#labour for someone else's profit just makes me Angry

[battyblog]

Feminism is not a genre of film!

Does anyone else feel like cinema is kind of popping off in 2024 so far? Watching films has become my coping mechanism for winter. Recently, I watched the film Poor Things which has taken the world by storm; with ‘Best picture’ and multiple other Oscar nominations to prove it. Aside from the gorgeous aesthetics of Poor Things, the film’s story has fuelled the fire for the current feminism in film debate. For anyone who hasn’t seen the film, this post will contain spoilers and I really do recommend you watch it! Poor Things is the story of Bella Baxter, a female lead who’s journey to mental maturation is a key aspect of the film. We follow Bella who is revealed to be an amalgamation of mother and child, the mother’s body with the brain of her infant child (An aspect of the film which receives NOT enough attention). What the film does focus on is how her brain develops and how the young brain being treated as the adult shell affects Bella’s view and experiences of the world. The film covers topics of the 20th Century society, and how women were treated within it, prostitution, marriage, manipulation and suicide.  

Is Poor Things a feminist film? Seems to be a key question in the discourse. But I think that we need to take a moment to question what this concept actually means, what is a feminist film? Whilst there are many great smaller films that cover feminist topics well, I want to focus on these big blockbusters as these moneymakers allow us to also think about the role capitalism plays in this debate. Film is an industry after all. A common theme in these female-led Oscar noms is that none of them are labelled as ‘feminist’ in their promotional materials. Feminism is still a divisive term, and in the pursuit of profit, it can be risky to give a film such a label. ‘Feminist’ is a label that is both given and taken away by the media and discourse surrounding a film.  it is an umbrella term for various socio-political movements, it is a lens in which to view the world and a standard to hold things to. How could this be encapsulated within a film? Within Feminism itself there are internal arguments, one person's feminism may look completely different to someone else's. 

Take a look at Barbie, celebrated by some as a feminist classic, but belittled by others as not being feminist enough. How could Barbie be a perfect feminist film? In 90 minutes could the film have covered aspects of a movement that’s history varies so hugely from country to country. There wouldn’t be time to then expand into intersectionality*, would Warner Bro’s dare discuss abortion issues, Barbie meets a TERF? By putting both Barbie and Poor things up to this impossible feminist standard it leads to them being torn down by an angry mob. It is important to view film critically, especially when these topics are covered, but when these films face so much backlash it can have knock on effects and scare filmmakers from attempting to cover women’s issues in their projects. Barbie is a film that set out to make money, it’s based on a bloody toy! While we can acknowledge that there were issues with the topics covered, it is important to also be grateful that a film like this exists, made so much money and definitely introduced or expanded upon feminist topics to the audience. 

This leads me to ask, where is this energy for films without a male lead? Feminism can be a critique applied to all films yet seems to only be extended to those with a female lead. Just because a film has a female lead doesn’t mean it is feminist. I think this echoes the emotional labour that society puts on women to represent feminism and fight for respect for themselves and other women. Do we all lack the object permanence to remember feminism unless we’re directly gazing upon a woman? In order to be successful, feminist practices need to be adopted in all aspects of a film, yes with female characters, but also behind the screen. A role can be written and directed by a man, just because it is played by a woman does not mean it is feminist or not exploitative.  

Capitalism wants to sell us feminism as this neat little package, it wants us to buy into it and forget that there is no way to price an ideology. Poor Things is a fantasy film, not a feminist film, feminism is not a genre. Yes, there are Feminist themes, but there are also prominent themes of class issues, yet no one is rushing to label it as a communist film. If we cannot decide a set framework or criteria for a feminist film, we need to stop trying to use that label. Feminism is a critique that can be applied to all media, and feminist debate surrounding film needs to also expand to cover those behind the scenes. Let’s just enjoy some cinema and accept that it cannot fit into the high standard, but by sparking a conversation it can do more and still be used to educate people. 

*Hey, don’t know about intersectionality? Thats cool, but you should acquaint yourself. Intersectionality in feminism is an acknowledgement that gender based oppression isn’t one size fits all and that other factors such as class and race can have a huge effect. Read up 

#feminism #feminist blog #long post #poor things #bella baxter #feminism in film

[withthingsunreal]

uuugghhhhh

uuuggggggghhhhhhhhhh

#uuuugggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh #i'm getting laid off #in the weirdest possible way just btw #basically my position is SCHEDULED to be eliminated in NOVEMBER #so for now i'm?? furloughed i guess??? #i'm not actually fired for another two months #make sense of that one for me #like......... #i'm trying to see it as an opportunity #bc lockdown really drove home for me that like #labour for someone else's profit just makes me Angry #maybe i can find accounting work with a charity or something #i don't know #but it feels Bad y'all! #just feeling uncertain and anxious #gonna scream into the carpet for a few days brb

[pocket-luv101]

Home Sweet Home ‖ Part 1

Summary: Mahiru hasn’t returned to his family’s old apple farm since his mother died. When his father tells him that he plans to sell the farm, Mahiru returns to the country to stop him. He thought the memories and past would be difficult but Kuro helps him. (KuroMahi, Western AU)

(Part 1) // Part 2

“Home sweet home,” Mahiru stepped out of his car and looked over the humble farmhouse. The building hadn’t changed since the last time he saw it as a child. When his mother died and his uncle adopted him, he moved to the city. His uncle would offer to take him to the farm to visit but the memories kept him from returning. The years he spent with his mother were wonderful yet painful to recall.

Ironically, those memories were the reason he returned now. His absent father came back with the intention to sell the apple farm. Mahiru didn’t want his childhood home and his memories there to be demolished for profit. The land belonged to his mother and Mahiru inherited it after her death. His mother’s will had a clause that Mahiru must live in the farmhouse for a year or else it would go to his father. She wanted to ensure that someone lived in the home and cared for it.

He pulled his luggage from his trunk and carried them up the porch. Mahiru peered inside the window but he couldn’t see anyone inside. He placed his bags on the ground so he could take out his keys. Before he could find them, there was a voice behind him. “We don’t want to buy anything, Sir.”

“I’m not here to sell you anything.” He turned around and saw a tall man. He stood a few feet from him but he could see how stunning his red eyes were. Mahiru took out his keys from his pocket and jingled them. “My name is Mahiru Shirota and my family owns this farm. I sent an email to a man named Kuro and told him that I would arrive today. Is he inside?”

“I’m Kuro. With that fancy suit of yours, I thought you were one of those city folks who wants to sell us insurance or something.” He said and closed the space between them. Kuro unlocked the door and let him into the house. As Mahiru stepped inside, Kuro couldn’t help but notice that Mahiru appeared out of place.

“Is this your family?” Mahiru asked and stared at the photograph hanging on the wall. Since they lived in the city and couldn’t drive to the farm often, his uncle hired the Servamps to manage it for them. The family could live in the house during their work. He could tell they kept the house well maintained and loved. “I hope we can get along since this farmhouse will be both of our homes now. I can’t wait to meet everyone.”

“They’re in the orchard right now. You might want to change out of your suit and into something more comfortable first. Dry cleaning a suit like yours must be expensive. I’ll show you to your room.” Kuro picked up his suitcases to carry it for Mahiru. He followed him and thought of how strong Kuro was to carry the heavy bags so effortlessly. He wondered if it was from all the work on the farm.

As they walked down the hall, Mahiru paused in front of a door. Kuro noticed him stop and looked back to him over his shoulder. “Your room is the master bedroom at the end of the hall, Mahiru. If you’re looking for the bathroom, it’s to your right.”

“This was my bedroom when I was a kid.” Mahiru spoke in a soft voice. He didn’t know if the words were meant to answer Kuro’s question or if he was simply musing to himself. He shook aside the memories and forced himself to smile. The last thing he wanted was for Kuro to see him sad the first day they meet. “I’m just a little nostalgic.”

“If you want your old room, we can trade. We thought you would prefer the master bedroom. It wouldn’t be any trouble to switch though.” Kuro offered and his kindness touched Mahiru. He shook his head with a small smile. The soft expression he had made Kuro’s heart flutter slightly and he blushed. He changed the subject and said, “The lawyer talked to us yesterday and told us about your mother’s will. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. She was a wonderful mother.” He said. He opened the door and Kuro set down his suitcases in front of the bed. Mahiru noticed a cardboard box on the desk and he questioned if they forgot to move the box. He voiced the thought to Kuro and picked it up. “I’ll help you carry it back to its owner. This is a good ice breaker.”

“The box belongs to you.” Kuro opened the lid and Mahiru found framed photos inside. He explained, “When we first moved in, there were still some photos on the wall. We wanted to mail them to you but we couldn’t find your forwarding address. We still kept them in case you ever came back to pick them up since they looked important. This seemed like a good time to return them.”

“I was just a kid then and my uncle packed everything for me. I didn’t check if he forgot anything.” Mahiru thought his grief would fade with time but he realized that he merely avoided it. Now that he was home, he was forced to face those feelings. He took out a photo of his family and placed it beside his bed. “Thank you for keeping these for me.”

