacher walked in, nearly 20 minutes late. He muttered out some apology before shuffling papers. Cassie still wasn’t sure what to think of this school but it definitely wasn’t what she expected.

She made it through the first week unscathed, even earning an impressed compliment out of her strict fencing coach. The English class she shared with Steph and Kara had proved thoroughly entertaining. Their first unit was on mythology and between her knowledge, Kara’s impressive command of the English language, and Steph’s argumentative spirit they made quite the trio. Cassie wasn’t sure if the teacher hated or adored them.

Cassie ate dinner with Donna on Friday. Her sister was happy to hear how well she had settled in, especially how well Cassie and Kara were getting along. Donna scooped up a spoonful of applesauce that she quickly popped into her mouth. Cassie could see her sister studying her, weighing options. Finally, Donna spoke, “Bruce is going out of town this weekend and Jay and Dick are hosting a party. Steph is going to be there, why don’t you and Kara come? I can take you in my car.”

Cassie blinked before stuttering out “Yeah. Uh, sure. I’ll- I’ll talk to her?”

Donna beamed. “Great! I’ll meet you in the student lot at eight.”

Cassie had left dinner with an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something between butterflies and a lead balloon. When Cassie told Kara about the party invite she had gotten as excited as a golden retriever puppy that was asked if it wanted to go for a walk. With her golden blonde hair and the bouncing she sort of looked like it too.

They blasted music as they threw clothes at each other, neither really knew what the dress code was. Cassie settled on a leather jacket with a flowing dress and combat boots while Kara borrowed her galaxy leggings with a long black sweater and vans. They were fixing each other’s makeup when there was a knock on the door.

They checked the time – they weren’t running late – and exchanged confused glances. Cassie pulled herself from the desk chair and went to answer the door. Kon and Bart stood on the other side, “Are you aware that you’re blasting techno-pop?” Kon asked with a raised brow.

“It’s like you have super hearing or something,” Cassie shot back sarcastically.

Bart snickered. “You getting ready for a shindig or something?” He asked with a sweeping motion to her outfit.

Kara joined her at the door, “As a matter of fact we are! Cassie’s sister invited us to a party at Wayne Manor.”

“What a coinky-dink cuz, so are we! Tim said that his brother encouraged him to invite friends and he invited us.” Kon shrugged and an easy-grin spread across his face.

“That explains the outfits,” Cassie replied with a raised brow of her own. She eyed the boys up and down from Bart’s grey beanie, yellow and red flannel, to his scuffed up red high tops. Like her, Kon wore a leather jacket and a pair of doc martens but his was accompanied by a pair of criminally tight red skinny jeans and round sunglasses. The gold hoop in his ear winked at her as Kon laughed.

Cassie smirked and turned back to Kara, “I need more glitter and so do you. Boys? Would you like to be glittered before we go?” Cassie quirked her lips, daring them to back down.

“Cassie, glitter is my middle name,” Kon said seriously as he swept past her into the room.

The four were standing in the student lot at ten of eight when they heard voices coming towards them and growing louder. A group of teens could be seen laughing and shoving one another as they neared the lot. One of the girls let out a yell and waved an arm above her head. Cassie recognized her sister’s fringe suede jacket and waved back. A slick black SUV and a beat up 60’s VW Bug pulled up to the curb behind the small huddle of freshmen and Cassie turned in time to see Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon climb out of the vehicles.

“Hey guys. Glad you could come! Tim and Steph are back at the house, we’re trying to conserve seats.” Dick told them. His blue eyes sparkled in the lights from the parking lot as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and leaned against his SUV.

Babs leaned next to him and bumped his upper thigh lightly with her hip. “As you can see, we don’t have a heckva lot of those.” She grinned and started fiddling with her bright red hair, watching the group draw near.

“What’s the head count?” A guy yelled from near the front of the group.

“You plus four in your jeep, Donna has her sister and Kara and two more in her car, I can take seven and Babs can take four. The others are already there,” Dick yelled back.

“I can take my bike!” A different guy shouted. They were still too far away with the sparse pools of light for Cassie to see who was speaking.

“Wally don’t be an idiot!” Cassie smiled as she recognized her sister’s voice. The group finally got to them and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief, comfortably avant garde seemed to be the dress code. Donna was indeed wearing her fringed suede jacket and sparkly leggings with a plain black t-shirt and sandals. She rushed Cassie and gathered her into her arms. “Hiya sis,” Donna breathed into her ear and Cassie laughed, struggling to free herself.

The group cooed around them. “Why aren’t you guys like that?” someone asked someone Cassie couldn’t see thanks to her sister’s fluffy hair. When she finally pulled away she saw most of Donna’s friends and her own laughing at the two of them, causing Cassie to blush.

“Alright,” Dick said, taking command of the seating arrangements. “Cassie, Kara you go stand by Donna. You want to take Kon and Bart too?”

Donna shrugged, “Not a problem.”

Dick waved the boys over to her and the five stood off to the side. “Alright, with Roy how about Kori, Kyle, and Connor?” The teens in question murmured their assent before also standing to the side. “I’ll take Wally, Garth, Vic, Gar, and Ray. Roy, Connor, where’s your sister and her friends?”

“She texted they’re on the way now,” Roy fixed his baseball cap as he looked at his phone. Sure enough, a group of girls could be seen making their way towards them, boasting three blondes and a pretty African American girl that Cassie recognized from her math class.

“Sorry we’re late!” The blonde in the lead called out. “We were trying to convince Megan to come but she was hiding from Rose in Wally and Jackson’s room and they all decided to be lame!”

“Wow Mia. Way to be blunt!” Roy called back.

“Bite me!” and an extremely audible raspberry could be heard as they neared. Roy completely cracked up while Connor did an honest to god face palm. Cassie almost felt bad for the guy.

“The girls will be riding with you,” Dick informed Babs who shrugged and climbed back into her bug to try and get the beat-up car started again.

Donna taped on Cassie’s shoulder and she automatically tilted her head to hear what her sister said. “Do you know them?” she whispered.

Cassie turned and whispered back, “Not really. I have a class with Anita and I know Mia and one of the other blondes are both on the archery team but other than that.”

Donna shrugged and turned back to the group. “We good?” Dick asked as he looked around at their little squadrons. Everyone nodded and Dick clapped his hands together once. “Alright then, time to move out!”

“Shotgun!” Wally called before barreling towards the SUV. With that they all broke off towards the cars to reconvene at the house in a few minutes.

Cassie’s mouth gaped open and her eyes widen as they rounded the final bend of the manor’s long drive. “It’s huge,” slipped out of her mouth as she took in sprawling grounds and ever impressive mansion that reeked of old money.

From the backseat Kon snorted. “That’s what she said.” Bart snickered as Cassie turned around to glare at the boys. Wedged directly behind her, Kara held a hand to her mouth in a poor attempt to contain her giggles. Cassie huffed as she turned back around. Donna glanced at her and smirked too.

Cassie’s mouth knotted as she crossed her arms and stared stubbornly at the large house that continued to grow larger. Donna pulled around the extravagant fountain that sat in the center of the gravel drive and parked just past the front door between Roy’s red jeep and Barbara’s beat-up bug.

The group of teenagers all clambered out of the cars and towards the front door. Cassie could already hear the bass thumping as the door was flung open. A boy in artfully ripped black jeans and a red hoodie had thrown open the doors and flung his arms into the air. The lights that lit up the porch’s giant, decorative columns gave his face eerie shadows and made the white streak in his black hair glow. The knife-blade smile he gave them glowed too and Cassie was suddenly having bad feelings about coming along. Jason cackled and called out, “Welcome! Come one, come all! To the Lost Boys soiree!” He then abruptly turned on his heel and marched back into the house.

Cassie glanced over at Kara who had appeared at her shoulder, the other girl stared back and shrugged. “And I thought Kon was dramatic,” Bart muttered from where he appeared on Cassie’s other side. She laughed and let her anxiety melt away.

The older kids were racing up the steps and Cassie linked arms with Kara excitedly and Bart did the same to her before marching onward, pulling them with her. Kon could be heard laughing as he jogged to catch up and linked on Kara’s other side as they made their way to the imposing double front doors.

Inside the house Cassie was struck first by the smoke. Somewhere in the one of the uncountable rooms and hallways there was a fog machine pumping out the swirling white matter around their calves. Next was the music, loud and thumping and coming from everywhere at once. Cassie didn’t know where to look as her eyes caught on priceless paintings, antiques, and original woodwork in the weird half-light.

“There’s food and drinks in the kitchen!” Someone half-shouted from behind them, making Cassie and everyone else jump. Steph grinned as they turned, pleased by the entrance she made. “Tim’s there too. Also, when I saw drink I mean soda and good old water. If anyone got drunk and ruined anything Alfred would have all our heads.”

“And where exactly is the kitchen?” Kara yelled back. The music seemed to be getting louder, the bass pounding through Cassie’s ribcage.

“This way!” Steph waved and began weaving her way through the house. The four of them followed her deeper into the halls where the music, if possible, got even louder and then began to dim as they ended in a sleek, modern kitchen with a huge island and even bigger wood table and chairs.

The counter was lined with bottles of every non-alcoholic carbonated beverage imaginable. The table overflowing with everything from burgers and chips to chocolate cake and apple pie. Tim was found at the coffee pot, chatting with Mia and the three girls she had brought with.

“Timmy boy!” Steph launched herself onto his back. He laughed and elbowed her sharply in the ribs. She easily rolled off and bumped their hips together. “I found your friends.”

He turned to them and smiled. “You made it! Excellent! Coffee?”

“I cannot believe you’re drinking coffee right now,” One of the blondes said with an incredulous eyebrow.

“Look Cissie, I drink coffee like some people drink water.” Tim finished pouring it into his mug and turned to the others. “I don’t think you guys all know each other. Mia,” he pointed to the blonde on the far end, her hair was long and held in a tight ponytail. “Cissie,” the girl standing next to him, her hair came to her shoulders and swished as she waved. “Courtney,” the last blonde smiled and Cassie saw braces wink at her in the kitchen’s bright light. “And Anita,” the African American girl smiled and inclined her head. He then moved on to group that Steph had just brought in, pointing to each in turn. “Kon, Kara, Cassie, and Bart.”

“Now that we’ve all met get your snacks and let’s go!” Steph bounced towards the table and filled a plate before pouring herself a cup root beer and rushing out a door Cassie hadn’t noticed earlier.

“Should we?” Cassie asked, gesturing after the other girl.

“Yes. Most definitely yes,” Tim said, grabbing his mug and an entire bag of chips and following Steph.

The eight teens still standing in the kitchen did the only thing they could, filled plates and cups and followed their hosts. The door lead to a backyard that was completely lit by floodlights. She could just make out trees at the edges of where the light no longer reached. In the yard in front of her was… Well Cassie wasn’t exactly sure what it was. There was a halfpipe but also trapeze swings like you’d see at a circus and a stage bookended by speakers. Like everything else about the house Cassie was struck speechless.

Steph and Tim were seated on a large blanket next to a dark-haired girl. When Steph waved them all over the girl turned and Cassie saw that is was Tim’s sister Cass. They made their way over and Cassie sat on the blanket to Steph’s left, as the one she was currently on was filled thanks to Harper, Duke, Cullen, and another boy that Cassie didn’t recognize laying in front of the other three. The boy snarled at something Tim said and Cass shot him a look, making his mouth snap shut and Steph ruffle his hair. The others laughed and Tim excused himself to go sit with Kon, Bart, Mia, Anita, Cissie, and Courtney on another blanket that was devoid of the younger boy.

Steph gathered her things and moved too, coming to sit with Cassie and Kara. “What was that?” Cassie asked and gestured to the neighboring blanket that Steph had just left.

“What? Damian? Kid’s just a little demon brat is all. No worries, he loves me,” Steph waved them off and wiggled her way so that she was squeezed between them.

“Ok. So, what’s all this?” Kara asked and spread her hands at the set-up in front of them.

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll see. One thing the Waynes all have in common is a flare for the dramatic. That is what this is.” Steph held her plate out to Kara. “Pretzel?”

Suddenly, there was a loud tone from the speakers before it morphed into a flurry of notes. A whoop came from the small crowd around them as a figure appeared on the platform of the trapeze. The figure bowed and waved in time to the music as it crescendoed. At the peak the figured jumped and Cassie gasped as they plummeted through the air but the momentum caught the swing and soon they were soaring through the air to the next swing. Back and forth they flew and flipped, spun and soared. The music and performance came to a close as they landed on the opposite platform, perfectly in synch. The crowd cheered and the figure bowed again before climbing down and walking to the middle of the stage.

