#journalistic integrity and style | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

valyrfia · 1 month

Text

The Sainz Effect on Media: What the Hell is Going On?

Last weekend, Carlos Sainz Jr. won the 2024 Australian GP, and subsequently, almost every single F1 media outlet has seemingly lost their minds. From the aramco power rankings giving him a perfect score (despite Max not getting one for a grand slam last weekend), to motorsport.com acting like a fan account, everyone is tripping over themselves to sing his praises.

F1 is a complex sport, it requires several different aspects to even get a car moving, even more to make it competitive, and even more to enable a championship fight. From driver line-up, to aero, from international politics, to tyre deg. There's no other sport like it. To truly be an expert in Formula 1, you have to have knowledge of how a track works, an understanding of combustion engines and aerodynamics, a grasp of interpersonal and sports psychologies, and a sense of international relations. This is why, even more so than any other sport, good journalism is vital to the sport's ecosystem. No one person can be expected to be an expert in all these areas, you need a team of people who are willing to pool their knowledge and resources before coming up with conclusions to disseminate to their audience.

But media also likes narrative, and media likes an underdog, that is undeniable. And you can create an excellent underdog narrative with Carlos. From losing his seat despite his teammate keeping his, to him having to get his appendix out in Jeddah, the circumstances are there to set up an underdog narrative. But the crux of the issue is this: anyone with any sort of F1 wheel knowledge understands why Charles was kept over Carlos (a better driver even in a car built away from his driving style, who is revered almost as a messiah figure amongst the traditional fans of the team), why Sir Lewis Hamilton is a much more desirable asset to a top team than Carlos (7x world champion, who brings in a massive draw for talent that will far outlast his stint with Ferrari). So what do you do with these characters who don't match the narrative that you want to push?

Simple. You discredit them.

Make no mistake, this is what we're seeing across every major F1 news outlet in the past week. A plain journalistic choice to choose narrative over integrity. There's all sorts of rumours whizzing around as to why that could be: from possible covert payouts from Sainz Sr, to possible misogyny towards Leclerc fans to pundits simply not being bothered to do their research. But the why of it, although important, doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that however you look at it, these journalists are failing the sport they claim to love. What's even worse, is that it takes a simple glance at numbers to tell us that these media outlets are digging themselves a hole, and are going to have to backtrack or try and excuse their belief in this narrative in the coming months.

Let's take a common line that Sky Sports like to use as an example, "Carlos Sainz is driving for himself. How incredible would it be if Carlos could compete for the championship this year." Max Verstappen will likely win the championship this year, there are no ifs and buts about it. Red Bull are still developmentally leaps ahead of their rivals, and even if Ferrari were to catch them, Max is still at the wheel. And if Ferrari were to catch them, why would Ferrari prioritise Carlos over Charles? The only driver who has been proven to be able to beat Max in his current form at Red Bull on pure pace is Charles Leclerc, which he achieved in Las Vegas last year, and would've gone on to take the win at that same race if not for the safety car. The most likely championship fight this year is Max Verstappen vs. Charles Leclerc, and that's hinging on Ferrari matching Red Bull development. This outcome is blindingly obvious to anyone who knows how this sport works, and yet the current media angle seems to not be to explain how the sport works to the general public, but rather to double down on narratives that are certainly going to be proven incorrect in a manner of months, if not weeks.

Let's look at another common angle the media seem to like to take, "You have to ask, did Ferrari make a mistake swapping out Carlos Sainz for Lewis Hamilton?". Now, if you've been even near a TV showing F1 in the past ten years, it's pretty obvious this answer is of course not. Lewis Hamilton is likely the greatest driver of all time, his name in a lot of cases outshines the sport itself. No other driver on this grid even comes close to his level of acclaim. This reason alone is enough for Ferrari to sign him. Ferrari has not won a championship in close to two decades, the best and brightest engineers want to be working where they know the results are going to come from, and right now, as a stellar engineer, Red Bull or Mercedes or even McLaren would be a choice over Ferrari, which has the added hurdle of moving to Maranello (considering nearly all the other teams are located in the Midlands in the United Kingdom). Acclaim aside, Lewis Hamilton is still a very impressive driver. P3 in the championship last year to a Red Bull 1-2 is not something to be taken lightly, considering his teammate finished in P8 in the same car with only one more retirement. It does make pure racing sense to sign him over Carlos, who finished in P7, especially since Ferrari have an up and coming talent in Ollie Bearman, and what they need is someone with experience to fill that gap until Ollie can make it to Ferrari, and will likely happily step aside when that time comes at some point in the next five years.

However, has there been a single major F1 news outlet calmly and rationally explaining this thought process for those who may enjoy the sport but are not experts? No. Instead, what we get is Sainz sensationalism, and bias so explicit it tips right over into unprofessional. From The Race saying that a Sainz/Leclerc civil war is Leclerc fan hysteria, despite their own outlet running an article just months ago about tensions in Ferrari, to motorsport.com creating a CV for Carlos, and then proceeding to harass fans who ask why they are so keen to ignore facts. Every single F1 outlet seems to have lost their minds.

The sad thing is this will only backfire massively on Carlos himself. Charles will outperform Carlos, every metric from the past year indicates so. Ferrari may be in the running for the WCC by the midpoint of the season, but Carlos's win will fade into distant memory long before we reach Spa, and the average enjoyer will look back on all this crazy media hype and go "hm, well he didn't live up to expectations did he? He was massively overrated." And this too, will be the fault of F1 media.

In conclusion, F1 media sensationalism has failed Charles, Lewis, and Max, it will fail Carlos in the coming months, but most of all, it has failed the fans of the sport, by choosing to focus on far-fetched narratives, rather than deliver proper journalism and build equally compelling narratives out of the data on the table. It highlights a lack of skill and awareness, which threatens the entire ecosystem of the sport that we all know and love.

#f1 essays #charles leclerc #lewis hamilton #f1 journalism discourse #formula 1

407 notes · View notes

itsclydebitches · 11 months

Text

I know there's a lot to unpack in James' new interview but I am feral, FERAL I SAY, over this fucking line right here:

"His need was to be loved, and his tragic flaw was the belief that he was unlovable."

Back before Season 3 hit and Tedependent became ~trendy~ (not actually lol) I was heacanoning and writing Trent as a pretty anxious individual, someone with a ton of internalized self-loathing whose "whole vibe" was more of a mask than legitimate self-confidence. At the time I worried about him coming across as too OOC because really, what did we have to support this? Ted Lasso's prevailing theme of men discovering love and support when they previously had none? The lovely parallel of Trent struggling with many of Ted's own flaws, but presenting in opposite ways (cutting cynicism vs. endless optimism)? The then—far less developed—comments from James that Trent might have a rough relationship with his father? It felt unsubstantiated, unpersuasive, built more on my own interest in those kinds of characters and the occasional awkward moment from Trent than actual canon. Even into Season 3 I questioned whether my reading of him as struggling, significantly, with the care Ted offers wasn't just a result of my own, imagined inner life for him.

But NOW.