“It was Lily’s idea to clean the dust from them before you came.” Kuro shrugged. The lawyer spoke with his family and told them that they would have to leave the farm if Mahiru didn’t fulfil his mother’s will. The farm would go to Mahiru’s father who wanted to sell the land. They decided to make Mahiru as comfortable as possible so he would stay for the year.

Mahiru stepped to the window and pulled up the screen to feel the cool breeze drift in. He took a deep breath and thought of how refreshing the country air was. The wind pushed his bangs into his eyes and he smoothed his hair back. Kuro stood next to him and Mahiru asked, “Is that your family down there? Picking apples must be heavy work.”

“We’re used to it. Apple picking season gives us a little break since families come to do our work for us.” He joked and made Mahiru chuckle. “The lawyer said you have to live here but you don’t have to force yourself to do any heavy lifting. It’s November so we’re almost finished harvesting everything anyways.”

“But I want to help. This farm will be my home for the next year and, thinking simply, I should do my part. Anyways, I would feel terrible if I see you guys working while I sit around. You might call me a city boy but hard labour doesn’t faze me.” Mahiru told him with a confident grin. Kuro was slightly surprised by his words since he didn’t think someone from the city was willing to work on an apple farm.

“They say you can’t judge a person by their clothes.” Kuro mused and stared at Mahiru’s suit. He pushed himself away from the window and straightened. “I’ll wait in the hallway while you change and get settled. Then, I’ll introduce you to my siblings.”

“Can I ask you another question first, Kuro?” Mahiru stopped him from leaving. When he nodded, he asked: “When is dinner and what does everyone like to eat? I want to cook for your family. My uncle says that the best way to get to know someone is to share a meal with them.”

“My siblings love ramen.” He told a small lie but he doubted his family would be too angry at him. Kuro walked into the hall and closed the door between them. He leaned against the wall and waited for Mahiru to change. He spoke through the door: “After you meet everyone, I’ll give you a tour of the farm and house. Oh, dinner’s in an hour.”

“An hour? I need to get everything ready properly right now.” Mahiru rushed out of the room with his clothes disheveled. He took Kuro’s hand and pulled him towards the kitchen. He hadn’t been to the farmhouse in ten years but he still knew the layout well. “This might be better though. I can meet everyone over dinner and not interrupt their work.”

Kuro stared at their joined hands and thought of how Mahiru was different from what he thought he would be. He assumed he would be a cold city person since his emails were short and simple. In contrast to that, Mahiru was warm and honest. Mahiru wore his emotions on his sleeve when he looked at his old room and the photographs. Returning must’ve been difficult for him and the easy solution would be to sell the land like his father wanted.

For his family’s sake, Kuro was glad that he decided to come. It would be difficult for them to find a new home and jobs if they were forced to leave. After he met Mahiru, he also hoped that the apple farm could help Mahiru’s grief fade.

“This is the barn.” Kuro showed Mahiru around the farm once they had finished dinner with his family. Beside him, Mahiru lifted a camera to take a picture. He was a photographer and he hoped the stay would be a little easier if he focused on his work. “We don’t have many animals aside from a few horses. We keep our equipment here like the trucks and dirt bikes. The apple orchard covers a few acres so it’s a long walk. It’ll be better if you can use one. Do you know how to ride?”

“A horse or a dirt bike?” Mahiru answered his question with one of his own. He walked to one of the stalls and looked at the horse inside. The horse approached him but Mahiru hesitated to pet the large animal. He made a sheepish smile and admitted, “I don’t know how to ride either one. Can you teach me? I’m a quick learner so I won’t take too much of your time.”

“Dinner’s in an hour so I can give you a short lesson right now. The dirt bike might be easier for you so we should try that first.” Kuro reasoned because Mahiru appeared nervous with the animal. As he took down a helmet from a hook, he said: “You should leave your camera on the table. It might break if you fall off the bike.”

Mahiru didn’t answer him and Kuro looked back to him. He continued to stare at the black horse before him. The horse leaned over the stall’s door and nudged Mahiru slightly. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand to stroke its dark mane. “You’re a well-behaved horse, aren’t you? What’s your name?”

“Ash. He’s trained so you don’t need to be afraid of him. I try to take him out for rides often but I don’t have the time. During pony rides, most of the kids are scared of him because he’s so tall.” Kuro patted the horse’s back. For a moment, Mahiru appeared deep in thought. He held out the helmet to him and said, “Do you want me to teach you how to ride the bike or the horse?”

“The latter.” Mahiru said and put on the helmet. He watched Kuro slip a bridle over Ash’s muzzle and then lead the horse out of its stall. As he placed a saddle on his back, Mahiru stroked its muzzle. “I had ridden a horse once at a carnival. When it was my turn, another kid spooked the horse and it threw me off its back. I wasn’t hurt luckily. I’m not afraid of horses or heights but the memory just came back to me.”

“You can trust Ash. I won’t let anything happen to you either. I’ll be riding next to you and leading him around the farm. For our first lesson, all you have to do is sit and become accustomed to him.” Kuro reassured him. Beneath Mahiru’s hand, he could feel how calm the horse was and that was reassuring. He gestured to the stirrup and asked, “Are you ready?”

“I trust you two.” Mahiru felt a mix of excitement and nervousness in his stomach.

“Okay, put your left foot in the stirrup, grab the horn and pull yourself onto its back.” Kuro instructed and Mahiru followed the steps. He placed his hand on the small of his back to help him. Mahiru sat in the saddle and the height was taller than he expected. He relaxed after he left a warm hand on his leg. “Are you okay? You can come down anytime and switch to the bike.”

“I’m not scared.” He smiled down at him to reassure Kuro. Once he saw that Mahiru felt safe and relaxed, he left his side to get another horse. He was only gone for a moment before he came back on a horse. Kuro reached across and took Ash’s reigns into his hand. He tied them to his horn and said, “This is just a walk for you two to get know each other. The real lessons start tomorrow.”

Ash slowly walked forward and Kuro gave Mahiru instructions on how to balance on the horse. Once he became accustomed to the pace, they rode in silence. Mahiru enjoyed the relaxed pace and how beautiful the view was on the horse. It was impossible to find such a scenic sight in the city. He couldn’t help but take a picture with his camera. He glanced to Kuro next to him and he hoped they could get to know each other through the lesson.

“I forgot to warn you but horse riding can make your legs sore. You should take a warm bath after this.” Kuro suggested.

“Are you saying that because I’m a city boy to you? I don’t think it can be that bad. Right, Ash?” Mahiru thought he was exaggerating and laughed softly. He reached down and stroked Ash’s neck fondly. “Let’s keep going.”

“You two came back awfully late, Nii-san.” Hyde said as he and Kuro sneaked an extra helping of noodles later that night. His brother merely shrugged in answer. A teasing grin spread across his face. “You just met but you two hooked up already? I didn’t think you were the type, Nii-san.”

“What?” Kuro choked on the noodles he was eating. He blushed and quickly corrected his brother, “Mahiru asked me to teach him how to ride.”

“Your coc—”

“A horse!” Kuro stopped him before he could finish his sentence. His face felt like it was burning. He loved his brother but Hyde could be troublesome. “I’m teaching Mahiru how to ride Ash so it will be easier for him to get around the apple orchard. He wants to help with the harvest and he even talked about baking pies to sell in the winter. He might be from the city but he has a good work ethic.”

“It sounds like he made a good impression on you. Not many people can do that.” Hyde mused and sipped his soup. “This year might be more interesting with him around.”

#servamp #kuromahi #sloth pair #servamp kuro #mahiru shirota #servamp hyde #fanfiction

[awed-frog]

If I may ask, what do you think of the whole sea watch 3 mess? And indeed of the whole migrant situation in Italy?

Well - I have messy thoughts about that. Mostly I’m angry, disgusted, worried and pretty hopeless about the whole thing.

As a recap for people who haven’t been following this (complicated stuff ahead, so I don’t claim to be right about everything): 

1) In 1990, the EU decided on how to deal with migrants by drafting the Dublin Regulation, which came into effect in 1997. The idea was charmingly simple: people seeking refuge in Europe should ask for asylum in the first European country they got to. Optimists claim it was difficult back then to imagine any complications, since immigration was very low and European countries still had borders and everything else, but in hindsight, you have to wonder why countries like Italy agreed to this at all. You obviously can’t get to Germany or the UK without crossing through Italy or Spain first, so the Dublin Regulation was bound to cause huge problems. The other ridiculous thing is that the Italian government that signed this was headed by Andreotti, a nearly immortal ghoul princeling who’d been in politics since the 1750s and had been implicated in at least two murders.

(He’d also been found guilty of collaboration with the mafia, but was let go on a technical detail.)