“Hello and welcome to the first Neverland party of the year!” Dick crowed to the crowd. They all gave up another cheer and Cassie gasped.

“That was Dick? With all the flippy stuff?” She whispered in Steph’s ear.

“Yup. He’s the best acrobat in the world,” Steph said midchew on a chocolate chip cookie. “That’s why he’s captain of the cheer/gymnastic/flippy stuff team.”

“Aren’t you a gymnast?” Kara asked, looking over at Steph.

“Yup. And lemme tell you, I ain’t nowhere near as bendy as that boy.” Steph shook her head, making her hair brush against Cassie and Kara’s cheeks.

“Wait… Does that mean you’re a cheerleader?” Cassie asked as a grin spread across her face.

Steph did her nose/mouth scrunch of annoyance and sighed. “Yes. I am.”

Kara gasped and clapped her hands together. “I have got to see you in that little outfit!” Her cheeks reddened and eyes went wide before she gulped and stared diligently at the stage that was now clear of the trapeze equipment.

Steph didn’t seem to notice though as she let out a rough sigh. “That outfit is a torture device I swear to god. The only good thing about it is the sparkly bows.”

Cassie decided to ignore what she thought Kara was implying and refocused on the stage. Cass and Barbara stood there, still in their party clothes – fishnet stockings and jean shorts with a quirky t-shirt and fluffy cardigan for Babs, black leggings and an oversized maroon sweater for Cass – that were now paired with pale pink pointe shoes.

Cassie recognized the upbeat song as soon as it began, she may or may not have a minor obsession with Les Miserable and she knew Master of the House when she heard it. She was captivated as the two girls twirled and leapt, spinning into and between each other to the drinking song. They’re faces would go from passive to sneering along almost instantaneously, making the crowd laugh as the girls didn’t just dance but entertained. The song ended and the two rose on tip-toes to high kick perfectly in time to the final cord. The crowd whooped and hollered as Cass and Babs took their bows before leaving the stage.

The blanket next to them all leapt to their feet to start pulling apart the stage. “I should probably go help.” Steph said, as she leaned her head onto Cassie’s shoulder and slung her legs overtop of Kara’s. “But I’m comfy and they’ve got it so…”

Cassie glanced over the top of Steph’s head to look at Kara. The other girl was slowly going pink that then darkened to red. Cassie had to admit that she had gotten butterflies in the pit of her stomach the moment Steph’s head touched her shoulder. Her head started to swirl and Cassie was forced to ask herself if you could really start crushing on someone after only knowing them a week. If she was asking herself this question then realistically she should also be asking herself how it was possible that she got these same feelings every time Kara brushed up against her too. Was it possible to have a crush on two people at once?

Cassie was forced to focus back on the festivities though as another song started up. She recognized it as some Green Day song that Donna would blast whenever they drove to the beach but trying to identify it was tossed aside as soon as she saw Tim at the top of the half pipe with a skateboard. On the other side was Jason on a bike. The boys nodded at each other before dropping down on their respective wheels. Cassie was stunned as they wove back and forth, doing more impressive and dangerous tricks each time. Like the others, the performance ended when the song did. Cassie’s heart was racing, she may not know Tim overly well but she thought of him as a friend and the entire time she was having visions of him falling and getting hurt.

Next to her Steph chuckled. “You were worried about Tim. Don’t. He’s much more of a little punk than people realize.”

“Are your parties always like this?” Kara asked as around them the crowd began to break up and disperse back into the house where the bass once again boomed.

“With this?” Steph asked and flopped her hand out in front of them.

“Yeah. The Waynes and all putting on a show.” Kara clarified.

“Yeah. Well it’s not just them. Pretty much everyone goes and does something. Last year Kori performed opera, Gar put on a juggling act, Roy and Connor did William Tell.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Kara’s eyebrows had shot skyward and she had turned to look at Steph head on.

“You know. The guy who shot apples off people’s heads? It’s an archery stunt. They did it to each other, simultaneously. Really cool. Impossible to top,” Steph said the last part a little stubbornly.

Kara was stunned into silence and Cassie really couldn’t blame her for it. The yard had completely emptied and it was just the three of them on their blanket in the quiet, early fall evening. “So what’s your act?” Cassie finally asked Steph.

She felt more than saw the other girl shrug. “You can’t perform until you attend Titans Academy. Otherwise Damian would’ve been doing real life fruit ninja for us years ago.”

Kara snorted and Cassie giggled. After not even meeting the boy she could tell that he’d definitely do so with confidence. “Does everyone have to go?” Kara asked.

“Nah. It’s only if you want to. You can come and watch and eat and dance and hang regardless.” Steph pushed herself off of Cassie and removed her legs from on top of Kara’s. She maneuvered herself so that she was laying down and looking up at the sky. Immediately Cassie and Kara both mirrored her until they were all staring up at the nonexistent stars. Steph dug her phone out of her back pocket and tapped out a quick text. A few minutes later the floodlights switched off until the yard was only lit by the squares of light from the windows, none of which reached their blankets. As their eyes adjusted they could see the stars winking down at them.

After a few more minutes Cassie raised her arm and began pointing out different constellations, relaying the ancient stories that were written in the stars. She fell silent and soon Kara raised her arm and told them what the different stars were named, what type of star they were, and where in the universe they called home. When she fell silent Steph grabbed each of their hands in each of her own and entwined their fingers.

“I-” she started and then cleared her throat and tried again. “I wanted to say thanks, for coming tonight. I know you guys didn’t know what you were getting into and I know that the others aren’t exactly forthcoming with information but thanks. Donna- Donna said that she’d ask you since I was too nervous to and I’m- I’m really glad. So thanks.” Steph sucked in a deep breath and held it. Cassie squeezed her hand and somehow she knew that Kara was doing the same on Steph’s other side. Steph let out the shuddering breath.

The three girls laid there under the stars holding hands as the music began to turn slow and quiet down. Lights began flickering off until only the kitchen spilled light onto the backyard and yet they laid there. The air became chillier and dew began to gather on the surrounding grass. Finally, Steph spoke into the darkness. “Everyone just spends the night then. You can stay in my room, I have spare pjs.”

Cassie nodded and pushed herself off the ground, never letting go of Steph. Kara mirrored her and still linked they made their way into the house. Kara let go to allow Steph to take the lead, grabbing onto Cassie’s free hand instead. They didn’t even take their shoes off before they collapsed onto Steph’s bed and fell asleep in a pile of limbs, blankets, and long blonde hair.

#dc comics #cassiestephkara #cassiestephkara week #writing #own writing #my fic #teen titans #young justice #the blonde brigade #cassie sandsmark #kara danvers #stephanie brown #donna troy #dick grayson #kon-el #conner kent #tim drake #bart allen #wally west #roy harper #garth #victor stone #garfield logan #koriand'r #rachel roth #kyle rayner #connor hawke #jason todd #barbara gordon #cassandra cain