I'm sorry, hold up, can I just re-confirm that TRENT'S TRAGIC FLAW IS HIS BELIEF THAT HE'S UNLOVABLE? Unlovable??? Thank you, James Lance, for validating every reading I've had of this character since he first appeared on screen. Do people realize the depth this adds to every interaction Trent has? Particularly with Ted? Unlovable Trent Crimm starts off this relationship with a sincere compliment on his style ("I like your glasses"), something that Season 3 will present as a core part of his personality, something he's largely hidden away. Unlovable Trent Crimm grappling with the fact that yes, Ted enjoyed spending time with him. Him. WHILE he was playing the part of the asshole journalist. Unlovable Trent not being rejected when he admits, in moments of vulnerability, that he "Loves [their] chats." Unlovable Trent having his father's (likely snide) "Independent" comment reframed as a fun pun + advice to follow his "bliss": you have support, Trent, no matter what you choose to do. I don't care if you're successful covering a masculine-coded sport, I care if you're happy. Unlovable Trent committing the ultimate betrayal and being forgiven for it, immediately. Unlovable Trent being forcibly integrated into the Richmond family; actively accepted rather than passively tolerated: yes you should work here, yes you're a Diamond Dog, sit your butt down, Trenthouse Magazine, you will never be excluded again.

I'm sorry for the rambling post but I'm just so!! Insane about this!!! So much of Trent's hesitance could have been written off as a result of his career. That is, it might have been merely a learned reaction after decades of deliberately pissing people off. Of course they dislike him, but take him out of that environment and everything's fixed. Yet James has confirmed that he played Trent as intrinsically believing this. The career was a result of that unfounded fear—Might as well keep people at a distance before they hurt me first—as well as, simultaneously, a desire to somehow achieve the love that should have been unconditional from the start—Maybe my father will like me if I can be that "alpha male man's man" in print. Because this isn't just a flaw, it's a tragic flaw, a literary term that denotes a deficiency that leads to the character's downfall. This belief is so entrenched that it has led to Trent actively self-sabotaging his chances of being loved in the first place; a horrible self-fulfilling prophecy. He NEEDED someone like Ted—a fucking love sledgehammer that forces people to accept his care in the least subtle ways possible, even when they're acting as their own worst enemy—and by god, he got him!

Aside from Nate, Trent has always felt like the most isolated character to me at the start of the series (and even Nate has a good relationship with his mother and sister). What we've learned in Season 3 and James' interviews has only reinforced that reading for me: he was closeted in his marriage, unintentionally hurting his daughter, he's suffering under his father's expectations, he hates the press persona he's created to survive, he's bored at his job, footballers and other potential interviewees despise him—and not without reason (Roy). He has no friends that we see pre-Richmond and he's reached a point where the simple act of someone saying that they liked spending the day with him—again, while he's actively TRYING to piss them off and keep his distance—has him in such a state of shock he runs for the door, pens an uncharacteristically hopeful write-up, and is well on his way to upending his entire life for that man.

Because of course he is!!! From Trent's perspective Ted is a fucking impossibility shaped into human form. This is a man in his 40s whose greatest lifelong fear—now all but a certainty at his age—has been dismantled in a matter of hours. I'd write a book-length love letter to him too! And RIP to finale!Trent, but I would have run fucking Rom-Com style after the man who not only changed my life, but my entire sense of self-worth. (Ah fuck, but there's that tragic flaw again, keeping Trent hesitant. I now stand by my reading of the "I'll leave you be" scene as an unrequited goodbye.)

But finale aside, the man who'd convinced himself he was unlovable fell for the man who was love incarnate.

If that's not the most romantic shit you've ever heard idk what is!!!

#Ted Lasso #Trent Crimm #Tedependent #mymetas #don't worry everyone I'm SO normal about this🙃

247 notes · View notes

metamatar · 8 months

Note

ok so i am very much uninformed on politics, i decided at a younger age that i wasn't interested in it and therefore would not read or keep myself particularly informed about it. obviously this is a bad idea, and i want to change and keep myself informed on actual politics and well, abstract[?] (wrong word but cannot think of another, basically mean like. knowing which political .. stance ?? [idk. like marxist or communist or whatever] i might be.) ones as well. what's a good place to get started here? where do i look for actual politics going on in india since i'm pretty sure ndtv or whatever isn't exactly the best source? or maybe it is? idk, like i said i'm pretty uninformed on the matter but would like to learn more

so one thing is, in india you have to accept the media landscape is just dire because being a journalist with integrity is a bit like signing up to have your life ruined. all major media has been bought by hindutva already. what you have to do is more learn to read between lines, understand people's motivations, which is a matter of practice. a good way to start is to read analysis (not news reports) of the same incident in different media and you'll start noticing patterns. even more important imo is to talk and bounce ideas with a friend at a similar place as you or someone interested in politics who won't overwhelm you with their perspective. you can try online but idt its safe or advisable anymore to do that experiment online. i had debate club in university (sad) and some socialist reading groups (better) after. the thing is this journey to self education is kind of personal and im also not pedagogically oriented or trained? so lots of first person description instead of prescriptions.

i still check what's up on ndtv because it gives me a good pulse of what english language media and liberals are thinking. major newspapers i scan hindu and the indian express sometimes. online i have a look at newslaundry (also has some youtube content) and the wire, they're reader supported and haven't turned full hindutva yet. i read longer form things in the caravan and epw, but these are subscription based. i keep tabs on the latest round of hindutva fake news when alt news debunks it.

for the abstract things, i literally did an online course bc i was frustrated by what all the liberal arts grads seemed to already agree on. i did ian shapiro's moral foundations of politics which is available online as both youtube lectures and a textbook. if you want to go that route feel free but it's not necessary, you can also try to read the entries on wikipedia or stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (more expertise) when you encounter something unfamiliar and build up like that. podcasts like bbc in our time will often interview academics to give intros to many political philosophy concepts and thinkers. whatever your learning style supports! i think the important thing is to find something you are actually interested in, and take that tack. i like history, so i might read books about historical revolutions or historical forms of organising society or listen to podcasts like mike duncan's revolutions.

For communism the usual starting points are these very short pamphlets:

Principles of Communism by Engels

The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx

Wage-Labor and Capital by Marx

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels

feel free to ask for more specific questions!

#asks

133 notes · View notes

delyth-thomas-art · 1 month

Text

Tired Webcomic Creator Noises

Gags … ah yes lets make art into mindless content spat out by Ai cos we've been literally killing creators with inhumane workloads to spit out as many episodes as possible for mindless consumption.

I make my comics with passion and love of the craft! I have a degree in Comics, I spent years...years learning, practising, experimenting, adapting. I recall the days where you may get a page a week, or a few at the start of the month back in the 2000s era of self hosted webcomics and smackjeeves. (Rant below)

I've had to learn how the whole scrolling format worked to adapt to where all the readers had gone to, having been taught the traditional print page formats. And now cos its suddenly a massive money maker for these few hosts and they've pushed creators to the brink with the sheer volume they want pumped out that of course they want to use AI.

But it will speed up colouring! I have multiple tools available by the software I use and made by the wonderful people who love creating that colouring isn't that much of a chore, Its my fav part honestly. And its also a job sector within comics, colourists are skilled artists and this is another way to trim the fat, to pocket more money and keep churning out the 5th millionth villainess story.

Yes I am in most views a tiny creator, I haven't even broken their 1000 sub goal to even try applying for ad rev in the near 5 ish years on webtoon. But what I make I love, I spend hours researching folklore, scripting, drafting the whole kabudle like many other creators. And other than the kind supporters on my Patreon and Ko-fi I don't make much from the hours, days, weeks I pour into what I make. But at least I know its made with my own hands. That its made with love as corny as that sounds.

