#media censorship

[decolonize-the-left]

If you get your news from CNN, please know they've been compromised and do in fact aid Israel in the way they provide coverage.!!!!

Their coverage is curated specifically to garner sympathy for Israel and to provide plausibile deniability for their war crimes such as genocide. Links below the vid.

Additionally, the breach to freedom of press this implies should NOT be understated.

“‘War-crime’ and ‘genocide’ are taboo words,” the worker said. “Israeli bombings in Gaza will be reported as ‘blasts’ attributed to nobody, until the Israeli military weighs in to either accept or deny responsibility. Quotes and information provided by Israeli army and government officials tend to be approved quickly, while those from Palestinians tend to be heavily scrutinized and slowly processed.” CNN maintains that the reason for the policy is to ensure its reporting on Israel and Palestine is “as precise and accurate as possible,” as one spokesperson said, claiming that the IDF’s censor has a “minimal” impact on the coverage. But CNN seems to be unique in maintaining this policy, unlike other major outlets, The Intercept wrote.

Further, the investigation found that CNN leaders have explicitly prescribed policies that favor Israel. In an email sent October 26, CNN’s News Standards and Practices sent staff an email directing them to refer to the ministry of health in Gaza as “Hamas-controlled” every time they reference the Palestinian death count — a widespread practice among major outlets, despite numerous human rights groups and war experts maintaining that the Gaza health ministry’s death tolls have historically been accurate and that public health experts have independently found no evidence that the ministry has inflated death counts.

#cnn #news #israel #idf #palestine #free palestine #gaza #Zionism #zionist propaganda #propaganda #media campaign #israel media #Democrats #republicans #usa #fascism #censorship #media censorship #state power #equality #justice #current events #current news #middle east #iof #from the river to the sea #media coverage #signal boost #reblog #vote blue

[moniquill]

Watership Down - first the film, then the book, is one of the most formative media influences in my life. I’ve written about it briefly, here https://i-blame.tumblr.com/post/69030937937/moniquill-moniquill-kucala-moniquill

but having watched the above video essay, I want to say more.

The first time I saw a deer up close was in my grandfather’s back yard; I was about four years old. I don’t remember the reason that my mom dropped me off at my grandfather’s house for an afternoon, but I know that it was unplanned - because he was in the middle of processing a deer. It had been field dressed, organs already removed, and was hanging by its ankle tendons from the t-shaped steel pole at one end of the backyard clothesline. I was startled, worried, concerned that the animal was hurt. There was blood! There was flesh!

My grandfather responded by calmly explaining what he was doing, step by step. Explaining why he was skinning the deer, and quartering it, taking it from this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venison

He talked about hunting, and about gratitude, and about humans and our proper place in the world - what meant to live in a good way.

By the time my grandfather was cooking tenderloin medallions and plating them up to me with grape jelly (don’t knock grape jelly on meat until you’ve tried it!) and instant mashed potatoes, I wasn’t startled or concerned anymore. I had a deeper understanding of the way the world worked, of my role as a consumer, a predator. Of the responsibilities that entailed. I couldn’t have explained it then, of course, with my 4-year-old mind and vocabulary - but Philosophy had been set into motion. This is a core memory for me. 

I did not have nightmares about the butchered deer. 

I was six when I first saw Disney’s Bambi. I DID have nightmares about that; between Bambi and The Land Before Time, I was absolutely convinced that my mother was going to die. That I was being presented with these media themes to educate and prepare me for that eventuality. I am the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter, and I have an extended tribal family. My grandfather died when I was six. His was one of many funerals I attended at that age; his generation succumbing to age and illness. I was aware of mortality. 

I wasn’t a ‘normal’ child, by the standard of the community that I went to school in. I was too poor, too indigenous, too very obviously autistic (without being diagnosed). I had very different media influences and interests than the other kids at my public school. No one else was deeply obsessed with David Attenborough’s documentaries (Life on Earth 1979, The Living Planet 1984, Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives 1989). No one else had even heard of Dot and the Whale. No one else in my class had Lifeways Lessons classes, because they didn’t have tribes.  

I wasn’t terribly interested in most media intended for children; it was boring because it was simple. I didn’t feel motivated to watch Disney movies over and over. Don Bleuth films had more staying power in my mind; An American Tale, All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Land Before Time. More complex stories, stories that confront suffering and death. My mom read me CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein, Jack London and EB White - lots of other stories that were not ‘age appropriate’, stories that were written for People, not Children.

I watched Watership Down for the first time when I was about five, and my mom read the book to me when I was about six. I was not disturbed by the violence, being far more interested in the themes explored in the video essay above. I had, by this time, seen a rabbit skinned IRL. I’d eaten rabbit stew. 

I did not have nightmares about Watership Down. 