2) In 2011, Muammar Gaddafi, ‘Brotherly Leader’ of Libya, was killed. We still don’t know exactly what went down - more on that in a second - but a general problem the West has in the Middle East and Africa is that we tend to support dictatorts, no matter how brutal, because it’s just easier to do business and get our way with one greedy and corrupt person than it is to deal with an entire Parliament, but the risk we overlook, time and time again, is that all-powerful dictators tend to become more and more ambitious and form their own plans, which may or may not align with Western interests. In the case of Gaddafi, Hilary’s emails (I know, I know) seem to indicate the real reason the West - and particularly France, as in former President Nicholas ‘I’m the son of an immigrant but he was the right kind of immigrant’ Sarkozy - suddenly got annoyed with Gaddafi is that Gaddafi was planning to introduce a new banking system in Africa - a thing that would rival the CFA franc. 

(That’s a currency used in fourteen African countries which is basically a leftover from French colonialism - it’s managed directly from the French Treasury, and that gives France more or less full control of those countries’ economies). 

So anyway, NATO got all tough on Libya, Gaddafi was killed, and as a result Libya is now a failed state with - if that’s possible - more human rights violations than before - particularly relevant for your question is a very harsh treatment of black Africans (down to and including literal ‘slave markets’ where people are bought and sold, also torture camps and everything in between). This happens partly because it’s lucrative af, and partly because there’s been bad blood between ethnic Arabs and black Africans for generations.

So, aynway, that’s the general context. What happened next is what we’ve seen for the last few years - an increase in the number of immigrants coming to Europe, therefore an increase of the number of deaths in the Mediterranean, therefore widespread panic leading to 

immoral and unethical deals with people like Erdogan (I say ‘people’, lol)

a sharp rise of the extreme right and 

a general inability to welcome those desperate enough to come here and offer them a decent life.

Most recently, Italy’s far-right Interior Minister decided to close down the harbours to prevent NGOs-operated rescue ships from docking. The Sea-Watch 3, which was carrying 42 migrants, decided to ignore this and go to Lampedusa, in Sicily - the closest and safest harbour. Now its captain has been arrested, but it’s unclear what will happen next.

If you’re asking me what do I make of all this - I don’t know. It’s a mess. 

For instance, there are studies showing that if NGO ships patrol international waters, the crossing gets more dangerous, because people smugglers don’t bother finding good ships - they know they just have to get migrants off the coast of Libya, and someone will pick them up. This means more risk for the immigrants themselves, and more money for the smugglers. But on the other hand, no rescue ships there means no help at all, so if something goes wrong, those people are doomed. The same ‘yes but’ applies to many other issues concerning migration. Like, a lot of migrants coming in (and these are people who were left with nothing, including ID) means more of them disappearing into thin air, because of the badly-organized and overcrowded camps. We know thousands of them end up exploited by criminal gangs - in Italy, a particularly brutal business is managed by the Nigerian mafia, which trafficks thousands of women into prostitution and terrifies them into obedience thanks to ‘black magic’, but there’s also agricultural workers, people forced into drug trafficking, kids who end up homeless and so on. Another major problem is that - other than the Syrians - the immigrants who got to Europe over the last decade are difficult to integrate into the legit labour market because they lack the necessary qualifications. Most of the European is now tertiary-based, which means you need some kind of post-high school diploma to do anything, and research shows about half of those coming here didn’t even finish primary school.

(To be very clear: I’m not saying this is in any way their fault, or something that can’t be fixed. But: it does encourage a battle of the have-nots, as people at the bottom - including chunks of the native population, immigrants from Eastern Europe and more recent immigrants from the rest of the world - compete for those few and miserable options open to them, like run-down housing, meagre welfare checks, and a handful of jobs you don’t need qualifications for.)

On top of that, many migrants would need a lot of support, because they escaped from horrific situations - not only those torture camps in Libya, but everything else you can think of: civil wars, political persecution, brutal rapes, whatever - that’s also something that has a cost no one wants to cover. And finally, since coming to Europe is so dangerous, most immigrants tend to be young men on their own - which is exactly the ‘worst’ group of people in any culture.

(Sorry if that sounds bad, what I mean is - we know that for whatever reason, young men everywhere tend to be more reckless than other social groups, and that increases the chance for risky behaviour - especially when the person is not ‘kept in check’ by a well-structured community. Thus, a young man without family or friends is more likely to make stupid or dangerous choices - for himself or others - than, say, a middle-aged father or a young woman.)  

All of this, as daunting as it is, could be solved - after all, this is not an invasion: it’s numbers we can manage - but probably won’t because:

1) There’s some interest in keeping the situation as it is. More migrants means more political success for right-wing and extreme right parties, not to mention huge profits for a lot of people.

2) Right now, the EU can’t agree on anything because of reasons. 

3) Nobody wants to do the right thing, ie treat Middle Eastern and African countries with a modicum of respect and actually support them and their development instead of propping up whatever strongman is convenient and robbing their citizens of whatever isn’t nailed down.

4) The countries on the EU borders have their own issues and right now it’s very hard to imagine those issues ever going away. Like, under many respects Italy’s basically a failed state that relies on the goodwill of half its citizens to keep trudging forward. It never rooted out clientelism, corruption, or tax evasion - plus, it still hasn’t defeated its own mafias, and despite an exceedingly brave and dedicated bunch of policemen and judges (plus all those ordinary citizens risking their necks every day by saying no and living an honest life), the battle against foreign mafias (like the Albanians, and more recently the Nigerians) is probably a task beyond its means.

So, well - sorry this turned into a novel. I guess what I think is - I admire people like Sea-Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete and everyone else who volunteers and fights for the most vulnerable, and I think the current government is a disgrace, but ultimately immigration is a political problem whose only solution is the usual solution to everything else: more courage, more competence, more transparency; less inequality, less greed, less corruption. More democracy, and a democracy operating without the (overt and covert) influence of powerful lobbies. Less support to dictators, fair wages for workers and fair prices for raw materials - even if that includes higher prices for Western consumers. And, above all, more regulations and less power to corporations and stakeholders.

Very few people actually want to leave their homes, but if we keep forcing them out, then they’ll keep fleeing - with all the consequences that entails.  

#ask #sea watch 3 #carola rackete #immigration #italy #eu #sorry for the lack of sources #it's still very hot here #my brain's melting #but everything is googlable #there shouldn't be anything weird at all #long post for ts #somehow the 'cut here' doesn't work anymore?? #sorry guys! #you can press j to skip things though

[inanawesomewave]

FIVE MINUTES INTO SHERLOCK AND CHILL AND THE EMPATH GIVES YOU THIS LOOK

I write a lot on this post about self diagnosis, the aspirational notion of sociopathy, sociopathy as wish-fulfilment, and the danger and offence that comes with throwing the term around and applying it to you or anyone else based off some deeper darkness you feel you or someone else has. But things are serious. I want to go into depth, so we really know where we are. It feels ASPD is one of those things that people need, and people hate. But I want to remind you, it’s still a mental illness, and it still comes with pitfalls. We’re not just spending all day languishing in our own seductive power, or having perfect control over every aspect of our lives. We’re not working on Wall Street, devastatingly attractive, hitting every target and charming everyone we meet from the word go. I talk a lot on this blog about the real pain of it, and I hope that this is a place people come for real discussions about the disorder. In that spirit, it’s time for another rundown on what ASPD is and what it is not, and the easiest way to do that is to rely on the criteria in the DSM-V, the diagnostic guidelines that clinicians in the Western world have to follow for this diagnosis to be made. Because that’s how it works, there’s a list of things and if you do the things then you have the thing. If you don’t do the things then you don’t have the things. It’s not as easy as watching Sherlock and admiring Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance, or identifying with other villains in fiction -- they are written for you to empathise with them. The best villain is created with just enough humanity that you want to feel for them, see the good in them, and the purpose of this in good fiction is to make you question yourself, your motivations and your limits. Emily Bronte wrote Heathcliff in such a way that whilst he is motivated by only vengeance, obsession and hate, you want to like him, and you want to rescue him. Feeling that way does not make you a sociopath. It makes you a human being who is responding to art in the way the art hoped you would. So let’s run through.  1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest. So this one basically means, you’re committing crimes, disrespecting authority in an outward manner, refusing to accept any kind of dominant law or force, and violating legal boundaries in however way you see fit. It’s not something you switch on and off, nor is it something exclusively motivated by personal gain. It doesn’t mean “I once stole a lipstick from a shop”, it is a pervasive, repeated pattern of behaviour that doesn’t ease off when the motivation disappears. It’s not the same as thinking it. Just because you think that in a certain situation you’d behave psychopathically, it doesn’t mean you are. If your sociopathy or psychopathy depends on a special set of circumstances to function, then it doesn’t exist.  2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure So again, this doesn’t mean isolated incidents. It’s not about sometimes talking someone round to something. Psychopaths tend to lie and con, and anecdotally I’ve found that sociopaths do one or the other in excess, mine was always conning. What this meant for me was the conning was the game, and the success of the conning was the goal. If you are only doing this every so often and it has a clear motivation other than just doing it for the sake of it, you are not a sociopath. 