Ai is creeping its tentacles into everything, now ethically trained ai tools to help smaller creators would be fine. Most creators already rely on 3d tools to speed up things like backgrounds for webcomics. But when we don't know what its trained on, and is marketed wholesale as something anyone can use to make "content" is where it gets insidious. I am all for anyone with the desire to create and tell a story to go out there and do so, whether a beginner or a master. Part of the joy of a long running webcomic is seeing the artist grow both artistically and literary. But with ai it will be all one homogenous style, a copy of what ever is the hot thing. We already have amazon stuffed to the teeth with ai generated books, videos, merch and more all to be sold in some get rich quick manner. (need I point at the Willy's Wonderland incident). Youtube videos being spat out by faceless accounts stealing and regurgitating content at the speed no human video making team can easily match without cutting out quality or fact checking.

It is tiring. Creatives as a whole are treated poorly for decades, and now with the rapid late stage capitalism, website /social media enshitification and the blind headlong rush into the next big money making thing (watches the nft crash). I can't deny Covid sped this up, as everyone was locked inside and turned to what we creators made for comfort. But that content eating boom, lead to more demand, faster output and tighter budgets. We are seeing journalists being cut, game designers in their thousands and recently Dreamworks cutting a bunch and pushing to make their Robot film come out sooner due to public demands.

Skilled creatives are being treated like disposable fast food restaurant employees. Used til they burn out, get injured and even die! And then are simply replaced.

I've never been a creator with huge ambitions to work at places like DC, Marvel or Top Cow. I simply wished to create and share stories with the world, to bring smiles, to create art that evokes emotions, inspires others to look around themselves and create too.

Art is for everyone. You just need to take that scary jump, there is a whole array of welcoming communities willing to teach and share. I wouldn't have improved so much without the kindness of the webcomic groups I've discovered and learnt from. Everyone is always learning, and there no shame in not knowing how to do a thing. Even I started with the cheesy how to draw books as a kid and made my own pokemon and digimon.

Don't let the world treat your art as content. It is "ART" as much as what's kept in the louvre is seen as art, so is that little stick man doodle on a postit.

So Try something new, try a new material, a new style.

And support the artists you enjoy, tip their Ko-Fi, pledge to their Patreon, buy a sticker or print. Share their posts and tell them what you love about what they make.

Don't let machines steal away the art in HEART.

#delyth thomas art #life #webtoon #webcomics #ai #ai art #fuck ai art #navar #art #ramble #rant #art rant

23 notes · View notes

houseofbrat · 2 months

Text

Okay I know that photo was egregiously edited but where is all this journalistic integrity when it comes to airbrushing actors or politicians in big fancy media spreads. Also— you know every giant news conglomerate will try to use AI images as soon as humanly possible so they don’t have to pay actual photographers. I’m glad they killed this photo but it just seems odd as I would imagine doctored images are quite common in news media.

ETA: thanks for all the feedback I also found this article helpful https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2024/03/11/kate-middleton-photo-standards/

I work in PR/comms. This is not airbrushing. Speculation is the photo was cobbled together from earlier photos; e.g., that there's no photo at all, just a "collage" of sorts, and that's why KP can't release the original.

But the media are consistently blaming the current situation on how “protective” Prince William is, and how it’s specifically his relationship with privacy that has been the cause of this. That’s what they’re saying on every media channel. Yet this is a man who has just let his wife cop the whole blame for the thing. The double standards and the continued media protection of William is distasteful. Nothing he’s done thus far in this situation has been to protect his wife or children, it has been to protect himself.

I was just going to say William's not doing anything to help himself here. I agree with the news agencies that are saying KP's only real option now is to disclose everything: the nature of Kate's procedure, the reason William missed King Constantine's funeral, and the original photo. One could argue that they don't HAVE to, as the royal family is entitled to privacy. But if they WANT to fix this mess, that's what needs to happen.

For someone who isn't supposed to be in the public eye until after Easter, she's managed to be top of mind pretty much everywhere.

I’m from Brazil and everyone is talking about it. Almost as much as the death of QEII.

And the general consensus seems to be that she was thrown under the bus.

I wonder what the opinions of other countries and cultures are.

I mean, if this was Harry disappearing for weeks while Meghan is posting weirdly doctored photos of him, I think we can readily expect that the UK press would not have been so genteel in their coverage of the situation.

This also seems like the type of story that was made to go viral with the true crime crowd on social media; woman disappears after a sudden surgery, her husband is seen acting oddly in public, her kids haven't seen her in weeks, her husband is posting photoshopped pictures of her with the kids on the joint instagram account, and the only time she's been spotted in public was with huge sunglasses on or looking away from the camera in a dark car.

While I do think there is some truth to the article, the author fails to mention the viciousness Kate was subjected to in the early years of her dating William. There are numerous videos online of her being chased and harassed by paparazzi. Videos of them waiting for her to arrive at the airport while hurling slurs her way. She even had topless photos published without her consent! She did not have it easy. It was only after the marriage and the birth of her children, the media seem to turn more positive towards her. There was an article on CNN discussing the colour of Kates baby when she was pregnant with George. The article claimed the baby may have a darker skin tone due to her ‘commoner genes’! Yes, you read that right, the article was about Kate and not Meghan. I think that’s the sick misogynistic nature of the media, the royal women are always take the biggest beating. It was wrong when it happened to Diana, it was wrong when it happened to Fergie, it was wrong what happened to Kate, it was wrong when it happened to Megan and now it’s wrong It’s happening to Kate again.

William and Charles have entirely separate offices. It really just looks like Charles is letting William determine his own course of action and that includes letting him make his own mistakes.

Has Kate stopped cooperating with TRF? Is she refusing to sit for photographs? Refusing to make an appearance or return to work?

The only leverage she has is to refuse to do their bidding. IMO, this is what's happening. She has ghosted TRF and told them to figure out the PR crisis on their own. She is mad about something.

Behind the scenes, the press knows that something is up. This is why they are making a big deal about the photograph. They are pushing TRF to admit they created it out of thin air because Kate refused to sit for a photograph with her children.

I wasn't a conspiracy theorist before this week but it feels like something very weird is happening.

Everyone needs to ask themselves: why is KP no longer protecting Kate? They used to always bend over backwards to protect both W&K, but now they are sacrificing K so W doesn’t look bad. The statement she clearly did not write taking the fall for the photoshop is absolutely meant to place the blame solely on Kate (which is ridiculous because clearly the photo had to be approved before release). They’re trying to make her look untrustworthy as a source, and we need to all be asking WHY is KP doing this to one of their principles? Why don’t they want us to trust what she’s saying or posting? They are trying to subtly separate Kate from KP instead of insulating her, creating a KP vs Kate dynamic. It definitely feels like things are turning on her and she’s not playing by their rules anymore…

Dropping this opinion piece here. It is not saying anything new, really, but it is illustrative of how the good faith and favourable and fluffy press that Wills and Kate have been enjoying for years now is vanishing up fast, and more importantly, the angle of "actually, Harry and Meghan might have been right all along" is starting to gain traction, which is amazing since KP's incompetence is only helping to feed this narrative. 100% a self inflicted wound: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/opinion/kate-middleton-scandal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cU0.yIUn.JReERm0NfWrW&smid=url-share

I am just here in my corner eating popcorn and enjoying the primo tea.