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The father of virtual reality sounds off on the changing culture of Silicon Valley, the impending #MeToo backlash, and why he left Google for Microsoft BI Getty Images Widely recognized as the father of virtual reality, Jaron Lanier has been hugely influential in shaping the technology of today. Lanier's work is considered foundational to the field of VR; he's spurred developments in immersive avatars, VR headsets and accessories, and was involved in early advancements in medical imaging and surgical simulator techniques. He's also credited with coining the phrase "virtual reality." In addition to his work as a programmer and inventor, Lanier is a prolific author and celebrated tech critic. His most recent book, 'Dawn of the New Everything,' explores his upbringing in New Mexico, his years pioneering virtual reality in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, and his experiences working with pre-eminent scholars, critics, scientists, and developers. Lanier sat down with Business Insider's Zoë Bernard and Steven Tweedie to chat about his latest book, the current debate over the impacts of social media, his decision to join Microsoft after working at Google, and whether or not artificial intelligence will eventually wreak havoc on humanity. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Steven Tweedie : In the last year, we've seen an adjustment to expectations when it comes to the consumer market for virtual reality and the hype around VR in general. What would you say to those skeptical of whether or not it will take off? Wikimedia/Evan Amos Jaron Lanier : Let’s break this down just a little bit. First of all, there’s one side of VR which is the industrial side, not the consumer side, that’s been a total success. I’ll give you a very personal story from my life that’s an example of it. In the book, you’ll read about the surgical simulator, which dates back to the ‘80s. I did that with a few people, Dr. Joe Rosen, for example, who is a Stanford Med guy. In the last couple of years, my wife has been battling cancer and she had a bunch of operations. She’s post-cancer now, but one of her surgeons for the most difficult operation was a student of a student of Joe Rosen’s, and he used a procedure that was designed in the surgical simulator that evolved from the original one and trained in one. Since I’ve worked more on that side of things than the consumer end, I don’t have any doubts about whether or not VR is going to happen. For me, it’s been great. I think this is an established technology. I’m really proud of what we’ve done. But I’ve also played around with the consumer side a lot, starting with the Power Glove which a lot of people still have a bit of fondness for, which charms me. Business Insider By the way, I was supposed to be interviewed by Leonard Lopate on WNYC in the morning, and I just got this email that he’s been fired for sexual misconduct, 'so we’re finding another host to interview you.' The same thing happened to my interview with Charlie Rose last week. It’s hard to promote a book right now because all of the people who are supposed to interview me keep getting outed for sexual misconduct. Tweedie : Yep, it's been non-stop — our Entertainment team has been quite busy for the past month or two. So on the consumer side of the VR market, Sony's PlayStation VR headset is leading the pack when it comes to sales, and there seems to be genuine interest in the gaming side of VR and augmented reality (AR) — what are your thoughts on how those markets will evolve? Lanier : Sony has found some success with headsets, there has been some pretty good adoption of the phone and holder for things like news clips — The New York Times has been a pioneer in that. And Pokémon Go needs to be mentioned. Pokémon Go was super crude, barely over the line of usability, and yet there it was and it engaged a lot of people and that gave us a taste of mixed reality in a wide area. People like it, it makes sense. I feel like we’re doing fine, actually. For me, this is what a new market looks like. I don’t know what people are expecting. Do you know what it is? Everybody is still in this weird post-Steve Jobs period where they want that big thrill of the iPhone intro, and those things just don’t happen a lot. Tweedie: You've been involved with Microsoft's HoloLens headset, so I have to ask you about one of its competitors, Magic Leap, which one investor compared to the first time he experienced multi-touch technology, a key selling point of the iPhone. What's your opinion on Magic Leap? Lanier : I want nothing more than for Magic Leap to ship and thrive. I think it would be really good for everybody, and I really hope they do, I think it’d be great. I don’t know if they will, but I hope they do. You can’t just have a single vendor in something. You can have a most innovative vendor, you can have a vendor who's ahead, but you can’t just have a single vendor. That’s not a market. Getty Tweedie : You've been at Microsoft for around a decade, is that right? How'd that come about? Lanier : Well, it depends on how you count it. Never in a million years would have expected that I would have worked at Microsoft Labs, but it’s been a brilliant, amazing thing which I wouldn’t really have expected. I was a critic of Microsoft in the ‘90s, and I’ve always a bit of a radical purist, and Microsoft was the punching bag for people like me for a long time. Business Insider How I ended up at Microsoft is really simple. Sergey [Brin] told me, “We don’t want people writing all of these controversial essays,” because I’ve been writing tech criticism for a long time. I’ve been worried about tech turning us into evil zombies for a long time, and Sergey said, “Well, Google people can’t be doing that.” And I was like, really? And then I was talking to Bill Gates and he said, “You can’t possibly say anything else bad about us that you haven’t said. We don’t care. Why don’t you come look at our labs? They’re really cool.” And I thought, well that sounds great. So I went and looked, and I was like, yeah, this is actually really great. Zoe Bernard : I wanted to ask you about Silicon Valley. You’re living very close to there, in Berkeley. What is your perception of how the culture has changed? Lanier : Well, the tech world has such incredible stories of quick money, quick power, and quick status, that I think it’s made people a little drunk and crazy, and also a little shallow, and that makes me a little sad . The amazing thing about the old days was that you could have some people in a room from early Silicon Valley, and one of them might be a billionaire, one of them might be living out of a car, and what it was all about was how much you could do. We respected technical ability over money, and I think that was a really healthy and interesting culture . And now it’s gone. Sure, broadly speaking, in the whole world, hacker culture still exists, but Silicon Valley and San Francisco have both become so intense. For one thing, you can’t afford to live there unless you’re doing really well, so a lot of people have been priced out. And I’m not down on anybody, I mean, I live there. But if you’re asking me how it’s changed, that’s how. There’s this thing that happened which is that the re’s more diversity of ethnicity and background perhaps, but less diversity of cognitive style. If you have a certain kind of nerdy, quantitative problem-solving oriented cognitive style, that will get you more friends, and that will get you along better than if you have a more contemplative, aesthetic center. Bernard : You mentioned the lack of cognitive diversity in Silicon Valley. Do you think that this lack of cognitive diversity plays an influence in the technologies being created there? Lanier : Sometimes I do. A lot of the tools we have tend to be more usable by people who are similar to the engineers who made the tools. It’s not always true, but in general it’s a principle that seems to take hold. E ngineers are designing things that work better for people who are similar to the engineers, and that turns into a social effect that favors and disfavors certain classes of people. Tweedie : It seems like that would just lead to more isolated communities and some people thinking they're smarter than others. Business Insider Lanier : This is an ongoing conversation and argument that goes back for years. If I’m in an environment with a bunch of technical men, and I say, you know, we’re doing this thing that excludes people, they’ll say, “What are you complaining about? At least you’re on the good side of it.” And my response is, “Actually, from a purely selfish point of view, it does hurt me because I’m in this weird echo chamber where I’m being told ‘you're a hacker, you’re a technical man, you’re a white man’” and it becomes this ongoing reinforcement where you’re that thing — but the thing is this total artificial bullshit classification that just happens to rise from the resonance of this stupid tool. So while I’m on the beneficial side of it, in some ways, it forces me into this box. I think this kind of thinking hurts everyone, even the people who appear to be the beneficiaries of it. They’re forced into a place where they can’t reach their full potential. Bernard : In your first book, 'You Are Not a Gadget,' you wrote about how technology is doing us a disservice, and that computers are not yet worthy to represent people. You wrote that almost ten years ago — have your views changed at all? Lanier : I like to think that my views are always changing. I’m always interested in re-examining my stuff and seeing if I can find some way to make it better. But that general principle — that we’re not treating people well enough with digital systems — still bothers me. I do still think that is very true. Bernard : What do you think about programmers using consciously addicting techniques to keep people hooked to their products? Lanier : This was an open secret for a long time. Maureen Dowd published an interview with me in The New York Times that talked a little bit about it, and then the next day, Sean Parker, who I used to know, admitted to it and said, “Yeah, we did that.” There’s a long and interesting history that goes back to the 19th century, with the science of Behaviorism that arose to study living things as though they were machines . Behaviorists had this feeling that I think might be a little like this godlike feeling that overcomes some hackers these days, where they feel totally godlike as though they have the keys to everything and can control people. So if you zoom ahead to the 1950s or so, Norbert Wiener, one of the founders of computer science after Alan Turing and Jon van Neumann, wrote a book called 'The Human Use of Human Beings,' and in that book he points out that a computer (which at that time was a very new and exotic device that only existed in a few laboratories) could take the role of the human researcher in one of these experiments. So, if you had a computer that was reading information about what a person did and then providing stimulus, you could condition that person and change their behavior in a predictable way. He was saying that computers could turn out to have incredible social consequences. There’s an astonishing passage at the end of 'The Human Use of Human Beings' in which he says, “The thing about this book is that this hypothetical might seem scary, but in order for it to happen, there’d have to be some sort of global computing capacity with wireless links to every single person on earth who keeps some kind of device on their person all the time and obviously this is impossible.” Getty Images The behaviorists got pretty far in understanding the kinds of algorithms that can change people. They found that noisy feedback works better than consistent feedback. That means that if you’re pressing the button to get your treat, and once in a while it doesn’t work, it actually engages your mind even more — it makes you more obsessive, whether you’re a rat, or a dog, or a person. And the reason why is that the brain wants to understand the world and if there’s this thing that isn't quite working, your brain just keeps on trying to get it and wants to figure out how to build a better model. So you can really grab the brain that way. The results from the behaviorists’ research transformed the gambling industry and made it what it is today — an algorithmic, person-manipulation industry. People are driven by emotions and some emotions are cheaper, more efficient ways to engage us. Negative emotions get you first. Fear, anger, resentment, jealousy, insecurity, grab you, and it’s easier to renew them and keep you grabbed than positive things like nurturing, adoration, appreciation of beauty. Those emotions are softer. They’re easier to kill and harder to nurture in an audience. There’s an unfortunate imbalance. So, according to Sean Parker, these types of programming were put in intentionally [in Facebook’s design]. I wasn’t in the middle of Facebook, but my memory of those days — how people were talking and what was going on — is a little different. I don’t think that it’s so much that people were evil geniuses saying, “Let’s take the worst of behaviorism and manipulate the entire world.” I think what they were doing was: let’s maximize the efficiencies of our algorithms for a purpose. Tweedie: That purpose being engagement? Lanier : Well, this is maybe the greatest tragedy in the history of computing, and it goes like this: there was a well-intentioned, sweet movement in the ‘80s to try to make everything online free. And it started with free software and then it was free music, free news, and other free services. But, at the same time, it's not like people were clamoring for the government to do it or some sort of socialist solution. If you say, well, we want to have entrepreneurship and capitalism, but we also want it to be free, those two things are somewhat in conflict, and there’s only one way to bridge that gap, and it’s through the advertising model. And advertising became the model of online information, which is kind of crazy. But here’s the problem: if you start out with advertising, if you start out by saying what I’m going to do is place an ad for a car or whatever, gradually, not because of any evil plan — just because they’re trying to make their algorithms work as well as possible and maximize their shareholders value and because computers are getting faster and faster and more effective algorithms — what starts out as advertising morphs into behavior modification. It morphs into the very thing Weiner was warning about. Getty Images A second issue is that people who participate in a system of this time, since everything is free since it’s all being monetized, what reward can you get? Ultimately, this system creates assholes, because if being an asshole gets you attention, that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Because there’s a bias for negative emotions to work better in engagement, because the attention economy brings out the asshole in a lot of other people, the people who want to disrupt and destroy get a lot more efficiency for their spend than the people who might be trying to build up and preserve and improve. T here used to be this sense of an arc in history in which, if there was something that seemed like an injustice in society and people worked to improve it, there might be some backlash, but gradually it would improve. Now, what happens is that the backlash is greater than the original thing, and in some ways worse. For instance, the Arab Spring, driven by social media, turned into networks of terrorists. A few women trying to improve their place in the gaming world turned into Gamergate, which, in turn, became a prototype for the alt-right. Black Lives Matter is followed by a rise of white supremacy and neo-fascism which would have been inconceivable until recently. Now, I’m just waiting to see what happens with the #MeToo movement, because the same thing always happens with these moments that are social media-centric. That good energy becomes fuel for a system that is routed to annoy another group of people who are introduced to each other, and then get riled up and that becomes even more powerful, because the system inherently supports the negative people more than the positive people. My prediction, which I hate and which I’m sorry for, is that the #MeToo backlash will be far more powerful than the #MeToo movement. And that’s because the backlash from all these other movements was more powerful than the original. And I’d say that social media driven by the so-called advertising media is fundamentally incapable of doing anything positive for society as it stands. Bernard : What do you think that #MeToo backlash would look like? Lanier : It’s unpredictable. It will be algorithmic. As long as it’s really annoyed and mean-spirited, that’s the thing that will count, because that would be the most engaging thing. We can’t predict what it will be, but it will be mean, and it might take on a surprising character, but it will happen. People don’t understand that #MeToo will inevitably lead to a negative outcome because of the way that things are figured structurally right now. I find that it takes about a year for it to cycle through the system, for the good stuff to turn into the bad stuff. Business Insider I try to draw a certain line, and it’s a difficult line to draw. I don’t want to become a judgmental, middle-aged person. If we can identify a particular process that’s doing damage and draw a circle around it and say, “This is it,” then I think we have to talk about it. I don’t think it’s possible for us to do better unless we change the incentive structure. Right now, of the big five tech companies, three of them don’t rely on that [advertising] model. Whatever you think of Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, they’re selling goods and services primarily. In terms of big companies, it’s really Google and Facebook. It’s not even the whole tech industry, it’s really kind of narrow. I’ m totally convinced if companies like Google and Facebook can shift to a more monetized economy, then things will get better, simply because people participating will have some incentive to add to the attention economy, where they at least have something else to do, rather than just be assholes. Bernard : So the model you’re presenting is that you would like to see users get paid for the data they contribute rather than have Facebook and Google give that money to advertisers? Lanier . Yeah. The way I imagine it is that you’d pay a small fee to use Facebook. We pay for all kinds of things we like, so don’t freak out. Netflix proves that this can work. Look at what happens when people pay their Netflix bills, we suddenly have peak TV. People say “I’ll pay for this,” and suddenly better stuff is there. I really reject this zero-sum idea where we should volunteer because there’s no way we can be better anyway. So Facebook would charge a fee. I’m sympathetic to a lot of people who say that young people or people in poverty couldn't afford it. And sure, make some accommodation for that. But i n general, people will pay a small fee, but then they’d also have a chance to earn money. I f someone is a super-contributor to a social network, if they’re really adding a lot of content, they should get paid for it. Like, what Google is doing now is communist central control. They’re saying that certain YouTube personalities should be paid because they like them, but not others. That’s ridiculous. It should be a market. It should be a gradual curve, it shouldn’t be some arbitrary rule where everything is free except for this designated group. It should be universal . I think it will make things better because it will give people a different game to play in addition to seeking attention. Sometimes people come to me and say, “You don’t make any sense,” because on the one hand I’m a tech critic and I say that tech is turning us into zombies and destroying the world. But, on the other hand, I love virtual reality and I'm promoting it. But there’s no contradiction — it’s all true at once. There’s zero contradiction. We can afford to be honest. If we’re going to look at the good side of tech, it's good enough that it’s not going to kill us to also look at the bad side and be fearful of it. I don’t think there is any inconsistency in looking at the whole spectrum. Business Insider Bernard : You have an eleven-year-old daughter. Do you monitor her interactions with technology? Lanier : I’ve had extraordinary good fortune in that I was the one that made my daughter get a smartphone. I’m in this wonderful position where the problem took care of itself. I don’t have a problem with her being too into technology. Sometimes you get lucky. There does seem to be a correlation, though. The more a parent is involved in the technology industry, the more cautious they seem to be about their kids’ interactions with it. A lot of parents in Silicon Valley purposefully seek out anti-tech environments for their kids, like Waldorf Schools. I hope we won’t have to go there. Bernard : I’m interested in what you think the future of technology looks like. From reading your new book, I got the sense that you’re slightly anxious, but that you also have a sense of optimism about the future. What do you think is in store? Lanier : I’m optimistic for many reasons, one reason is that it’s dysfunctional not to be. If you look at history, people have been through horrible things in the past, including very confusing things. The world has seen horrifying mass phenomenon. Somehow, we seem to be able to find our way through, and I do believe in an arc of history. I believe that as technology improves, it gives us more opportunities to learn to be decent. I think in the big picture, I am optimistic. Bernard : Do you think that there’s a problem with people becoming progressively addicted to technology or growing too reliant on it? Lanier : It’s all in the details. Using a technology a lot is not necessarily a bad thing, people use books a lot too. The mere use of it is not bad. When we talk about addiction, we should make it specific, and in the case of behavioral addiction, it’s really a noisy feedback loop. I do believe that these noisy feedback loops are dysfunctional, and they should not exist. Bernard: There’s also been so many differing perspectives regarding artificial intelligence (AI). Some people, like Elon Musk, think that we should be more skeptical because it could end up controlling us, while others, like Mark Zuckerberg, seem to think it’s less insidious. Where do you fall in the spectrum of that debate? Lanier : I have a position that is both unusual and yet entirely correct. From my perspective, there isn’t any AI. AI is just computer engineering that we do. If you take any number of different algorithms and say, “Oh, this isn’t just some program that I’m engineering to do something, this is a person, it’s a separate entity,” it’s a story you’re telling. That fantasy really attracts a lot of people. And then you call it AI. As soon as you do that, it changes the story, it’s like you’re creating life. It’s like you’re God or something. I think it makes you a worse engineer, because if you’re saying that you’re creating this being, you have to defer to that being. You have to respect it, instead of treating it as a tool that you want to make as good as possible on your terms. The actual work of AI, the math and the actuators and sensors in robots, that stuff fascinates me, and I’ve contributed to it. I’m really interested in that stuff. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the mythology that’s creepy. Tweedie : In your book, you describe AI as a wrapping paper that we apply to the things we build. Lanier : Yeah, you could say that. AI is a fantasy that you apply to things. The issue with AI is that we’re giving these artifacts we build so much respect that we’re not taking responsibility for them and designing them as well as possible. Business Insider The origin of this idea is with Alan Turing, and understanding Turing’s life is important to understanding that idea about AI because he came up with this notion of AI and the Turing test in the final weeks of his life, just before he killed himself while he was undergoing torture for his sexual identity. I don’t want to presume to know what was going on in Turing’s head, but it seems to me that if there’s this person who is being forced by the state to take these hormones that are essentially a form of torture, he’s probably already contemplating suicide or knows that he’ll commit suicide. And then he publishes this thing about how maybe computers and people are the same and puts it in the form of this Victorian parlor game. You look at it, and it's a psycho-sexual drama, it's a statement, a plea for help, a form of escape or a dream of a world where sexuality doesn’t matter so much, where you can just be . There are many ways to interpret it, but it’s clearly not just a straightforward, technical statement. For Turing, my sense is that his theory was a form of anguish. For other people, maybe it’s more like religion. If you change the words, you have the Catholic church again. The singularity is the rapture, you’re supposed to be a true believer, and if you’re not, you’re going to miss the boat and so on. I think our responsibility as engineers is to engineer as well as possible, and to engineer as well as possible, you have to treat the thing you’re engineering as a product. You can’t respect it in a deified way. It goes in the reverse. We’ve been talking about the behaviorist approach to people, and manipulating people with addictive loops as we currently do with online systems. In this case, you’re treating people as objects. It’s the flipside of treating machines as people, as AI does. They go together. Both of them are mistakes. Jaron Lanier's latest book, "Dawn of the New Everything," is on sale now. NOW WATCH: France's $21 billion nuclear fusion reactor is now halfway complete December 16, 2017 at 02:18PM