3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead This is quite a universal symptom that can apply to a lot of mental illnesses, so fair enough. There’s many reasons why someone would have no motivation to plan ahead. And the impulsivity we’re talking about here, again, is pervasive. It’s not the impulse to do something slightly out of the ordinary for a change, and whilst addictive behaviours are often comorbid with ASPD, this criterion means that your impulses are ongoing, hard to control, and are causing problems in your life. Impulses may be violent or disruptive, they may come from anger, they might be harmful. The impulse to spend an extra £20 on clothes isn’t a personality disorder. It’s treating yourself, and it’s nice to treat yourself. 

4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults If you don’t understand rage, you don’t understand ASPD. I’ve written a lot on here (and, disclaimer, I’m not fitting the entire description of ASPD on my own personal experiences exclusively, I’m going off research, speaking with other sociopaths, case studies, etc.). It’s not a very well controlled rage. It’s not sensible. It’s not considerate. It’s not clever. So a recent article I read said that sociopaths and psychopaths live with two different kinds of rage: there’s baseline rage, and then rage that has been provoked. This means that naturally, if a situation arises where conflict could exist, we will take it. But it also means, we’re angry as shit all the time anyway. It’s pathetic, I know that, but it’s there. We’re just angry. It’s exhausting. It’s physically tiring, and we would stop it if we could. You can walk away from it, that’s fine. You don’t have to understand it. But this is, for me at least, the cornerstone of ASPD. It’s simmering, endless, impotent rage that stems from a deep held belief that conflict is everywhere, that conflict is safer than no conflict, and that we have to come out on top at all times. No sociopath is sitting there thinking, “I’m sure it’ll work out for the best”, or “I wonder what a morally good person would do?”. We are (see above) impulsive, quick to react, easily provoked, and lacking in empathy. Rage is real. It’s constant, and sharp.

5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others Getting drunk every so often or taking a bunch of cocaine is called enjoying yourself. Inviting dangerous people into your home and involving other people in a dangerous lifestyle because you have no will to help or protect them because you don’t care about yourself and you also have no empathy is ASPD. 

6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations We can’t keep jobs. We wish we could. We’re impatient jerks who don’t know what a good thing is, because we’re cynical. Don’t go to work because you’re anxious? See a doctor about your anxiety. Don’t go to work because you have no respect for your boss and the mere fact they told you to answer to them has spiked that rage again? Maybe you have ASPD.

7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another. I’m not going to labour on this one too much but for Christ’s sake, everyone says and does hurtful things from time to time and when we do those things, it makes sense to rationalise it, because that’s a human way to protect yourself, it’s normal. Going out of your way to cause harm, to push people away from you, to watch someone hurt, and to feel extremely justified in that with no room for, “but what if...?” is ASPD. If someone’s pissed you off but you know that arguing with them would make them feel worse, you don’t have ASPD.  I’m writing this because I cannot fucking hear it any more. I go to therapy. I am exhausted by myself. Anger has worn me down, I look tired, I have a suspected overactive adrenal gland that my therapist agrees is what happens when you spend your whole life on edge. It’s isolating, we get lonely, we don’t know how to have normal relationships, we’re unable to show the ones we care about that we care, then we trick ourselves into not caring. We make ourselves lonely, we’re in pain. And that’s not to say that if you don’t have ASPD you’re not in pain, but remember what a personality disorder is - it’s something that gets in the way of you living your life. If you’ve not received a diagnosis, and you’ve not done anything where a diagnosis had to be made, and you’re not getting arrested, or pushing everyone you love away, then don’t worry. You’re not living with ASPD. And you know this pro-self dx, “well not everyone has access to a psychiatrist” argument? Well I don’t have access to an oncologist, and that’s because i’ve never needed one. That doesn’t mean I can diagnose myself with cancer, it means the lack of an oncologist in my life is a pretty big clue that I do not have cancer.  It’s still a mental illness, and you’re still appropriating someone else’s struggle. You can’t have bipolar disorder without mood swings, and you can’t have agoraphobia if you’ve never had a panic attack, and you wouldn’t try to shoehorn yourself into these diagnoses because they’re not cool or sexy. If you’re trying to redefine sociopathy so specifically you fit into it, worse -- if you’re trying to tell diagnosed sociopaths how they should be experiencing their sociopathy based on your wishful thinking, ask yourself if you would sit down with a schizophrenic and tell them that, despite having never hallucinated or experienced a delusion, you’re really just like them. 

#aspd #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #sociopathy #self diagnosis #self dx #psychopathy #diagnosis #psychiatry #the dsm

[drmyler]

.Organisational Psychology

Emotional Labour – Organisational Behaviour

 by

 Dr Stephen F. Myler

 Abstract:

 Putting on a good show, keeping face, professionalism in customer treatment can all be examples of emotional labour. When in the workplace dealing with others whether they be colleagues or customers we tend to give a positive emotional response despite the negativity of the other person (customer complaint) or our own current mood state (sadness, irritability) known as emotional dissonance. In this paper we will explore the phenomenon of emotional labour and its effect on workers productivity and social relations. The general outcome being that the strain of that dissonance creates mental health problems in the workplace.

 Introduction:

 Emotional labour can be seen as the affect of the current mood of a worker whilst engaging in interactions with others – putting on a good face for example despite feeling emotionally uncomfortable. (1. Robins/Judge 2013) These emotions can be driven by organisational expectations of an employees behaviour towards customers, clients and co-workers in support of the business goals to profit. For example in the service industry, customer complaints should be handled with a polite professional smiling attitude so that the customer perceives that their complaints are receiving serious attention. Despite the fact the service provider (customer relations officer) maybe be in a personal bad mood, have life problems or employment concerns – all this is swept aside to provide the company's public positive image to the customer. For the employee engaged in such activities the strain of appearing positive and enthusiastic may cause both physical and emotional strain often leading to further deterioration in mood after work and in between assignments. You could argue that a good deal of the time we are in fact faking our emotions (feelings) in front of and towards others to support social conventions for example being polite. If a customer's complaint is unreasonable, they are showing anger, accusing the company or misleading them and selling shoddy products – the company service support worker must maintain control over their own emotions despite feeling that the customer is wrong and the complaint is unwarranted or even ridiculous they still have to maintain the company driven reaction to the customer with calm professionalism. (2. Myler – Case Studies 2018) Some companies make being happy at work almost mandatory – where staff entertain, create an atmosphere or encourage excitement over the product and its associated feelings of happiness. For example, theme park staff forced to smile all day – try it yourself – it is very stressful to keep a happy demeanor in the face of disgruntled visitors waiting hours in a queue for a five minute ride or the phone shop worker being asked to entertain the queue of waiting customers with hi-fives and silly games. (3. Grandey et.al. 2010) Many customers in fact reporting discomfort at being targeted for unwanted attention and interaction). Therefore there is a difference between felt emotions (what I am actually thinking and feeling) than with displayed emotions (what is expected of me). After an interaction the employee can feel both exhausted by the forced situation and emotionally angry at faking their feelings for the benefit of others. Many people who suffer from depression report that faking happiness is the biggest strain of the day.

 Culture and Emotional Labour

Culture may impact on how someone sees emotional labour as the expectations of others in the  light of social comparison. (4. Matsumoto etal. 2009) For example many American service jobs, such as retail staff, service providers and customer interaction workers all feel that a positive upbeat smiling enthusiastic person is a definite requirement for the companies image management. The monocor – have a nice day – often rings false in the ears of those who understand this is not a genuine sentiment but a practiced social grace. In other cultures such as Japan or Asia in general – forced politeness or deference to not displaying emotions may in fact cause particular strain on everyday life where displaced emotion can be seen in acts of violence and sexual deviance. The French tend to not display openness in dealing with customers but in fact a non-smiling or even impolite attitudes towards their clients. This can cause companies dealing in global markets problems with staff in having to adapt and understand policy in line with the cultural underlying expectations of behaviour.

 Mental Health

 Many psychologists, counsellors and others such as nurses encounter patients (clients) who maybe presenting mental health problems such as anxiety (worry about future events) or depression (living with the past) that report difficulties in the work place in faking their emotions towards both colleagues and customers – that they feel the strain of the day at home later through irritability, sexual indifference a lack of appetite and sleep. Keeping up appearances at work therefore effects the very quality of our lives both in and out of the work place. (5. Myler Case Studies 2018) Dealing with difficult people whether customers or colleagues leaves us feeling exhausted physically and mentally. In therapy the psychologist maybe searching for psycho-dynamic reasons for the negative feelings from past patterns of behaviour and often miss the power of the here and now effect of faking your feelings at work simply due to enforced company policies that require us to present an image of well- being and happiness that actually is not there. Treatment therefore should focus on workplace stress rather than personal history.

