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count-lero · 2 years

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May I ask you, dear gentlemen and gentlewomen, what time is it? I humbly believe that it’s a meme time!

Once again trying my best in the field of some incredibly local history-related jokes and puns realised with the help of memes which sometimes seem old as time itself… Fortunately, we constantly speak about time, space and particular historical epoch over here, thus I proclaim the notion “outdated meme” a social construct. 👍

Aaaand proudly present to you this notorious composition called “The Austrian Chancellor who came to save the imperial day from the God-knows-where-in-the-Rhein-region and the 33 Bohemian noblemen (with the intrusion of one Moravian “fonctionnaire”) who accompanied him on his thorny life-path”!

Of course, 33 person in one picture would be a little bit too much. That’s why I took the creative liberty to pick only the most famous and influential ones whom I’m going to name all at once (with the exception of dear Fürst Karl, for sure, cause his emersion will probably start causing headaches for everyone who still checks this God forsaken blog soon…)!

Let’s start with two wonderful people standing proudly behind Schwarzenberg’s back as they were his favourite adjutants during the Napoleonic campaigns of 1812-1814 and owe him a lot with regards to their careers in the Austrian military ranks. The first one is Karl Johann Nepomuk Gabriel Graf Clam-Martinez (count Karl Clam-Martinez, in short), a wonderful soldier and even more brilliant administrator who will actively help Metternich in his rivalry with another exceptional gentlemen featuring in this meme which took place in the late 1830s (like he suddenly died in 1840).

Cool story alert! In April 1814 Clam was a member of the group of allied generals who accompanied Napoleon himself on his journey to Elba and saved the emperor from certain humiliating experience few times. Napoleon was truly grateful to him and treated him well during those memorable times. 🤲

The second one is non other than Alfred Candidus Ferdinand Fürst zu Windisch-Grätz (prince Alfred zu Windish-Grätz, in short), a flamboyant, hot-headed, very straight-forwards military man (future field-marshal) who - according to the contemporaries - managed to steal the hearts of half of the renown European beauties, most notably of Wilhelmina, duchess of Sagan. So, yeah, he actually was Metternich’s adversary №1 for a while, when it came to the sphere of scandalous love affairs, and let me tell you all, it was a sh*t show I still can’t comprehend fully because it was too much. Even for such an eccentric person as Metternich… ☠️

(Actually! Actually, both Clam and Windisch-Grätz were les amants of the two most renown sisters of Sagan - Wilhelmina, being the eldest, and Dorothea, being the youngest, - during the Congress of Vienna. Basically at the same time as those stunning women drove crazy Metternich and Talleyrand respectively. I can see that hilarious picture clearly: two diplomats practically dying of their love towards sisters of Sagan; two sisters of Sagan cheerfully celebrating the New 1815 year together with two young distinguished Austrian officers of Czech origin; meanwhile Schwarzenberg, the president of Hofkriegsrath already, just sits in his Kriegsgebäude, listens to the rumours about his ✨good boiz✨ and sighs resignedly…)

Well, that was fun! Passing on to count Radetzky…

…Comes a sudden revelation that I won’t speak out a lot about Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl Graf Radetzky von Radetz (count Joseph Radetzky, in short) simply because it’s him! He probably is the most well-known herr out of the whole company - Metternich’s close friend, whom Klemens saved from the total oblivion after the war of 1809, the head-of-stuff at Schwarzenberg’s times, future president of Hofkriegsrath as well and the “father of the nation”, of course (does a question “what is the second-to-first «titular» nation in the Habsburg’s monarchy after the Austrians themselves” truly appear after that claim, I wonder)!

*also, like, Windish-Grätz and Radetzky were the 1848s main repressive force in the empire and the only people who truly mourned Metternich’s resignation and exile - what a turn of events, for Alfred especially!*

Now we come to the uncharted territory almost.

This wonderful person is… Karl Friedrich von Kübeck, Freiherr von Kübau. He sounds quite simple, ordinary even, you might say, however his origin story is a miracle. This man was a son of a tailor from Moravia (it’s like Bohemia is the western part of modern-days Czech Republic and Moravia is the eastern part of the country) who rose to the position of hofrat and obtained a barony as a reward for his excellent service. He joined Metternich’s opposition to the last character who will appear in our miraculous story in the late 1830-1840s as he understood everyone’s weaknesses very well and still saw in Metternich, an incredibly experienced official at the time, a lot of potential.

The man of his social background, he understood the needs of the country better than anyone else, yet he was unsuccessful in his efforts of reforming the monarchy slowly but surely without any need for an internal bloodshed. And that was a real tragedy, since even Metternich himself tried to adapt the bullky machinery of the Austrian empire to the certain notions of time still in the 1820s… Even Metternich, one the most famous conservators of the post-Napoleonic Europe.

I guess, that circumstance speaks all for itself. 😔

Thus, we arrive to the glorious conclusion of this extensive memology and it has the magnetic face of Franz Anton Graf von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (count Franz Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky). He deserves to crown our noble list of Bohemian aristocrats, since he became the actual governor of the region in the year 1809! He also was elevated to lead the Austrian State Council responsible for the Interior and Finances in 1826. 🇨🇿

The most important period in his life came with the death of the emperor Franz II and the accession to the throne of his poor son Ferdinand who had such bad health issues that he needed a Regency council to aid him in his reign. Who tried to claim all the responsibilities to himself only? Of course, it was our dear Klemens! Metternich actually waged very intense battles against Kolowrat since his appointment as the minister of the interior. And after the creation of the Regency council their rivalry could be described as “two delicate, aristocratic from the top of their silver-haired heads to the tip of their sleek fingers, old queens fighting constantly throughout the whole damned Vormärz”. 🙄