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The father of virtual reality sounds off on the changing culture of Silicon Valley, the impending #MeToo backlash, and why he left Google for Microsoft

Widely recognized as the father of virtual reality, Jaron Lanier has been hugely influential in shaping the technology of today. Lanier's work is considered foundational to the field of VR; he's spurred developments in immersive avatars, VR headsets and accessories, and was involved in early advancements in medical imaging and surgical simulator techniques. He's also credited with coining the phrase "virtual reality."

In addition to his work as a programmer and inventor, Lanier is a prolific author and celebrated tech critic. His most recent book, 'Dawn of the New Everything,' explores his upbringing in New Mexico, his years pioneering virtual reality in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, and his experiences working with pre-eminent scholars, critics, scientists, and developers.

Lanier sat down with Business Insider's Zoë Bernard and Steven Tweedie to chat about his latest book, the current debate over the impacts of social media, his decision to join Microsoft after working at Google, and whether or not artificial intelligence will eventually wreak havoc on humanity.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Steven Tweedie: In the last year, we've seen an adjustment to expectations when it comes to the consumer market for virtual reality and the hype around VR in general. What would you say to those skeptical of whether or not it will take off?

Jaron Lanier: Let’s break this down just a little bit. First of all, there’s one side of VR which is the industrial side, not the consumer side, that’s been a total success.

I’ll give you a very personal story from my life that’s an example of  it. In the book, you’ll read about the surgical simulator, which dates back to the ‘80s. I did that with a few people, Dr. Joe Rosen, for example, who is a Stanford Med guy. In the last couple of years, my wife has been battling cancer and she had a bunch of operations. She’s post-cancer now, but one of her surgeons for the most difficult operation was a student of a student of Joe Rosen’s, and he used a procedure that was designed in the surgical simulator that evolved from the original one and trained in one. Since I’ve worked more on that side of things than the consumer end, I don’t have any doubts about whether or not VR is going to happen. For me, it’s been great. I think this is an established technology. I’m really proud of what we’ve done. But I’ve also played around with the consumer side a lot, starting with the Power Glove which a lot of people still have a bit of fondness for, which charms me.

By the way, I was supposed to be interviewed by Leonard Lopate on WNYC in the morning, and I just got this email that he’s been fired for sexual misconduct, 'so we’re finding another host to interview you.' The same thing happened to my interview with Charlie Rose last week. It’s hard to promote a book right now because all of the people who are supposed to interview me keep getting outed for sexual misconduct.

Tweedie: Yep, it's been non-stop — our Entertainment team has been quite busy for the past month or two. So on the consumer side of the VR market, Sony's PlayStation VR headset is leading the pack when it comes to sales, and there seems to be genuine interest in the gaming side of VR and augmented reality (AR) — what are your thoughts on how those markets will evolve? 

Lanier: Sony has found some success with headsets, there has been some pretty good adoption of the phone and holder for things like news clips — The New York Times has been a pioneer in that. And Pokémon Go needs to be mentioned. Pokémon Go was super crude, barely over the line of usability, and yet there it was and it engaged a lot of people and that gave us a taste of mixed reality in a wide area. People like it, it makes sense. I feel like we’re doing fine, actually. For me, this is what a new market looks like. I don’t know what people are expecting. Do you know what it is? Everybody is still in this weird post-Steve Jobs period where they want that big thrill of the iPhone intro, and those things just don’t happen a lot.

Tweedie: You've been involved with Microsoft's HoloLens headset, so I have to ask you about one of its competitors, Magic Leap, which one investor compared to the first time he experienced multi-touch technology, a key selling point of the iPhone. What's your opinion on Magic Leap?

Lanier: I want nothing more than for Magic Leap to ship and thrive. I think it would be really good for everybody, and I really hope they do, I think it’d be great. I don’t know if they will, but I hope they do. You can’t just have a single vendor in something. You can have a most innovative vendor, you can have a vendor who's ahead, but you can’t just have a single vendor. That’s not a market.

Tweedie: You've been at Microsoft for around a decade, is that right? How'd that come about?

Lanier: Well, it depends on how you count it. Never in a million years would have expected that I would have worked at Microsoft Labs, but it’s been a brilliant, amazing thing which I wouldn’t really have expected. I was a critic of Microsoft in the ‘90s, and I’ve always a bit of a radical purist, and Microsoft was the punching bag for people like me for a long time.

How I ended up at Microsoft is really simple. Sergey [Brin] told me, “We don’t want people writing all of these controversial essays,” because I’ve been writing tech criticism for a long time. I’ve been worried about tech turning us into evil zombies for a long time, and Sergey said, “Well, Google people can’t be doing that.” And I was like, really? And then I was talking to Bill Gates and he said, “You can’t possibly say anything else bad about us that you haven’t said. We don’t care. Why don’t you come look at our labs? They’re really cool.” And I thought, well that sounds great. So I went and looked, and I was like, yeah, this is actually really great.

Zoe Bernard: I wanted to ask you about Silicon Valley. You’re living very close to there, in Berkeley. What is your perception of how the culture has changed?

Lanier: Well, the tech world has such incredible stories of quick money, quick power, and quick status, that I think it’s made people a little drunk and crazy, and also a little shallow, and that makes me a little sad. The amazing thing about the old days was that you could have some people in a room from early Silicon Valley, and one of them might be a billionaire, one of them might be living out of a car, and what it was all about was how much you could do. We respected technical ability over money, and I think that was a really healthy and interesting culture. And now it’s gone. Sure, broadly speaking, in the whole world, hacker culture still exists, but Silicon Valley and San Francisco have both become so intense. For one thing, you can’t afford to live there unless you’re doing really well, so a lot of people have been priced out. And I’m not down on anybody, I mean, I live there. But if you’re asking me how it’s changed, that’s how. There’s this thing that happened which is that there’s more diversity of ethnicity and background perhaps, but less diversity of cognitive style. If you have a certain kind of nerdy, quantitative problem-solving oriented cognitive style, that will get you more friends, and that will get you along better than if you have a more contemplative, aesthetic center. 

Bernard: You mentioned the lack of cognitive diversity in Silicon Valley. Do you think that this lack of cognitive diversity plays an influence in the technologies being created there?

Lanier: Sometimes I do. A lot of the tools we have tend to be more usable by people who are similar to the engineers who made the tools. It’s not always true, but in general it’s a principle that seems to take hold. Engineers are designing things that work better for people who are similar to the engineers, and that turns into a social effect that favors and disfavors certain classes of people.

Tweedie: It seems like that would just lead to more isolated communities and some people thinking they're smarter than others.

Lanier: This is an ongoing conversation and argument that goes back for years. If I’m in an environment with a bunch of technical men, and I say, you know, we’re doing this thing that excludes people, they’ll say, “What are you complaining about? At least you’re on the good side of it.” And my response is, “Actually, from a purely selfish point of view, it does hurt me because I’m in this weird echo chamber where I’m being told ‘you're a hacker, you’re a technical man, you’re a white man’” and it becomes this ongoing reinforcement where you’re that thing — but the thing is this total artificial bullshit classification that just happens to rise from the resonance of this stupid tool. So while I’m on the beneficial side of it, in some ways, it forces me into this box. I think this kind of thinking hurts everyone, even the people who appear to be the beneficiaries of it. They’re forced into a place where they can’t reach their full potential.

Bernard: In your first book, 'You Are Not a Gadget,' you wrote about how technology is doing us a disservice, and that computers are not yet worthy to represent people. You wrote that almost ten years ago — have your views changed at all?

Lanier: I like to think that my views are always changing. I’m always interested in re-examining my stuff and seeing if I can find some way to make it better. But that general principle — that we’re not treating people well enough with digital systems — still bothers me. I do still think that is very true.

Bernard: What do you think about programmers using consciously addicting techniques to keep people hooked to their products?

Lanier: This was an open secret for a long time. Maureen Dowd published an interview with me in The New York Times that talked a little bit about it, and then the next day, Sean Parker, who I used to know, admitted to it and said, “Yeah, we did that.”

There’s a long and interesting history that goes back to the 19th century, with the science of Behaviorism that arose to study living things as though they were machines. Behaviorists had this feeling that I think might be a little like this godlike feeling that overcomes some hackers these days, where they feel totally godlike as though they have the keys to everything and can control people.

So if you zoom ahead to the 1950s or so, Norbert Wiener, one of the founders of computer science after Alan Turing and Jon van Neumann, wrote a book called 'The Human Use of Human Beings,' and in that book he points out that a computer (which at that time was a very new and exotic device that only existed in a few laboratories) could take the role of the human researcher in one of these experiments. So, if you had a computer that was reading information about what a person did and then providing stimulus, you could condition that person and change their behavior in a predictable way. He was saying that computers could turn out to have incredible social consequences. There’s an astonishing passage at the end of 'The Human Use of Human Beings' in which he says, “The thing about this book is that this hypothetical might seem scary, but in order for it to happen, there’d have to be some sort of global computing capacity with wireless links to every single person on earth who keeps some kind of device on their person all the time and obviously this is impossible.”

The behaviorists got pretty far in understanding the kinds of algorithms that can change people. They found that noisy feedback works better than consistent feedback. That means that if you’re pressing the button to get your treat, and once in a while it doesn’t work, it actually engages your mind even more —  it makes you more obsessive, whether you’re a rat, or a dog, or a person. And the reason why is that the brain wants to understand the world and if there’s this thing that isn't quite working, your brain just keeps on trying to get it and wants to figure out how to build a better model. So you can really grab the brain that way.

The results from the behaviorists’ research transformed the gambling industry and made it what it is today — an algorithmic, person-manipulation industry. People are driven by emotions and some emotions are cheaper, more efficient ways to engage us. Negative emotions get you first. Fear, anger, resentment, jealousy, insecurity, grab you, and it’s easier to renew them and keep you grabbed than positive things like nurturing, adoration, appreciation of beauty. Those emotions are softer. They’re easier to kill and harder to nurture in an audience. There’s an unfortunate imbalance. So, according to Sean Parker, these types of programming were put in intentionally [in Facebook’s design]. I wasn’t in the middle of Facebook, but my memory of those days — how people were talking and what was going on — is a little different. I don’t think that it’s so much that people were evil geniuses saying, “Let’s take the worst of behaviorism and manipulate the entire world.” I think what they were doing was: let’s maximize the efficiencies of our algorithms for a purpose.

Tweedie: That purpose being engagement?