I failed to make friends with the kids at school, for the most part - I primarily socialized with my cousins. In fourth grade (age 9), my class did a unit on tropical rainforests, and I brought in this video: I did not think that there was anything at all controversial about it, but at about 32 minutes in David Attenborough talks about the Guarani people and their traditional ways of life. There’s footage of an unclothed man climbing a tree. His penis is briefly visible. THE CLASS WENT WILD, and the teacher rushed to turn the video off, and I was sent to the office. It caused a school-wide incident, and bringing in videos was thereafter banned. I was deeply, deeply confused by this series of events. The video had come from the public library - how could it possible be offensive? But the incident became a vector of bullying that followed me until middle school - the adults had confirmed to the kids that I had done something taboo, that I was fundamentally wrong in some way. I quietly came to the conclusion that Most People(™) are very stupid and very reactionary, that one has to carefully coddle and explain things to them. 

It took me many years to only mostly overcome that conclusion.

Later that same year, I had my first real success in making a childhood friend - someone who came to my house after school and had sleepovers and such. She had transferred from another school and didn’t know I was THE WEIRD GIRL the way my other classmates did. I remember trying to introduce my favorite movies to her, as she introduced her favorites to me. She was a Horse Girl(™) and much more interested in Age Appropriate Girl Things than I was, but we shared a love of My Little Pony - I had a bunch of episodes on VHS, recorded off TV. She thought that https://mylittleponyg1.fandom.com/wiki/Rescue_at_Midnight_Castle was ‘too scary’ and preferred https://mylittleponyg1.fandom.com/wiki/My_Little_Pony:_The_Movie. 

I showed her Watership Down. She freaked out about it. It gave her nightmares.

She was, as many people, deeply disturbed by the violence of the film. She had not, at the age of nine, seen animals butchered. She didn’t seem to care about the deeper meanings and philosophical treatises presented; the fact that there was violence and death was too shocking.

I’m not sure how to conclude this essay, except with this: Watership Down is now a litmus test, for me. If a person is aware of it and appreciates it, we’re intellectual compatible. If a person’s whole reaction is shock and disgust and cries of ‘nightmare fuel!’ then we are not.

#watership down #media censorship #media for children #media for adults #Youtube

[chimaeraonwards]

Pendatang and why I think it's important for the fight against censorship

Malaysia's first fully crowd funded film is finally out and its free on YouTube!!!

(btw its fully subtitled in English, Malay, Chinese (Simplified), and Tamil for those who want it)

Pendatang by Kuman Pictures is set in a dystopian future where, due to racial extremism, Malaysia is fully segregated. Citizens live in their own areas based on their race and mixing between the races is punishable by 25 years in prison.

The story centers around a Malaysian Chinese family who is forced to relocate to a designated house by the authorities but they find a Malay girl hiding in their attic.

Anyone who is familiar with the Malaysian film scene would be wondering, "A Malaysian movie about race and inequality? How the fuck did this movie get through the censorship board?". Well, easy. They didn't even try.

In the name of keeping peace in the country, The Malaysian Film Censorship Board (Lembaga Penapis Filem - LPF) is notorious for censoring local movies to the point it loses its impact or keeping movies in a limbo for years. But films need LPF's approval to be able to release theatrically local cinemas.

The makers of Pendatang knew that this film wouldn't have made it past the censorship board or any other kinds of local governmental/commercial release or funding channel. So from the start, they set out to crowd fund this movie to release it for free online - where the LPF has no jurisdiction.

They managed to raise past their goal of RM300k (which is about slightly less than 100k USD). And one year later, they've kept their word - the movie is available on YouTube for free with no ads (making it a non-profit movie).

This is what the makers have to say about this move and what they hope it achieves:

So not only is it a badass move to bypass censorship and non-profit, its also a ground breaker and this opens up a whole new avenue for Malaysian filmmakers.

But it can't be that bad, can it? Well here are some films that weren't so lucky with the LPF.

Mentaga Terbang a story about a young girl's religious journey after her mother's passing to find out what happens after death. It was banned in Malaysia.

Tiger Stripes, the Cannes award winning teenage body horror film detailing a girl's journey with womanhood. It was so heavily cut by LPF that the filmmaker has disowned the censored version and has come out to say that essence was removed from the movie.

Spilt Gravy on Rice is a dark comedy based on a play of the same name. It is a story about a journalist who is close to death and decides to fix his family issues with his 5 kids who all have different mothers. The film was submitted for approval in 2012 and was forced to make changes (including an alternate ending) and was finally approved in 2020. Due to covid, the premiere was delayed till 2022. The original playwright, Jit Murad, passed earlier that year and never got to see his story in the big screen. You can find the film with its original ending on Netflix now.

This is why a movie like Pendatang is so important. Some suspect that Pendatang will be taken down or blocked by the government. I hope it won't.