 Role Play & Emotional Labour:

 Of course we are schooled from an early age in how to act given certain social situations, for example being happy at a birthday party ( don't spoil it for everyone) to look sad at the funeral (even when we did not even like the deceased). We have learned behavior for situational displays of affect. Have you ever been told off – criticised – looked at the person with a smile on your face – and they say, “what are you smiling at?” they think you are not taking them seriously enough, acknowledging their concerns – the truth maybe that we think their remarks are unwarranted and silly – however our learned correct response is to – look serious and be intently listening – while all the time inside feeling what an idiot this person is! In other words we are often asked to fake it – for the sake of the other persons feelings – this is often seen as high empathy when in fact it is more often just a learned reaction to a situational event. Emotional intelligence is seen a as a panacea for management effectiveness but maybe little more than learned responses to situations, rather than a genuine cognitive response to some event. In other words emotional intelligence maybe more pop psychology than a fact. Measurement for emotional understanding may reflect no more about the learned response to given situations we have come to understand through cultural, generational and traditional customs of our community or group behaviour. Psychometric tests for emotional intelligence may in fact be invalid and not robust enough to provide any useful measure of a persons feelings towards others but in fact reflect that learned behaviour – what should be the response not what I actually feel inside.

 Attributions Theory – Misunderstanding Others:

 Attribution theory ( 6. Heider – 1958) suggests that we attend to what we see more than what we know. In other words – we do in fact judge a book by its cover. So if we are busy faking our emotions so must everyone else? So how do we know that the mood being displayed to us is genuine or faked. We pride ourselves on being able to know others feeling by their facial expressions, there seemingly genuineness and authentic sounding responses. In fact much of the time we maybe reacting to the faked emotion rather than the real one. We are often surprised to hear someone committed suicide – we may say – they always seemed so positive and happy looking – but that is exactly what a mis-attribution is – the lack of skills to identify a real emotion from a faked one – we are actually quite good at emotional labour at work and so do we really know what anyone is actually feeling, as opposed to what they are displaying to us. So the helpful shop assistant may in fact be bored rigid at having to seem enthusiastic about a product she has already spoken about ten times that day already.

 In Summery:

 Emotional labour is a situation where the employee expresses the companies desired response to a given situation. Emotional dissonance are our feeling of confusion between our internal feelings and the face we put upon the situation given company policy towards others. Felt emotions therefore being what we actually feel as opposed to displayed emotion being the faked response to another person. Finally emotional intelligence being no more than learned responses to events as we behave given the situation we find ourselves in. The consequences of faked emotions can be strain leading to emotional exhaustion that has both physical and emotional outcomes for mental health and general well-being. Judging others may in fact lead to mis-attributions where we think the faked emotion is in fact the real feelings of the other party.

 To be honest, open and authentic would be real intimacy in our relationships but carries the high risk of rejection and misunderstandings.

 References:

  Robins S.P. Judge T.A. 2013 – Organizational Behavior 15Ed     Pearson Publishing

Myler S.F. 2018 – Myler Case Studies 2018/19 Unpublished

Grandey A. et.al. 2010 – Work in the Global Services Economy –     Journal of Service Management.

Matsumoto D. 2009 – Culture & Emotional Expression – New     York, Taylor & Francis publishing.

Myler S. F. 2019 – Myler Case Studies 2019 Unpublished

Heider F 1958 – Attribution Theory – Oxford Dictionary of     Psychology 2001

[thetreeswestofhere]

Effective Boundaries

Below is an article posted on Little Red Tarot today - so good and important!

Hawthorn Heart: What makes an effective boundary

by Andi Grace

 This is an excerpt from my upcoming online course Hawthorn Heart: magical boundary skills for women and femmes. It touches mostly on my more practical perspective on boundaries. The rest of the course is full of magical skills and political perspectives – all of which are geared to help you build bad-ass boundaries that fight the patriarchy and protect your magic.

So.. what makes an effective boundary?

The most effective boundaries that I’ve been able to enact in my life have all been: measurable, accountable, negotiable and communicable. In this post we’ll cover the measurable and accountable parts.

Measurable

Often, when we are setting a boundary, the need for the boundary arises from an emotional experience. And at the same time, boundaries that are built around our emotional, subjective or qualitative experience of something can be hard to maintain because they can be hard to measure in a concrete way.

This means: the need for the boundary arises from an emotional experience, but the boundary itself will be more effective if it’s nestled in a concrete way of measuring its effectiveness.

For example, when I experienced burn-out or exhaustion in jobs I’ve worked in non-profit settings I may crave feeling less tired, to have my labor and time be more appreciated or acknowledged, or to be heard more clearly by the folks I work with and for.

These are all totally valid and healthy needs and they may be hard to manifest if we don’t have a way of measuring them. This can especially be true when our boundary rests up against a system of power, and especially when the person or system in power wants to undermine our perspective of reality.

A solid boundary in this case could be:

“I won’t work hours for which I am not paid.”

OR

“I won’t work with co-workers who won’t use my pronoun.”

OR

“I want my name to appear on this report and not just the name of my superior, because I came up with the ideas he is using here.”

In these examples we can measure how the boundary is working in our lives by being able to see clearly if it is being adhered to.

Boundaries that are measurable are especially helpful for women and femmes because so much of our exhaustion and feeling of being used or not appreciated has to do with an implicit (or sometimes explicit) expectation that we will provide endless emotional labour. This labour is seen as a requirement and is often measured in how the feelings of the people around us shift based on the impacts of our time, wisdom and attention. And for most women and femmes, when we are giving this labour it goes unnoticed, but when we cease to do so, people feel angry that we aren’t providing, effortlessly and constantly, work that is perceived as a natural and necessary part of our being.

And so being able to measure, for example, how long we are willing to listen to someone process a feeling with us or what we deserve in return for this labour makes tangible and visible the work we do that is often invisibilized.

Another example of a measurable boundary would be something like:

“I will only do the labour of explaining something about my experience to someone with more privilege than me, if they are willing to take me out for lunch or make me a nourishing meal in exchange for my time and wisdom.”

 Accountable

Creating boundaries that we are accountable for enforcing is one of the best ways to guarantee the boundary will succeed. When we rest the functionality and accountability for our boundaries in the hands of others, we give our power away in ways that make our boundaries much less likely to be successful.

Often boundaries that we expect others to hold on our behalf can lend themselves to co-dependent dynamics that are full of resentment.

For example, say I have a friend who likes to endlessly complain about a situation in their life. A situation which they could change if they were willing to make some sacrifices, confront a difficult conflict, or do much needed personal work. I would differentiate this from a persistent problem, held in place by daunting systems of power, which realistically cannot be changed by sheer will, work or faith. It’s a problem my friend can change, if they are willing to do some hard work and: be accountable.

This person likes to have me listen to them, but doesn’t want to hear my feelings or ideas about how they could change the situation.

In this case, I could listen to my friend and explain to them that I need these conversations to happen less, or in a different way. Or I could passive aggressively judge them, make comments that make them feel unloved and uncomfortable, or talk about them behind their back while feigning niceness to their face.

I have tried many of these strategies and have had them done to me. They hurt! And I’ve learned that really, what I need to do is take a deep breath, find my center and communicate my limits to my friend.

Because here’s the thing: my friend is relying on me not to maintain the boundary. Even if they love and respect me, they get something that is very valuable to them when the boundary is not enforced: my seemingly endless availability to witness them, without judgement, advice or requests around their behaviour – and to act as if the process does not affect me.

This dynamic could (and has) lead to me feeling resentment towards my friend, which really doesn’t feel good to either of us and could lead to our relationship collapsing under the weight of their expectations of my labour and my weak boundaries in response.

Let’s say I go for lunch with this friend. I could communicate my boundary  to them in advance.

“I care about you. I see you are in a lot of pain in this situation. Right now based on my energy/spoons/desire/trauma I can only listen to you talk about this for 15 minutes.”

At the lunch I can set a timer for 15 minutes and when it goes off I need to be willing to walk away or change the topic if the conversation continues.

If I make my friend responsible for my boundary I am likely to not feel in control of how the conversation flows. I am likely to have my boundary steam rolled, as is the usual flow.

This type of steam rolling can happen even when we have good intentions. Even when we love each other. I have done it. I think most people have been on both sides of this. Many of us just want to be heard.

We want to be witnessed and when we get on a slightly dis-embodied anxiety, fueled roll we can run the people we love into the ground by not noticing their limitations. And so, if we are those loving people, its our job to make those limitations known, in clear and (if appropriate) gentle ways. And ideally, the person we are communicating our boundary to can hear the boundary and adjust their behaviour to meet our request.

Now, all this is not to say that the maintenance of our boundaries can’t be helped or supported by people we love.

Relationships with deep and healing intimacy often work in ways that allow both people to communicate their boundaries and for those boundaries to be heard and mutually respected.

And, in the cases where mutual respect and support is not present, ultimately we need to be responsible for walking away, or doing whatever it is we need to do to be in our integrity.

And of course, this can be really hard to do! Because it sometimes requires sacrifice, letting people down, or even receiving cruel feedback from the people we love, who are projecting their grief about losing our presence and emotional labour, back onto us, instead of digesting and processing their own feelings.