Lanier: Well, this is maybe the greatest tragedy in the history of computing, and it goes like this: there was a well-intentioned, sweet movement in the ‘80s to try to make everything online free. And it started with free software and then it was free music, free news, and other free services. But, at the same time, it's not like people were clamoring for the government to do it or some sort of socialist solution. If you say, well, we want to have entrepreneurship and capitalism, but we also want it to be free, those two things are somewhat in conflict, and there’s only one way to bridge that gap, and it’s through the advertising model. And advertising became the model of online information, which is kind of crazy. But here’s the problem: if you start out with advertising, if you start out by saying what I’m going to do is place an ad for a car or whatever, gradually, not because of any evil plan — just because they’re trying to make their algorithms work as well as possible and maximize their shareholders value and because computers are getting faster and faster and more effective algorithms — what starts out as advertising morphs into behavior modification. It morphs into the very thing Weiner was warning about.

A second issue is that people who participate in a system of this time, since everything is free since it’s all being monetized, what reward can you get? Ultimately, this system creates assholes, because if being an asshole gets you attention, that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Because there’s a bias for negative emotions to work better in engagement, because the attention economy brings out the asshole in a lot of other people, the people who want to disrupt and destroy get a lot more efficiency for their spend than the people who might be trying to build up and preserve and improve.

There used to be this sense of an arc in history in which, if there was something that seemed like an injustice in society and people worked to improve it, there might be some backlash, but gradually it would improve. Now, what happens is that the backlash is greater than the original thing, and in some ways worse. For instance, the Arab Spring, driven by social media, turned into networks of terrorists. A few women trying to improve their place in the gaming world turned into Gamergate, which, in turn, became a prototype for the alt-right. Black Lives Matter is followed by a rise of white supremacy and neo-fascism which would have been inconceivable until recently.

Now, I’m just waiting to see what happens with the #MeToo movement, because the same thing always happens with these moments that are social media-centric. That good energy becomes fuel for a system that is routed to annoy another group of people who are introduced to each other, and then get riled up and that becomes even more powerful, because the system inherently supports the negative people more than the positive people.

My prediction, which I hate and which I’m sorry for, is that the #MeToo backlash will be far more powerful than the #MeToo movement. And that’s because the backlash from all these other movements was more powerful than the original. And I’d say that social media driven by the so-called advertising media is fundamentally incapable of doing anything positive for society as it stands.

Bernard: What do you think that #MeToo backlash would look like?

Lanier: It’s unpredictable. It will be algorithmic. As long as it’s really annoyed and mean-spirited, that’s the thing that will count, because that would be the most engaging thing. We can’t predict what it will be, but it will be mean, and it might take on a surprising character, but it will happen. People don’t understand that #MeToo will inevitably lead to a negative outcome because of the way that things are figured structurally right now. I find that it takes about a year for it to cycle through the system, for the good stuff to turn into the bad stuff.

I try to draw a certain line, and it’s a difficult line to draw. I don’t want to become a judgmental, middle-aged person. If we can identify a particular process that’s doing damage and draw a circle around it and say, “This is it,” then I think we have to talk about it. I don’t think it’s possible for us to do better unless we change the incentive structure. Right now, of the big five tech companies, three of them don’t rely on that [advertising] model. Whatever you think of Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, they’re selling goods and services primarily. In terms of big companies, it’s really Google and Facebook. It’s not even the whole tech industry, it’s really kind of narrow. I’m totally convinced if companies like Google and Facebook can shift to a more monetized economy, then things will get better, simply because people participating will have some incentive to add to the attention economy, where they at least have something else to do, rather than just be assholes.

Bernard: So the model you’re presenting is that you would like to see users get paid for the data they contribute rather than have Facebook and Google give that money to advertisers?

Lanier. Yeah. The way I imagine it is that you’d pay a small fee to use Facebook. We pay for all kinds of things we like, so don’t freak out. Netflix proves that this can work. Look at what happens when people pay their Netflix bills, we suddenly have peak TV. People say “I’ll pay for this,” and suddenly better stuff is there. I really reject this zero-sum idea where we should volunteer because there’s no way we can be better anyway. So Facebook would charge a fee. I’m sympathetic to a lot of people who say that young people or people in poverty couldn't afford it. And sure, make some accommodation for that. But in general, people will pay a small fee, but then they’d also have a chance to earn money. If someone is a super-contributor to a social network, if they’re really adding a lot of content, they should get paid for it. Like, what Google is doing now is communist central control. They’re saying that certain YouTube personalities should be paid because they like them, but not others. That’s ridiculous. It should be a market. It should be a gradual curve, it shouldn’t be some arbitrary rule where everything is free except for this designated group. It should be universal. I think it will make things better because it will give people a different game to play in addition to seeking attention.

Sometimes people come to me and say, “You don’t make any sense,” because on the one hand I’m a tech critic and I say that tech is turning us into zombies and destroying the world. But, on the other hand, I love virtual reality and I'm promoting it. But there’s no contradiction — it’s all true at once. There’s zero contradiction. We can afford to be honest. If we’re going to look at the good side of tech, it's good enough that it’s not going to kill us to also look at the bad side and be fearful of it. I don’t think there is any inconsistency in looking at the whole spectrum.

Bernard: You have an eleven-year-old daughter. Do you monitor her interactions with technology?

Lanier: I’ve had extraordinary good fortune in that I was the one that made my daughter get a smartphone. I’m in this wonderful position where the problem took care of itself. I don’t have a problem with her being too into technology. Sometimes you get lucky. There does seem to be a correlation, though. The more a parent is involved in the technology industry, the more cautious they seem to be about their kids’ interactions with it. A lot of parents in Silicon Valley purposefully seek out anti-tech environments for their kids, like Waldorf Schools. I hope we won’t have to go there.

Bernard: I’m interested in what you think the future of technology looks like. From reading your new book, I got the sense that you’re slightly anxious, but that you also have a sense of optimism about the future. What do you think is in store?

Lanier: I’m optimistic for many reasons, one reason is that it’s dysfunctional not to be. If you look at history, people have been through horrible things in the past, including very confusing things. The world has seen horrifying mass phenomenon. Somehow, we seem to be able to find our way through, and I do believe in an arc of history. I believe that as technology improves, it gives us more opportunities to learn to be decent. I think in the big picture, I am optimistic.

Bernard: Do you think that there’s a problem with people becoming progressively addicted to technology or growing too reliant on it?

Lanier: It’s all in the details. Using a technology a lot is not necessarily a bad thing, people use books a lot too. The mere use of it is not bad. When we talk about addiction, we should make it specific, and in the case of behavioral addiction, it’s really a noisy feedback loop. I do believe that these noisy feedback loops are dysfunctional, and they should not exist.

Bernard: There’s also been so many differing perspectives regarding artificial intelligence (AI). Some people, like Elon Musk, think that we should be more skeptical because it could end up controlling us, while others, like Mark Zuckerberg, seem to think it’s less insidious. Where do you fall in the spectrum of that debate?

Lanier: I have a position that is both unusual and yet entirely correct. From my perspective, there isn’t any AI. AI is just computer engineering that we do. If you take any number of different algorithms and say, “Oh, this isn’t just some program that I’m engineering to do something, this is a person, it’s a separate entity,” it’s a story you’re telling. That fantasy really attracts a lot of people. And then you call it AI. As soon as you do that, it changes the story, it’s like you’re creating life. It’s like you’re God or something. I think it makes you a worse engineer, because if you’re saying that you’re creating this being, you have to defer to that being. You have to respect it, instead of treating it as a tool that you want to make as good as possible on your terms. The actual work of AI, the math and the actuators and sensors in robots, that stuff fascinates me, and I’ve contributed to it. I’m really interested in that stuff. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the mythology that’s creepy.

Tweedie: In your book, you describe AI as a wrapping paper that we apply to the things we build.

Lanier: Yeah, you could say that. AI is a fantasy that you apply to things. The issue with AI is that we’re giving these artifacts we build so much respect that we’re not taking responsibility for them and designing them as well as possible.

The origin of this idea is with Alan Turing, and understanding Turing’s life is important to understanding that idea about AI because he came up with this notion of AI and the Turing test in the final weeks of his life, just before he killed himself while he was undergoing torture for his sexual identity. I don’t want to presume to know what was going on in Turing’s head, but it seems to me that if there’s this person who is being forced by the state to take these hormones that are essentially a form of torture, he’s probably already contemplating suicide or knows that he’ll commit suicide. And then he publishes this thing about how maybe computers and people are the same and puts it in the form of this Victorian parlor game. You look at it, and it's a psycho-sexual drama, it's a statement, a plea for help, a form of escape or a dream of a world where sexuality doesn’t matter so much, where you can just be.

There are many ways to interpret it, but it’s clearly not just a straightforward, technical statement. For Turing, my sense is that his theory was a form of anguish. For other people, maybe it’s more like religion. If you change the words, you have the Catholic church again. The singularity is the rapture, you’re supposed to be a true believer, and if you’re not, you’re going to miss the boat and so on.

I think our responsibility as engineers is to engineer as well as possible, and to engineer as well as possible, you have to treat the thing you’re engineering as a product. You can’t respect it in a deified way. It goes in the reverse. We’ve been talking about the behaviorist approach to people, and manipulating people with addictive loops as we currently do with online systems. In this case, you’re treating people as objects. It’s the flipside of treating machines as people, as AI does. They go together. Both of them are mistakes.

Jaron Lanier's latest book, "Dawn of the New Everything," is on sale now.

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Why did an active employee of JAL sue the company, revealing her face to the media? –An interview with an employee who reached a victorious settlement in a lawsuit on “maternity harassment”

Sayaka Osakabe|President, natural rights inc.  The original Japanese article was published on 6:08, July 31, 2017 

A photograph provided by Tomoko Jinno

The job of a cabin attendant of Japan Air Lines (JAL) – a job that is difficult to continue on flight once the attendant is pregnant. Tomoko Jinno requested to continue working on ground after she found out her pregnancy in August 2014, but the company unilaterally forced her into leave of absence without pay, saying that “there is no job on ground for her.”

Leave of absence means that one has to leave the dormitory and the housing provided by the company. Part time jobs are also not allowed. To her, this looked like a system that demands women to quit jobs once they are pregnant. A workplace with approximately 6000 female workers. There is something definitely wrong in one-sidedly demanding women that they cannot work once they are pregnant, in a workplace where women constitute basically 99% of workforce. Jinno consulted with the labor union, Labor Standards Inspection Office, Equal Employment Department of Labor Bureau, and others, and approached the company to negotiate many times, but the company’s answer was always, “We have not done anything wrong.” Probably pushing herself too hard during her pregnancy, she was admitted to the hospital due to threatened premature labor a month before her due date.

But she still felt that such a system is wrong, and filed a lawsuit against the company in June 2015 after she gave birth to her child. She fought with the company in court for about two years and reached a victorious settlement this year, in June 2017. What is amazing about Jinno is that she returned to her workplace in April 2016, after she took her maternity and childcare leaves and in the middle of her lawsuit with the company. And what’s more, she is still working in JAL.

What does it mean to file a lawsuit against the company you work in? What motivated Jinno? How courageous do you need to be in order to voice your opinion?

Tomoko Jinno let me interview her for the first time after the lawsuit where she expressed her views.

Reference:「日本からマタハラがなくなればいい」JALの女性CA、裁判で「完全勝利和解」(“I hope maternity harassment will be eliminated from Japan” JAL female cabin attendant reaches a complete victorious settlement in a lawsuit) (Japanese only）

●A press conference with the media revealing my face and identity. Of course I was afraid to be bashed.

Osakabe: I think it’s amazing that you kept on working during your lawsuit against the company.

Jinno: Normally, people would think that quitting the company is the only choice.

Osakabe: The company sent you a counterargument during the lawsuit. It’s incredible that you kept going to the office while you received such a document.

Jinno I was lucky. The labor union supported me.

Osakabe: How about your workplace?

Jinno: Everybody in my workplace supported me. Everybody thought “it was wrong.” Yet nobody could file a lawsuit and solve the problem. They couldn’t go as far as filing a lawsuit, although there were women who consulted the Labor Standards Inspection Office. But that didn’t solve any problems.

Osakabe: Couldn’t you have chosen collective bargaining with several persons, instead of choosing to fight alone?

Jinno: If there were other persons who were pregnant at the same time, we might have chosen to fight together.

Osakabe: That’s where the difficulty lies in “matahara”. (Abbreviation of “maternity harassment”, harassment in office towards women who are pregnant or who gave birth) Everybody becomes pregnant at different times, so the victims can’t build a bond.

Jinno: And then after giving birth to a baby, I was just too busy and it was impossible to get something done even if you think of something. That’s why I thought: there is only me now, so I’ll make the first step.