In the end, we can say with confidence, that count Kolowrat emerged victorious from the struggle: the Revolution of 1848 made an exile out of the damned Mephistopheles Metternich, meanwhile Kolowrat became the first Minister-President of the renewing Habsburg’s monarchy.

~~~~~~~

Well. That was an incredible journey half a century long, for sure. 👁👁

Very proud of marrying successively all the puns with the factual information I wanted to share about this incredible company of Austrian men who were connected to each other so gracefully and so closely. 🇦🇹

Hope you’ll like it as well, dear readers! It’s always my pleasure. 💗

Bis zum nächsten Mal~

#history meme #klemens von metternich #karl zu schwarzenberg #karl von clam-martinez #alfred zu windisch-grätz #joseph radetzky #karl von kübeck #franz von kolowrat-liebsteinsky #napoleonic era #napoleonic wars #austrian empire #austrian nobility #19th century

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ryukoishida · 3 years

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QianQiu/Thousand Autumns Fic: [Ch. 2] In which teacher!SQ and mafia leader!YWS talk for the first time.

Title: You’re a Problem I Encounter Fandom: Qian Qiu / Thousand Autumns Characters/Ships: YanShen Rating: NSFW eventually Chapter: 2/? Summary: Yan Wushi was the proud leader of Huan Yue Group, one of the most influential syndicates in the underground world, who wanted nothing more than to see the world burn. His accidental encounter with the pure-hearted school teacher Shen Qiao was a problem he didn’t expect to get entangled in. A/N: No more touching this fic until I’m done with the finals T.T List of Chapters: [1] [2] [3]

ii. No Saint

It was pitch black when Shen Qiao woke up. He blinked once, twice – endless black, deeper than the night — his breath stuttering in his throat and heart thudding against his ribcage in that strangely familiar, bitter taste of terror: the inability to perceive light, the anxiety of facing the unknown.

“You’re finally awake?”

A deep voice entered his consciousness like distant thunder, rumbling with warmth yet charged with danger.

A light to his left blinked on, cold white fluorescent flooded his peripheral vision and made Shen Qiao’s eyes sting from the sudden brightness. When his pupils adjusted to the light at last, he was able to make out a fuzzy outline of someone sitting by his bedside. The figure was mostly cast in shadow, but even in the best lighting, it would have been impossible for him to see anything further than half an arm’s length with any semblance of crisp clarity.

Driven by habit, Shen Qiao began to reach blindly to the side for his spectacles, which, of course were not there.

“Looking for these?” the man with the same deep, baritone voice asked, placing a piece of mangled metal that used to be his glasses into his hand.

Feeling the warped titanium remnants with his fingers, Shen Qiao heaved a soft sigh. He knew there was no way these could be repaired, so he’d have to endure the inconvenience of blurry vision until he could get new glasses or get his hands on some contact lenses, which had long fallen out during his rough scuffle with He Huan Group’s people.

Not that it was anything new – the cloudy eyesight – since he’d spent most of his childhood with his eyes in even worse state until he was in his early teens when Qi Fengge persuaded him to undergo surgery, which had improved his ability to see if only just slightly.

Wandering in his own thoughts though never allowing himself to be defenseless in an unfamiliar environment, Shen Qiao suddenly sensed more than heard the stranger invading his personal space – the surrounding air becoming too hot from the man’s exhale and body heat, too stifling from how close and physically intimidating the man’s presence exuded, looming over him like a hunter anticipating the taste of its prey — and Shen Qiao tried to back up as best as he could, given how parts of his body were too numb from sleep or too painful from the fight to move promptly.

The man chuckled but didn’t advance further upon seeing Shen Qiao trying to shuffle back to keep his distance.

“Are you sure you should be moving around like that?” the man sat back down in his chair, arms crossed over his chest as he continued to observe the injured man with an interested gaze.

“I’m sorry.”

Ever the polite gentleman, Shen Qiao realized that he was acting quite rude to the person who’d rescued him from a terrible situation that he very likely wasn’t going to get out of by himself. Still, his delicate frame, warm hazel eyes, gentle smiles, and soft-spoken nature all contributed to a first impression of a man who was agreeable and amiable, maybe even somewhat unassuming to the point of foolish naiveté, yet those who’d been acquainted with him long enough knew that beneath his kind and considerate disposition was someone constructed of steel bones and unyielding morals.

There was a reason why he was known to be an anomaly in the underground world, crawling with all sorts of criminals and infested with coldblooded monsters that found thrills in destruction and the fall of humanity. Shen Qiao was the adopted son of a once-famed assassin Qi Fengge, who’d retired for the last decade now but had since headed one of the largest and most formidable assassin organizations that employed the best professionals good money could hire.

“You’re a funny one,” the man commented, hint of amusement seeping into his voice. “What are you sorry for?”

“I just… don’t like it when people I don’t know well get too close to me,” Shen Qiao explained quietly, his body visibly relaxed a little once he knew the stranger had backed off. “I did not mean to be disrespectful to someone who’d saved my life.”

When the stranger didn’t immediately respond, Shen Qiao continued with hesitation, “may I know the name of my savior?”

“Yan Wushi.”

He seemed content enough to offer that, at least.

“Leader of Huan Yue Group?”

Shen Qiao’s slight frown didn’t go unnoticed by the ever-observant mafia leader.

“You’ve heard of me?” Yan Wushi leaned in just a degree.

“My father had told me about you.”

Also, Shen Qiao didn’t think it was a good idea to say it out loud, but he knew that in recent years, Yan Wushi – and really, all of Huan Yue Group – was infamous for being gutsy enough to be striding the border between the criminal world and the political sphere, and still benefit greatly from both.

“All good things, I hope.”

“Huan Yue Group mixes with government officials – specifically Yuwen Yong’s faction – and gets on their good side either by offering them financial assistance under the table or getting rid of any political opponents that stand in Yuwen Yong’s way through any means possible,” Shen Qiao recited the information like he was memorizing it from a textbook.

“It’s a mutually beneficial relationship,” Yan Wushi admitted.

Shen Qiao’s frown deepened when he continued, “several deaths and disappearances had been suspected to be connected to members of Huan Yue, but the police never found any solid evidence to arrest or lay charges on anyone.”

“You can’t possibly blame us for the police department’s incompetence. And here I thought you’re blissfully ignorant of how our side works,” one corner of Yan Wushi’s lips twisted upwards, his interest in this frail-looking man had been elevated from indifference to modest curiosity. “It seems Qi Fengge had taught you the basics after all, despite the fact that you’re not expected to be his successor. Fascinating.”

“Father simply didn’t wish for me to be completely uninformed,” Shen Qiao exhaled, letting his eyes fall close as if he’d suddenly become too tired. “Having knowledge is a kind of advantage, though it may not seem like it at the time. I didn’t want to take over the family business, and father respected my decision, but he said even if I have no desire to work underground, the underground world will still find its way to catch up to me eventually. He was right, of course.”

He sounded exhausted, like he’d been running and escaping for years, and every time he thought he’d gotten ahead of the bloody claws of the clandestine world, it came at him snarling with gaping jaws, a cruel reminder that no matter how far he thought he’d gotten away, no matter how hard he’d convinced himself that he wasn’t part of the bloodthirst and violence, the mere fact that he was the son of Qi Fengge, the prodigious assassin’s greatest strength and weakest link, had already sealed him to a certain fate.

Shen Qiao loved and respected Qi Fengge. When Qi Fengge found him beaten and half-starving on the street and took him in one rainy night, five-year-old Shen Qiao would have never thought he’d feel the warmth of family and safety of a home again after he’d lost his parents.

He wanted to repay Qi Fengge in any way he could, but when he was old enough to finally understand what kind of organization Xuan Du was and what Qi Fengge’s real identity entailed, Shen Qiao was torn: he could – no, should – accept the position, train hard to become Qi Fengge’s next successor, and take over Xuan Du and its commitment to only execute those who were deserving of it, if only for the sake of doing what he could to show his gratitude towards his adopted father, yet his righteous moral compass and absolute belief in humanity’s good nature – borne from his education and the teachings of his father – forced him to make one of the most difficult decisions in his life.

It was ironic, how the assassination group operated under Qi Fengge’s guidance: Xuan Du Group only accepted jobs whose targets were beyond anyone’s saving and the victims’ families’ reconciling, their crimes numerous or excessive, their sins unpardonable. But who were counting the number of lives taken away by the hands of Xuan Du’s assassins?

Yan Wushi’s baritone voice pulled Shen Qiao back to the present.

“Everyone says the adopted son of Qi Fengge is different – refined, pristine, pure-hearted, a white water lily untainted by the dirty muck that brought him up,” Yan Wushi watched him closely for any flicker of emotion, “but I don’t believe that a person can truly remain unaffected by the surrounding environment.”

Yan Wushi moved so swiftly that there was no way Shen Qiao could have dodged in his current condition, so when he felt strong fingers gripping his chin and forcing him in place while the mafia leader hovered close – terrifyingly close, breaths hot and vivid against Shen Qiao’s own lips – and the other arm trapping the injured man between himself and the wall, Shen Qiao froze, eyes wide open and the only thing he perceived was Yan Wushi’s eyes.

Dark brown, but almost glowing with the rusted red of blood.

“You’re exactly the type of people I’d like to see battered and broken.”

Shen Qiao swallowed, silently willing himself in his mind to keep calm, and when he was certain his voice wouldn’t shake, he asked while maintaining their shared gaze, “then why did you save me?”

A short pause as Yan Wushi regarded the composed expression on Shen Qiao’s face, and then he barked out a laugh, roughly letting go of the other man and stepping back.

“Don’t think too highly of me, Shen Qiao. I’m certainly no saint. You were in Sang Jingxing’s possession, and I just happen to hate that man and want to fuck with him. Besides, I enjoy having people owe me.”

From this distance, Shen Qiao couldn’t see Yan Wushi’s facial expression, but years of living with vision disability meant that he’d trained his ears to pick up on the smallest nuances in the rise and fall of a person’s voice. He could almost picture the man uttering the last phrase with a snide grin.

“Regardless, I’m grateful for what you’ve done,” Shen Qiao lowered his head in a nod of thanks, “if there’s anything I can do in return in the future, please let me know.”

“Anything?”

Shen Qiao could practically hear the smile in that purr.

“Anything within the legal and ethical realm,” Shen Qiao corrected calmly.

#qian qiu #thousand autumns #yanshen #yan wushi #shen qiao #bowie's crappy writing

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usuccc · 4 years

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Please talk more about that au, villain Alfred is a guilty pleasure 🙏🏻

*sweats* You and me both! Oh man, where to begin. First of all, thanks for the interest! It means a lot. I can’t be concise, so I’m gonna put this under a huge ‘Keep Reading’ for whoever is interested. Like for real there is a whole ass essay below that cut. I left some stuff out cause it’s already a ridiculous length, but I got the gist of it.

Leave it to me to take a silly gag au and go completely off the rails with it. It’s honestly hilarious gg me.

This au takes place in some fake big city with dark synthwave-y aesthetics where the skies are constantly gray in the daytime from smog and pollution. Over the last ~20-30 years, Jones Enterprises has risen up as the most influential and powerful company in the United States, with their headquarters in (fake big city’s name). They have hands in many industries, spanning the manufacturing, retail, and technology spheres. Over the past 5 years, especially, they’ve seen massive, nearly unbelievable growth, and unfortunate events or sell-outs have conveniently fallen upon their competitors, allowing them to create monopolies in several industries. They also have the government in an iron grip and no one is willing to stand up to them for fear of the consequences. Most people mysteriously feel compelled not to confront them anyway, especially those who live closest to their headquarters.

Francis was an employee for Jones Enterprises’ main headquarters. He saw how overworked and underpaid his colleagues were. Bogged down by overwork in his first year, he eventually tried to get away with slacking as much as he could. After witnessing one of his close coworkers have a heart attack and almost die from the stress of working there, he changed gears and started speaking out on behalf of his colleagues. Some of his motivation came from feeling partially responsible for what happened, and he wanted to evoke positive change across the company instead. He tried time and time again to organize strikes after his attempts to organize a union were completely shattered. The turnout was very little in the beginning, and soon fizzled out to just him. He stubbornly pressed forward on his own anyway and was fired for it. Finding other work turned out to be impossible, his firing acting as an unemployment death sentence. It was not uncommon for employees fired from Jones Enterprises to be shunned from ever finding a decent job again, and Francis’s situation was even worse given the bad publicity he received from his strike attempts.

Ready to resort to desperate measures, Francis started seriously considering moving back in with his parents in France and figuring out a new plan. Jones Enterprises had gained significant influence in Europe too, so there wasn’t a guarantee he wouldn’t experience similar problems there.

Before he could buy a plane ticket, he was visited by Kiku Honda, a stranger with an unassuming appearance. Long story short, Kiku had come to the US with the alias as a simple tourist. His family was presently responsible for safekeeping a secret and powerful magical artifact with mysterious origins.

The artifact was one of two powerful stones, both of which were in existence since the beginning of mankind. These stones were antitheses of each other, representing and contributing to major moral conflicts throughout history. They were both drawn to chosen human hosts who were destined to face each other. The pink stone, which Kiku was in possession of, gained and gave magical power through love, equality, and hope/healing. It formed a positive, nurturing, non-invasive connection with its host, and gave them the power to protect and inspire hope in others. The other (purple) stone gained and gave magical power through greed, subjugation, and fear. It gave great wrath and influence to its host, whose powers would grow exponentially over time as the two stayed connected. This stone would physically embed itself in its host’s heart, eating away at their mind slowly to bring out the absolute worst in them and shave away at their morals and inhibitions, until they were nothing but a heartless monster. Tendrils would spread out from the stone throughout the host’s body, growing in size and number the longer they were connected.

Kiku had long suspected that the unnatural growth of Jones Enterprises was connected to the purple stone. He had gradually implanted connections in Jones Enterprises and had been monitoring the situation for clues of a potential host. The senior leadership of the company was very hard to crack, however, and the CEO had significantly limited his public appearances in recent years, but Kiku would not let it rest. Any of the higher ups in the company could be a candidate for suspicion. While investigating, he heard of and even saw some of Francis’s brazen attempts to challenge the seemingly invincible company. He was impressed with Francis’s ability to stand up to an insurmountable foe, especially given the influence of the mysterious compelling force that kept most others in the city silent. He wanted to get information from Francis about his experience at Jones Enterprises and to offer him an opportunity to rebuild his life for his bravery. The stone, which Kiku always kept on his person, ended up choosing and bonding with Francis to both of their surprise, and boom Magical Strike was born.

-----

Now onto Alfred and Arthur. Alfred is the son of the founder and CEO of Jones Enterprises and his ex-wife. His parents divorced when he was still a baby, and his father did not remarry. Alfred’s mom remarried right away and had another son, Matthew.

In his home life, Alfred often felt neglected and overlooked compared to Matthew, whom his mom and stepdad preferred and doted on. His birth father ignored him in favor of growing his company as well. This caused Alfred to act out at school and extracurricular activities, always overshadowing Matthew whenever possible and rubbing it in his face. He often got in trouble at home later for it. When Alfred got a little older, he frequently snuck out after these fights and went somewhere to be alone. One night, he walked down to the neighborhood park and saw another boy alone by the swings where he usually liked to go to mope. This boy was a few years older than him and muttering angrily to himself. Feeling a sort of weird camaraderie for this other pissed off dude, coupled with the fact he’d never seen him before and was curious, Alfred took the plunge and went over to talk to him. Alfred and Arthur’s first meeting was a little rocky, but the two quickly found themselves warming up to each other. Many coincidences found them meeting in the same park after a bad day, and the two eventually bonded and made a thing of it. Alfred found that with Arthur he could open up and be more authentic than he let himself be with his other friends.

By the time he hit high school, Alfred emotionally detached himself from his mom/stepdad, and tried to be a little nicer to Matthew, although their relationship was never close. He and Arthur still met often outside of school, and Alfred tried to reach out to him at school too, but Arthur limited those interactions due to his unfavorable status as an irritable loner. Alfred continued to seek out other people’s attention, forming a ton of superficial friendships with his classmates. He became obsessed with being number one at everything he did and getting everyone to like him to patch up his residual feelings of loneliness and inadequacy, and also to hopefully impress Arthur, whom he secretly had a crush on. Excelling in his sports clubs, and even skipping a grade in his academics, Alfred felt like things would be okay if they kept going the way they were.

Then Arthur abruptly confided halfway into Alfred’s freshman year that he was moving back to England that year after he graduated for family reasons. Alfred didn’t take the news well, and when the time came for Arthur to leave, it hit Alfred hard. They promised they’d keep in touch via phone and online, but that did little to comfort him and his other shallow friendships often made him feel worse. The feelings of loneliness and inadequacy returned tenfold. It was around this time that Alfred was contacted for the first time by his birth father in years, asking to meet and catch up. Alfred readily accepted, not taking a moment to think it through in his low emotional state.