This phenomenon is particularly common for femme, witchy, empath folks.

And on our side of things, as the listeners/labourers, it can be really easy to sit in a position of power under and complain about something or someone saying “they didn’t respect my boundary”. Now I want to be clear here: It’s not to say that this didn’t happen. The person very well may have not respected your boundary AND the reality is that we need to do the action of enforcing the boundary for it to be accountable to our needs. We can’t make our work someone else’s responsibility because if we do, it’s likely to just lead to us feeling disappointed and burnt out as we give our power away over and over again.

And because I know how hard this work is, I love the practice of thanking someone for setting a clear boundary with me. If I am having a hard time sleeping because I’m spinning about something and my partner says to me “babe, I love you and I just can’t talk about this right now. I’m going to sleep now, I want to talk about this tomorrow” this might hurt my feelings initially, because on some level I feel entitled to the habit of my partner being available to me in this way. But I can learn to see this boundary as an expression of love, trust and intimacy – even though its hard to set.

So in response I say, “Thanks for being clear with your boundary, I really appreciate the hard work you are doing there to have clarity with me on what your needs are.”

And in return I often get the same appreciation and acknowledgement back in relationships where boundaries are seen as a fundamental part of healthy intimacy.

And really, those are my favourite kinds of relationships.

#andigrace #littleredtarot #boundaries

[maximuswolf]

Seeking Communism Mentor- Please Help via /r/communism

Seeking Communism Mentor- Please Help

Greetings comrades,

I have spent the past 2 months of my life since I got out of highschool, reading, studying, opening my eyes to the true dark nature of capitalism and Americas history across the world with its imperialism, corruption, greed and terror. I have been reading about socialist ideas, watching countless videos from a youtuber called VaushV, watching documentaries on Cubas history and revolution and Russias revolution. I feel like I have a firm grasp on what socialism advocates for, and what communism does as well. I overall have just been very angry for how the world is today, America in particular because I am from here. I realize the corruption and greed capitalism brings, and its tools on controlling the masses and youth. From buying its way into politics, to exploiting the average worker, I have seen it all. My family has worked their entire lives and barely has had enough to live a normal lifestyle, while my fathers bosses own 10 million dollar houses and never step a foot in the office, ultimately leading to the company crashing itself and my dad being out of work. I have grown tired of the constant struggle I see my family members from all sides face, and all due to the greed of the nations top percent. We have enough wealth, power, labour to have everyone living middle class comfortably, to end student debt, to provide universal healthcare and programs to help all, but due to the greed of so few we live in a country that at any moment will collapse economically, with so many people loosing their jobs to things like AI, which companies without a fragment of a second would gladly replace its entire work force. I have seen the way america has used the fear of socialism and communism to invade countries and destroy their economies while exploiting the common people, all the way back from the colonization the Native Americans experienced and massacred for all in the name of white culture, use of religion, and profit gain.

I learn more and more everyday, but wanted to know if anyone, anyone at all who has had experience in this field of study, could help me out with questions I have, and mentorship if you will. I couldnt ask for anything more than that at the moment, I would love to be able to have that university to go to where a professor could teach me all about these things one on one and have a private student to mentorship, since I believe I have ideas on how we would be able to push through this oppressive system and come out on top, at least I think. It annoys me so much how oblivious so many people are to the current state of America and the world, and how they will forever live their lives working a 9-5 never seeing anything more than their city for eternity, barely making enough to eat and live. I believe there is so much more to life then this, its absurd, I cannot continue to see a future like this. To know that I am not in the best state economically with my family currently, but I at least have a meal waiting, while someone else on the other side of the globe or a few cities away from me hasnt seen a meal in days. It sickens me, boils my blood from the greed we face today. While the population argues on Biden vs Trump and blames eachother for the problems we face today, they both go to their nice houses and immense wealth. They are all but the same wolves in a pack. Never going to change anything or anyone because doing so would mean going against those who write their checks and those who lobby in American politics to push their policies, their agenda, to push the boundaries of the globe and cross all borders oppressing the people and exploiting the people all over the world. While hundred are dying today and unemployment is skyrocketing, we are having a debate on whos worse trump or biden. It makes no sense, from the media thats owned by the same corporations that lobby in politics, to the social media and technology they push on us to keep us compliant and stupid, all of it is infuriating. I want to see a world where we can collectively take care of eachother and work towards a larger goal. Global warming and climate change will have catastrophic consequences, while Americans deny its existence because a president denies it as well, people in poorer countries are seeing the real consqeuences roll out in front of them. We could be funding and subsidzing innovation for clean energy but of course we arent for fossil fuel industries. This type of logic and pattern is seen in every single problem humanity faces today, and I dont want to see it anymore.

I know this is a lot and apologies, but I just really want to learn everything I can on this, ask questions, get a good understanding and coherent points explained to me, because in me I feel like this is my purpose. I am unsure on what I want to be going into my first year of college, I am going into computer science in programming because I have been doing it all my life , but politics is something I just cant get enough of listening to day in and day out. I have so many basic questions I feel that I sort of confuse myself with which is why I want someone to help me out. I feel like I have an idea on how we could use AI to support a socialist economy. I recently found this subreddit and have had many ideas and points explained to me greatly and I thank each and everyone of you. However like my main title says, if anyone is available or open to talk or recieve a DM, I would absolutely love to, because I feel like I have the fundamentals down but still confused and all over the place with a few topics and key components, and overall political idealogies and history. i know this is a lot to ask for from anyone but if anyone at all is open it would mean everything to me.

Thank you so much for any replies :)

Submitted August 10, 2020 at 10:07PM by flame732 via reddit https://ift.tt/2PDil6m

[specialchan]

Seeking Communism Mentor- Please Help via /r/communism

Seeking Communism Mentor- Please Help

Greetings comrades,

I have spent the past 2 months of my life since I got out of highschool, reading, studying, opening my eyes to the true dark nature of capitalism and Americas history across the world with its imperialism, corruption, greed and terror. I have been reading about socialist ideas, watching countless videos from a youtuber called VaushV, watching documentaries on Cubas history and revolution and Russias revolution. I feel like I have a firm grasp on what socialism advocates for, and what communism does as well. I overall have just been very angry for how the world is today, America in particular because I am from here. I realize the corruption and greed capitalism brings, and its tools on controlling the masses and youth. From buying its way into politics, to exploiting the average worker, I have seen it all. My family has worked their entire lives and barely has had enough to live a normal lifestyle, while my fathers bosses own 10 million dollar houses and never step a foot in the office, ultimately leading to the company crashing itself and my dad being out of work. I have grown tired of the constant struggle I see my family members from all sides face, and all due to the greed of the nations top percent. We have enough wealth, power, labour to have everyone living middle class comfortably, to end student debt, to provide universal healthcare and programs to help all, but due to the greed of so few we live in a country that at any moment will collapse economically, with so many people loosing their jobs to things like AI, which companies without a fragment of a second would gladly replace its entire work force. I have seen the way america has used the fear of socialism and communism to invade countries and destroy their economies while exploiting the common people, all the way back from the colonization the Native Americans experienced and massacred for all in the name of white culture, use of religion, and profit gain.

I learn more and more everyday, but wanted to know if anyone, anyone at all who has had experience in this field of study, could help me out with questions I have, and mentorship if you will. I couldnt ask for anything more than that at the moment, I would love to be able to have that university to go to where a professor could teach me all about these things one on one and have a private student to mentorship, since I believe I have ideas on how we would be able to push through this oppressive system and come out on top, at least I think. It annoys me so much how oblivious so many people are to the current state of America and the world, and how they will forever live their lives working a 9-5 never seeing anything more than their city for eternity, barely making enough to eat and live. I believe there is so much more to life then this, its absurd, I cannot continue to see a future like this. To know that I am not in the best state economically with my family currently, but I at least have a meal waiting, while someone else on the other side of the globe or a few cities away from me hasnt seen a meal in days. It sickens me, boils my blood from the greed we face today. While the population argues on Biden vs Trump and blames eachother for the problems we face today, they both go to their nice houses and immense wealth. They are all but the same wolves in a pack. Never going to change anything or anyone because doing so would mean going against those who write their checks and those who lobby in American politics to push their policies, their agenda, to push the boundaries of the globe and cross all borders oppressing the people and exploiting the people all over the world. While hundred are dying today and unemployment is skyrocketing, we are having a debate on whos worse trump or biden. It makes no sense, from the media thats owned by the same corporations that lobby in politics, to the social media and technology they push on us to keep us compliant and stupid, all of it is infuriating. I want to see a world where we can collectively take care of eachother and work towards a larger goal. Global warming and climate change will have catastrophic consequences, while Americans deny its existence because a president denies it as well, people in poorer countries are seeing the real consqeuences roll out in front of them. We could be funding and subsidzing innovation for clean energy but of course we arent for fossil fuel industries. This type of logic and pattern is seen in every single problem humanity faces today, and I dont want to see it anymore.