Osakabe: You need courage just to file a lawsuit, but why did you decide to make an appearance and reveal your identity in the press conference when you sued the company?

Jinno: I haven’t done anything wrong. I just wanted to convey my views openly and squarely. I thought there was no need to hide my face and name. I strongly felt that I wasn’t saying anything wrong. Even so, it took a lot of courage.

Osakabe: Did you need courage because you would be bashed once you are in the media?

Jinno: I was ignorant, so I didn’t know a thing about bashing. I didn’t think a press conference would create that many repercussions, and didn’t know what kind of things would be written on “2channel” (the largest Internet bulletin board service in Japan). I really had no idea. The repercussions of the press conference were beyond my imagination and the conference was covered by a lot of media. One reason was because the company was famous. There were so many posts on the Internet and I was extremely hurt. Of course, I tried not to read them, but friends who were concerned went out of the way to inform me. If I had known that I would be mentioned to that extent on the Internet, maybe I wouldn’t have had the courage.

●I might cause trouble to my son, my husband to my precious family… that frightened me the most.

Osakabe: Out of all the words that you received, which one hurt you most?

Jinno: My friend saw a post that said, “What is her husband doing?” I was surprised.

Osakabe: The attention turned towards your family.

Jinno: For a split second, my son’s future crossed my mind. It was only for a second, but I thought maybe he won’t be able to get a job. But I immediately stopped myself from thinking such a thing. Another posting that I thought was appalling is the one that said that my amniotic fluid is rotten because I gave birth at the age of 40.

Osakabe: What a thing to say…

Jinno: There were also groundless postings, such as “I am a doctor. Her face is all fixed.”

Osakabe: That has nothing to do with the problem. What a vulgar remark!

Jinno I was also bashed for my appearance, family and age. That’s when I realized what it means to have my face revealed to the media. The more cruel bashings came from women. “You’re asking for too much, wanting to work after becoming pregnant,” “Don’t be arrogant just because you’re a cabin attendant,” “Haven’t you saved money?” etc. I didn’t raise my voice for money. I did so because I wanted to keep working, and I didn’t want to be mistreated due to pregnancy. That is really how I felt, but money became the only issue.

●  Lack of imagination leads to bashing

Osakabe: Those who slandered may have the same problems in the future, but yet… If you raise your voice and solve the “maternity harassment” problem, then it would also help the women who think they want to work in the future. Why would they want to drag you down?

Jinno: Maybe it’s because they can’t think of a meaning in raising a voice to this problem. Person with imagination understood even if he/she is unmarried or if the person is a man. Person without imagination, even if it’s a woman said, “I had a lot of issues when I was pregnant too, so you bear with yours.”

Osakabe: I suppose you can’t simply classify the persons who bash by their gender. As SNS proliferates and postings are made with short sentences, communication is becoming poor. People are easily bashing without thinking and by reflex. For example, they don’t read between the lines, or pause a little. And that’s why they look as if they lack in imagination even more.

Jinno: Even in communication between people, meeting people face to face and understanding the ambience is becoming rare.

●I want to solve this problem more than becoming hurt

Osakabe: Watching the way you are bashed, people wouldn’t want to make an appearance or reveal their identity. Social problems will never be solved unless one raises his/her voice. I really want to do something about this point.

Jinno: Even if bashing on the Internet was cruel, the people in my workplace responded very favorably. There were many who said, “I am glad you raised your voice,” or, “Thank you for standing up.” Maybe someone was saying unkind things behind my back, but the circle of support enlarged even more. There were some who contacted me and told me to hold on. That became a source of power more than anything else. People whose neither face nor name I knew were posting on the Internet without much thought. Of course I was hurt, but I could stay aloof. I thought I can keep on going just by the sheer fact that the people I really know are supporting me.

Osakabe: I see. But usually it is difficult to have such mental strength.

Jinno: I revealed my face and name because I really wanted to solve this problem. I didn’t want other people following suit to feel the same way ever again. I might have thought: “I don’t care about my face or name if it was for this purpose.”

Osakabe: Out of the support that you had, what encouraged you the most?

Jinno: There were very many. For example, my senior colleagues telling me, “I experienced the same, but nobody supported me and I couldn’t stand up for myself. Thank you for saying the things I couldn’t say,” or, “Thank you for making the way for the future generation.”

Osakabe: You had a lot of support from colleagues and female senior colleagues. What about the male superiors, any responses?

Jinno: I don’t have any male superior who directly supervises me. Men who were working in fields other than cabin attendants, such as pilots and mechanics – they supported me a great deal. They joined the circle to support me – actually, many more than women. They made donations saying that they can understand the hardships of pregnant women. It was really amazing. Of course the labor union was also influential.

Osakabe: Wow! I’m so impressed, I’m getting goosebumps. I heard that you were returning to the workplace as you were suing the company, so I was very concerned that you would be receiving an icy reception.

Jinno: I was afraid too, but they welcomed me warmly. I was blessed with my workplace.

Osakabe: That really is good to hear. I hope there will be more cases like this in the future. Companies don’t change unless somebody raises a voice. I hope there will be an atmosphere to support the people who raise their voices.

●My hope is to change the company system

Osakabe: Judgement was scheduled to be rendered on September 1 this year, wasn’t it?

Jinno: Yes. Even if I win the case in all fronts, the result will only be payment order of a few million yen to the company. I wouldn’t be happy unless there is a change in the system. Even if my disadvantageous treatment during my period of absence was recognized and I was the only one saved, there is no point in that. I thought it was better to reach a settlement rather than a judgement.

【Outline of settlement】

・In principle, all those who apply for ground duties before child labor will be granted their request from this fiscal year.

・In principle, an option between normal work hours (8 hours) and reduced work hours (5 hours) will start within the next fiscal year.

・Disclose the number of persons posted for ground duties before child birth and their posts to labor union. Problems of the system of ground duties before child birth and its smooth operation shall be the agenda of collective bargaining, etc.

Osakabe: What new system did you win?

Jinno: Those who apply for ground duties in pregnancy will always be granted their request. Of course, they can choose to take a leave. If they feel physically sick and want to take a leave without pay, that is also allowed.

Osakabe: In the future, if they request a ground duty, what kind of duty will it be?

Jinno: There are many ground duties…

Osakabe: Oh, there are many! Then you could have worked on ground in the first place.

Jinno: In fact, that was the case. JAL is a big company so there are a lot of positions both in the head office and at the airport – from simple office work to host-like work of cabin attendants, such as preparing the change and money to be used in on-flight sales, work that seems simple but takes time. Or change of employee’s address and getting the procedures done when an employee moves. Many duties that were performed by one employee were distributed to several persons. Employees, who had to work overtime because he/she had miscellaneous odd tasks and could not do his/her main duty, could go home earlier.

Osakabe: Why didn’t the company do anything about it before?

Jinno: May be they didn’t want to pay wages. I found this out through the lawsuit, but before, there were only nine positions on the ground.

Osakabe: Do you mean that only nine employees could work on ground?

Jinno: That’s right. And approximately three hundred employees become pregnant every year… Until 2008, everybody could work on ground if they wished to do so. However, after 2008, there were measures such as cost cut and productivity improvement. Having pregnant women work in the midst of such measures is a waste, personnel expense can be reduced if people on ground duties can work over-time to conduct general affairs – they had all these simplistic ideas for cost reduction. And then there were many financial problems in JAL and from 2008 to 2014 when I became pregnant, many women were denied to work on ground and women had a very hard time.

Osakabe: If you just compared the cost of pregnant women working and having them quit their jobs…

Jinno: This is my personal view, but I think an old value prevailed that it was better to have young cabin attendants.

Osakabe: But this lawsuit made the company realize and change.

Jinno: Yes. I really think time has changed… The company says things like “Let’s utilize the careers of female workers.”

Osakabe: I think it is great the way you raised your voice “for everybody”.

Jinno: I couldn’t imagine achieving something just for myself. Corporate culture won’t change unless things become better for everybody. I hope that problems are solved first in the major airline company in Japan where female employees make up most of the workforce, and that “maternity harassment” will be eradicated not only in other airline companies but also throughout the country.

#maternity harassment #job in japan #maternity #maternity leave

[melcirsium]

community level trauma sucks.

so does personal level, but afaik i haven’t experienced that, so i’m not going to talk about it. but the year i met the hyggelig mur (that year, that summer, a year before i went to that camp because the wall was already firmly entrenched by then, but i hadn’t talked with anyone about this because i hadn’t met them then, so the date keeps getting detached in my head -- the year of? a year before? a year after? it was july and around that time and on a friday, and everything else i have to look up) the thing happened, and that would be community level if anything

part of why it’s terrible is because i can’t convince myself that it’s okay to be scared and upset years after the fact -- i wasn’t there, i didn’t even hear about it til that saturday, i knew people personally -- one was working concessions, my teacher’s son was injured -- but not well; i found out about them a month later when school started up again and one of my classes essentially did a debriefing

i wasn’t there. i didn’t have that immediate fight-or-flight response. my life was never in danger.

but it was my home and my people. there was an event during the arg where a coloradan got put in danger and i didn’t let that drop until years afterward, i told the fictite i was closest to how i felt about it because she was still associating with him, because he could have hurt one of mine. this was a few months later. maybe it was connected, maybe i’m just absurdly attached.

but the fact is still that this happened, in my hometown, essentially if not literally down the street from me. that was the theater i go to. it was a franchise that i wasn’t deeply connected to, but mostly because i grew up on the animated series and not the live action movies. i don’t know what it’d be like if it had been a different film, one i’d never heard of or knew anything about. maybe it would’ve stayed as that one terrible incident, and i still would’ve been scared because it happened in my home to people i knew at places i went but it wouldn’t be tied to something that i still encounter

and that, i think, is what made it so entrenched in my brain, is the extension of it. it wasn’t front-page news for a couple of days. it was front-page news for months.

the trial didn’t happen until the next year.

and all through then and during the trial it was a continuing story, continuing coverage, to the point where i stopped reading the news, until the trial itself started up and began discussing what was to happen and what did the families think, because i didn’t know what i thought, either

there were the discussions of mental health treatment and death row vs life in prison that i had encountered before in purely academic forms, and i could form opinions on them from that academic background, but i didn’t know what i should feel about it all other than to want it out of my life and off of the screen and to have it done mostly so the people closest to it would have some form of closure. i didn’t want to keep thinking about it, but more, i didn’t want it to keep being presented to me to think about, i didn’t want us to become the next columbine, i didn’t want to hear us mentioned by the president not because of our achievements but because we were national news right next to sandy hook, i didn’t want this to become tied to my home, because my home is tied to me

and then, the trial was over, it’d been nearly a year, i went off to camp, we watched The Dark Knight

it was fine, i could see how it was seen as a good movie, i was a little zoney for reasons that make sense to me now that i know one of my primary coping mechanisms is dissociation. i don’t remember anything of the Joker in it. i had to check just now that he was a character in that movie, because either before or after watching that (likely before and just got reinforced) that particular character got tied in with the memories... again for obvious reasons, if you’re familiar with the incident i’m talking about

the movie was watched, the lights got turned on again, i stayed sitting in the room listening to people conversing because i didn’t know what else to do, and that’s when columbine was brought up, because someone drew a connection between it and the line ‘some people just want to watch the world burn’. i don’t know if there’s actually a connection. i haven’t checked. but it caught my attention because until that previous summer, columbine was the most recent national-news etched-in-state-history tragedy (i don’t know if aurora will become the same. i hope not.) there were a couple lines, someone brought up what had happened in july, i stopped pretending to do anything other than stare at the wall, and someone else mentioned that... hey... wasn’t one of the campers from there? (we had nametags, name and town of origin. it was hanging around my neck. i think at least one person saw it in the brief silence that followed.) they changed the subject.

that’s the last specific incident i can remember, but it’s been four years and i still have those associations. i haven’t seen the other Nolan films. i don’t engage with the Heath Ledger Joker. Heath Ledger himself i’m fine with, because he was in A Knight’s Tale, which is a movie often left to play whenever we find it on tv, and that is... very different from the Batman movies

and it feels weird to still be carrying around this thing that happened one night in july, that i wasn’t present at, that i share very little context with most of my friends, because the few irl friends i had at the time, i’ve mostly fallen out of contact with

and there’s a small part of me that resents how influential the Nolan films are, because i can’t engage with them in the same way. there’s no lack of other Batman media, and i have no particular desire to watch those films over any of the rest, but other people talk about the culture and the history and the literature while i listen and try not to think about how someone used it to murder the people in my town, just down the street from me, and filled more than a year of my life with it

i have a post on a private blog/journal that i published here very briefly, then removed because i wasn’t ready to have that up here yet. i wrote it about a year ago, and it’s still relevant. also shorter. same content warning applies.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #gun violence #ignis rambles #CLEARLY i still haven't processed everything entirely but at least it doesn't come to mind unbidden anymore #this was prompted by a podcast talking about comics batman but they mentioned the films and i've been getting progressively #more dissociated listening to it #do not reblog #links are okay in the off-chance you think this would be worth showing to someone else #but not just 'ignis posted this and it made me think...'