I am starting to think the Occam’s razor here is that Kate is not cooperating.

The Mother’s Day picture was supposed to function as an update on her health and it turned out to be fake, so of course the speculation will continue. She could take a cell phone snap and release it and all of the noise would settle down. It’s extremely telling that she doesn’t.

i just can't believe there's a photoshop thread about the royal family. it's hilariously absurd how badly they fudged this whole thing

I’m still baffled by the lack of leaks and/or sightings. I have to imagine that if Kate stepped foot in public, someone would have snapped a photo. That seems like a long time to be sequestered, especially when we’ve been made to believe she often does her own grocery shopping.

This is exactly right. They could have said someone on the team photoshopped it - and Kate is on the team. They didn’t have to bring her name into it. To hop from “never complain, never explain to throwing Kate under the double bus is gob smacking.

According to Cosmopolitan not even Kate's senior staff knows what is going on with her. I get people not knowing her medical ins and outs, but how is she not talking to her staff? https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a60186817/kate-middleton-shroud-of-secrecy-concerning/

#my gif #reddit #british royal family #scandal!#ESCANDALO!!!#fleet street #critique #PR fail #fail!#kate middleton #Catherine The Princess of Wales #William The Prince of OWN GOALS #prince william #William The Prince of Wales #kensington palace #palace officials #media

12 notes · View notes

ct-multifandom · 2 years

Text

Assorted ML Headcanons pt. 2

Once again, adding a read more early in because this thing is like five times longer than pt. 1

Juleka has Dyslexia

The long-sleeved shirt Alix wears with the snakes on the sleeves has some sort of inappropriate band name or slogan on the front, so she wears that weird tank top thing over it to avoid getting dress-coded.

Alya keeps trying to find an “our show” to watch with Marinette, but Marinette keeps caving into temptation and watching ahead on her own. So Alya starts choosing only new shows that are currently airing, but if they don’t hang out the day the episodes come out, Marinette will still watch them. They mostly do movies now.

Kagami is great at drawing realism, and can gorgeously render her real life references, but she’s unsatisfied with her work because what she’s really interested in is stylized art. She wants to develop a beautiful manga-like style, but whenever she tries to draw fictional characters, it ends up looking more like anime George Washington than the picture in her head. She’s further discouraged by people praising her realistic art, feeling pressure to keep doing what she’s good at over what she actually likes

Adrien was an Animal Jam kid

Chloe is inflicted with We Can’t Let People Know We Have Interests. She hears Alix and Mylene chatting about some popular sitcom she also likes in class, but as many times as she could’ve butted into the conversation, she can’t make it happen. On her way to lunch, Sabrina got stuck talking to Max and Rose about their Animal Crossing islands. Well Chloe’s is super cute if she can say so herself,,, no, she couldn’t say anything at all. Hurry up, Sabrina. Chloe knows that classic anime is the fastest way to Adrien’s heart, but she can’t bring herself to strike up a conversation about it. Isn’t being a weeb cringe? Not that Adrikins could ever be cringe- I mean- uh-

Sometimes Luka gets stuck in customer service mode after work and uses The Voice around his friends. At band practice, he introduces the next song into the mic, and Nino’s like, “are we about to hear rock music or phone line hold music?”

Astruc implied that Nath wasn’t in the Christmas special because he’s Jewish, but Mylene and Ivan weren’t there either, and ofc nobody asked about them, so headcanons! Ivan is Eastern Orthodox, so his Christmas isn’t on Dec 25th, and Mylene believes in certain spiritual stuff, but doesn’t participate in any organized religion or specific denomination.

Rose used to do ballet, but she stopped because her time in the hospital made her fall too far behind. She still likes dancing, and has a good feel for it because of ballet, but she prefers modern styles now.

Alix was named after her dad. If she was born a boy, she’d be Alim Jr., but since she’s a girl he changed one letter.

Marc forces Nath to get out of the house, get vitamin D, interact with other people, and exercise, but Nath returns the favor by bugging Question Marc about his posture, especially while they’re working.

Zoe’s “one and only good friend” from New York who wrote I ♥️ U on her shoe wasn’t a platonic gal pal at all.

Kim is colorblind, but he doesn’t know it

Mylene has that “not now, sweety. Mommy’s cyberbullying the mayor” t shirt

Alya learns that Hawkmoth reads the Ladyblog, and since he knows her identity but the public doesn’t, she hides passive aggressive “fuck you” jabs in her posts.

Alya putting the greater good over journalistic integrity by intentionally spreading misinformation on the blog if the team needs it. She’s staged a “candid” photo of LB with Marinette in the background after a close call. She “mistakenly” misreported the powers of a couple new villains as being brainwashing when they actually did things like grant wishes or were literally made of money so that people wouldn’t go after them and make them harder to defeat. She and Marinette set up “exclusive” semi-scripted interviews with the zodiac heroes where they told made-up origin stories so that Hawkmoth wouldn’t trace the compromised heroes back to their whole class or friend group. Alya is prohibited from typing the word “kwami”.

Luka has synesthesia and actually hears music when he sees people

Markov pretends to not have certain functions out of laziness. “Can you look this up?” I’m not a search engine (he’s not, but he has instant access to one). “Can you scan this document for me?” No. “Can you send my paper to the printer?” No.

He also pretends to be more advanced than he actually is. “Hey Markov, can you-” I am downloading your private browsing history as we speak. “Wh- you can’t do that!” I already did. Now I’m hacking into your Twitter account.

Markov likes to plays dumb and take everything literally. He understands jokes and sarcasm just fine, but enjoys a bit of trolling. He responds to idioms like Amelia Bedelia. If someone makes a joke with a euphemism, he pretends to be totally innocent. He says that Max put parental controls on him, but that’s a lie.

Everyone thinks Alix is an extrovert, but she’s actually an introvert. She’s very sociable, but hanging out too much wears her out, and she needs a lot of quiet or alone time to recharge.

Everyone thinks Marc is an introvert, but he’s actually an extrovert. He spends a lot of time in private, but that’s mostly because he’s shy, anxious, and afraid to leave his comfort zone. When he does, though, he gets that extrovert buzz.

The Sandboy kid, the Risk froggy kid, and the Kuro Neko cat girl based on Rhythm are all besties. Writing this reminded me of that kids’ book series called The Familiars about a blue jay, black cat, and frog.

Until he finally shows up again in the show, hc that the Sandboy kid is named Jay

Adrien is jealous of his friends’ ability to express themselves. He thinks about how he’d dress if not for his father and the brand. Would he dress alternatively or go for some aesthetic? Would he want to look rebellious or preppy (but not in a default Sims kind of way)? He doesn’t actually know, but wishes he could try stuff out.

Jalil is a cataphile (someone who explores the forbidden parts of the Paris catacombs, which is basically all of them except for the tiny tourist stretch, as a hobby). He goes with his friends, and brings Alix with him frequently. She’s practiced her spray painting skills down there.

Kagami and Juleka bonding over their affects and how their tone of voice doesn’t reflect how they actually feel, but from an outside perspective it just sounds like the most monotone conversation ever

Each of the doodles on Zoe’s shoes in canon corresponds to one of her friends and has a deeper meaning, even if it’s just a little inside joke. Okay real talk I need this lore in canon. We haven’t seen them super zoomed in and from all angles, but there are clearly individual, unique drawings on them.