Malaysian filmmakers want to share good stories that shouldn't be watered down. Malaysian voices want to be heard and shouldn't be unnecessarily filtered and censored.

#pendatang #pendatang movie #media censorship #censorship #malaysia #film #mentaga terbang #tiger stripes #spilt gravy on rice #image id in alt text

[nerdby]

Having a debate with someone about "superhero fatigue" and I think I just figured out what the REAL problem with cinema is: The streaming industry and Christofascism go hand-in-hand. Almost everything with decent queer or BIPOC rep goes straight to the small screen because film studios outside of Netflix and Hulu are too afraid to risk losing money.

I mean, when was the last time you saw a queer film that wasn't like....Love Simon or whatever in theaters? Or even on live television?

In the 90s and early 2000s shows like Them -- a horror series that examines suburban racism set in 1950s California on Amazon -- would have gotten a 10pm slot on FX or Showtime. Ads for the show would start playing at like 4pm and become more frequent after sunset. Instead almost no one even knows the show exists unless they stumble across it in the Prime library. I mean, American Horror Story was hugely popular when it aired on cable and now the only place you can watch it is on Hulu, and the same thing is true about Pose.

Every TV series, documentary, or film that has a hint of counter-culture to it goes straight to streaming with minimal marketing.

You can deny it all you want, but queer and BIPOC stories have been delegated to the back burner. Like didn't any of you ever wonder Knives Out: Glass Onion didn't get a theatrical debut even though the prequel was a huge success?

Why don't you ask Benoit Blanc and his husband?

This is why there's no counter-culture in the US right now.

#comic books #graphic novels #cbm #nerd thoughts #tv and movies #tv and streaming #streaming #media censorship #counterculture #1990s #1990s nostalgia #early 2000s #fx #american horror story #pose fx #netflix #hulu #lgbt #lgbt representation #queer rep #queer media #lgbt bipoc #bipoc representation

[audioroleplayconfessions]

Personally I love yanderes, specifically the ones that are actually super fucked up and scary. I get it if you personally don't like them, but it's so annoying when people criticize the trope like the content itself is somehow harmful or immoral. I've seen people attack it by saying "oh this is promoting toxic relationships" or "you shouldn't listen to this because it's romanticizing abuse".

My god, shut up. It's fiction. None of this is real. I'm a 23 year old woman and I literally can't stand being talked to like I'm a 12 year old girl who doesn't know that actually getting kidnapped by your admirer would be a bad thing in real life. It's just a fun scenario for me within the safety of a purely fictional story that can't actually hurt me. Grow up, get some media literacy. I'm begging you.

,

#yandere asmr #yandere #tropes #media literacy #media censorship #anonymous confessions #audio roleplay #boyfriend asmr

[wikipediapictures]

Paint Drying

#paint drying #film #censorship #protest film #filmography #wikipedia #wikipedia pictures #media #media censorship #film censorship #protest #charlie shackleton #experimental #experimental art #experimental film

[menalez]

#palestine #israel #media censorship

[mizusjawline]

So, my mother was extremely overcontrolling as to what media we were allowed to consume as children. And 'violent american movies' like superhero movies were an absolute no-no. So, when I was a teen, I did A Very Rebellious thing and watched Doctor Strange in the cinema. After that, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2. And soon I felt brave enough watch 'the super violent shit' like Deadpool 2 and Logan.

And that, folks, is how I began my healing journey.

#tw child abuse #child abuse #child abuse recovery #child abuse survivor #media censorship #cptsd #cptsd survivor

[gusty-wind]

ELON MUSK NOT CAVING ON EU CENSORSHIP DEMAND.

#the great awakening #war is real #media censorship

[susansontag]

In Venezuela 70% at least of the media is in private hands and secretly held — so it’s not publicly declared who the owners are. In Venezuela only 5% of the media is government. So now it’s interesting... Let’s say the government is conducting policies which the elite don’t like. It’s very likely the elite will mobilise the media as the opposition against those policies. [...] If that is the case, the government’s response is “the media is our enemy.” Now, this is delicious for the imperialist media, because now they will say, “Look, these countries are censoring journalists.” The context which vanishes is that the media in these societies are not actually free and fair. These are media’s of the ruling class, which do not want to abdicate their power and property to the new governments that have emerged.

— Vijay Prashad, Ruling Class Controls Ideas through Media

#vijay prashad #propaganda #media censorship #moth.txt #quote

[safety-pin-punk]

God Ive been going off about Florida’s book law the entire day, ya know, the one that make it a FELONY for teachers to provide students with access to information. The one that bans anything that inherently calls anyone or thing oppressive. Ya know the one that can easily away students access to books about how governments that ban books are bad? Yeah. I have not been able to shut up about it and its implications for LGBTQ people, minorities, and general critical thinking skills

But the one thing I CANT find, is the actual list of books that are banned and approved. So if ANYONE has this PLEASE send it my way

#florida #book banning #media censorship

[mac-n-cheese-n-regret]

do they understand the irony?