[fusp-media-sociology]

USER-GENERATED CONTENT: AUTHENTICITY OR ENDORSEMENT?

A few days ago, I had the chance to have dinner with my grandparents. My grandmother is one of those people who likes talking and talking and talking… she told my sister and me about her adolescence and in particular about her love story with my grandfather. In the era when the technology revolution hadn’t spread yet and no social media could help you keep in contact with each other, it was all about patience and wait. It seemed like she was talking about an era so far away from us. However, it was just 70 years ago! At one particular point, she stated: “Oh.. How authentic we were!”

She let me think about this… aren’t people real today? Or, as my grandmother said, authentic?

One of the problems social media platforms have given us is we hide behind screens, allowing others to judge us for the lives we want them to think we have, the online lives. Our perception of reality is skewed. Being face-to-face with someone is more challenging.  Even Mike Robbins, who is an expert in teamwork and communication, stated at a Ted Conference: “In the culture that we live in trying to look good, trying to impress people, trying to get what we want […] we have a tendency at times to massage the truth and while in some cases it can be benign, in a lot of cases starts to have a real impact in a negative way on us, on our relationships […]”.

Even if I tend to agree with this point of view, I also believe that social media, allowing everyone to share freely his/her own experience, his/her own opinion, encourages authenticity.

In social media time, we are more and more connected through devices – computers, smartphones, digital video allow people to be available 24/7. Almost every corner of the globe can instantaneously communicate with any other corner whenever we want… it’s all about the so-called culture of participation, quoting Henry Jenkins theory.

The huge change that we are witnessing so far is that we aren’t just joining social communities, but we are contributing too. User-generated content (UGC) is experiencing a huge explosion - posts whose content is shared by people for a wide range of application, such as news, entertainment, advertising, etc.

Chiara Ferragni is not the only example we can think about in order to see how people can become popular opening their own blog, posting their own ideas about a particular topic. Even at “lower” lever, there are cases of those who find their luck thanks to social media. They choose the right path to take in creating the connection with the public.

A new way of Social Marketing

For their intrinsic characteristic of being shared on the Internet, user-generated content have a powerful feature: they have the ability to reach the attention of everyone. There are many examples of people becoming real social media influencer, who has thousand, or even million, of followers.

Furthermore, as they are posted by “normal” people, there is the tendency to consider UGC as real, indeed authentic. Because bloggers build a following during a long period of time and by producing interesting, quality images or articles, people begin to trust these sources. They relate to them and respect their opinions. And nowadays in a world full of fake, people are looking for more authenticity, which is starting playing a big role in marketing. Younger generations are today more aware of advertising practices and this is the reason why marketers know that the past successful marketing advertisement strategies wouldn’t work anymore. According to the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index, 92 percent of consumers trust organic, user-generated content more than they trust traditional advertising. In addition, as published by Technorati, blogs rank among the top five “most trustworthy” sources of information on the internet.

This is the reason why today the majority of business marketers acknowledge UGC significance in the marketing process. Hence, they focus on authenticity. Many brands are now turning to influential bloggers to reach new audiences. They are finding ways to collaborate so their message is told by an authority source people actually pay attention to. Marketers now can take advantage of those who have already their own crew. They can reach a public of thousands, referring to just one person. People are naturally interested in what other customers have to say about a business or product.

Many enterprises, which started taking in consideration this way of advertising their product, found that it is real efficient. Below some of the benefits of user-generated content according to Small Business Trend:

· Providing social proof: People look for guidance from other people and are influenced them;

· Building trust in your brand: allowing customers the chance to express their opinions, you will provide social proof. Amazon is a site that uses this.

· Leverage your relationship with your loyal customers: having your most passionate customers generate content for you is a great way to leverage the relationship and encourage more sales.

In order to encourage social influencers to advertise their products, brands provide them with selected brand accessories. If they like the gifted good, they will share it with their community, which will produce high visibility. This is one of the easiest ways to expose the logo to potential customers.

For example, gifting goods is very popular on Instagram. A friend of mine, who is an architect, has an Instagram account and his cool pics caught the attention of a famous brand: Happy Socks. They contacted him and started sending him a different pair of socks time to time. Since then they have appeared on his posts. Here one of the last:

The blurring line between authenticity and endorsement

The process that I just described can evolve and instead of gifting goods, brands can work through sponsored post. In this case, consumers are paid to publish content, which shifts from noncommercial to sponsored content. It is easy to see how authenticity here can be challenged.

Counterfeit can be easily discovered on the online world. Let’s think about the famous Lonelygirl15 phenomenon. A 16-year-old girl, whose name was Bree, began posting video blogs on YouTube, talking about her parents, her friends, her life in general. She became one of the young site’s most popular stars and the New York Times had a recurring blog about her. But, Bree wasn’t real, she was an actress, who together with her friend planned to promote their acting capabilities to get new job opportunities. This was the first time someone proved you could actually make money on YouTube.

Furthermore, influencer marketing can be seen as the new grey area in the advertising arena. In social media such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, influencers are endorsing products, but there is no mention of receiving remuneration for their posts. As consequence, the public, the follower, can be exposed to sockpuppeting. The term sockpuppeting is used to describe who take on a fictional identity when promoting content online. In order to take action, the Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guide states that bloggers must disclose any compensation they receive in exchange for a product. These specific guidelines for social media content producers aim to protect the public by ensuring that sponsorship is transparent.

In conclusion, my question has risen again… when authentic becomes endorsement, can we still talk about genuine and realistic content?

With no doubt, we can see how the line has blurred and merged among authentic and counterfeit. Social media are a new field and therefore new issues will raise. Anyway, I think that businessman and consumers are aware of the power of authenticity and this new world can be seen as a great friend, through which genuine connection can be fostered.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-dansky/the-struggle-to-stay-authentic-on-social-media_b_9563234.html

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/digital-marketing/the-power-of-authenticity-jason-falls/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4iFAAUscVA

https://www.ted.com/talks/joseph_pine_on_what_consumers_want

https://ir.unikl.edu.my/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1504/1/Authenticity%20Issues%20of%20Social%20MediaCredibility%20Quality%20and%20Reality.pdf

https://www.inc.com/molly-reynolds/stop-trying-to-create-authenticity-on-social-media.html

https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/04/user-generated-content-benefits-business.html

#authenticity #endorsement #brand authenticity #keep it real #genuine social media #realistic content #user-generated content

[platsy]

The Circle

The Circle is... something. I think it was a movie. I’m All of the Above (A. Confused B. Giddy C. In the circle) The Circle is a movie that was made. People made this. This was shown to people, and those people thought it was good enough to show it to the public. This movie is borderline incomprehensible, boring, and so utterly confusing, I struggle to tell you what happened in the movie. So I’m going to do exactly what I think they did for the production of this movie and stop caring. I’d drink, but I’m a religion and underage, so I suppose I’ll have to do what we religions do in order to get that level of apathy. Set the alarm for 3:00 AM and write this then. Now, the movie is set in modern times in some vague location, likely Alabama or some other city that’s close to the ocean, who knows? The movie certainly doesn’t. We follow the life of Emma Watson with an American accent that she can’t quite keep up. We soon realize that she’s stuck in a dead end job taking vague calls from people at a vague company doing temp work. She gets a call from her Scottish friend, because Emma Watson can almost pull off an American accent, but Karen Gillan isn’t even going to try and cover hers up. Karen Gillan, I’d call them by their names in the movie, but for the life of me I can’t remember a single one of theirs, tells her that she’s managed to get her an interview at the company she works at. And then through the most confusing interview process ever put to film, she lands the job. It kind of jumps through time about a week, probably, and we see that she’s about to start work at customer service. Probably. Emma Watson wants to get 100 but she can only get 64. You see her job is... customer service? I have no idea. This movie wants to act as if we’ve read the book, so the dialogue is weirdly cognizant of this language that the movie knows about but we don’t unless we’ve read the book. Which I haven’t, because I haven’t even heard of the book until after I saw the movie. Unless I did and I’m just too tired to care. Which is likely. We then meet Tom Hanks character. We’ll call him CEO because his name is mentioned, but he’s so bland and forgettable, I have no idea what his actual name is without looking at the wikipedia page. Which, by the way, states that Emma Watson’s character joins an Internet company, but we’re told later on that the company can cure disease and stop all crime. They also develop small cameras that they can place everywhere to monitor everything. Except Area 51, some countries in the Middle East, and restricted areas. And they even say that they can sell them for the cost of jeans. However, with the technology that you made those with, I am willing to believe that you cannot possibly make a return on those cameras with that sales price. When she starts to get better at her job, we can tell because of her scores, she gets more screens so that she can job... better. Probably. And then her fellow co-workers start to question why she doesn’t post all of the inane garbage on her social media account. Which leads this dude asking what she did the previous weekend, to which she replies, kayaking, and then very hurtfully, he says, “I kayak. We could have kayaked together.” And then she gets roped into being the most social person ever. She posts all sorts of things on her Facebook, or “The Circle” the The Circle’s social media? Probably. Like this antler chandelier that her ex-lover... childhood friend... some character from her past made for her parents. And then he gets accused of murdering dear for their antlers. Whoops. Somewhere along the line, we meet John Boyega’s character. A... person. They act as if we’re supposed to know who he is, but I have no idea who he is. He’s probably a very influential person at the Circle, because she babbles on about him being his character for a bit. And then he takes her to an underground sewer where they can be private, and then he says that she can’t trust anybody she encounters because they need to make this a thriller somehow, because so far there has not been a single bit of tension in this movie. Unless you count the obvious chemistry between John Boyega and Emma Watson. Yeah, I can feel the sparks. This movie’s dialogue is so boring and hard to comprehend that whenever they say anything, I have no idea what they’re trying to say. Even with a casual conversation, I feel as if there’s something that they’re not telling me. What critic called this movie a tense thriller? What movie did you watch? This is the most boring film I’ve ever seen. John Boyega’s character happily goes away until sometime later. Then, Emma Watson starts to jump through the ranks unrealistically fast. Or maybe that’s a product of time jumps that make me feel like I’ve fallen asleep and woken up. How apropos. Anyway, Emma starts to get a little overwhelmed at all this technology, so in her youthful arrogance, she decides to go kayaking sometime at night just to get away from it all. And then she gets flipped over and nearly drowns, if not for the cameras mentioned earlier being everywhere. Even here. Conveniently. And isn’t it amazing just how fast help arrived? In a helicopter, no less. Two minutes. Unless they sent it as soon as they got the memo that Emma was not where she was supposed to be, but why would Tom Hanks care so much about this employee? Who is watching Emma Watson? Why would anybody be watching Emma Watson? How did they even know that she was there? Who cares? And then Emma Watson decides to become a YouTube vlogger. It’s weird, but there are weirdos who like that stuff. For some reason. We then get to see live feedback on her day. Now, this is an opportunity for the movie to put in some creepy moments that the audience can notice for themselves. And they do. “Do you guys ever go home?” (other examples I don’t want to write). However, the problem is that I can’t take this seriously when “I want a pony” and “my girlfriend left me two years ago” pop up alongside them. They have to be real, so it makes sense. And then we get to watch Karen Gillan look tired and haggard. We can clearly see that she’s tired and overworked. But why are we only seeing this now, conveniently when our main character shows up? Gillan states that she’s one of the more important people in the Circle, so she’s probably been working there for a long time. But she’s so young. In real life, Gillan’s 29 years old, but due to the fact that Hollywood is obsessed with sizing down ages for no reason besides making it seem less creepy when they sexualize children who are under 18 years, I’m going to guess that she’s about 24 years old in the movie. And do you really think that a 24 year old would manage to be in the top 50 most important people in the company in the short amount of time? In fact, everybody who works here looks like they’ve only been working there for a couple of weeks. Why are they all so young? Unless the Circle just hands out promotions at the drop of a hat. Which is likely, because we’re supposed to view this company as an evil, happiness industry type of facility, but placing 24 years old in the most important parts of your company, especially this fast, is a terrible business decision because these snot nosed brats lack the experience of work, so it’s like you’re begging for terrible decisions to be made. Anyway, we don’t see her for a little while, and then Emma Watson decides to make up this system where she can find anybody in the world in under twenty minutes. They try it out on a known criminal who killed her kids, and then they try it on Emma Watson’s “boyhood” crush. Ha ha ha ha. But again, I have no idea what the connection is here. I’d pay attention, but I’m SO BORED. And then finally, something interesting happens. I could tell, because whenever I’m at a movie that’s incredibly boring, I start fidgeting and realizing just how cold the movie theater is. Here, I stayed still. People find, uh... *glances at IMDB* Mercer in a cabin in the woods where he wants to be left alone, but because people don’t like doing what they’re told, they decide to bait him out. He bolts on out of there in a truck, tries to escape, then we find out that the cameras also have microphones built into them... Emma Watson just kind of knows this? And also, why did they put a camera in Mercer’s car? I get putting cameras everywhere, but why in these very convenient places? Because without them the story can’t happen. Except, yes it can. And then, uh oh, Mercer dies. And so ends the best scene in the movie. Then we get to watch Emma Watson loaf around while her YouTube audience misses her. And then I slink back into my seat, putting my legs up on the empty seat in front of me and laying my head on the arm of the empty seat next to me. And then Emma Watson comes back to the Circle with a new plan. To completely get rid of privacy. But isn’t that what got... Mercer killed? She needs the help of John Boyega... I think. I really have no idea at this point. And then the movie randomly makes Tom Hanks and Patton Oswalt villains. This is the first time we get to see them act like villains, but throughout this entire movie, I don’t see a valid reason to have them be villains. They’re just people in charge of a large... company. In the advertisements for this film, Tom Hanks has these menacing looks, he looks like the villain, but I just don’t understand why he is. Neither Hanks or Oswalt did anything that was remotely evil, they just look like altogether friendly people. So why are they getting screw over? Is Emma Watson supposed to be the villain? She went through this weird character arch that everybody in the production knew about, but again, the audience doesn’t know about. Look, the movie is boring, confusing, and bafflingly stupid. But I will have to say that it does have just a little bit of intelligence in there somewhere. It does spark interesting conversations about social media, privacy, and things of that ilk, but I’m looking at the product, not so much the conversation surrounding it. So, if you want to express your opinions on the film, then the only one stopping you is you. I’m All of the Above, and I’m going to go ahead and give into the YouTube algorithm and become a YouTube vlogger, faking happiness to get that sweet honey money. Hey guys, All of the Above here, and today I’m going to jump into this bathtub with a toaster in it! Here we go!