Alya and Nino low-key had feelings for each other before Animan, but they were in denial and didn’t really take them seriously until then.

It started when Nino left school one day with sort of fluffy hair and a bit of bang, but came back the next morning with a buzz cut, and Alya was like huh he still looks cute somehow

Rose makes good tea and Nath makes good coffee

Mylene has a vegetable/herb garden on her balcony and rooftop. Her bedroom is also packed with potted plants. The air is so crisp.

The whole group has one big shared Minecraft server where they live in the same ever-expanding village together

Chloe likes those resource management mobile games where you run a cafe or build a kingdom or something

Nathalie plays video games in private, especially after she got sick. Gabriel doesn’t know. She usually buys whatever’s most popular lately, and prefers adventure games.

Ladybug explains the plan to her team and asks if they have any questions. Every time, they makes a point to ask the most off-topic questions possible. “What’s your favorite color?” Take a wild guess, buddy. (Saying pink might compromise her identity) “if you put a miraculous holder under a hydraulic press, would they die?” What the fuck? I don’t know, we’ve never encountered that problem and hopefully never will. Like, probably? “Who was your top artist on Spotify Wrapped?” That’s a secret (obviously Jagged). “If doing it would lead to instant world peace, would you rather kiss Hawkmoth or Gabriel Agreste?” Everyone shut up. Shut up. The villain is getting away.

Rose collects everything for her scrapbooks. Receipts, ticket stubs, stickers, brochures, you name it, tucked between photos of her hanging out with friends. “Hey, what was that cafe called that we went to last fall-” she has it all documented.

Adrien reads Marc and Nath’s ladynoir-centric comics laying on his stomach on his bed with his hands under his chin kicking his feet in the air and giggling

Once they made a comic with Carapace as the main character, and Nino was like omg THANK YOU :’-) and they’re like huh didn’t know he was such a big fan

Marc and Nath scrap the majority of their original concepts because they don’t want to give Hawkmoth any ideas. The angst stories and dangerous villains don’t make it to publishing so that Hawkmoth won’t copy them if he sees them. A lot of their villains are either real ones or original ones whose powers are fun but useless to Hawkmoth’s goals.

At the same time, sometimes Hawkmoth coincidentally makes villains similar to something the boys have already done, except Worse, like the trashiest bootleg equivalent.

LB: Rena Rouge texted me that someone just got akumatized over losing a chess tournament. CN: I wonder what their power is. Hey, this reminds me of that one comic issue with the chess villain. LB: oh yeah, The Grandmaster. She had that tall crown based off the white queen piece with the flowing robes, and she turned the whole city into a giant chessboard! We and the other heroes could only take turns moving across city blocks based on the piece role she assigned us. We had to let some of our friends get captured, but we managed to pull off a checkmate and break her akumatized crown. What if that story is about to become reality? The actual villain Gabe made: my name is The Bongcloud Opener. Everyone I touch turns into a giant lifeless pawn piece, and I look like a sentient checkered Van.

Kim has been blocked and unblocked from the group chat maybe five separate times for spamming memes

The “y’all watch bob l’éponge?” Tweet except it’s Zoe in New York

Chloe once had and maybe even still has a crush on Alix, but she doesn’t even really realize it because she has a severe case of comp het. Alix sees it, though. Of course, Alix is aro, so Chloe didn’t stand a chance regardless of her bullying. Alix uses this immoral opportunity to mess with Chloe as much as possible.

Everyone makes jokes about how Chloe is both gay and homophobic, but Adrien’s like oh sweetie you have to deal with those internalized problems

Rose got into embroidery, and she got Ivan into it too so that they could make punky battle jacket-like patches for themselves and their friends. They aren’t very good yet, but the shaky needlework is kind of charming.

Nino tells Adrien that his dad has such objectively horrible taste, anything he actually likes must be terrible. His designs? Ugly. His decor? Depression-inflicting. His “friends”? Assholes. The food he orders his private chef to cook? Unseasoned. Another time, Gabriel approaches Nino who came to his house to pick up Adrien, and tells him that he was genuinely impressed by Nino’s DJ work at his last fashion event. Nino shrivels up inside.

Anarka lets the kids try alcohol at home. Juleka thinks everything she’s tried is nasty unless it was drowned in fruit and sugar, but Luka thinks it’s okay. When Anarka gets wine, they try it together, and Luka tries to do the pretentious wine critic thing, but he can’t actually tell the difference between the types the way his mom can.

Y’know that hoodie Marc was wearing in his early concept art with the logo that’s a clear parody of Nirvana? Nath totally stole it from him and sleeps in it.

Marinette is Not Okay during exams week. She stresses tf out and gets like no sleep yet somehow still does exceptionally well

Everyone is suddenly ride or die during exams week. Tom and Sabine supply the kids with snacks while Max is compiling all the algebra formulas they might need to memorize into a Quizlet, Sabrina is trying to come up with mnemonic devices to help with physchem, and Adrien is doing a review lecture of the French readings like he’s on a podcast.

Marc folds cranes when he’s anxious

In the last post I wrote that Alix and Nath dyed their hair and did the messed up cuts together. Alix re-dyes hers more often to make sure it stays neon hot pink, which involves bleaching it the second her roots start showing, or else she hates it. Nath only re-dyes his when it starts looking really bad in that awkward phase with the faded color and long roots. Because of this, Nath maintains sooomewhat healthy hair, but Alix’s is fried. She doesn’t have to use as much hair gel or extra-fry it with a straightener now because it pretty much stands up on its own. It feels like straw. Juleka wants to scream every time she sees Alix has made it worse.

Rose makes cute contact names with a billion emojis for everyone in her phone

She has Juleka as “Juleka🦇🎸💜💘” [bat, electric guitar, purple heart, pink heart with an arrow], so she was offended when she found out that Juleka has her as “Rose”.

Turns out that Juleka doesn’t even make contacts for most people at all. The home screen of her text app is full of conversations with people who are just their phone number or “maybe: [name]”. The Kitty Section group chat is her, “Rose”, “Smurf”, and *Ivan’s phone number*

Speech and debate club Mylene

Marinette made all sorts of cute things for the kwamis under the guise of the dollhouse project. It started with the “dollhouse” being a temporary hiding place for the miracle box, but then she started making tiny clothes and furniture for the kwamis to play with, and wherever anyone asked she’d say she’s just gotten into making miniatures as a hobby. Fancy, decorative dollhouses used to be a big flex in Western Europe, after all, but this one is more like the one from the Borrowers.

Kagami has a traditionally Japanese bedroom arrangement with a futon that she puts away in the morning. The first time Adrien was in her room, it was during the day, and he’s like where the fuck is your bed

The girls play the wholesome fuck, marry, kills about the guys at their sleepovers like the "get them randomly assigned as your lab partner for a whole semester, get trapped with them on a broken elevator for ten hours, they’re your employee trainer for your new job at McDonalds” one from that one tumblr post

Kim tries to get the guys to play Truth or Dare at sleepovers, but they don’t really want to, reminding Kim that he legally can’t be involved in dares since Timebreaker. He makes them “play” anyways, but they can only do Truth, and the guys respond to each question with some smartass answer. They find loopholes in Kim’s wording like genies until they bully him into quitting/until it’s his turn.