I know this is a lot and apologies, but I just really want to learn everything I can on this, ask questions, get a good understanding and coherent points explained to me, because in me I feel like this is my purpose. I am unsure on what I want to be going into my first year of college, I am going into computer science in programming because I have been doing it all my life , but politics is something I just cant get enough of listening to day in and day out. I have so many basic questions I feel that I sort of confuse myself with which is why I want someone to help me out. I feel like I have an idea on how we could use AI to support a socialist economy. I recently found this subreddit and have had many ideas and points explained to me greatly and I thank each and everyone of you. However like my main title says, if anyone is available or open to talk or recieve a DM, I would absolutely love to, because I feel like I have the fundamentals down but still confused and all over the place with a few topics and key components, and overall political idealogies and history. i know this is a lot to ask for from anyone but if anyone at all is open it would mean everything to me.

Thank you so much for any replies :)

Submitted August 10, 2020 at 10:07PM by flame732 via reddit https://ift.tt/2PDil6m

[mechagalaxy]

John T Mainer 28840: Legion of Vega

Legion of Vega

I was on Vega brokering a deal to sell some of the garbage the Spirit of Bunny got on their last raid. Apparently fighting evil energy sucking stormclouds gives you crap for loot. Weathermen don't retire rich, I guess that was one of the reasons I became a pilot in the first place, I didn't want to do honest work, I wanted to shoot bad guys for beer money and shiny shiny loot. There was little danger of any of that on Vega. Vega is a desert world, one of the wind swept hell worlds of the Prince Of Iron's Meiji Shogunate. Settled by Islamist Fundamentalists, they got nuked back to the stone age by one of the early Emperors for an assassination attempt, and only rebuilt partially when the nuking clean up revealed some nasty heavy metals useful in biopic production were discovered, and crystal farming proved to be the one thing that Vega's high radiation atmosphere and almost total lack of surface water was good for.

Vega had been a bright spot for the Shogunate during the war against the Illyrian's, but had fallen into disfavor when the garrison sided with the Prince of Flowers in the late civil war, and the once proud 11th and 14th Legions of Vega were disbanded. The scum soldiers of the Legions of Vega had been an open joke, a dumping ground for criminals, stim addicts, discipline cases, burnouts, and political dissidents, yet when the Illyrians attacked the border, and world after world fell, the father of the current Emperor, the famous/infamous Teddy K, lead the 11th in their doomed stand, and the 14th in their epic war to take back not just Vega, but to drive into the Illyrian border worlds and gut the supply chain for the whole invasion. Since the civil war, they had been without anything but local corporate troops and Internal Security Force security troops. With the increase in pirate and Storm linked activity the governor of Vega, the vastly and cheerfully corrupt "Uncle Chandy" had been authorized to raise a defense force if he could equip it out of his own (cheerfully lined) pockets.

Thus, some of the elite of Mecha Galaxy were gathered on a world that made Arakis look like a vacation spa, that made Pirate Moon look law abiding, and made camels sick of sand. Uncle Chandy was a fat, happily decadent and corrupt man whose vast appetites were only exceeded by his intellect and a strange, almost inexplicable desire, to serve the Shogunate's best interests, whether they knew or approved or not. He was so openly shifty he had three boxes on his desk labeled clearly "Bribes" "Blackmail" "Payoffs", they were all full. One thing Uncle Chandy had oddly never once been accused of, is breaking a deal. Win or lose on a deal, he paid in good coin. Thus it was a few of us were gathered on Vega trying to offload some low level gear, crap crystal mecha, weapons you could possibly bother a rat with if he hadn't been eating well lately, and some decent gear we just couldn't afford to level up.

Uncle Chandy was a generous host, and plied us with all sorts of comforts when we were not negotiating, but when we were, he took a duelists delight in a close match and permitted no distractions, so negotiations were not swift. The first reports of storm disruption of the gates were drifting in to us through our own private networks. If we hadn't been busy trying to out outmaneuver each other, and treating each other as enemies, we might have compared notes and been able to get our asses out of there before it went sideways. We didn't. We each had a report of disruption of some of he gates, we each had reports of raiders hitting some adjacent worlds. If we would have compared notes, we could have summoned our own clans to deal with it before we got cut off. Uncle Chandy, well, he had all of it, and played us like the master gamesman he was.

I was sitting in the waiting room, a scantily clad hostess was plying me with some sort of candied fig while I waited to finalize the sale on a half dozen Cindron when Lewis Reed my Logistics Officer burst in.

"Boss, we got trouble. The gate network is down hard. Something has scrambled all the access routines and we have zero contact with base. From the bit that I got, all the teams are reporting the same. They can't get offworld, and we have over thirty percent of our personnel in all Clans isolated or trapped away from support. We also have word of Deneb and Misery falling. Unknown raiders, not pirates, way too big. Not a raid, they took Deneb's main city and shut down the spaceport and the gate complex both"

I just about choked on my fig. Deneb is a sector capital and well defended. Misery is another hell world, but its an ice ball. To be brutally honest, the only export of Misery is misery....and ice. The water to keep Vega alive came on the ice ships from Misery weekly. With the gates down, the fall of Misery meant we were trapped on Vega with no water, in the sure and certain knowledge that the world that should be enforcing order in this section of space just got conquered by "forces unknown". This was not good.

I swore under my breath. I had to see Uncle Chandy right away and see about trading our Cindron's for one of his ships to get offworld while we still could. I wished for the first time that I had brought the clan in a Warship not taken commercial transport through the gate system. I approached Uncle Chandy's door to see about interrupting his current meeting when I heard voices inside.

"Not on your life, no frigging way. Only a lunatic would agree to that, I don't care what you are paying! That is suicide!" I stopped, my hand about two inches from the call plate on the door. I swear I recognized that voice. The door opened and a hard bitten pilot with a angry scowl just about barreled into me.

It was Able Hunter. He took the cigar out of his mouth where it was being chewed more than smoked in his current rage and jabbed it in my direction. He turned back and shouted one more time at Uncle Chandy before pushing past me and leaving.

"Try that idiot. He is just stupid enough to volunteer to commit suicide for this sand covered crap-hole!"

Uncle Chandy was full of smiles and took my arm and lead me to a nice massage chair in front of his massive desk. Easing himself into his own larger version, two of his many semi-dressed assistants settled glasses of melon soda over ice in front of us. He kept up a constant and happy babble of nonesense and routine Japanese politeness to prevent me from getting to business until he could raise his glass to offer a toast.

"To the glory of the Emperor, the safety of his children, and our own mutual benefit. A drink, and some of the last ice of Misery unless someone of experience and standing undertakes the defense of this world. Sadly, there is no way off this world save the Kigamure, which is reserved to trasport the troops of the Legion of Vega for the defense of this world. Sadly, that is by order of the Prince of Iron, and your humble servant could never oppose the will of the Son of Heaven or his war prince." Uncle Chandy's smile was a mix of the beneficence of Buddha, and cold hunger of the great white shark.

I took a sip of my drink, and considered his words.

"If we don't get off this world, you will run out of water faster" I attempted

He spread his hands, and replied "A hundred or two foreigners more or less won't make a difference when two million of my problem children run out of water, yet with a strong military expedition to restore our water supply and to guarantee our defense until such time as the gates stabilizer, would not your people and my own both profit?"

I looked into his smiling face and sighed. I nodded. "Fine, I will lead your defense. What can you offer me?"

Uncle Chandy smiled and pushed across a box. I opened it and found a memory crystal, code locked to an individuals DNA and brainwave patterns, and the insignia of a Tai-Sa, along with eight matching Legion of Vega pins. Uncle Chandy was beaming and his voice boomed happily.

"I offer you command of the glorious Legion of Vega, and all its resources for the defense and strategic security of this world and its trade. This includes the Kigamure warship as well as all the mecha and support resources you can raise as volunteers. Yours will be the war against Chaos for the glory of Vega, and the enrichment of your troops. I guarentee that each will receive a mecha commensurate to their own glorious contribution, paid for from my own, considerable pockets" Uncle Chandy's voice dripped happy avarice at the end that made my mercenary soul perk up a bit. The fact was, generosity aside, eight mecha is a crappy basis for defense of a world.

I countered "I want command of the ISF batallion. Sure they are green troops, and used to only dealing with civil disobedience and labour disputes, but a batallion is a batallion. I want command of them as well. They can be meat shields if nothing else" I demanded.

Uncle Chandy's face expressed sorrow like a baby basset hound, and he let his implant depolarize his huge office window. Outside the demonstration of Sal-Eh-Dim was in full force. Marches and even mecha carrying or draped with banners "Boycott Chaos" pressed against the line of ISF troopers and mecha out front of the Vegan capital building.