Alfred’s dad was getting into some weird shit since the divorce. He’d been putting obsessive efforts into expanding his company, making strategic partnerships, attending all kinds of rich, bougie events for networking purposes, and exploiting his workers to maximize profits. Despite his efforts, his returns were decreasing and the existence of some key new competitors put him in a tough spot for future growth. When conventional methods didn’t appear to be making any progress, Alfred’s father started hanging around some wealthy, sketchy social circles. It’s through a series of events with these groups that he learned of and obtained the purple stone. After seeing it reject and devour an unfit host before his eyes, he decided he was in desperate need of its supposed power, but he couldn’t risk using it on himself in the case he was judged to be unfit. He had to use it on someone inconsequential if things went wrong, but at the same time malleable, so he could ensure they used the power to further his goals.

Alfred’s dad put on an act when Alfred arrived, making it seem like he wanted to bring Alfred back into his life, raise him up like he should have been doing all those years. Alfred soaked it up like a sponge, and his dad appeared to follow through on his promises, engaging with him and frequently making secret visits so they could spend quality time together. After a whole year of building Alfred’s trust, his dad was able to convince him to put the stone to his heart, assuring him that only he could do it and he trusted Alfred to make their company and the lives of so many people who depended on it great. The stone embedded itself in Alfred’s chest, causing him to pass out from the pain. When he woke up, still in one piece, his dad was able to calm him down and convince him to keep it a secret, even from the people he was closest to.

-----

Some other tidbits of info:

Arthur and Alfred did keep up communication after he left for England, and he considers Alfred his closest friend. Life got in the way plenty of times, though, and they couldn’t always keep up the most consistent communication. Still, they did what they could and were able to meet in person a few times even. Arthur obtained a degree in England and worked his first job there. But after that, he moved back to the states and got a job at Jones Enterprises, thrilled to surprise Alfred about it. They have a heartwarming reunion. Alfred, himself, graduated high school early, got accepted into an Ivy League college on a scholarship, received his degree in finance and business management due to his piece of shit dad’s wishes, and was being directed by his dad to start using his powers of influence on their competitors. At first, he justified to himself that the outcome would be good and that the competitors he was going after were bad people—which some of them definitely were—but over time, he found himself doing things he never would have before (to unhappy employees for example), caring less and less about the people that were impacted.

-----

So yeah, the main events take place about 10 years after Alfred becomes the host for the purple stone, having plenty of time to grow his power and lose himself to the stone’s influence in secret. When Francis makes his debut as Magical Strike, Alfred starts infusing some of Jones Enterprise’s key weapons tech with his magic and sending people after Francis, who is still learning his abilities. Then, in the latter half of this arc, Arthur becomes the main antagonist against Francis, having just scratched the surface of what’s really going on with Alfred and thinking (in denial) this will somehow help him. At the beginning of the second arc, there would be growing tension between Alfred and Arthur when Arthur can’t explain or keep excusing Alfred’s actions anymore. Alfred would lose control and almost hurt Arthur, whom he had taken the most care to hide his darker side from, which would cause Arthur to join forces with Francis, desperate to find a way to get the purple stone out of Alfred and save him somehow. Alfred mcfuckin loses it when he finds out.

#hi i'm al and i have a kink for mind control and betrayal followed by healing bye #my token chaotic evil alfred but it ain't his fault #there is so much angst in this au #but there's a positive leaning ending dw #francis: why do i hear boss music #like legit arthur's betrayal scene is imprinted in my head frame for frame #i wanna draw it but it would have to be a comic why do all my thoughts come in comic form why #magical strike au #al's aus

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passionate-reply · 3 years

Video

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Great Albums is back! This week, we’ll take a look at one of the greatest electronic albums of all time, Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine, and try to avoid getting sued by Ralf Huetter! Full transcript for the video can be found below the break. Enjoy!

Growing up, my main genre of choice was 80s synth-pop, and while the deep influence of Kraftwerk is as significant there as it is everywhere else in electronic music, I was one of those people who initially saw them as somewhat "intimidating." Today, moreso than ever, Kraftwerk are held up as one of those more high-brow or cerebral groups with a philosophy that transcends mere pop or dance music, which makes them seem respectable, a kind of “model minority” in the world of music outside rock. While I don’t buy into the judgmental quality of that sort of praise, which damns so many of Kraftwerk’s greatest fans and imitators, I did get the sense, as a child, that these hoity-toity Germans, working with primitive equipment way back in the 1970s, might not be what I was looking for in a new favourite band. That was before I heard The Man-Machine.

While it’s certainly true that Kraftwerk were a highly experimental band in their own time, they’re one of those acts whose ideas have deeply permeated contemporary music, to the point where their actual work is extremely approachable and listenable to today’s ears. Of all the fairly early electronic acts, who started making this kind of music before it began to become mainstream in the late 70s, Kraftwerk are almost certainly the ones people nowadays listen to for pleasure the most, and that’s no accident. While their earlier albums like Trans-Europe Express took more overt inspiration from classical music, The Man-Machine was their first great foray into the arena of pop, which I think is key to why it resonates with people. For evidence of that, look no further than the biggest mainstream hit of Kraftwerk’s career, “The Model.”

I think it’s easy to see why “The Model'' became a hit single. Sure, it may not have the most traditional pop song structure, let alone instrumentation, but unlike a lot of what Kraftwerk had done before, it’s got a lot of lyrics and a real sense of narrative. Plus, that narrative we get is about a person and not a machine--a good-looking person, in whom the narrator is sexually interested. It’s the perfect pop material. Of course, I would be remiss to mention that “The Model” didn’t achieve all of its success until the single was re-released in many markets in 1981, and in those few years, the idea of “synth-pop” advanced significantly in the charts and popular consciousness. By the time “The Model” was a hit, Kraftwerk admirers were already taking over: look no further than Gary Numan’s "Cars” or OMD’s "Enola Gay,” two synth-pop classics that, it must be said, are still about vehicles!

That aside, though, not everything on The Man-Machine sounds like “The Model”--in fact, it’s surrounded by tracks that have much more in common with Kraftwerk’s earlier LPs. Literally surrounded, in the track listing. I think that adds to this album’s appeal as an ideal entry point into their catalogue: it has some things that sound familiar, while also preparing you for what else you’ll encounter if you choose to probe deeper into the band. The Man-Machine has the least homogeneous profile of any Kraftwerk album. While most of their other classic albums are highly cohesive “song cycles” that almost blend into one long song when you listen to them in full, The Man-Machine doesn’t really have those repeated melodies and motifs that tie its tracks together. While many people, especially fans of psychedelic and progressive rock, really like those cohesive albums, I think this change is a welcome one. It gives the individual tracks a bit more room to breathe and express distinctive identities, and makes the album feel a bit more pop, even if the material itself isn’t always all that poppy. *The Man-Machine* actually only has six individual tracks; they range in length from the three-minute pop stylings of “The Model” to the urban sprawl of “Neon Lights,” which luxuriates in an almost nine-minute runtime.

Given that the average track length is around six minutes, I’m almost tempted to think of The Man-Machine as six tiny Kraftwerk albums, or at least, musical ideas that could have been expanded into full LPs in another universe. “Neon Lights” and “Spacelab” feel dreamy and easy-going, with floating melodies that draw from the “cosmic music” scene, one of the many emergent styles that began as something uniquely German and spread throughout the world--in this case, becoming an important forerunner to ambient electronic music through acts like Tangerine Dream. Meanwhile, the hard, tick-tocking rhythms of “Metropolis” and the title track point to the newfound focus on rhythm and the so-called motorik beat that made the music of Neu! so compelling.

The Man-Machine can serve not only as an introduction to Kraftwerk, but also as a sort of crash course in this entire period of electronic music, showcasing some of the most distinctive and influential features of the German scene, as well as the shape of synth-pop to come. It’s a complex and busy historical moment with huge ramifications for almost all of subsequent electronic music, and The Man-Machine really creates a microcosm of that whole environment. There’s also the fact that each side of the record has one track from each of my three broad groups, like an expertly-designed sushi platter or charcuterie board for us to sample from, and they both follow the same formula: a pop appetizer, a cosmic *entree,* and motorik for dessert.

*The Man-Machine* also has what is almost certainly the most iconic cover of any of Kraftwerk’s LPs. This is how lots of us still picture them in our minds, and it’s inspired tons of parodies and riffs over the years. I think all of that acclaim is deserved! Emil Schult’s graphic design for the album was heavily inspired by avant-garde Soviet artists of the 10s and 20s, chiefly El Lissitzky. These visual artists used their art to express their hope for a new world, defined by the promise of technology, and their literally revolutionary philosophy--so what could be a better match for Kraftwerk’s electronic revolution in music? Lissitzky used bright, primary colours, straight lines, and geometric shapes to convey the “built environment” of modern cities and man-made architecture, and you’ve got all the same sentiment on display here. The use of strong diagonals really draws the eye and lends this image a lot of continued visual interest. It’s also worth noting the extent to which Kraftwerk’s aesthetics inspired later electronic acts almost as powerfully as their sound. When you picture an electronic band, and get a mental image of stiff and stone-faced musicians behind synthesisers wearing shirts and ties, you can certainly thank Kraftwerk for that, as well.

I also love the title of The Man-Machine! The relationship between people and technology is one of, if not the, most central themes in Kraftwerk’s entire discography, which is full of references to anthropomorphic machines as well as mechanically-mediated humans. The particular choice of the phrase “man-machine,” as opposed to words like “android,” has a fun vintage flair to it, which matches the use of early 20th Century visual art quite nicely.

As might be expected from the album’s stylistic diversity, *The Man-Machine* would prove to be something of a transition point in Kraftwerk’s career. Their 1981 follow-up, Computer World, would return to the song cycle format, but with increasing emphasis on ideas from the pop sphere, championed by percussionist Karl Bartos. By the time of the last classic-lineup Kraftwerk LP, 1986’s Electric Cafe, they had not only amped up the pop, but also incorporated influence from the electronic dance music of the time. Ultimately, Bartos would leave the group, chiefly due to discontent with his treatment by founding members Ralf Huetter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, and their persistent lack of musical productivity.

On a somewhat lighter note, my personal favourite track on this album is its opener, “The Robots.” Per my typology from earlier, I classified this as a pop-oriented song, and it certainly is an approachable one that’s proven to be quite popular. But it’s got just enough more experimental touches to keep things quite interesting. From an ominous, dissonant intro, a slightly more pop form, hinting at a verse/chorus structure, soon emerges and contrasts. I love the groove of the rhythm and percussion here, as well as the very heavy vocoder, rich in texture and certainly a Kraftwerk staple.

While the lyrics can be read as sort of light and silly, I like to think that the robots in question might also be dangerous. The track “Metropolis” seems to reference the seminal 1927 silent film of the same name, which is famous for its portrayal of an evil, mechanical doppelganger. Likewise, the choice to translate the lyrics of the song’s interlude into Russian is likely inspired by another great work of art from this era: the stage play R.U.R.--Rossum’s Universal Robots. Written by Karel Čapek in 1922, it’s the progenitor of the “robot revolution” trope in science fiction, the source of the word “robot” for autonomous machines in almost every human language, and one of the first entries in the illustrious career of an author who helped make Czech a true literary language. While the titular robots take time to assure us that they’re programmed to do what we humans want, should we really trust them...?

#music #kraftwerk #great albums

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wade10zhang · 3 years

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HP. Plinker Good turn

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thegold59 · 4 years

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Swedish Empiricism in the COVID-19 struggle: Eccentricity or Enlightenment?

Sweden, what gives? We’re right in the throes of the most dangerous and scary pandemic since 1968. Yes, everyone, don’t forget “Hong Kong” flu which killed a million people in 1968, though dwarfed by the 50-100,000,000 people killed in 1918-1920’s “Spanish” flu pandemic. Noting by the way that only fools these days insist on using “national” origin titles for epidemics. So this is definitely not Wuhan disease. With those forebears, why don’t you take all of this carnage a little more seriously? Were you asleep for Ebola (2014-2016) as well? We’re all in lock down now (well, mostly), while you seem to be sauntering and sashaying along with what appears to be blissful Scandinavian insouciance. So, again, Sweden, what gives?

As of today, 6th April 2020, barely four months into this COVID-19 cataclysm, we have 51,608 people infected in the UK (based solely on hospital screening) and have seen 5,373 deaths. Both figures are unfortunately likely to rise very substantially while also being seriously inaccurate - on the one hand, only screening the sickest in a situation where we know 25% of people who interact with the virus have no symptoms means that probably for every one person screened under current circumstances in the UK, there are 99 others with the virus. And on the other hand, with the deaths, well, there are about 15,000 deaths per week in the UK from a wide variety of causes, so the much smaller number of true COVID-19 deaths will be hard to take account of. Indeed, dying WITH not OF COVID-19 is how it is officially described.

In Sweden, again, on 6th April 2020, there have been 7,206 people who have screened positive for the virus, and 477 deaths with it. When you adjust for the population difference between the two countries (66 millions versus 10 millions, approximately), there is not so great a difference between us. In both countries, field hospitals are being constructed to cope with additional patients requiring medical attention. Mortuaries are being primed to respond.

In the UK we now have unprecedented measures being taken to restrict our ability to live, move, work and play. We have to work at home, if at all possible. We must keep a “social distancing” distance between us - 2 metres is currently much in vogue it seems. We can only go out of our houses once a day, for a heavily prescribed list of activities. Pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants were all closed over a fortnight ago.

These UK measures were rushed into being following a lightening policy volte face - from “herd immunity” being the previously preferred approach. On March 13th 2020 it was said that “if the risks of COVID-19 were not too high, it would technically be possible to bring about herd immunity by allowing the disease to run rampant through a population”. By 25th March we had arrived at the implementation of an set of extreme measures of mitigation, following some population outcome modelling by Imperial College London academics published on 16th March 2020: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf. See diagram 1.

To have achieved herd immunity, each infected person must, on average, infect less than one person when averaged out. Once the transmission rate drops below one, a community can be thought of as having achieved herd immunity. That won’t stop each and every case, but it will prevent the disease from spreading indefinitely. Many of our lessons on herd immunity come from the measles, because it's so contagious. The more infectious a disease is, the more people who need to be immune to reach herd immunity. One person with measles, for instance, could infect up to 18 other people in a susceptible population. To get that transmission rate all the way down to less than one, almost everyone in the population needs to act as a buffer between an infected person and a new potential host. That’s why measles needs such a high rate of herd immunity—around 95 percent. Research so far suggests that the coronavirus has a much lower infection rate than measles, with each infected person passing it on to two or three new people, on average. This means that herd immunity should be achieved when around 60 percent of the population becomes immune to COVID-19.

In France, by the way, the impositions (following their own similar projections) have been even more draconian, with official certification needed to explain one’s presence outdoors, and extensive fines for those flouting these rules. Many other countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Americas have seen similar serious erosion of civil liberties, often but not always underpinned by some enabling legislation, and enforced by the police and other authorities. In China, Russia, and other totalitarian dictatorships, artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and state surveillance have been retooled and repurposed. The negative impact on the global economy of these measures will be at least as great as that of the Great Depression of 1929. It may spell the end of the Euro-zone. The eye-watering debt levels of some countries already thoroughly beggared by debt (step forwards and take a bow, Italy, France, Japan, USA) will at best take many generations to pay off.

So, is the remarkable battery of criticism leveled against Sweden actually justified right now? And how much of an outlier really are they?

Sweden is suddenly a punching bag on social media, and indeed, perhaps in a more balanced fashion, in much of the more mainstream press and commentaries. What did the normally placid, reliable, Swedes do to so torment the Twitter sphere and provoke the press?

Sweden, unlike its European neighbours and (by now) most US states, has declined to take a hard-line approach to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Instead of instituting mass shutdowns and ramping up policing, Sweden has responded with a far lighter touch. Note - it HAS done many things, but, it has not (yet) gone as far as many other nations have. Mind you, we should be careful of straying too far into economic forecasting: When JK Galbraith (author of a bestselling book on the Wall Street crash of 1929) observed that 'the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable', he was using humour to make the point that economics is not a science. Epidemiology is somewhat more deeply rooted than that.