Max and Alix got that 5D Chess game on Steam as a joke, but after messing around with it, they started really getting into it and taking it seriously

Adrien’s friends seeing his dad as cartoonishly villainous is already canon. They start a tabletop RPG campaign, and the major antagonists are suspiciously one-to-one with Gabriel, Nathalie, and the Gorilla.

Everyone jokes about dressing up as Gabriel, the scariest monster, for Halloween. Nobody actually does, but on a separate occasion, Kim tries to get Ivan to dress up as Gorilla and Nath to dress up as Nathalie and video call Kim from his tablet. Kim, dressed as Gabriel, takes the call from a remote room. Then, they break into Adrien’s house because that’s just what his friends do for fun, and they’re pretty much experts at this point. Nath tells Adrien his father needs to have a word with him, turning on the tablet to reveal Kim, who tells him, “Son. I need to have a word with you”.

Zoe and Marc are best friends, and Ivan and Luka are best friends. I think (?) this may be canon, but they’ve never actually said it.

Ivan is The Realest to Luka, like in Crocoduel when everyone was planning to manipulate him, Ivan stuck up for him. Also Luka explicitly hates liars and Ivan is physically unable to tell a lie. They make each other playlists and write lyrics together. The two of them have one of those Spotify Blends separate from the four-person Kitty Section one.

I feel like Zoe and Marc are a year below Marinette’s class, like they just give off younger sibling energy. As classmates, they spend more time with each other than with the rest of the group. In Gabriel Agreste, when Zoe manipulates Jean-Biblespoilers, she calls Marc afterwards instead of Marinette or Mylene or anyone else. They are wlw mlm solidarity. Ms. Mendeleev brings up a partner project and they look at each other like that Nicki Minaj Only meme with the Veggietales characters. They talk shit in really fast and informal English so that their classmates don’t understand them.

Rose’s sandals have a pink circle on the sole that isn’t positioned in a way for it to be the anchor between the sole and the rest of the sandal. It reminds me of this old Sketcher’s line called Bella Ballerina where the shoes had a round, spinning piece that you could balance and twirl on. Since Pigella’s design is inspired by ballet, I hc that Rose’s shoes also have that spinning piece.

Alix spreads historical misinformation to Jalil, who eats it right up, because it’s hilarious. Just trust me bro, I’m Bunnyx.

On the other hand, Jalil being like Ronaldo from Steven Universe by making absolutely insane conspiracy theories that happen to be 100% correct, and Alix is like shitshitshit how does he know??? Do I need to cover this up???

Kim is a great ally, and maybe even questioning, but he’s so confused all the time

Juleka tells him she’s a lesbian. Now she’s obviously French, but he’s pretty sure her mom is Scottish, and Jagged is a native English speaker. Is there some secret little island nation in the UK called Lesbia that he’s never heard of before?

Max: whoa, Nath, you’re ambidextrous? I didn’t know that! Kim: uh, dude? What rock have you been living under? He’s been with Marc for like five months

Zoe: don’t you think that girl over there looks a little, y’know, *limp wrist* Kim: you’re stereotyping someone based on their appearance and judging them? Wtf, I didn’t expect this from you. Zoe: uh, what? I’m wondering if I should ask for her number.

While Alix is gone, the kids fill in her place by putting her hat on and pretending to be her. What would Alix say if she were here? They try to copy her mannerisms while wearing it.

Y’know that one post I made about the true power of the rooster miraculous being that the holder can do anything they and the people around them believe they can do? Hence the concept of “pretension” as in pretending to be something you’re not, and the power of “sublimation” as in impressing people as well as turning something solid into vapor, like how the power is solid as long as people believe it but turns to vapor if they don’t. Yeah, that.

I feel like all the kids were Warrior Cats role players or the like at some point in their lives, even the “cool” ones, and some of them probably still are

I also feel like all of them would be good at grilling. I think every single one of them would be capable of making a great steak if they put their mind to it

All the Ace Attorney-like full name puns among the major cast are intentional in-universe:

“Anarka Couffaine” isn’t her given name; it’s a rock star stage name she came up with (Anarka=anarchy, acouphènes=tinnitus), but she changed it legally. When she had the twins, she gave them names that end with A to keep the acouphènes pun.

The Lavillants have that last name by coincidence, but when they had Rose, they intentionally chose the name Lavillant, Rose (la vie en rose, life in pink) to wish her a happy, ideal life

Mr. Anciel is an immigrant, and changed his name to be more westernized and easy to pronounce by French speakers similarly to Sabine. I’m thinking his given name had “Sun” in it and he was like, y’know what’d be so funny… which is how Marc Anciel (arc en ciel=rainbow) and any potential sibling(s) ended up being named after things “in the sky”.

I’m not applying this to Kim Ature ‘cause that’s not his canon name even though apparently one of his dads is Mr. Ature

Subcategory for family headcanons, but some of them are sad :(

Mylene has a mom who is black. She and Fred are happily married, but she’s usually pretty busy with work, so they mostly see her at home.

Rose has a bio mom and dad who love her very much, but they can be a little overbearing due to her illness and have trouble seeing her as not a little kid anymore. They don’t really get all that punk rock stuff she likes, but huh as long as she’s happy.

Alix had a mom, but she died a couple years before Origins. Jalil took after her while Alix took after their dad. Alix didn’t take it very well for a long time, but she’s better by the time this school year started.

Max’s dad died when he was very young, so he was pretty much raised by Claudie

Nino and Chris’s parents are divorced. It happened after Nino’s older brother died. (How much of this is canon? The Lahiffe lore is such a middle-of-the-iceberg thing, but apparently they’ve been putting off writing it into the show since season 2? Like can they please just explain it?)

The Cesaires have basically adopted Nino anyway

Nino used to bully tf out of Chris, but now he has to take on a more responsible role as an older brother, so he acts more mature.

If Kim’s last name is Le Chien, but he has two dads, Mr. Le Chien and Mr. Ature, does that imply that they’re divorced and Mr. Le Chien has custody? Maybe Kim is Mr. Le Chien’s biological kid from a previous relationship, perhaps with someone named Nguyen, and Mr. Ature is a stepdad? Sure, hc that they’re fiancés, and Kim accepts his soon-to-be stepfather as a dad.

In which case, hc that Kim is fully Vietnamese, but the stepdad is French

Nath’s family isn’t very cash money :(

Ivan has a pretty large family compared to everyone else. Lots of siblings and close extended family.

Sabrina’s family is Irish. Tbh this isn’t inspired by her being ginger so much as her miraculous being based off a piece of Celtic jewelry which I only learned after the official website made me Google what a torc is.

Is Marc the only major POC character who doesn’t have a canon ethnicity? I think he is… someone with a Twitter ask Astruc about this for me. I saw people hc him as Latino which is very valid, but I always assumed he was Asian. Hc that his mom is Chinese and his dad is Korean. Until canon proves or disproves me, I hc that the Sandboy kid is his brother.

I love the semi-popular hc that Marc and Marinette are cousins. I will hold on to it until canon proves it right or wrong, although if it’s true then I feel like they would’ve said so already. In this case, Shu Yin would be Marc’s mom. Since she lives in London and he lives in Paris, she and the dad would be divorced. Considering how the DPCs talk about her,,, it’d be no wonder. It happened recently, and Marc only moved to Paris from London in late season 2, which is why Marinette was already friends with him and checking in on him despite him appearing out of nowhere.