"It is regrettable that I must retain the ISF batallion to keep order here at home, thanks to the peace activists demand we boycott the Chaos war, even if that means failing to restore the Ice supply from Misery, and everyone on this beautiful world dying" Uncle Chandy showed absolute innocence and an odd belief that this waterless pustule of corruption was indeed a paradise worthy of the blood of a legion, but he wasn't wrong. If we let things stand, this world died. He was going to see us paid, and paid well. In the end, if you are a mercenary mecha jock, you chose this profession because you wanted to kick ass, take names, and yes by the gods, be a hero every once in a while.

I pinned on the insignia, slotted the memory crystal into the reader on my belt and felt it synch with my implants. I activated the Legion command circuit and the call for volunteers went out. By the time I got Lewis from the front office and had him book transport for our mecha to the Legion barracks, so long empty and probably looted dry, I was deeply depressed. No eight random mecha platoons can defend a world. I opened the bay doors and walked in. There was chaos underway as swearing pilots and technicians in a mismatch of coverals and even bad Hawaiian shirts struggled to slot a bewildering array of mecha into empty cradles and other deeply suspicious pilots started undogging the unmarked crates Uncle Chandy sent over that seemed to be brimming with Meiji Shogunate munition marks that I strongly suspect the Shogunate does not know are no longer on its shelves.

I pinged the officers from my implant, wondering who I had, and hoping I wasn't looking at a half dozen third level pilots with nothing heavier than a Warhorse when my implant accepted the response from the Legions officers. I gave a low whistle.

Ben Rail, Terry Cole, Lewis Reed, Stroker Spot, Mike Ehmann, Able Hunter, Myeponym, and me. Son of sand rat, maybe we could defend this world. If I had to take eight platoons and bet the life of a planet that I could take Misery, at least long enough to get the ice ships flowing back to Vega, this would be it.

The rat banner of the Legion of Vega flies again. A dumping ground for the disgraced, despised, and the disposable, they had turned the tide of war before, so perhaps we could do so again. We are the Legion of Vega. We are coming for you.

John T Mainer 28840

[allbeendonebefore]

rhinocio replied to your chat “Someone: Why are Albertans so angry? Me: Hey let me explain to you the...”

Hey I'd actually like to know the answer GREAT TEACHER HAPO PLEASE BESTOW THE LEARNINGS

I don’t know how concisely I can put this, and I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know if there is just some inherent anger that you’re born with or you inherit. I don’t know why we are consistently the angriest (read: most easily offended) province on those random articles, I just know that we are and it’s true.

But I can take you backwards through my understanding at least. I want to preface this by saying I use ‘we’ rather loosely, I don’t actually implicate myself in every single opinion or situation but I am thinking of it as part of a collective memory/history that I’m situated in and shaped by. This is a simplified history that misses a lot but covers a broad scope, I hope.

This got... really political and I ended up kind of getting emotional/personal so be mindful of how you share it, please.

I think in its most concise way it’s a combination of desperation and lack of control. I think our generation - in Canada generally - has a huge frustration with our national dependence on this one non-renewable resource that causes so much damage, and I think there is a lot of frustration and conflict because of that dependence. It’s an anger that results partially at its core out of acknowledging that dependence, acknowledging its not a good situation, and then frustration with people “outside” the issue who don’t understand. I think a lot of our problems have related back to this in the past half century since we started developing this resource in ‘47

But the other side of the issue is politics that date back further. We are angry all over again because it’s like the 1970s-80s, another Trudeau in power, more measures to make sure the profit off our resource and our labour is shared nationally, and then even when we agree it is supporting the nation it’s like everyone is getting in the way and everyone is making it difficult and everyone is yelling at us while profiting and benefiting off of what we do. After the fire, after the elections, everyone is extra tense and uncertain and very very scared. We have no patience for empty words and empty gestures. The companies got the people away from the fire, and a lot of people owe their allegiance and their livelihood to the companies and not the governments. People don’t understand that. I find in our experience - as Quatsch was hitting on in the original post - that there’s a lot of gaslighting - not always intentional - when talking to people from Eastern (Ont/Qc) Canada who Don’t Get It and Therefore it’s Not Real Because Everyone Has Problems - this just makes us angrier. 

This Alberta is in part made up of a generation who remembers the National Energy Program in the 80s and has viewed the federal government as an entity that takes and never gives, something that Alberta had to make cuts to itself to stop. This Alberta is made up of a generation who remembers a premier who cut taxes and blew up hospitals and gave everyone cash to line their own pockets that could have been used to provide them basic services, a government who for the last 44 years both fought to keep this resource to benefit us, and fought to keep us dependent on it with no way out because we Can’t Afford to Lose that Foreign Investment by demanding benefits. This generation was and now is too afraid to leave the status quo that they don’t always recognize when tradition can be harmful, that history repeats itself whether Liberal or Conservative. 

But the generations before that in turn led us here. barely two decades before oil was struck, the federal government actually gave us the legal capacity to control our own resources. This was a right that was thirty years too late, a right that all other provinces outside the prairies, even the ones otherwise cheated by Confederation, retained upon entrance. The right was given to us and we were left as dust in the wind during the Depression. There was a reason why the angry farmer government got into power and the desperation of social credit’s birth to loophole the federal stranglehold after.

And before that when we entering Confederation, when my great grandparents came to settle on this land that was not theirs, people like them were only allowed in out of desperation. They were desperate to escape misery in eastern europe, and the federal government was desperate to attract people who were both white and christian even if they were the ‘wrong kind’. They were forbidden to speak their own languages and they were placed in internment camps the moment their former homelands went to war because they couldn’t be trusted. Many changed their names to sound more ‘English’ because if nothing else they were still white and christian- many other people who were interned or trapped on reserves before that didn’t have that luxury. 

And before that when we were still part of the Northwest Territories and just a fantastical periphery for Canada that may or may not have been worthy of resource extraction, the sea of worthless grass that blocked Canada from the Pacific, the federal government bought the land for pennies from people who did not own it. The federal government imposed a foreign two party system of ‘self government’ onto people who’s self-determination was not even recognized. The government did not even inform the people living there that they were now being governed. The sons and daughters of white fur traders and First Nations women, once able to negotiate and navigate that space between those worlds no longer belonged to either of them. People watched Manitoba dragged into Confederation with no titles to land, with a leader who would be arrested if he ever set foot in Ottawa to claim rights for his people. People watched him hanged in Saskatchewan after he returned to lead them. People watched as settlers from Ontario pushed the Metis further west and the First Nations off their traditional land. People watched as American whiskey traders pushed north, the massacre of First Nations people at Cypress Hills, Alberta. The predecessors of the RCMP arrived to wipe the whiskey traders out and instead let them settle and build frontier towns, and they knew the treaties did not restrict First Nations people to the reserves but were forced to keep them there because Ottawa viewed them as helpless, as dependent, as children, and their land as a potential resource that could be owned. This ideology positioned the title-less settlers Northwestern Territory as second class, the First Nations as third class wards of the state, and the Metis an anomaly. The difference between the prairies and the territories was simply that the territories were economically worthless to Canada; they felt barely any responsibility to the people who were not white, english speaking, anglo saxon protestants, and the west had those in abundance. The segregation between settler and First Nations persists and is at its highest tension in rural areas, where property rights are still used as justification to murder innocent people, over a century after the battle of Batoche.

To wrap up this rant I just want to say that while i am very angry and passionate about history- history that I had to find for myself because our settler colonial privilege is dependent on not teaching this history as mandatory - I am also very proud of my province’s history. I truly believe we need to move beyond looking at Alberta - at the West - at Canada - as resources and as property. I think we as Albertans are defensive over our backyards to the point where introspection, questioning our ground, is viewed as a weakness and gives others license to tell us what to do. I think we forget that we haven’t had a choice in a long time. 

I think the actions of my government - who i voted into power and still believe in - are swayed to appeal to people who view themselves as disenfranchised and backed into corners. I think people forget that for every Albertan who’s job is dependent on the pipelines, there is an Albertan who’s well-being is dependent on that land being left undisturbed. I think there is a reason that every time - every single time (out of only five changes!) there has been a change in government in Alberta’s history, it is driven by that frustration and demand for change and self-determination. 

I think despite the amount of death threats our premier receives for being a woman and for her political stripes on a daily basis, despite the fact that she’s made some political blunders and despite the fact that she has to appeal to the people who are still very dependent on that resource and people who are still very angry at other governments tying our hands... I think that she and I believe in the same things. In a province that is both free from our dependence on a dead end, a province that is welcoming to people of all backgrounds and identities, a province that is strong and free but supported by our neighbours who can depend on us in return. I think there’s more to the province than a century of emotional and cultural repression and some dirt in the ground. And I think other people think that too. And this isn’t an opinion I feel comfortable sharing with the people I went to school with growing up, so I tend not to express it.

tl;dr when your friend gets mad at you when you tell them to quit smoking all the time, maybe take two seconds to re-evaluate what the real problems are that caused them to be dependent on it instead of grabbing the cigarettes out of their hand. 

#rhinocio #hapo replies #yeah y yeah alberta #personal hapo #this got really long im sorry