#palestine #free palestine #israel #censorship #media censorship #social media

[papillaee]

People on Tumblr really do be basically trying to apply the Hays Code sometimes... "You can write about dark topics and make character that are bad people but ONLY if it's shown in a negative light and the characters get punished for it."

Wow! Thanks! I definitely love being told what to do and being forced to write a pure story with no nuance or flavor whatsoever.

#purity culture #media censorship #rant

[nerdby]

ALL👏🏻MEDIA👏🏻IS👏🏻POLITICAL👏🏻

#horror #horror genre #scifi horror #scifi #tv and movies #classic television #nostalgia #nostalgia core #nostalgia geek #rod sterling #censorship #media censorship #the twilight zone #this has been a psa

[audioroleplayconfessions]

Do people really not read the tags and warnings when it comes to more serious themes? Legitimately.

Dark and morbid fiction has and always has existed, some people quite frankly enjoy it and it won't just magically vanish out of thin air.

I have no qualms with triggering works as long as it's warned and tagged properly and the creator doesn't condone or glorify it or if nobody was seriously harmed in the making of it.

If violent, serious and vile incidents that happen in real life, show up in media and have your feathers all ruffled up then as someone who has read and listened to a good handful of triggering fictional works, I suggest that if you see the warnings and don't like any of it, heed the tags, avoid it and move on. As simple as that.

I have a very loosely set bottom line when it comes to questionable fiction. I know it's fictional. I do not condone what I consume. Nonetheless I still enjoy it because it's fascinating in a morbidly curious way.

I'm not saying that the feelings caused by it are invalid, on the contrary, the feelings caused by fiction aren't controllable and I can understand that.

However, if you've read the warnings and proceeded, then that is of your own dereliction.

Otherwise, if the creator is the one that didn't give any tags or warnings then the fault lies with them.

Forgive me if this offends anyone but this is just my personal opinion and it is subject to change if ever I or someone decides they want to educate me a little bit if my views are biased/uninformed. You're welcome and entitled to share your own opinions.

I think the audio roleplay community is extra finicky about any violent/uncomfortable/frightening content. Maybe it's because comfort/boyfriend roleplay is the dominant genre, to the point that some people can't fathom that other genres of audio roleplay exist outside of comfort. They act as if they've been betrayed is something is scary or uncomfortable.

A lot of people will outright ignore warnings, tags, or just signs in the narrative itself, but even barring that, people need to learn that a work of fiction can not harm you. You can dislike it, it might even make you feel uncomfortable, but it can't harm you. Learning that fact is part of growing up. It's disturbing to see young people push for media censorship when historically it was always older/more conservative people pushing for that.

#anonymous confessions #audio roleplay #media literacy #media censorship #media criticism

[laudthesilence]

I've had a thought, I've seen stuff that is a "very online take" or discourse that doesn't hold weight when applied to the real world, but I'm kind of wondering, with the on and off lockdowns, increasing availability of work from home (absolutely not knocking this, my chronically ill ass rejoices) and social isolation that can accompany both, how long before that "very online" discourse starts to edge its way into the real world. People who lost formative social years or still are, to lockdowns and isolation, who turned increasingly to online spaces for a social outlet (not saying having online social outlets is bad either, i just think if you are not careful about which ones you can go down some squirrely wormholes). These people are eventually going to emerge again and bring their "new ideas" with them. I'll give a small example, I volunteer for a queer charity and one day had two people come in, presumably friends. I got talking to one of them who said they loved the shop but never came in, so naturally I asked why, they said because "this space was for the gays" and they didn't want to feel like they were "appropriating" our space, I assured them that all were welcome and that we didnt check the queerness of anyone coming in (i didnt vocalise that, but the thought amused me). Now granted they were young, I would have said between 19 to 21, but I would bet my right eye that this is a take they could have only gotten online. We are a charity and your cis het money is just as good as queer money and statistically there is more of yours than there is of ours. So I realise this is a minor example but I'm wondering, as we lose "real world" social outlets that may disprove these ideas, that more and more of this "very online discourse" will be taken offline and brought into the real world by people who don't have experience otherwise and it might become a part of real life discussion Idk just a thought.

-- plus the separation of the "online" world and the "real world" is obviously increasingly breaking down as we rely on the internet for so much now and obviously social movements have been galvanized and provided real life momentum by sociak media like #metoo. I'm taking more discursive movements that don't have much basis in lived experience

#ace discourse #shipping discourse #media censorship #idk what im doing #queer discourse