Marinette growing up hearing “you should be more like Marc. He’s so organized and dedicated” while Marc’s hearing “you should be more like Marinette. She’s so outgoing and ambitious” and they’re both like shut uppp

When they played pretend as little kids, the plot lines were always so complex. And each time they saw each other, they picked up from where they left off

The same way Roland is shown to be bigoted by having him be uncomfortable with everything that’s not super outdated, Shu Yin is shown to be bigoted by simply hating everything that inspires love and sparks joy

I need to meet canon Shu Yin at some point

Subcategory for the kids interacting with their kwamis after they become permanent holders. The pronouns I used for the kwamis aren’t my headcanons so much as me dealing with the “canon” ones being different across every dub.

Sometimes Kim forgets that Xuppu exists which allows him to get up to trouble on his own. Kim uses only the worst lies and most incomprehensible bs to explain the mischief Xuppu caused, but his dads are like eh, just Kim being Kim *shrug*. Kim is proud of himself for being so smooth about it but nobody has any clue what he just said.

Kim gets Xuppu going about something and then uses his rambling as background noise to help him concentrate better

Roarr annoys Sass for sport

Roarr is a big fan of the music Anarka tends to blast at an unhealthy volume on the Liberty. Juleka makes him playlists of songs she thinks he’d like, partially because sitting down and listening to them through an earbud prevents him from bouncing off the walls 24/7.

Sass low-key hates it here, but he has saintly patience and loves Luka, so he acts like he’s having a great time around him. Anarka’s immature behavior ticks him off sometimes, but he’d never tell him that.

Sass getting Luka to focus on things that benefit him instead of putting other people first all the time

Max builds Markov an update that allows him to actually see and talk to Kaalki. Maybe with the help of some magic alien technology sent over by Olympia and Aeon as a favor between superheroes.

Kaalki has a hard time believing that researchers and inventors can be glorious and famous until Max catches her up on the exponential growth of technology during the last ~200 years she spent inactive. Sure, Kaalki’s seen phones and computers, appliances, cars and planes, all that since becoming active again, but she never stopped to think about the humans who made all this stuff possible.

Kaalki having a “yassify Max” agenda vs Max trying to explain what light/dark academia is and that the vintage look is very much on purpose. Also Kaalki being the devil on Max’s shoulder trying to convince him to make more bad decisions, and he’s like that’s okay, Kaalki.

He gets on her case for backseat gaming too much, so she tries to only cheer him on when he plays, but with her prim and proper way of speaking it sounds absolutely hilarious. “Desecrate him, love! Yes! Absolutely fantastic execution!” It gets worse when she starts picking up on gamer lingo.

Daizzi tells Rose that they miss the little hats Ladybug would make them and Rose is like don’t worry I got you and pulls out her craft supplies

They have little tea parties together

Mullo bugs Mylene because they think it’s hilarious, and at first they get to her, but then she grows a tolerance to the pranks and jokes, and eventually starts to get revenge. Mullo will change Mylene’s phone alarm to horror monster heavy breathing audio and Mylene will just pull an air horn out from under her pillow and set it off in Mullo’s face.

She sprays water at them with a spray bottle like a naughty cat when they’re up to no good.

Orikko has very sophisticated tastes. When Marc asks what to feed him, he asks for caviar toast followed by truffle bouillon with a main course of wagyu steak and a gold leaf-covered pastry for dessert. Marc’s like yeah no give me something I can buy with the comic book money. Popcorn? Sunflower seeds? He’ll get a boxed sandwich from Carrefour, plate a tiny piece of it like it’s from a Michelin rated restaurant, and lie.

If Orikko could’ve chosen any holder he’d have gone with Adrien

On day one, Nath gives Ziggy some kiddy paints and construction paper while he’s working on the comic, and she dips her little hooves in it and starts finger-painting a picture that looks like something a little kid would make. When she’s done she’s like, “hey, look! I made a picture of you!” :) And Nath’s like aww that’s so cute :) Later, she tells him she’s been trying to catch up with all the contemporary and modern art movements she missed. She’s more comfortable with renaissance art. Anyways, here’s an indistinguishable study of a Rembrandt painting she made.

Nath regrets teaching Ziggy how to use his computer. She learns quickly and somehow gets into every piece of media with a reputation of being cringe. Nath is jumpscared awake by Ziggy playing FNAF in the middle of the night, and when he tells her to turn that off, she shows him her Michael Afton fan art where she made him way more attractive than he likely is in canon. He opens Spotify Daily Mix 1 expecting the usual ten-minute-long songs that are at least 30 years old, but his algorithm has been invaded by hyperpop. He opens his art program to find that Ziggy made a whole Baroque style painting on a single layer. He notices his Minecraft playtime has risen an inhuman amount, and after spending forever loading the server, finds a ridiculously detailed replica of Versailles. He opens his notebook and finds doodles of Among Us crewmates. She sleeps on an amoung pequeño plushie.

Sabrina and Barrk watch corny reality TV together and Discuss. They sit on the couch with a bag of peanut butter chips and comment on everything that happens. “I can’t believe that arrogant jerk got the last rose instead of that really sweet guy. Did you hear what he was saying behind The Bachelorette’s back?” “Why did they send home the only drag queen who actually did something super original while some of the other ones barely even followed the prompt? The judges are so biased.” They talk back and forth really fast, too.

Ivan gets Stompp to critique his poetry. They don’t know much about this stuff, but when they have an opinion, they tell it how it is.

Sometimes Stompp suggest taking a bit of a Machiavellian approach to Ivan’s problems and Ivan’s like, dude it is NOT that serious.

Nino and Wayzz have opposite tastes in everything. Wayzz likes green tea while Nino thinks it’s too earthy and prefers energy drinks that practically turn your piss into acid, to Wayzz’s horror. Wayzz likes minimalist decoration, neutral colors, and natural sunlight, but Nino’s room is full of neon colors, a million posters, and LED strip lights. Nino likes EDM, but Wayzz can’t see the appeal and prefers relaxing instrumental music, which bores Nino. They don’t look down on each other for liking different stuff, but it’s hard to live so close together and be so different.

They discover that they both like lo-fi and chillhop music. Nino empties out one of his larger desk drawers and converts it into a personal space for Wayzz, who is independent and values privacy. He decorates it the way Wayzz likes and threads some lantern string lights in there.

Here’s a pound it for reading the whole thing! You deserve it, whew!

176 notes · View notes

sukimas · 2 months

Note

DISCLAIMER: None of this is meant as an insult; I think your Blogging Style is both charming and informative. THAT SAID: Insofar as you remind me of any fictional character I think it might actually have to be Aya Shameimaru. Not so much in the sense of "twisting the truth" - you certainly have more [journalistic/academic] integrity, as it were - but more in the way you *present* information and yourself.

I’m more insulted by you saying that I present myself like Aya Shameimaru than any insinuation that I was lying could possibly make me. What the hell? Do you think I’m that simperingly polite? Do you think I’m that much of a shill for Society? I should fire a piece of metal out of the magnet at you.

#ask game

15 notes · View notes

ivycopper · 4 months

Text

This was abt Teller at first but escalated into lgbt+ discourse, soz. Hear me out though, bc I feel like this is important?? Kinda???

Honestly getting on my nerves how journalists keep calling Teller by his deadname. Like, that's not his name. You know his name. Use that.