People in this Swedish nation of 10 million still visit libraries and pools, which remain open. People can be found sipping IPAs in restaurants and bars, though public gatherings are now limited to 50 people (down from 500). Skiing in Åre is now prohibited. Children still get up and go to elementary schools in the morning, although students over 16 have been encouraged to school at home, and Universities are shut. The government has also asked people to wash their hands frequently, encouraged remote work, asked people to keep apart from one another - no distance specified, and such an exhortation is as necessary in Sweden as would be instructions to eat pasta in Italy, or drink red wine in France! Finally, people who are over 70 have been asked to self-isolate, and people of all ages have been asked to self-isolate if they feel ill. Asked. Not told, ordered, instructed. Asked.

Essentially, instead of closing its economy, national leaders have asked its citizens to limit the spread of COVID-19 another way: by taking responsibility for their own actions, and help support their fellow citizens and the state in its battle.

"There are a few critical times in life when you must make sacrifices, not just for your own sake, but also for those around you, for your fellow human beings and for our country. That time is now," Prime Minister Stefan Löfven urged his people at the end of March 2020.

Needless to say, Sweden’s approach to the coronavirus has created a bit of stir. After all, the world’s economy has largely been crushed by government shutdowns and tens of millions have been put out of work. Who are these Swedes to think they know a better way? Arrogant? Foolish? Dancing their way towards death?

Which brings us back to Twitter. In recent days, influencers have begun to assert that Sweden is receiving its comeuppance. A case of premature schadenfreude from my perspective. Maybe there’s a club or self-help group for that?

“Sweden took a laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 while their neighbours shut down public life and sealed the borders,” one Manhattan Institute scholar observed on Twitter. “It looks like we're finally seeing the results.” [this comment tweeted just as the immense and growing impact of COVID-19 on the USA has become all too apparent]:

Data guru Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of the influential statistics site FiveThirtyEight, also claimed that Sweden was “paying the price” for its laissez-faire approach to the coronavirus.

Sweden took a laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 while their neighbours shut down public life and sealed the borders. It looks like we're finally seeing the results. (Graph is cumulative deaths: Sweden yellow, Denmark red, Norway blue; screenshot from /r/Denmark) pic.twitter.com/Jg1qfqo1Ei

— Connor Harris (@cmhrrs) March 30, 2020

Three European countries that took a laissez-faire, "herd immunity' approach to coronavirus early on, the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden, are paying the price for it. They reported, respectively, 563, 134 and 59 deaths today. https://t.co/9fFIJJjqhz

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 1, 2020

Sweden’s gambit was naturally going to invite reproach, re-probation and recrimination from an audience primed to cast stones. Humans may say they value non-conformity, but Voltaire was probably right when he observed the world does not.

“Our wretched species,” the noted French philosopher wrote, “is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”

But do the data actually support the conclusion that Sweden’s leaders are getting people killed by not enforcing mass lock-downs? For now, that remains unclear, but there is no convincing evidence I can find to make that charge stick.

Now, any serious discussion on COVID-19 should be prefaced by noting that the data we have right now are incomplete, fluid, and mortally flawed. That said, bakers must use the ingredients they have. And right now, the data show that Sweden has one of the better infection fatality rates in Europe.

First, it makes little sense simply to compare aggregate deaths in Sweden to those in Denmark, Finland, and Norway, since Sweden has nearly double the population of those three countries. If we look at per capita figures*, we’ll see that Sweden currently has a death/1M population rate of 40/1M. (This means that, according to the best data we have, Sweden has suffered around 40 deaths for every one million residents - the UK rate today is about 55/M).

That rate is indeed higher than Denmark, Norway and Finland, which have rates of 24/1M, 11/1M, and 6/1M respectively, some of the best in Europe. However, data also show that Sweden’s fatality rate is actually much better than many of its European neighbors, including: France (100/1M), Switzerland (68/1M), Spain 234/1M, Italy (243/1M), Belgium (99/1M), the Netherlands (87/1M), the UK (55/1M), and Luxembourg (50/1M) - all based on 3rd or 4th April data.

In his tweet, Silver compared Sweden (and the UK and the Netherlands) to the USA, which at that time had one of the better fatality rates in the world (21/1M). The US of course started late to the party but is galloping ahead as fast as it possibly can to become “America First” in terms of total cases, and overall fatalities. He also conveniently leaves out nations such as Belgium, France, Spain, and of course Italy—which have some of the worst fatality rates in the world and were also among the first to go into lock-down to try to counter the melee-inducing miasma.

At present, it is fair to say that there’s not yet sufficient evidence to say that Sweden’s laissez-faire approach has been a failure. Or that it has been a success. We need three more months to pass by before we can see how this played out. We are unlikely to know the results of Sweden’s experiment—encouraging social responsibility instead of issuing government threats and force—for 12 weeks, if not longer. It’s possible the experiment will be a total disaster and cost many lives. It’s possible, perhaps even likely if deaths continue to rise, that Swedish political leaders will lose faith in the approach, and institute a more hard-line approach

However, the longer life in Sweden remains relatively normal—kids in schools, adults in pubs, an economy pumping on most cylinders while people take sensible precautions—without an explosion of deaths akin to those witnessed in Italy and Spain, the more we should be encouraged by, and supportive of, Sweden, not angrily and petulantly dismissive of its “temerity” and “naivity” in thinking for itself. Anders Tegnell - the State Epidemiologist - has been strongly identified with the current policies - a God-like figure in Sweden, revered and respected in a way no current politician could be. Graffiti currently show this ripely comedic phrase: All makt åt Tegnell, vår befriare. And politicians follow his advice to the letter, at least so far they have done, in part because of the complexities of the Swedish constitution meaning ruling by decree is hard to achieve, and also because of the consensus-driven coalition politics. Of course, there are other opinions, and substantial academic push-back has occurred in Sweden against the Tegnell approach.

Sweden has 10 million people, it is a huge country geographically (at 450,295 km² Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area), with only a few major areas of population density (Malmo, Goteborg and Stockholm) – see Diagram 2 below, displaying population density and travel hub data.

People tend to be calm, measured, thoughtful and “obedient” in terms of reasonable requests by authorities; others might say they are also complacent, with a stable society and economy they have grown comfortable with, and accustomed to. Swedes tend to trust central government (they can rightly be healthily skeptical) rather than reject information automatically. Over 50% of Swedish households are single member ones. Most Swedes move out of the parental home aged 18-20 years of age. They embrace national identity numbers, novel technological approaches to commerce (cash largely being replaced by “Swish”-ing money between accounts), and have been in the forefront of voluntary micro-chipping (Evolution, Revolution, and the New Man: An ethnographic investigation into the constitution of the body and the self among microchipping communities in Sweden. Orlowski EJW. MSc Thesis, UCL, 2019 https://ejworlowski.com/). They have not been at war since 1814. Their last insurrection resulted in just 5 deaths, in 1931 (https://libcom.org/history/adalen-shootings-sweden-1931). If ever there were a reasonably ideal set-up to try to encourage not enforce societal changes, then Sweden is that place.

At its simplest, the major reason for the widespread “panic” measures to “shift the curve” in so many countries is the desperation of knowing that there are not enough hospital beds, ventilators, nurses and doctors to cope with a surge of people with virally-induced respiratory collapse (as clearly shown in the diagram). There's really no excuse for that lamentable, criminal, lack of preparedness. If in Sweden their local projections do not show this potential outcome, then avoiding a heavy-handed and largely economically-irreversible intervention designed to shift the curve seems only prudent. Moreover, as there is no current anti-viral medicine, no matter how much special advocacy we may hear from Professor Trump, and no vaccine for at least 18 months. Thus we need to understand that only nature can currently inoculate the population which brings us right back to the “herd immunity” concept we discussed earlier on. As the case fatality rate will likely emerge to be 0.5% (1 in 200 infections) by the end of the year, this natural immunity can likely safely be achieved by natural exposure without massive mortality ensuing. Imposing draconian lock-downs is one thing, but removing them (a “way out”) is highly vexed, without knowing reliably who is infected, infectious or immune. We cannot do that right now. Tegnell rightly says this is the difference between the tortoise (Sweden) and the hare (most of the rest of us) - this virus will spread into the population, and we will become immune (at least to this strain of the virus) - this will happen everywhere, maybe sooner, maybe later. But the economic devastation will not be the same. In the fable, the tortoise won the race while the hare ended up as a Winter stew.

If such a scenario does come to pass, that Sweden’s more measured approach is shown to be successful, then it should also precipitate some serious soul searching elsewhere. Why was the world so quick to employ force and the threat of force to impose mass shutdowns? Bold actions, yes, with the siren call to be seen to be doing something significant, but sometimes fools rush in where angels fear to tread. No plan survives contact with the enemy was the advice of the great German miltiary leader Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (Paraphrased in The Swordbearers : Studies in Supreme Command in the First World War (1963) by Correlli Barnett, p. 35) - apposite, as politicians – few of whom have ever served at the front line of more than a coffee chain - the world over currently vie with one another to use military metaphors to characterise their efforts.

There’s a tendency to believe that free markets and cooperation work, except in difficult or “complex” situations that call for more assertive means (code for a reflex instinctive authoritarian grab of liberties and rights). Leonard Edward Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, which was one of the first modern libertarian institutions of its kind in the United States, saw flaws in such thinking.

“The more complex the economy, society, or situation”, Read observed, “the more we should rely on the miraculous, self-adapting processes of men acting freely.”

Sweden has set out on a bespoke calibrated response path, as is its inalienable right as a sovereign nation. It is different from some other nations. This is not to my knowledge a competition, nor some sort of deathathon. There are specific reasons for their choices which can be justified, and should be defended. We should wish Sweden well, as we would want them to wish us well in our own different national struggles against this common malevolent foe.

David Goldsmith, MD, London 6th April 2020

Acknowledgements:

(1) Eric Orlowski, London

(2) This blog post is based on the articles https://fee.org/articles/could-sweden-s-laissez-faire-approach-to-the-coronavirus-actually-work/ and

(3) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/03/uk-backed-off-on-herd-immunity-to-beat-coronavirus-we-need-it/

3113 Words

#covidー19 #covid2019 #sweden #sverige #anders tegnell #great britain #imperial college london

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stephrod003 · 4 years

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Profile: The Intellectual Father of the New Right: Olavo De Carvalho

Photo Credit: Mauro Ventura: Carvalho sits as his desk posing for the camera

It’s a warm summer day in Dinwiddie Country, Virginia where seventy-two year old, Olavo de Carvalho makes his way to his desk, lights his signature pipe, and begins his duty to craft his hundreds of videos regarding rightwing propaganda that helped propel Brazil’s current president, Jair Bolsanaro to victory. (Wikipedia, 2016). With a little over 800k subscribes to his YouTube Channel, Carvalho has started to make a name for himself both within his home country Brazil, and the country he now calls home, the United States. His impact on Brazil’ media landscape has been so large, The Washington Post has coined him as, “The Rush Limbaugh of Brazil.

Early Professional Career

Carvalho began his professional career as a journalist where he enjoyed to write about subjects pertaining to philosophy, astronomy, and literature.(Wikipedia, 2019). Further into his career, Carvalho went on to write for famous news publications such as, O’ Globo before he created his own personal blog where he then had the freedom to express his personal viewpoints surrounding topics of anti-communist ideology, racisms and homophobia, and his skepticism surrounding climate change. (The Washington Post, 2019)

With the rise of the Workers Party within Brazil, especially then incoming president , Luis del Silva, Carvalho felt his viewpoints were not longer represented and/or respected within Brazilian society. His move to America marked a rebirth within his ideologies of what a true democracy consisted of- he states in the Washington post article:

“I have lived for six years in this country, and here I am treated with an affection and understanding that no Brazilian . . . ever enjoyed in his own country,” Carvalho wrote in 2011. “Good neighborhood is not an advertising slogan. It is a living reality. It is an American institution.” ( The Washington Post, 2019).

Interestingly enough, I would argue that the move from Brazil to the United States not only gave Carvalho the freedom to express his ideas without persecution from his home country, but it also opened his eyes to American democracy and perhaps, fueled his own distaste for democracy and the media within Brazil. With a new location and rising right-wing ideology, it was only time before the rise of “Olvaismo” took shape and influenced Brazil’s media landscape just in time to propel Jair Bolsanaro political campaign to victory.

Carvalho sits at his desk smoking one of his famous pipes. Credit: Flickr

Carvalho rise to Fame: Becoming Jair Bolsanaro Media Guru:

“Greatest living Brazilian philosopher,” Eduardo Bolsonaro tweeted of his “Prof.” ( The Washington Post, 2019)

The quote above is in reference to current Brazilian president, Jair Bolsanaro , more specifically his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro who was one of the earliest Bolsonaro’s to draw the audience attention towards Carvalho anti-establishment ideology. As the Workers Party slowly started to crumble due to corruption scandals within the establishment, Carvalho took this opportunity to jump-start his YouTube channel, which slowly started to gain more virality within the political sphere in Brazil. However, an important question i asked myself when researching about the “famous Rush Limabugh of Brazil”, how exactly did he rise to power and influence so many?

In an NYT article titled, "How YouTube Radicalized Brazil," authors Max Fisher and Amanda Taub found factual evidence that connects both computer algorithms within YouTube to rightwing ideology. YouTube's search and recommendation systems appeared to divert users to far-right and conspiracy channels systemically. Many of the videos circulated reverted to Carvalho's famous YouTube channel, where he showcased his rightwing ideology. Topics ranging from the role "elite media" is playing within Brazil's political sphere, to how AIDS is only a disease that is spread through "homosexual activity." While some of these examples may seem incredibly delusional and far-fetched, these ideas are not too far from the current political ideology possessed by Brazil's current president, Bolsonaro.

Carvalho sits next to Brazil president, Jair Bolsonaro during one of his international visits to the U.S. Photo credit: Flickr

With the information available regarding Carvalho's influence amongst a broad audience, I would argue that by doing so, Carvalho portrays himself as a rightwing populist. As defined by Kaltwasser and Mudde, characteristics of a rightwing populist can exemplify himself or herself through their distrust within institutions. ( Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017). In an interview with Epoch Times, Carvalho depicted the Workers Party as "Communist governments that control all media, university, and cultural institutions. ( Epoch Times, 2018 )… he continued by stating, "The people have no channel to express their opinion..." (Epoch Times, 2018)

In this case, Carvalho is referencing his distrust amongst media and the government institutions that have persecuted him throughout his professional life in Brazil. Additionally, Carvalho positions himself as the "champion of the people" and "denounces the elites" by producing fear amongst the population regarding the media and government institutions. ( Waisbord, 2019. Pp 221).

“The Steve Bannon Backed Polemicist”

While it's true that Carvalho holds tremendous influence amongst thousands who watch and subscribe to these personal blogs and video channels, not everyone seems to be falling for Carvalho's rhetoric. In an article published by The Guardian by Latin American correspondent, Tom Phillips- Phillips writes about the animosity between two factions: Bolsonaro's sons and "Steve Bannon-backed polemicist" and a group of retired military chiefs led by Brazil's vice-president, Hamilton Mourao." ( Guardian, 2018.)

The tensions amongst both groups began when Bolsonaro shared one of Carvalho viral videos showcasing his gun collection, all the while praising the dictatorship of the military regime, which took power during the 1960s and ended in the '90s. This video infuriated Brazil's military establishment, leading Mourao to denounce the presidents and Carvalho rhetoric by stating, "Olvaho de Carvalho should stop meddling in Brazilian politics and return to his former career as an astrologer." ( Guardian, 2018).

Similarities between Steve Bannon and Carvalho:

How much influence can someone have on one of the highest-ranking political figures within their region? While much of this analysis focuses on Carvalho and Bolsonaro, there's a more prominent figure within the U.S political and media sphere, Steven Bannon.

Bannon is described as a troll through the online media community; however, most notably, he is known for his success within the Trump Campaign, particularly in understanding the space between what motivates an audience as well as the persuasion behind social media and rightwing ideology. ( Jutel, 2019.) Additionally, similarities between both Bannon and Carvalho revert to the idea of alt-right logic by viciously dehumanizing and obsessing over their enemies through forms of racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny. (Jutel, 2019). Most notably, both seem to not adhere to the norms of political and media decorum due to their lack of willingness to conform to the idea of "political correctness."

Bannon and Carvalho pose together. Credit: Flickr