#emma watson #tom hanks #the circle #movies #movie critic

[oldguardaudio]

Rush Limbaugh on the Georgia Pajama Boy ⇒ The Real Truth: Republicans Won, Ossoff Lost

rush obama shadow government against trump at HoaxAndChange.com

Rush USA Flag at HoaxAndChange.com

rush-limbaugh @ Old Guard Audio

Apr 19, 2017

Also see this post *

  RUSH: Would you like to hear the real truth in what happened in this election last night? Do you think you can handle the real truth? Particularly you Democrats and leftists and progressives in the audience? I know you’re there, and you know you’re there, and you know who you are, as do I.

You want to hear the real truth about what happened? You want to hear how big the win for the Republicans really was last night? Even after dumping $8.3 million into the race and the Republicans dividing their vote 11 ways, the Democrats still couldn’t pull Pajama Boy across the finish line to avoid the runoff. And do you know the piece de resistance, the Democrats didn’t even win a majority of the overall vote. He did not win the popular vote.

They’re out there “victory for the ages,” moral victory, it was so close to an outright win. But if you add up all the votes, the total votes for Republicans and others is a greater number than the votes Ossoff got. Ossoff, the other Democrat candidate’s got 94,087 votes. The Republicans, 97,997 votes. About 4,000 votes more than Ossoff. There is no way Ossoff won diddly-squat last night.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The views expressed by the host of this program documented to be almost always right 99.8% of the time. Folks, I tell you, I’m thinking of canceling my arrangement with the Sullivan Group. I mean, how much closer can I really get? Why should I keep paying to have these opinion audits done? I mean, when you’re at 99.8%, almost always right, documented? I mean, nobody’s perfect. So the only place I can literally go is 99.9% and then people wouldn’t believe that. I haven’t had a significant update from the Sullivan Group anyway because…

Well, they’re an opinion-auditing firm, and when you’re at 99.8%, do you realize it might require five years of perfection to move up to 99.9%? I already pay a whole lot of people a lot of stuff to do a lot of things, and 99.8%? I mean… (interruption) No, there’s no one even close, so why even…? Granted, it’s a luxury. So I’m just divulging this. I haven’t even discussed it with the Sullivan Group. They may be in panic right now hearing about this, or will soon be when they hear about… (interruption)

Well… (sigh) Actually, if they audit opinions the opinions of others it probably would be much easier for them because everybody else is wrong quite a lot, which is not a difficult calculation to make. I mean, you’re wrong, you’re wrong. But you’re as delicately right as I am — ingeniously so — it takes a lot of research to demonstrate it. At any rate (sigh), it is what it is. We all have our burdens — and I, my friends, try never to share mine with you. (chuckling) 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program. The email address, [email protected].

What do you think the top story on CNN at the beginning of the hour today is, at one o’clock? Just seven minutes ago, what do you think the top story was on CNN? Why wouldn’t you think it’s the election in Georgia? I mean, the Democrats won! (laughing) You think they might want to get rid of that? Well, they’re talking about the start of Blitzer’s show Russian bombers spotted off Alaska for the second time in 24 hours. Once again, the Russians interfering in the news coverage. If the Russians were not patrolling so near Alaska, they could continue to highlight Ossoff’s victory last night.

But the Russians… Isn’t it amazing how influential the Russians can be even in flavoring news coverage on a supposedly independent network like CNN? I want to play a couple sound bites; then we’re gonna get off of this. We’ve said as much as there can be said about this. And by the, when I say something about anything, there isn’t anything left to say. But I want you to hear a couple sound bites from the Republican winner last night, Karen Handel.

She will be opposing Pajama Boy in the runoff in June. She was on CNN this morning with the infobabe Alisyn Camerota. First question: “Let’s talk about how Ossoff got more than 48% of the vote. I mean, this is a Republican district, right?” Aren’t you embarrassed? Aren’t you ashamed to even show up here? How can you dare? He got 48% of the vote. He’s a Democrat. He’s a Pajama Boy. And you’re a Republican. It’s a Republican district. What do you say about all this?

HANDEL: On the Democrat side, they were largely consolidated around their correlated candidate here, and they spent upwards of close to $10 million. Just on TV alone, $5.5 million compared to roughly $75,000 that I spent on television. So money buys a lot when it’s a very compressed race. That won’t be the same in the runoff. Republicans are united. We know that this is an partisan race and it’s gonna stay in the hands of a Republican, and I’m excited about the next 60 days.

RUSH: Did you get those number figures? She spent $75,000! She’s the leading Republican vote-getter. She’s just under 20% of the vote in an 11-way field. Pajama Boy’s there at 48% of the vote, and Pajama Boy spent $10 million, or he had $10 million spent on his behalf. Camerota then said, “Well, when you look at the numbers, he got 48% of the vote. He almost won it outright!” That’s two questions where she said (paraphrased), “Look, he won it! He almost won it outright, 48% of the vote. For crying out loud, you got 20%! He got 48% of the vote! So is this a referendum on Trump? Is this a message that Democrats are sending? Is Trump in trouble? Are you in trouble? Do you feel like giving up now?”

HANDEL: It’s important to understand that if there was one Republican, it was 52 to 48 or 49, so it still would have been a Republican victory.

RUSH: Exactly.

HANDEL: What I hear out across the district is this: The people of this district want a congressman that they know, that they trust, someone who has a real track record. They’re not interested in someone who doesn’t even live in the district, someone who has a really thin resume and very lacking in experience.

RUSH: She’s right. If you add up… I mentioned it before the end of the first hour: The Republican popular vote was 4,000 votes greater than what Ossoff got. So if there was just one Republican candidate would have been a four-point win. You know, I guarantee you the Democrats are still gonna be claiming moral victory on that, because remember, they’re not grounded in reality. They claim alternative facts and they claim that the reason why conservative media is bad is because people follow us simply because of ideology and the facts get lost. It’s the Democrats that ignore facts.

It’s the Democrats that push ideology. It’s the media that does all that. So they took their lumps again. They got shellacked again. Folks, because the bottom line is, there are no moral victories here. There is no power sharing. Ossoff doesn’t get to go to Washington 48% of the time. It’s another loss. But it’s a loss… You have to look at the context. They lied to themselves for a week and a half that Ossoff had it in the bag. They lied to their voters again. They lied to the fundraisers. You know, at some point, you would think… I doubt that it’s gonna happen.

You would think that at some point all these Democrat donors and voters would begin to get a little suspicious of the media, because the media’s lying to them just as they are lying to us. The media’s out there making the case, “This guy could win! It’s gonna be a big victory! The guy’s an ideal candidate. The Republicans are divided 11 ways. None of the Republicans are worth eating salt. They’re just a bunch of dryballs, and we’ve got the hip guy! We’ve got the hip girlfriend. We’ve got it all! The people hate Trump, we hate Trump, you hate Trump, America hates Trump, America regrets Trump!”

These Democrats eat that up, and they start sending in money, and it goes down the drain. Hillary Clinton believed what the media told them. It’s one of the reasons why she adopted the stature she did of arrogant condescension and she didn’t have to work for it. She didn’t have to campaign. She was gonna win outright, ’cause everybody hated Trump, and the media was telling everybody how hated Trump was and despised. “Trump rallies? They didn’t matter! All those people showing up? You can’t translate that to votes! It doesn’t mean anything.”

The media is lying to themselves, and they’re lying to Democrats.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Kennesaw, Georgia, next. Here is Kim. Great to have you. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi. I’m so excited to finally get to talk to you, Rush.

RUSH: I appreciate your patience, Kim, I really do. I know you’ve been holding for a while, and I thank you so much.

CALLER: Yeah. I work in the 6th congressional district, but I live in reality. And the reality is that for weeks preceding this election down here, they have been saying that the best Jon Ossoff could do was get into a runoff. The majority of the voters voted Republican. Just as in the presidential election, the majority of people in the majority of states voted for Trump. So I don’t understand how come the Democrats and the press just can’t face or admit any bit of reality.

RUSH: Well, they can’t afford to. They’re never in reality anyway. Liberalism, progressivism, is a constant illusion and delusion. If they had to admit the reality they’re in, they don’t want to even have to deal with it so they’ll continue to live the lie. Look, I want to illustrate your point. Grab sound bite number 20.

A bunch of media people, Hallie Jackson at NBC, John Roberts at Fox, they hounded Spicer today on the idea the Democrats really pulled this off. The Democrats really came close. Why don’t you admit this, Spicer? Why don’t you admit that Trump’s in trouble? Why don’t you admit how well this guy did down here last night? Particularly Hallie Jackson of NBC. She’s just beside herself that Spicer kept talking about what a resounding victory it was for the Republicans and here’s how Spicer said it.

SPICER: There was one candidate on the Democratic side. They spent over eight million dollars (crosstalk) on — one that they backed, I mean let’s… And I think when you look at the total Republican vote, it was over that. This is a district that was very close on the presidential level last cycle and the Democrats went all in on this. They were clear going into this election, they said that their goal was to get over 50%. They came up short. I think this was a big loss for them. The bottom line is they went all in on it. They said that their goal was to get over 50%. They came up short.

RUSH: You ought to hear the media. They all stand up in union, “You can’t say that! You can’t say that! Why are you saying they came really –” And he’s right. They expected no runoff. Now, Kim here said that in the district everybody there knew going in there’s gonna be a runoff, that nobody was gonna win this outright, but the Drive-Bys telling their national audience had everybody convinced that this guy was gonna win it outright.

Expectations were raised. And now Spicer is just throwing cold water on the White House press corps, and they’re not reacting to it well. They do not want to confront it. They don’t want to admit it. They don’t want to deal with it. It presents a great opportunity for the Republicans that I don’t think they’re capitalizing on.

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Rush Limbaugh on the Georgia Pajama Boy ⇒ The Real Truth: Republicans Won, Ossoff Lost Rush Limbaugh on the Georgia Pajama Boy ⇒ The Real Truth: Republicans Won, Ossoff Lost Apr 19, 2017…