It's worse when ppl do it to trans folks bc then there's dysphoria on top of the disrespect, but it's still not cool to deadname anyone. You don't know their reasons, and they don't owe you an explanation.

Even if the reason is just that they like it that way, nothing more, it's still significant enough for them to change something so integral as their name. It doesn't have to be traumatic to be personal.

Also, you quite honestly don't even know how a person's deadname could interact with their gender identity without that person having to be trans - there's other dynamics within gender identity that might interact with their name, even if the person is on the cis spectrum.

The fact that Teller refuses to tell ppl his former first name should be enough of an indicator for ppl to treat it like a deadname, if they haven't realised it's a weird question in the first place. Like,,, drop the topic, dude. He doesn't need to tell you why he doesn't like it. He doesn't even need to tell you whether he doesn't like it.

Like, we get it, you're a journalist. We know you want to get something out of him that's quirky and interesting. But there's ppl out there who aren't trying to be quirky with their names, and whether Teller is one of them or not, they're just trying to feel like themselves. Most ppl, actually. And if you ask your interviewees intrusive questions abt their names, you're at risk of making someone like that deeply uncomfortable.

Now, I don't know Teller personally. But from the fact that he hasn't ever given a reason abt his name change and doesn't want to tell his deadname to ppl, I'm fairly sure it goes deeper than trying to be interesting. And then there's the fact that even his parents called him Teller since the 80s!

And another thing we kinda should talk abt, bc it ties into it: As a society, we're slowly learning to treat sensitive topics respectfully and interviewers have got less pushy abt things that could potentially relate to disability, health, self image, queerness etc. Journalists are slowly realising that forcing a celebrity to out themselves or give away something they later regret or discuss things that aren't easy for a broader audience to relate to isn't good journalism, it's bad style. But for some reason, they seem to think this doesn't quite apply to old ppl.

I think that's bc of an underlying assumption that Old Ppl (tm) are all more or less conventional in terms of views, lifestyle and identity. And that sucks.

[Adding more general tags bc this really isn't just abt Teller.]

#teller #penn and teller #queer discourse #deadname #trans discourse

8 notes · View notes

engagepro-social · 2 months

Text

Navigating Law and Politics on Social Media: A Guide to Sharing Constructive Information and Avoiding 'Fake News'

In today's digital age, social media has emerged as a formidable force in shaping public opinion and discourse, particularly in law and politics. With their unparalleled reach and influence, social media platforms have become indispensable tools for informing and engaging citizens about critical issues such as pending legislation, electoral processes, and the performance of political leaders. However, this virtual landscape has its pitfalls, chief among them being the proliferation of misinformation and the spread of 'fake news.' As such, the need for responsible engagement with social media in law and politics has never been more pressing.

Topic Area:

The topic area of this discussion revolves around the responsible use of social media in navigating law and politics. The intended audience includes individuals actively participating in online discussions on legal matters, political developments, and societal issues. This audience may comprise citizens, activists, policymakers, journalists, and others interested in staying informed and engaged in the digital public sphere.

Current State of Social Media:

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat have become integral to modern communication. These platforms offer diverse features and functionalities catering to user preferences and engagement styles. Facebook and Twitter, for instance, are popular choices for disseminating news articles, sharing opinion pieces, and fostering discussions among users with varied ideological leanings. Conversely, LinkedIn serves as a professional networking hub where individuals can exchange insights, build professional connections, and access industry-specific information.

Moreover, the emergence of visual-centric platforms like Instagram and Snapchat has transformed how information is absorbed and shared online. These platforms leverage visual storytelling through images, videos, and infographics, making complex topics more accessible and engaging to diverse audiences.

Research supports the widespread adoption of social media platforms, particularly during significant events such as elections. According to a report by the Pew Research Center (2020), smartphones have become indispensable tools for accessing information during electoral campaigns, with a substantial portion of the population relying on social media platforms for news consumption and political discourse.

Attention and Engagement:

In social media, capturing and maintaining users' attention is paramount to effectively conveying information and fostering meaningful engagement. Two fundamental principles that underpin successful engagement strategies on social media include:

Visual Storytelling: Visual content, such as images, videos, and infographics, has been shown to enhance user engagement on social media platforms significantly. Research indicates that posts containing visual elements receive higher levels of interaction, including likes, shares, and comments (Smith, 2019). Visual storytelling techniques can convey complex legal and political concepts in a more digestible and memorable format, enhancing audience engagement and comprehension.

Interactive Content: Interactive content, such as polls, quizzes, and live Q&A sessions, fosters active participation and dialogue among users. Social media users can create a sense of community and ownership around the topics discussed by soliciting their audience's feedback, opinions, and contributions. Additionally, interactive content encourages users to invest their time and attention, leading to deeper levels of engagement and interaction (Kumar, 2018).

Benefits of Social Media Use:

Despite the inherent challenges associated with social media, there are several potential benefits to its use in the context of law and politics:

Enhanced Civic Engagement: Social media platforms give citizens unprecedented opportunities to engage with political processes, express their opinions, and advocate for change. By facilitating real-time communication and information-sharing, social media empowers individuals to participate actively in democratic discourse and civic affairs (Boulianne, 2019).

Information Accessibility: Social media platforms serve as democratizing agents by democratizing access to information and breaking down traditional barriers to knowledge dissemination. Users can access a diverse array of perspectives, opinions, and sources of information, thereby fostering a more informed and nuanced understanding of legal and political issues (Groshek & Al-Rawi, 2018).

Risks of Social Media Use:

However, the pervasive nature of social media also poses significant risks and challenges, particularly in the realm of law and politics:

Disinformation and 'Fake News': The ease of content creation and dissemination on social media has led to the proliferation of disinformation, misinformation, and 'fake news.' False or misleading information, deliberately spread to deceive or manipulate users, can undermine public trust in institutions, sow discord, and distort political discourse (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017).

Echo Chambers and Polarization: Social media algorithms often prioritize content based on user preferences and engagement patterns, leading to echo chambers—virtual spaces where individuals are exposed only to information that aligns with their beliefs and viewpoints. This phenomenon exacerbates ideological polarization, stifles constructive dialogue, and reinforces confirmation bias (Sunstein, 2018).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, social media has emerged as a double-edged sword in law and politics, offering opportunities and challenges for informed citizenship and democratic engagement. By leveraging the power of social media responsibly—through fact-checking, critical thinking, and constructive dialogue—individuals can contribute to a more informed, inclusive, and resilient public sphere. Navigating the complexities of social media requires vigilance, discernment, and a commitment to upholding democratic values and principles in the digital age.

References:

Boulianne, S. (2019). Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current research. Information, Communication & Society, 22(7), 873-900.

Buffer. (2019). State of Social 2019. Retrieved from https://lp.buffer.com/state-of-social-2019.

Groshek, J., & Al-Rawi, A. (2018). Social media and political participation: Crowdsourcing civic engagement in online political communities. Social Science Computer Review, 36(6), 707–725.

Kumar, S. (2018). Interactive content marketing: Using interactive content to engage your audience. Berkeley, CA: Apress.

Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., ... & Schudson, M. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 1094–1096.

Smith, A. (2020). Social Media Use in 2021. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/.

Sunstein, C. R. (2018). #Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media. Princeton University Press.

Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking. Council of Europe Report.

#social media #psychology #politics #law

3 notes · View notes