It is no surprise that both seem to draw from each other's ideas. In the article previously referenced by The Washington Post, Steven Bannon praised the influential mastermind behind Bolsonaro's media campaign while also agreeing with his ideology behind the term "Cultural Marxism" to express his distaste for the Workers Party in Brazil. Currently, Bannon no longer serves as a significant influence for the president due to their downhill relationship. Perhaps, could this be the same fate for Carvalho and his relationship with Bolsonaro?

While there is no denying the influence Carvalho had on Jair Bolsonaro's political journey to the presidency- there was another interesting point that I came across in my research. Whether it is Carvalho from Brazil or Steve Bannon for the U.S, there always seems to be an individual or a movement that sets up shop within the root cause of far-right populist ideology within a country.

Carvalho looking off into the distance. Credit: Flickr

Today, Carvalho continues to influence thousands with his far-right ideology while enjoying his exile in his hometown of Dinwiddie country, Virginia. With an audience that continues to grow by the second, Carvalho exemplifies the characteristics of a right-wing populist that continues to make a lasting impression within Brazil's political climate for years to come.

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barbariansatthegates · 6 years

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What are your top 5 favorite time periods??

To keep the answers topic-related, I’m going to choose 5 narrow time periods all relating to the barbarian peoples featured on this blog. They’re in no particular order. You can probably tell that in general, my favorite time period is late Antiquity, since it contains within it the intersection of my favorite cultures and civilizations.

1. Visigothic Migration; 376 CE - 416 CE

The whole history of the Visigoths is really just compelling and tragic, largely due to their 40 years as refugees from the Hun invasion that tore apart Eastern Europe. It began with the flight of scores of Goths into the Empire in 376 and ended with the establishment of the Visigoths as foedus of the Western Empire in 416. The fact that the Visigothic migration period was recorded to be exactly 40 years may be an intentional allusion to the exodus of the Israelites under Moses, given that contemporary historians of the Goths like Cassiodorus and Jordanes were themselves Christian and a comparison between the Visigoths and God’s Chosen People would be a striking narrative. Regardless if the time span was intentional or not, the reality of their trials is extremely moving. Given no sympathy by the Romans and treated like chattel and cannon fodder, the Visigoths throughout this period nonetheless proved themselves to be a resilient people with charismatic leaders. If you’re a fan of underdog stories, then the history of the Visigoths is really the right history for you.

2. Scythia; 6th c BCE

This century was the most influential stage in their history in terms of securing Scythian power and also reputation across Asia Minor. Many beautiful Scythian artifacts highlighting their unique style arise from this time period– later artifacts tend to be more Greek-influenced in both their motifs and their manufacture. That’s not a bad thing (the fusion of Scythian and Greek artistic tastes is gorgeous) but I do appreciate the relative cultural “purity” of earlier Scythian objects. And of course I’d be remiss not to mention the most important event during this time period: Darius the Great’s attempted invasion of Scythia, which was repelled by the Scythians’ infuriatingly effective slash-and-burn tactic that ran down the Persians to exhaustion. The exchange (as told by Herodotus) between Darius I and King Idanthrysus is iconic. Darius I sent Idanthrysus a message basically attempting to bait him into open battle, by implying he was afraid of the Persian army and that’s why he didn’t come to battle. Idanthrysus gave a savage clapback:

“This is my way, Persian. I never fear men orfly from them. I have not done so in times past, nor doI now fly from you. There is nothing new or strange inwhat I do; I only follow my common mode of life inpeaceful years. Now I will tell you why I do not at oncejoin battle with you. We Scythians have neither townsnor cultivated lands, which might induce us, throughfear of their being taken or ravaged, to be in any hurryto fight with you.”

Which basically translates to: oh, this is a war? Could have fooled me.

3. Attila’s Reign; 434 CE - 453 CE

Duh. This is really low-hanging fruit for me, but anyone that’s been following this blog for long enough knows that Attila is not only my favorite barbarian ruler, but my favorite historical figure of all time. Attila’s reign was undoubtedly the peak of Hunnic power and society in Europe. The rise of the Huns wasn’t completely a one-man show, as many videos will have you believe (the Huns were already a major barbarian power before Attila, and they had been for over a century) but Attila was the one man to unify the disjointed Huns and he really is the central reason that the Huns have come down through history into the 21st century near mythologized in greatness– for better or for worse. Attila turned everything about the Huns that made them successful - their battle prowess, their political complexity, their ingenuity - and turned it up to 11. Of course, Attila’s life is interesting enough in its own right to warrant this time period being in my favorites, but the larger events during his reign and the ramifications of his reign make it that much better. For instance, the Western Empire collapsed when it did largely as a consequence of Hunnic domination (and the Huns’ own collapse) during these decades.

4. (Ostro)Gothic Expansion; 238 CE - 376 CE

Although the early expansion of the Goths wasn’t really a uniquely Ostrogothic thing (there wasn’t a clear distinction between the two major Gothic groups until 291), it was claimed by Theodoric the Great as largely having been orchestrated by the Ostrogothic ruling clan of the Amali; and, the latter part of this period was most definitely dominated by the Ostrogoths who had established a fairly substantial kingdom in Scythia until the arrival of the Huns. Gothic expansion is so interesting not only from a top-down military/political approach to history given the sheer number of battles, invasions, and general conflicts that took place as a result of Gothic activity, but it’s also important to understanding the formation of the Gothic identity itself. The history of the Goths prior to this period was largely overshadowed by the more-influential tribes in their area, i.e. the Dacian/Sarmatian groups. It wasn’t until the 3rd century that they got their big break. Although Gothic culture is very much rooted in the larger Germanic sphere, they marked themselves as something unique when they encountered the steppes. Kind of like how, arguably, American identity, culture, and ideals weren’t made completely unique until the frontier era, Gothic identity wouldn’t stand out until the Goths expanded into the steppes (their “frontier”) and absorbed some elements of steppe culture.

5. 5th c CE; The “Barbarization” of the Roman Empire

Not sure how much of a specific time period that this counts as, but I love studying the transition between Antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as the transformation of Roman culture and governance as a consequence of barbarian expansion/influence. This isn’t all contained in the 5th century, because it has roots going farther back and has echoes going further ahead, but nevertheless the 5th century is the century during which most of it happened. As an enthusiast of both Roman and barbarian culture (i.e. Germanic, Alanic, Hunnic, Scythian, Sarmatian, Celtic, etc.), I’m very tired of the insulated perspective on Roman history that many fans (and professional historians) of Roman culture have. Roman culture wasn’t togas and sandals and then suddenly barbarians invaded and they were forced to put on pants. It was a long process of change with a lot of nuance, although I still admittedly am a sucker for narratives about the degeneration of Roman integrity the likes of Edward Gibbon’s. As a person who’s inclined to like military/political history, the “barbarization” of the Roman Empire is also just teeming with intrigue.

Thanks for your ask, I hope that I was able to both explain myself properly and inspire some more interest in anyone that reads this.

#ask #barbarians #history #roman empire #the scythians #the sarmatians #the goths #the visigoths #the ostrogoths #the huns #the romans

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96thdayofrage · 3 years

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In the wake of the dramatic storming of the Capitol last week, a host of big media companies, including Facebook, Reddit, Pinterest, Twitch, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, have all taken measures against Donald Trump. Making the most headlines, however, was the decision of the president’s favorite medium, Twitter (1/8/21), to permanently suspend him “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

It’s difficult to argue that Trump did not repeatedly violate Twitter‘s rules against “threaten[ing] violence” and “glorification of violence,” justifying his ban. But we urgently need to rethink the power of these social media behemoths, because there are plenty of other examples where their enforcement of their rules has been arbitrary and non-transparent.

Whether one saw the assault on the halls of Congress as a coup attempt (e.g., Atlantic, 1/6/21; Buzzfeed News, 1/6/21; Guardian, 1/6/21), a “riot” (MSNBC, 1/10/21; Wall Street Journal, 1/12/21) or “protests” (Fox News, 1/7/21, 1/8/21), there is no doubt that Trump did incite the crowd to invade the seat of government. Instructing his followers to “fight like hell” to stop a “stolen election,” he insisted: “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

The media reaction to the social media ban was varied. Writing in tech publication ZDNet (1/7/21), Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols supported the decision. “The right to free speech doesn’t give you the right to right to shout fraud in a fractured country,” he said. “Twitter should have suspended Trump’s account years ago,” wrote Sarah Manavis in the New Statesman (1/7/21):

For years the president has been allowed to tweet anything he wants, with deadly consequences…. The case for kicking one of its highest-profile users off the platform is self-evident.

Meanwhile, Chris Stevenson in the London Independent (1/11/21) argued that privately owned websites have every right to remove their services from users.

Jessica J. González, co-CEO of the media advocacy group Free Press (1/9/21) and co-founder of the anti-hate speech Change the Terms coalition, hailed the ban as a victory for media activism:

Twitter’s decision to permanently suspend Donald Trump is a victory for racial-justice advocates who have long condemned his continued abuse of the platform.

From the launch of his presidential campaign when he defamed Mexicans as rapists, criminals and drug dealers, to the desperate last gasps of his presidency as he has egged on white supremacists to commit violence and insurrection, Trump had used his Twitter account to incite violence, lie about the election outcome, encourage racists and spread conspiracy theories. He did not deserve a platform on Twitter, or on any other social or traditional media.

Others were not so heartened by the news. Writing in Politico (1/10/21), European Union official Thierry Breton worried:

The fact that a CEO can pull the plug on POTUS’s loudspeaker without any checks and balances is perplexing. It is not only confirmation of the power of these platforms, but it also displays deep weaknesses in the way our society is organized in the digital space.

National leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also characterized the move as a blow against free speech. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg (1/11/21) was in the middle, stating that tech giants were right to ban Trump, but worried about the “scary power” they were amassing.

Perhaps the most histrionic reaction came from Donald Trump Jr., who tweeted (1/9/21):

The world is laughing at America & Mao, Lenin, & Stalin are smiling. Big tech is able to censor the President? Free speech is dead & controlled by leftist overlords.

In reality, of course, actual, self-described leftist and Communist figures are routinely purged from the site. Twitter shut down virtually the entire Cuban state media apparatus in 2019, removed tens of thousands of accounts it claims were linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and has suspended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s account multiple times without explanation. These moves failed to elicit handwringing condemnations and essays on the nature of free speech, however.

With the power that he wields as president, Trump is undoubtedly the most belligerent user in Twitter history, using the platform to threaten genocide against Iran and threaten North Korea with “total destruction” (presumably nuclear in nature). So blatant were his violations of the site’s anti-violence rules that it had to craft new “public-interest exemptions” to justify not kicking him off. Although they couched their decisions in the language of free speech, the president’s wild proclamations were always a huge money spinner; Twitter lost $3.4 billion in market value overnight after announcing the ban last week.

While Trump’s actions clearly breached the company’s terms of service by not only calling for but producing violence, the affair brings up bigger questions about private ownership of public forums and the massive power social media giants like Facebook and Twitter hold over the public sphere. Sixty-eight percent of American adults use Facebook and 25% use Twitter. Both platforms are huge gateways and distributors of news around the world. Facebook is by a long way the most widely used news source in the United States, and both platforms have user bases far larger than the collective circulation of all daily US newspapers. They also give ordinary people the opportunity to share information and build communities, making them immensely important parts of the modern public square.

A free press is the cornerstone of any open, democratic society. But like it or not, in just a few short years, massive online companies have far surpassed the reach of legacy media outlets, with news generally being broken on Twitter before anywhere else. Companies like Google and Facebook have become monopolies by design, squeezing out or buying up the competition. There are no practical alternatives of any size to these behemoths, raising questions of whether they should be in private ownership at all, given their importance to the public discourse.

Western governments already exercise considerable control over the content of social media, but for their own interests, not ours. In 2018, Facebook announced it would be working closely with the Atlantic Council to help it curate its news feeds and stamp out false information (FAIR.org, 5/21/18). The Atlantic Council is a NATO cutout organization funded by the State Department and allied foreign governments. Its board of directors includes high-ranking Bush-era officials like Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, US military generals and no fewer than eight former CIA chiefs. When organizations such as these influence the most influential means of global communication, that is coming close to state censorship on a worldwide scale.

Meanwhile, in 2019, a senior Twitter executive was unmasked as an officer in the British Army’s psychological operations and online warfare division. Corporate media reacted with a collective yawn, the news covered by only one US outlet of any note (Newsweek, 10/1/19; see FAIR.org, 10/24/19)—a response that raises many troubling questions about the relationship between deep state and fourth estate. The journalist who covered the story resigned a few weeks later, citing stifling top-down censorship.

Perhaps this helps explain why the online media giants’ primary targets of censorship have always been the domestic left and foreign enemies of Washington. Facebook has shut down pages belonging to a myriad of anti-establishment groups, such as Occupy London and the anti-fascist No Unite the Right, while suspending those of alternative media like TeleSUR English and Venezuelanalysis.

Last year it also announced that, since President Trump had designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization, all posts presenting recently slain General Qassem Soleimani in a positive light would be immediately deleted across its platforms (Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.). “We operate under US sanctions laws, including those related to the US government’s designation of the IRGC and its leadership,” a company spokesperson said. Taking into account that Soleimani had a more than 80% domestic approval rating, this meant that one pronouncement from Trump effectively barred Iranians from sharing their overwhelmingly popular opinion online with each other.

Facebook has also deliberately changed its algorithm in an attempt to throttle traffic to left-wing news sites. Last year, the Wall Street Journal (10/16/20) reported that Mark Zuckerberg personally approved changes that would hit “left-leaning” political news sites harder than previously planned. Meanwhile, conservative and far-right commentators dominate the site, despite their constant and well-documented violations of the terms of service.

Twitter has also purged hundreds of thousands of Russian, Chinese, Turkish and Venezuelan accounts, while constantly suspending antiwar voices and publications. Like with Facebook, left-wing independent news site Venezuelanalysis is a favorite target.

Private companies probably should not be hosting the largest online forums. However, if they do, there need to be transparent and enforced rules in place to deal with grave breaches of conduct. In this sense, it was a prudent decision from social media companies to suspend or ban the president, who has flagrantly disregarded those rules for years.

However, Silicon Valley corporations are far from neutral moral arbiters, and have a history of abusing their power. In 2018, it took barely 24 hours for big tech companies to shift their ire from conservative conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to the left (FAIR.org, 8/22/18), deleting and suspending accounts with little rhyme or reason. Don’t expect this to be the last highly controversial censorship decision they make.

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loudlytransparenttrash · 7 years

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12 Wacky Things The Left Mistakes For Oppression

1. Black men are disproportionately being incarcerated

Maybe that’s because black men are disproportionately committing the most crime and murder? Despite making up just 13 percent of the population, blacks have been committing 52 percent of homicides in the United States for 30 years. In the other categories of violent crime such as rape, robbery and aggravated assault, blacks consistently committed a staggering disproportion of the total (40 percent while making up just 13 percent of the population) in 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010. The murder rate among blacks is similar to the rates in some of the most violent third-world nations. No other racial or ethnic group comes close. Note that for 20 to 24-year-olds, the murder rate committed by blacks (109.4/100,000) is 17 times higher than the rate for whites (6.4/100,000). Among 15 to 19-year-olds, it is over 20 times higher. The average for all ages is 13 times higher. The media have relentlessly fanned the flames of racial hatred while engaging in a systematic pattern of misinformation and blatant suppression of facts surrounding the perpetrators and victims of crime. As a result, so-called “criminal justice reform” is now being proposed to release a ton of black criminals from prisons, supposedly to “make amends” for the unjust “mass incarceration” of black men. The vast majority of blacks in prison are there because of violent crime and mostly against black people. Ordinary black people cannot afford to go along with the liberal agenda that calls for undermining police authority over black criminals, they are still criminals regardless of their skin color. That agenda only makes for more black crime victims. The black incarceration rate isn’t racism, it is simply a sad but accurate reflection of the horrific black crime rate. It’s your own fault.

2. Some women don’t have high paying jobs

These young women either have taken woke intersectional feminist genderqueer majors which resembles less of a qualification in anything useful and more of a retarded child’s participation certificate. Or they have actually chosen happiness and personal fulfilment over frantically comparing their wage slips to every man they meet. Despite the fact that young women flock to these pointless and low paying courses, young women are still earning more than young men after graduating. Girls are getting better grades from kindergarten to university, they are being accepted into college more, they are being handed grants and scholarships simply for being women, they take home 57 percent of university degrees and they are dominating in many STEM fields plus they are twice as likely to be hired. If there is a biased structure in play favoring one gender over another, women are not on the losing end. The problem we have is once women are hired, they usually lack the motivation, competitiveness and win-at-all-cost mindset it takes to rise up the corporate ladder. Women also tend to work less hours, they don’t want to do overtime, they don’t want to take their work home with them and if the job involves danger, difficulty or physical labor, regardless if it offers high wages, they will turn it down. Feminists only reference the highest paying males of Fortune 500 companies as evidence of their “oppression” but these men are examples of working 90 hour weeks and not having a life away from work and making the worst partners and parents imaginable. If you don’t want a family, you don’t want to study a real major, and you don’t want to work hard but you still want to blame “the patriarchy” when you are broke and miserable, it’s your own fault.

3. Islamophobia

Islamophobia is not a real thing, it’s just a term pushed by Islamists in order to export Islamic blasphemy laws to the West. This word is nothing more than a thought-terminating tool conceived in the bowels of the Muslim Brotherhood for the purpose of silencing critics. Every religion, ideology or idea is allowed to be subjected to criticism without turning those critics into people suffering from a phobia - except for Islam. Islamophobia is classic political correctness. You don’t have to deal with the substance of arguments against the oppression and human rights atrocities celebrated under this barbaric seventh-century ideology or the fundamentals within the Quran and Hadiths which are the driving force behind Islamic extremism, all you have to do is label critics a cluster of “Islamophobes” and the argument is over. As this lie prevails, we become infinitely more vulnerable to Islamic terrorism and sickening Islamic practices because we are afraid to talk about them and it prevents us from being honest about the danger we are faced with. People have become too scared to report radicalization, police have become too scared to investigate mass Muslim rape gangs grooming and abusing young girls, women have become too scared to report their rape when it’s committed by a migrant. All because we don’t want to be “Islamophobic.” It requires that no one speak ill of Islam or say anything that might put a frown upon a Muslim, if so then we are accused of spreading hate and being responsible for radicalizing and pushing these Muslims to terrorism but in reality it’s to enforce Islamic blasphemy laws onto the West, easing us into getting used to Sharia law. Ten years ago we could never have imagined British citizens being sent to prison for writing a criticism of Islam on a personal social media account but today it is illegal blasphemy and we are now being arrested for it. Brushing off Islam’s primitive religious fundamentals and pretending they are harmless and cute all because the majority of those who believe in them aren’t white is not progressive, it is not being tolerant, it is being submissive and dumb. If you believe your backwards religion is beyond criticism and your beliefs can’t hold up to basic scrutiny, it’s your own fault.

4. Immigrants are being deported

No. Illegal immigrants are being deported. I know the left have popularized the crazy idea that once somebody illegally breaks into our home, they are to be rewarded with citizenship, protection and handouts but that’s not how immigration works, this is not the immigration you say our country was built on and you know it. This country was built on legal immigration, and the ones who made it through learned the language and assimilated while bringing a ton of jobs with them. Legal immigrants are as safe from ICE as the President so let’s stop pretending that every immigrant is living in fear. I read children of Italian immigrants from the 60′s are “scared” of being deported - give me a break and learn the difference between legal and illegal, fucking morons. When you break the law, you do not get rewarded, that is not progressivism, that is stupidity. Today’s scenario is 15 million illegals ridiculing those who played by the rules. Illegal immigrants should have no expectations that their lives here should be the same as those who are legal citizens. These people are here illegally, they are aliens, they are not “dreamers.” By lumping together illegal and legal immigrants, the “let them all stay” folks are vigorously trying to muddy the water so the actual issue, illegal immigration, gets lost in the process. Though people are waking up and are finally putting border security before caring about being called bigots. If you cheat the system, sneak into a country illegally and you get caught and your ass is sent back, it’s your own fault.

5. Women live in a “rape culture”

Feminists describe our society as a “rape culture” where violence against women is so normal, it’s invisible. Films, magazines, fashion, books, music, humor, even kids toys according to the feminist activists cooperate in conveying the message that women are there to be used, abused and exploited. Recently, rape culture theory has migrated from the lonely corners of the feminist sphere into the mainstream. Obama’s admin asserted that we need to combat campus rape by changing “a culture of passivity and tolerance in this country, which too often allows this type of violence to persist.” Tolerance for rape? Really? The 1 in 5 myth is just that. A myth. It comes from this 2007 Campus Sexual Assault study. In the study itself, the researchers make it clear that the research consisted of students from just two universities. There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S and the research was confined to just two of them. It was a basic online survey that took 15 minutes to complete, it was anonymous, no one’s claims were verified and any affirmative answer to questions such as “have you ever had sex while intoxicated” was marked as rape. Even the study authors have since come out and explicitly stated that it is “inappropriate” to use their survey to make the claim that 1 in 5 women are being raped. Even the nation’s largest and most influential anti-sexual violence organization rejects the idea that culture as opposed to the actions of individuals is responsible for rape. RAINN urged Obama’s White House to “remain focused on the true cause of the problem” and explained “In the last few years, there has been an unfortunate trend towards blaming “rape culture” for the extensive problem of sexual violence on campus. It is important not to lose sight of a simple fact: Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions of a small percentage of the community to commit a violent crime.” RAINN is especially critical of the idea that we need to focus on teaching boys not to rape, the hallmark of feminist activism. “No one would deny that we should teach boys to respect women. But by and large this is already happening. By the time men reach college, most students have been exposed to 18 years of prevention messages, in one form or another. The vast majority of men absorb these messages and view rape as the horrific crime that it is. So efforts to address rape need to focus on the very small portion of the population that has proven itself immune to years of prevention messages. They should not vilify the average guy.”

6. Nobody wants to have sex with trans people

These “transphobic” people aren’t gay. I’m sorry to break it to you but we know the difference between a woman and a guy in a wig and we know the difference between a man and a girl with a buzzcut. Mutilating what’s between your legs makes no difference either. No amount of repeating ‘it’s all just a silly social construct’ will change biological facts and the nature of human attraction. We all support your right to live your life in any way you please but you cannot expect everyone to just go along with what’s inside your head especially when it comes to preferring who we want to have sex with, because uh you know, that should always be our choice. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to feel that you are in the wrong body but this does not mean that people should feel obligated to have sex with the gender that you “feel” when all they see is the gender you are. You are not being discriminated against, people should be allowed to be as picky as they want when it comes to who’s dick they let inside of them. To be discriminated against, one needs to be denied something without a valid reason and it seems like having a cock hanging between your legs when a straight guy is expecting pussy is a whole lot of reason to not to have sex with you. Do we call gay men misogynists for not having sex with women? Do we call lesbians man-hatin… forget that one. I get it, you’re desperate for love, you’re desperate for affection, aren’t we all? But manipulating and shaming people into having sex with you is pretty fucked up. It’s not your fault that you suffer from dysphoria but if you believe it makes you entitled to shame people into having sex with you, it’s your own fault.

7. Women can’t walk alone at night without feeling scared

Name one person apart from maybe Thor who isn’t vulnerable to violent crime if they walk home alone at two in the morning. Men make up the large majority of all victims of violent crime, everything from threats to robbery, assault and murder so if anyone should feel afraid of walking alone at night, it’s guys. Except men aren’t being told the responsibility for their own safety falls to everyone else but themselves. The responsibility does not fall onto every man to keep you safe from your own actions, the responsibility remains with you and your decision to be stupid enough to put yourself in such a vulnerable situation. If a white man walks around at night alone and he gets robbed by a black person, would we say it’s every black person’s job to make sure it never happens again to another white person? Would we tell black children not to grow up to be robbers? So why do feminists insist on ‘reprogramming’ young boys and ‘rewiring their brains’ to teach them a crime they already know is wrong is wrong? Feminists instruct women to be scared and suspicious of every man that looks at them or they cross paths with but the idea that scary boogeymen are jumping out from behind bushes to rape women as they walk to their cars is a myth. Almost all rapes are committed by someone known to the victim so being scared and suspicious of random males on the street is an irrational and sexist paranoia perpetuated by feminism’s false rape statistics and anti-male campaigning. If you want to walk home alone late at night dressed like a slut, drunk and lacking all self-awareness, it’s your own fault.

8. Black people are shot by police officers

Let’s be clear, by far more whites are shot by police than blacks. Although I don’t pick and choose when to consider demographics so it’s true, black people are more likely to be shot but for the same reasons black people are more likely to be incarcerated, this comes directly back to the black crime rates we talked about earlier. When you commit the most crime, you are going to have the most confrontations with police and thanks to black culture’s anti-police and thug mentality, most young black people don’t know how to properly react to the police which is a recipe for disaster. Police don’t patrol black neighborhoods for the fun of it, they go where the most crime happens and the astronomical black crime rate warrants such police presence. In almost every case Black Lives Matter have rioted over, their martyr has either been armed, attacking the officer, ignoring demands or resisting arrest. Hands up don’t shoot is a myth. What’s also a myth is the idea that white police officers have declared open season on black innocents. How many white cops have been responsible for shooting a BLM darling? Practically none. Black and Hispanic police officers are more likely to fire a gun at blacks than white officers, these are facts. Police are also more likely to be killed by blacks than to kill unarmed blacks. In 2013 alone, 49,851 officers were assaulted with firearms, knives and other weapons. On average, 150 police officers have been killed in the line of duty every year. These include being shot, stabbed, strangled or beaten. Of the several hundred officers feloniously killed in the past decade, 46 percent of the perpetrators were black, despite them representing only 13 percent of the population. Do we call this a black war against the police? Blacks are 18.5 times more likely to shoot and kill a police officer than an unarmed black person being shot by an officer himself. If anyone’s life is consistently in danger, it’s the cops. If you commit crime, you attack a cop or you resist arrest, it’s your own fault.

9. The Pink Tax

Feminists say that they’re being discriminated against for being women because products advertised to women are sometimes more expensive than products advertised to men, even though they’re exactly the same product. So, if they’re exactly the same, then why the fuck aren’t you buying the cheaper option? These “pink” products and services are only more expensive because companies know women are the only ones gullible enough to pay for a pink razor with a naked goddess on it and believe it’s better than the boring cheap brown razor alternative next to it that men will buy. The same thing applies for health foods, they’re usually priced higher because they know creepy vegan people and health fanatics are dumb enough to fork out cash for sundried pumpkin seeds and cabbage juice. The same thing applies with make up and beauty products, you slap a label on them that tells us it hasn’t been tested on a pig and people are willing to pay triple the price. The same thing happens with sports team merchandise and clothing and footwear, men’s versions are usually more expensive than women’s because they know men are dumb enough to pay whatever it costs to wear their favorite team’s gear around. Women are not exclusive to this targeting, if you’re dumb enough to pay for the more expensive option then sellers will remain smart enough to continue to charge you for it. An even more ludicrous tantrum feminists are having is about women having to pay more for certain services. They complain how mistreated they are because women get charged more to get a hair cut, even though on average women have more fucking hair to wash, cut and dry and men aren’t exactly lining up to get highlights, curls and extensions now are they. Listen ladies, it’s not rocket science, it’s simple business that keeps our economy as one of the strongest in the world. As I said, if you’re dumb enough to pay for it then it’s your own fault.

10. Transgender suicides

People who become so convinced they are something they’re not and resort to mutilating their genitals and hormonal development to make what’s inside their minds a reality have mental health issues? Who’d thunk!? Again, this is what happens when we pretend this is normal behavior and go along with it, we pump them with drugs and cut their tits off instead of actually helping them deal with their mental disorder in a humane and responsible manner. If someone came to a doctor and asked him to cut off a perfectly healthy arm because it just felt “wrong” for the arm to be there, should the doctor do it? This isn’t an idle question because this does happen with a mental illness called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). People who have it feel as if they’re not supposed to have a certain body part, like an arm or leg. Doctors won’t remove a healthy body part, so some of these poor deluded people crush, mangle, burn, or otherwise deliberately destroy their own arms or legs in order to get a surgeon to slice them off. This raises a question: Are surgeons who refuse to remove healthy limbs from people with BIID doing them a service because they’re mentally ill or are they denying them their civil rights? Is BIID going to be the next mental disorder we are shamed into normalizing and accepting? When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London’s Portman Clinic, 70%-80% of them spontaneously lost those feelings. Imagine removing your genitals and realizing that it didn’t make any difference or worse yet, that it was a HUGE MISTAKE. Nobody wants to talk about the suicide and depression of trans people once they have realized it was all a mistake. Nobody is denying that transgendered people face a high risk of suicide, but it’s not because people aren’t using the correct pronouns, it’s because they are suffering from a mental disorder so for as long as we enable their suicide and depression by hacking their bodies and filling them with drugs instead of providing real and effective help, it’s your own fault.

11. Blacks still waiting for slavery reparations

Black Africans and Arabs were responsible for enslaving the ancestors of African Americans and most people around the world including white people. Only 6 percent of African slaves were taken to North America, most slave imports were overwhelmingly taken to South America and the Caribbean. In 1830 there were almost 4000 black people who owned around 13 thousand black slaves. Are reparations to be paid by the descendants of Africans, South Americans and Arabs too? Or are we just going to keep pretending whites are to blame for slavery? Only a tiny fraction of whites owned a tiny fraction of the slaves so expecting every white person 200 years later to provide a black guy with a free sandwich or gift him a job for being black makes zero sense. The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well. Black buying power is expected to reach $1.2 trillion this year, and $1.4 trillion by 2020. That is so much combined spending power that it would make black America one of the largest economies in the world in terms of gross domestic product, the size of Mexico based on world bank data. Black people earning $75,000 or more per year are growing faster in size and influence than whites in all income groups above $60,000. American blacks on average enjoy per capita incomes in the range of up to fifty times that of blacks living in any of the African nations from which their ancestors originated. Is it time to check that little thing called privilege? No evidence-based attempt has been made to prove that living individuals have been adversely affected by a slave system that was ended over 150 years ago. But there is plenty of evidence that economic adversity is the result of failures of individual character rather than any lingering after-effects of a system that was abolished 150 years before most of Black Lives Matter members were even born. Reparations were meant as payments to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, Japanese Americans and African American victims of racial experiments in Tuskegee, or racial outrages in Rosewood and Oklahoma City. But in each case, the recipients of reparations were the immediate family or direct victims of injury caused by injustice. It’s never been about giving free shit to black people a century or two later and neither should it ever be. That’s just trying to rip off the system and it’s your own fault.

12. Black people are held back by white privilege

White privilege has become one of the favorite arguments of BLM and pandering guilt-riddled liberals who like to make excuses for the fact that black Americans struggle to keep up. The concept of white privilege is also a favorite weapon for those who make their living stirring up racial discord by saying that to be anything but white in America is to be handicapped by default. For those who wish to exploit an entire demographic of people for political benefit, the idea of white privilege has great appeal. However, there are a number of problems with the fundamental premise of white privilege. One factor that tends to undermine the premise of white privilege is that poor whites face every one of the same challenges that poor blacks and poor people of all races face, it would be easier to make a case for wealth privilege in America than white privilege. If that’s the case, white people still wouldn’t be the privileged group as all socio-economic indicators show Asian Americans come out far on top. This being the case, all Americans would do well to consider why it is that Asian Americans as a group do so much better on basic socio-economic indicators than white, black, and Hispanic Americans. There may be something worth learning from such an exercise. What Asian Americans have proven is that privilege in America is based not on race but on merit. People of any race can succeed in America if they emulate the approach of Asian Americans: take education seriously, develop a positive work ethic, obey the rules, respect the laws, and stay together as families. There is no escaping the fact that education and family structure play huge roles in determining the success or failure of various racial and ethnic groups. This plays a greater role in the difference between white and black success than automatically throwing a blanket over the entire white race. There are many issues within the black community that need to be fixed by themselves, acknowledging these issues is the first step as we all too often want to ignore them and expect whites to make the change. You cannot lack education, work ethic, family structure and respect for law and then go on to expect equal success and opportunity, it’s not plausible and it’s your own fault.

#feminism #equality #equal rights #gender equality #blm #black lives matter #sjw1

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This time last week I was knee deep in the post London blues after a magnificently exciting weekend at the inaugural Capital Crime festival where I was invited to attend as a blogger, what an opportunity! I would firstly like to extend my thanks to Lizzie Curle, Anne Cater and Midas PR, as well the co-founders of this fabulous event David Headley and Adam Hamdy.Capital Crime brought a multitude of crime authors together in London, providing us the readers, crime fans, bloggers etc. the choice of a variety of interestingly thought provoking, informative and hilarious panels that will have you wishing that there were more days in a weekend. The aim of Capital Crime was to provide us the crime and thriller fans a way to experience a favoured genre, from the details to the people who write them. It offered an unprecedented level of access to some of the world’s best crime and thriller creatives and putting them together with people influenced by their work. They promised a fun, memorable experience at Capital Crime, and bloody gosh did they deliver, they deserve a stand innovation!

Enough of the background, i’m here to tell you about my time at the Capital Crime festival, grab yourself a cuppa because it may be a (it is) a long one, you better feed all human and / or furry dependants beforehand just incase!So, I’ve never travelled so far alone in my 29 years on this planet, I left little, quiet, slow Bridgend on the Wednesday morning (I know I was a day early but i’m so glad I was), I was a bag of excitement and anxiousness – the tubes mainly scared the fudge out of me if I’m perfectly honest. Anyways, fast forward a couple of hours, some tears and a lot of encouraging calls and messages I took my first step onto London concrete solo – One small step for city folks, one giant leap for this small town girl. I dragged my suitcase from Victoria station to Paddington through a picturesque Hyde Park. Had a perfect first night in London, overcome the tube and was introduced to Itsu (which sadly isn’t available in my neck of the woods). Thursday

It was a gloriously sunny day in the Big Smoke, I enjoyed a day of daydreaming, exploring and ate a delicious salad on my bed people watching through the balcony. After a relaxing few hours, it was time to get ready and meet my fellow bloggers Meggy and Zoe. I wasn’t anxious at all about meeting these two, we’d been talking for a while through Twitter and WhatsApp, when I met them both (If you haven’t heard about their

hilarious initial meeting please ask, it’s a good one!) there were cuddles and giggles from the get go. Me as a rambling rambler anyway was worried but completely at ease, so glad that I got to walk in with these lovely two or I fear I may have been the shy one in the corner (that being said, Capital Crime was completely aware that sometimes these things happen and with their eyes on the detail, asked for volunteers who could ‘work’ as introducers for people who may initially find it difficult to socialise with new people. That my friends was such a wonderful thought and I hope that those who did use that service thought so too.)The first person that wasn’t these two lovelies that I met after walking up this beautiful

staircase, was THE Karen Sullivan, another one of my favourite people, I got my cuddle (I cried on the inside because this had been talked about for ages this cuddle, but our paths never crossed *sobs*) and she was lovely, everything she is over Twitter but in person form. We had a little catch up about #Orentober plans, my experiences on the tube and that a majority of tube stations have lifts so I didn’t have to trek a sweaty hour with all my luggage from Victoria to Paddington – wish i’d known that! We then attended the Drawing Room and Edinburgh Suite for opening drinks and to hear the winner of the New Voices Award being announced. It was busy, I spoke to people who I had followed or had followed me during my Twitter life term and it was so lovely to put the actual physical person to the name.

One person that I met, I’ve followed on Twitter for a while but not clocked that it was her was Ronnie Turner author of Lies Between Us, she is so lovely, although it wasn’t until the Saturday I got to speak to her properly, she is now our Rockstar Ronnie – yet another person I’m thankful to have met and become friends with thanks to Capital Crime. I need to tell you now, I’m not a selfie person, so excuse the lack of photos of me and others, the ones that I do have others have sent me!Anywho, David and Adam gave a fantastic opening speech, you could really tell that they were both enthusiastic and utterly passionate about this festival, I think every single person there was so appreciative of their hard work and planning. The round of applause was deafening!

Eight people had been shortlisted for the Capital Crime’s New Voices Award, there were two honourable mentions for Victoria Goldman’s The Redeemer and Patti Buff’s The Ice Beneath me. After much consideration, the winner of this award was Ashley Harrison for The Dysconnect, it sounded brilliant and I hope to see it out there soon, so I can read it!

After a good load of socialising and a glass of wine, the excitement had got the better of me so this Cinderella hugged it out with new friends, ran down the beautiful staircase, took off her glass slippers and left before 9pm with plans to meet these beauties for breakfast (crime fuel) the next morning!

Oh and I met THE Laughing Gravy man, who we’ve all come to know and love as Mart the Bearded Book Blogger, who is a total hoot and may have been the influence behind my further four non – Capital Crime book purchases!

Also, you can bet your last book that I delved into the amazing goodie tote that was provided when you picked up your festival passes. It was tote-ly amazing, get it? TOTE-ly? Yes? Good, it was jam packed with lovely samplers and two books, including Fiona Cummins 2020 release When I Was Ten and Robert Harris’ The Second Sleep. And incase you’re wondering, no, these are not the only books that I left London with….. Also, this is now one of my favourite bags ever!

Friday

This day started at 6am, after all the excitement of yesterday I bounced out of bed, got ready and manoeuvred the once terrifying tubes from Paddington to Convent Garden (yes people, it hasn’t got an S on the end of Garden, who knew?), always early I got to wait in the fresh sunshine for my two breakfast buddies, who found each other easier today and were on time! I know, I was shocked too!

After some peanut butter with yogurt and a cuppa that apparently is best served in glasses, we were off to wait outside the doors of the Goldsboro bookshop that had been located in the Balmoral Room of The Grand Connaught Rooms (where the festival had taken place, I think I forgot to say that!) The books had been organised in groups that were dependant on panels that day, plus easy to grab, buy and have signed WHEN not if the mood arise! Just look at the lovely book piles, the smell in that room was every book lovers dream – brand new books and coffee *heart eyes*.

So you’re worried about picking up a copy of every single book to get signed by every single author? You think, how am I going to pack them all in my travel rucksack? I’ll have to wheelbarrow them to the tube, then off the tube… blah blah. Well my dear book readers, you should not fear, Goldsboro would package up all your bookish purchases and post them out to you, FOR FREE! On Friday I thought ‘no, I don’t need them to deliver these books, I’ll be fine’… People, next year take the offer, it is a saving grace says the girl who packed for two weeks rather that 5 days and had one hell of a heavy suitcase when 12 new books were expertly packed into the case….. not by me! This was my pile from day one (see picture). Every single one of them were new authors to me (Ruth Ware I was recommended by my blogging buddy Kelly Van Damme). Also, look another totes amazing tote bag!

My choices were very much influenced by seeing these authors amazing panels. The first panel of Friday morning was The Influence of Agatha Christie which was moderated by LC Tyler. The panellists included Sophie Hannah, Ruth Ware, Christopher Fowler and John Curran.

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The panellists were questioned not only about Agatha Christie as an author, who has sold more copies that the bible AND has been translated into a multitude of languages, but they were also asked about the use of stock characters, her use of style and how they include aspects of her work in theirs. The discussion surrounding AC’s use of stereotypical stock characters was extremely interesting, especially in terms of the time era she was writing but then again it showed that what we may suspect isn’t all it seems. They were also asked about Agatha’s work being ‘uneven’, in which Sophie Hannah took the question by the horns and said that no-one’s work is ever even, and it should never be used as a criticism because it isn’t a legitimate one. Preach it! It was agreed that Agatha Christie had a certain writing style for an artistic reason. “Literary spheres of genius.”

For me, and the panel Agatha Christie is very much the essence of a poorly day read, there are many preconceptions of authors before delving into their books – Agatha Christie may not have been the best of crime authors but she is one of the most influential and highly favoured one. My personal favourite is And Then There Were None, which is the same as Ruth and Christopher’s, whereas Sophie chooses The Hollow, John’s is Murder of Roger Ackroyd and LC Tyler is a firm fan of Murder on the Orient Express *gasp*

I, again, got to experience my first ever literary panel with these ladies, we did book runs and tea runs, chatted author stalking and recommended reads #BloggingBuddies and that is our Rockstar Ronnie at the

end who is 100% bringing crimping back in style! I also met Penny, I’m not good with faces and names but she came over to me and I got the biggest squeeze, look at us all coming together and making a crime band of sisters! here’s Penny and I before I left on Saturday!

After a quick run to the tea machine (free tea that was provided by one of Capital Crime’s sponsors) my next panel was The Interrogation of Mark Billingham Where Mr Billingham was hilariously put through his paces by experienced police detective Graham Bartlett. Mark was a suspect of murder, experiencing a good cop to cop with a bone experience in a fabulous impromptu back and forth that left the audience howling with laughter. Do you think with the depth of research crime writer’s they could get away with murder? Could they swerve police questioning with no comments and

their in-depth knowledge of motives, murder and mayhem? Look at his attitude? Anyone has a comedian spot to fill, tweet Mark! But did Mark murder Charlie Speed? His bloody fingerprint was found on a £50 note at the crime scene so he must have, right?

After the humour came the chat about whether the research that goes into the writing of a crime novel is important? For me as a reader, I think the authenticity of methods, details and similar are extremely important. I’m aware that it is fiction but I’m not too sure there is room for THAT much inauthenticity when it comes to crime writing. Thoughts? Mark and Graham finished with ‘You don’t have to type up all loose ends’, I agree, I agree that it doesn’t need to be a huge reveal of ‘who dunnit’, I like walking always from a book with it being unforgettable. After this panel I ran to the Goldsboro bookshop and purchased Mark Billingham’s SleepyHead the first novel in the Tom Thorne series published in 2012 and Graham Bartlett’s non-fictional read Death Comes Knocking.

After this panel Meggy swished out to meet the wonderful Inge, who is just as amazing as she comes across online, she very nearly didn’t come! She was brave and brilliant, she completely smashed it – so glad that I had the opportunity to meet her! While Meggy was off, a bloggers lunch was taken, burgers were eaten and Zoe managed to get the samplers of next May’s upcoming thriller Dear Child by Romy Hausmann released after pestering all you Twitter folks and the Crime Files ladies for updates. The tagline is “Fourteen years ago she was taken, now she’s free…..isn’t she?” It’s been compared to a German Gone Girl meets Room.

Okay, okay panel three, Ii told you that this was going to be a long one didn’t I? Hope that mug of tea is large enough. The panel after lunch was The Psychology of Tension with Mark Edwards and Lisa Jewell in conversation with Claire McGowan. Tension is what makes a good thriller right? So what better way than get into what thrillers are all about but talk the psychology of it! Mark’s newest thriller is Here to Stay which features the in laws from hell (we’ve all been there) and Lisa’s is The Family Upstairs. Both these novels could be labelled under the umbrella of domestic thriller but someone has come up with ‘property noir’ which I got very excited about and should be a thing, don’t you think? Claire McGowan had a number of really interesting questions that she put to this duo, some of which made me think as a reader about what I expect from a thriller and crime fiction. First off, one of the main questions Mark Edwards is asked, is ‘does the cat survive?’ Have you seen Basic Instinct? Single White Female? I’m still scarred from those poor innocent deaths, but maybe that’s what absorbs the reader? The survival of the animal pet?

Another question that was asked was by Lisa herself about what constitutes a ‘twist’? Is it a reveal? Pieces being slotted into place? Something coming out of the woodwork? Some readers expect a massive in your face shock, whereas I personally, as Mark said during his panel, I like something that leaves a bit of a lasting thought after the last page. A psychological parting gift from the author to a readers. I don’t think all red threads need to be tied up in a bow and I really don’t like the phase ‘a twist that you won’t see coming’…. well now I know a twist is coming i’m going to expect it and I will probably see it. What’s next for Lisa and Mark? Well, Lisa’s new book should hopefully be out by Christmas, it focuses on a woman who has a suspicious mind. She lives with her two teenagers and begins to wonder what her husband is up to, especially after a teenager goes missing *gasp* #WatchThisSpace. Mark has a new thriller coming next year called Far From Home, a couple is house sitting for another couple when a woman saying she is a friend of the couple turns up. Is she all she seems? I need them both, thanks!

One of the inspirational panels that I had the privilege to attend was the London, the Capital of Crime panel, where Ali Karim was in conversation with Martina Cole discussing London as the iconic setting for the crime and thriller genre. This woman is brilliant, she was open about her beginnings, she’s one of the longest standing authors with an original publisher, she gives back to society and as she said just because you sell quantity, it doesn’t mean you don’t sell quality. BRILLIANT. She is the Queen of Crime. So with that fangirling over, lets talk her panel.

Martina Cole is now a Doctor of literature and teaches writing to life sentence prisoners, her empathy was admirable, she talked about how the prison, educational and housing system needs to be changed which would decrease crime rates, gangs and similar. The talk also turned to psychopaths, how they can be identified and avoided? Martina answers straight about how they can’t be identified and avoided because of technological advancements in online dating as well as the increased number of DMs being sent to unwilling parties of male genitalia….. please stop this!

I didn’t write so many notes about this panel because Martina and Ali Karim were intoxicating, interesting conversation and just brilliant.

After back to back panels I got a bit of a break, where I made a bit of a wally of myself…. true story unfortunately! First things first, check out these delicious samples of Orenda Books upcoming published Icelandic thriller by newcomer Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir The Creak on the Stairs that will be published later next year! Beautiful right? And i’m almost too scared to read because I’ll want more!

So you can imagine my yelpy surprise when I spotted Poe and Tilly creator MW Craven in the book room, just chilling there talking to his people! I wasn’t 100% sure, because I do that, I question myself, so I googled him, yes it was definitely him unless he had an evil twin. Anyways, I pull up my big girl socks and wander over with Penny. Long story shout I word vomited at 100 miles per hour, though I had the wrong guy, said to MW ‘i’ll try again tomorrow’ and walked off. Super embarrassed and vowed not to talk to another author ever again. I did speak to him on the Saturday, calmly and collectively I think because I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say apart from ‘can’t wait for your panel’.

I did redeem myself when I met these two, Robert and Carol Bridgestock who write together under the R.C Bridgestock. After interacting for ages via Twitter, tweeting to say i’ll catch them at the festival and trying to hunt them down I peered past a pillar and there they were! I’ve never felt so excited! I waltzed over to them like i’d known them for years and had two of the squeeziest cuddles. I could have sat and chatted with them all

day accompanied with a strong Yorkshire tea and a pack of digestives. Robert worked as a high up detective for 26 years, from murder cases to hostage negotiations, whereas Carol worked the civilian side of the police with the money and firearms. Robert especially, who has seen some heart and gut wrenching stuff during his time in the police, is so friendly and chatty. Then there’s Carol, who Robert calls ‘his norm’, she’s fantastic and smiley. These two were the only authors that I just needed a photo with and I got it! They were also part of a great panel, more about that later!

My final panel of the day was Is Crime Fiction a Problem for Feminists? When Killer Women members Julia Crouch, Sarah Hilary, Amanda Jennings, Colette McBeth and Kate Rhodes were in conversation. We’ve all read that crime fiction novel where the woman is the weakest character, naïve in many ways or even when the body of a female victim is fetished over. This panel discussed why female characters are mainly victims, rather than the strong narratives within a novel. It was an interesting, no words barred panel where these five hard-core women spoke out on behalf of fictional women. We as women are brought up to behave in a good manner, we are taught to be nice and polite. The ladies on this panel picked that apart. Women within crime fiction tend to be passive but can women also be heroes? Can you think of strong female characters in crime

fiction? I have a few, D.I Kate Burrows created by Martina Cole, Dr Temperance Bones in the Kathy Reichs novels, even Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. They are there, but you need to look a tad deeper than if you were looking for a strong male character. Although female characters were spoken about in detail, Amanda Jennings said that the strongest female characters are the imperfect ones, from imperfect wives to imperfect mothers – there is a variation of these roles, it’s important to know that. My favourite quote of the panel was told by Colette McBeth in regards to women’s sexuality not being taken into consideration in general and in terms of writing, here it is: ��A man who knows the difference between the pubic bone and the clitoris” I think there was applause, may have just been in my head but what a quote to end the day on.

After my final panel of the day, I was there enjoying a can of Coke at the bar waiting for Zoe before a crisp and dip date, when there, in the corner was Steve Cavanagh! The author of the Eddie Flynn series and stand alone Twisted. I was hiding behind a pillar, we all know what happened with MW Craven earlier, I was not risking that again. Zoe comes back, I practically throw the cans at her, waltz over to The Cavanagh and I actually talk to him, and he was so lovely! Although, I was a *tad* gutted Tracy, his hilarious wife wasn’t attending the festival, it was awesome to meet the man behind Eddie Flynn. I get my Brave Blogger’s Badge after that one, yes?

To weekend pass holders there was an exclusive screening of the movie adaptation of Widows, Lynda La Plante’s series, directed by Steve McQueen. I after having possibly 5 hours of sleep the night before opted out, to M&S it up with some spicy tortillas with dips and a bit of Gogglebox.

Saturday

Got yourself another cuppa? Well Saturday started off on a bad note, i’d been a bit poorly throughout the night so I missed breakfast with the girls and the first panel that was When Woman Make Murderers but I just couldn’t attend. I then forgot my bloggers pass while on the tube, ran back to the hotel to get it (couldn’t find it) and nearly got stuck in the lift! An eventful Saturday morning wouldn’t you say?

I did manage to grab a cup of strong coffee before attending Is True Crime Better than Fiction? Panel, which included authors Jack Flynn, William Clegg QC, and Robert and Carol Bridgestock who discussed true crime as an inspiration for fiction with Emma Kavanagh. I sat close to the front as all these authors who have some type of police – detective background talked about the issues of true crime V fiction. I am a huge true crime reader, podcast listener and documentary watcher, who isn’t these days? There’s something that draws people into the mind of psychopaths, kidnappers, cults etc. But why? Jack Flynn was invited to be part of the American Innocent Project at it’s baby stages, before it became a huge tool in the field of miscarriages of justice. William Clegg QC is a barrister with 47 years of law experience, who has worked a number of high profile cases including that of Jill Dando’s murder. I’ve already introduced you to the duo who are R.C Bridgestock and their detective – civil police experience, they also consult with TV producers with their shows, such as Happy Valley. Finally Emma Kavanagh has many years experience as a police & military psychologist, she’s trained firearm officers and military personnel.

It was another really interesting panel with discussions about how infallible evidence doesn’t always lead to the criminal culprit, especially with talk to miscarriages of justice. Is the system always right? How does the system help those who are in the system? I spoke to Carol Bridgestock, who told me a story about when her and Robert were in a shop (I think) and a guy was walking by really shiftily, approached Robert and asked was he Detective Bridgestock – the man said that Robert had arrested him for burglary but had been the only person who took care of him. There’s stories like that! This panel had been my most anticipated for the Saturday, a look into Crime Fiction writing by the people who have lived it – insightful, heart-breaking and most of all, interesting.

Unfortunately, after this panel I had to leave to still feeling rather poorly and I hadn’t managed to eat before the hectic morning had taken over,, I didn’t recover from that until I got some pizza! I did buy more books before I left though AND I did get the tour of bookshops by Mart from The Beardy Blogger, where I was forced to purchase more books from Foyles and Waterstones…. seriously, can you believe that guy? The cheek! LOOK at the books that had to be packed and I had to drag home with me!

Overall thoughts

Overall, quickly because I’ve rambled enough, Capital Crime was fantastic, more than fantastic. I got to meet some incredible women (and that bearded fella before he points it out), a favourite publisher, some faces I’ve already met and some wickedly down to earth authors – never would I have ever imagined when I became a book blogger 10 months ago would have had an opportunity to blog the first Capital Crime festival, hopefully the first of many! I am so grateful to have had the opportunity, I hope it looks like I know what i’m doing underneath this rambling.

The staff were all friendly and happy to point you in the direction of wherever you needed to go. I loved the idea of the introducers, as I’ve already said and that you had accessibility to the bar and hot beverages from 9am onwards. The rooms were large enough for the capacity that was needed, and the setting was just beautiful.

What would I like to be different next year? Everything was top notch, the only thing I wish there’d been is a larger sitting area, there were 500 people attending each day and there wasn’t a lot of space to sit between chosen panels especially for those bringing lunch in. Another hope for next year, I hope they include a more diversity when it comes to publishers, as well as possibly a panel of small indie authors. Independent publishers tend to publish more daring type of crime thrillers that I think would be interested to delve in to on a panel. Also expanding to (i’m a Welsh lass) having a Welsh based panel or a variety of panellists from the Scottish, English, Irish and Welsh crime writing world please.

The first year was spectacular and I can’t wait for next year. What crime writers would you like to see at Capital Crime 2020?

If you’re still with me, thanks for reading! I’m off for a lie down, that was a long one!

My weekend at @CapitalCrime1, London @DavidHeadley @AdamHamdy @LizzieCurle @Midaspr #CapitalCrime19 This time last week I was knee deep in the post London blues after a magnificently exciting weekend at the inaugural Capital Crime festival where I was invited to attend as a blogger, what an opportunity!

#CapitalCrime19 WelshGirlInTheCity BloggersWeekend

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ibby981blog-blog · 5 years

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Why Every thing You Understand about Enjoy Is really a Lie

Top 22 Esports Blogs To Read Inked Gaming

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moodboardinthecloud · 4 years

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When Women Don’t/Speak

If anything, the women were more qualified than the men.

“I mean, these are extraordinarily bright women,” BYU political-science professor Jessica R. Preece (BA ’03) says of the women in their latest study. “And yet, we see these patterns . . . ,” she says, trailing off.

She and her BYU colleagues set out to examine the female experience in a top-10, predominately male collegiate accounting program—a program where the women, overall, matriculated with higher GPAs and more leadership experience than their male peers. The students move through the program on teams, and administrators wanted to know how best to build them. Traditionally, they spread the women out—for diversity, right?

The researchers were well suited: political-science professor Christopher F. Karpowitz (BA ’94, MA ’96) is a nationally recognized expert on group gender dynamics, and Preece and economics professor Olga Stoddard basically run a gender think tank at BYU, the Gender and Civic Engagement Lab.

Here’s the short of it: even though both men and women reported loving their groups, because of the study’s findings, the program will not put a woman alone on a team of men again.

What happens when women are outnumbered? After years spent analyzing lab and real-life settings to determine what it takes for a woman to really be heard—to truly be perceived as competent and influential—these professors have found the same truth: for women, having a seat at the table does not mean having a voice.

“Women are systematically seen as less authoritative,” says Preece. “And their influence is systematically lower. And they’re speaking less. And when they’re speaking up, they’re not being listened to as much, and they are being interrupted more.”

This applies well beyond study groups.

“Group-level decision making is ubiquitous,” says Karpowitz. It ranges from the highest level, where men and women work together in Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, on down to juries, town halls, PTAs, and work teams. It applies even on Church ward councils and in families, he stresses. In one realm or another, no one falls outside the scope of this research.

However inadvertent, the gender dynamics shutting women down are real, says Preece. The environment, she emphasizes, doesn’t have to be hostile. “Multiple things can be true at once. You can simultaneously like the people you’re working with and still let biases creep in.”

Rather than outright misogyny, she says it’s usually cultural norms and gendered messages that subtly—and profoundly—shape the rules of engagement. Individuals who suppress female speech may do so unwittingly. “They may love women,” says Preece. “They may even be a woman!” But as a society we have been “slowly socialized over years to discount” female expertise and perspectives.

The problem, in part, could be you. Says Preece: “We have lots of learning and unlearning to do.”

A Crucial Perspective

In some spheres women have the gift of gab—particularly in groups of women. So what if they become demure in other spheres? Why does this matter?

For starters, women are “likely to identify different things as problems in the first place,” says Preece. In politics women often think differently about issues than men do; the literature even shows they can have a cooperative, democratizing impact on deciding bodies. “Women are more likely to think about, What are the needs of families and children and how do we care for those who have the least in our society?” says Karpowitz. “Many men focus on different priorities, such as how to balance the budget or change the tax structure.”

Sidebar: A Political Hole

Women now outpace men in education and voter turnout but are politically “opting out,” say Preece and Stoddard, in every other metric, from casual political dialogue to representation on the ballot.

Click here to see their research on the politician gender gap—and how to close it. Turns out “binders full of women” matter.

He sees threads of this at BYU.

“Some of my most impressive students have been women here at BYU whose core interest is, How do I simultaneously prioritize my family and my scholarly work? I never hear male students talk like that. Ever. And yet that balance . . . ought to be just as important for men.”

The researchers cite Church leaders like Sister Reyna Aburto in her April 2018 general conference talk, “With One Accord,” in which she spoke of counseling together: “Revelation is scattered among us, and when we put that revelation together, we can see more.” Or President M. Russell Ballard’s 1994 “Counseling with Our Councils,” in which he called for “sisters to have full opportunity to contribute” and compared the effect of asking the sisters for their ideas to “opening the floodgates of heaven.”

What’s more: women’s involvement changes group behavior—and outcomes.

Karpowitz never set out to study gender. His PhD work at Princeton was trained on group decisions—how ordinary people reach consensus, how individuals establish influence and authority, or “the idea that other people will listen, believe there is value in what is being said, and might even change their opinions in response to that.” But as he and Princeton colleague Tali Mendelberg examined another scholar’s dataset, the gender differences were nothing short of “dramatic.”

In the study, groups chose how to divvy up money. Women could not influence a group’s outcome unless there were a lot of them—and those groups reached very different conclusions. Groups with more women gave more generously to the people with the least. And the people in these groups reported feeling happier with their decisions. “That struck us as really important to understand,” says Karpowitz.

Upon his arrival at BYU in 2006, he and Mendelberg set out to unpack it. In a series of studies, they’ve shown that women can bring new perspectives and solutions—but only when they are able to participate.

That’s the hang-up.

“In real time,” he says, “we were able to get this view of how it is that women can be disempowered.”

The evidence is amassed in their award-winning book, The Silent Sex, which the International Society of Political Psychology as well as the American Political Science Association’s political psychology and experimental research sections each named the best book of the year. And their findings are instructive for us all.

How Women Are Disempowered

The Karpowitz and Mendelberg studies began with a large controlled experiment in which groups of five, with varying gender compositions, were asked how to split their collective earnings—and how economic redistribution should work in society at large.

Half of the groups were assigned to decide by majority rule—the most common protocol decision-making bodies use. Here’s what happened in those groups:

Unequal Talking Time: Equality would suggest that each person in a group of five has the floor 20 percent of the time, but it took not just a female majority but a supermajority (meaning four out of five) for women to finally speak their proportionate talking time. At best, outnumbered women in the study spoke three-quarters of the time a man spoke; on average, women spoke just two-thirds as much as a man. And missing voices means missing perspectives: they weren’t bringing up things they had said, in surveys beforehand, that they cared about.

A lone female spoke the least. A lone male? Nothing will hold him back, Karpowitz and Mendelberg found. “Men are willing and eager to jump into conversations, and they come with a level of confidence where they just expect themselves to be influential,” says Karpowitz. “They go for it no matter what.”

Routinely Interrupted: Ever had someone cut you off? Maybe it was argumentative—an “I don’t think so” or “That’s not right”—or maybe the person just talked over you, stole the floor. Such negative interruptions, says Karpowitz, “sap the authority of the speaker,” and men commit them most. Interestingly, the patterns of negative interruptions are also tied to gender composition. Put a woman alone with four men, and 70 percent of the interruptions she receives from men are negative. Compare that with having four women in the room: here, just 20 percent of the interruptions women receive from men are negative. To quote the study, when women have the numbers, “men undergo a drastic change. They become far less aggressive.”

Limited Influence: The researchers asked group members individually who in their group was most influential. Talking time predicted everything: those who held the floor most won. Ergo, “the same conditions that create disproportionate silence by women also create disproportionate authority by men,” Karpowitz and Mendelberg write.

A Possible Solution

Karpowitz and Mendelberg’s work sent such huge ripples through the field because of what they did with the other half of the groups. These were assigned to make their decisions via unanimous rule. It was the first-ever study to look at how gender composition interacts with decision rule.

For outnumbered women, unanimous rule paid dividends:

• Female talking time increased for women in the minority—a lone woman participated nearly as much as a man.

• Unanimous rule significantly increased positive interruptions—interjections that affirm and validate, like “Yeah” and “I agree.” Such positive interruptions tripled for women in the minority. “Women tend to be really sensitive to the signals that other members of the group send,” says Karpowitz. “If the group sends signals that build confidence, women tend to participate more.”

• The influence gap narrowed for a lone woman—she had almost as much of a shot as a man at being voted the most influential member by her group.

“Unanimity rule sends the message that everybody’s voice matters,” says Karpowitz. It’s a huge breakthrough for groups with gaping gender disparities. The bottom line, he says: if you want to empower women, apply majority rule when women have the numbers and unanimous rule—or at the very least, an underlying principle of unanimous rule, hearing from everyone—when they don’t.

Seven Ways to Elevate Women’s Voices

Imagine your next work, ward council, town hall, HOA, or PTA meeting. You can help empower the women in the room.

“We have control over these things,” says Karpowitz. “We can invite more women. If we can’t do that, we can do things to make sure the women who are in the room are able to fully contribute and express views.”

1. Men, Listen Up: “Part of what comes of this research is, for men, the importance of listening,” says Karpowitz. For many men, he says, it’s just a matter of becoming aware of these dynamics. “And again, to do that, men may have to actually be quiet at times,” Karpowitz says with a laugh, “and listen.”

The aim is not some “artificial kind of politeness,” he continues. “We’re trying to think about the conditions under which men and women participate equally and are equally influential, that they see each other as authoritative, without one person or one gender dominating the speaking turns.”

Men enter discussions expecting themselves to be influential. “We’re not trying to denigrate that,” says Karpowitz. “What’s important is for women to feel that way too.”

2. Women, Speak Up: Women especially worry about the reactions of others—they worry that by speaking their minds, they are violating gender roles, says Karpowitz. “We need women to be confident and speak up. As they do that, other women see that and respond to it.”

“It’s especially important for women to have role models and mentors,” he continues, in their communities, occupations, and congregations—even at BYU. “Having faithful Latter-day Saint women who are professors at this university is incredibly powerful for women who are students here.”

3. Positive Support Matters: “Think about being an ally,” says Stoddard. Protect—even solicit—the speech of women in the room. If they are interrupted, ask them to finish a thought. Practice positive interruptions, like “That’s an interesting point” or “I’m glad you brought that up.” Such small interjections may seem inconsequential, but the lack of positive support, in combination with negative interruptions, delivers a powerful dose of invalidation for women.

Men especially can have an impact. “We found that in settings where a man would support a woman’s statement, she was able to be more influential,” says Stoddard.

4. Change the Rules: When women are outnumbered, try unanimous rule. “It might take longer to get to a decision,” says Karpowitz, but the literature is resoundingly clear that women thrive in cooperative settings. “We have to think not only about whether the door is open initially for women to come in, but what’s the experience of men and women once they’re here,” says Karpowitz.

5. Watch Out for Stereotypes: “Women are especially less likely to be listened to on topics that men are stereotyped as knowing more about—independent of how much women actually know about these topics,” says Preece. Finances, management, and doctrinal knowledge are a few examples. “Wards and families and couples need to be especially careful that they don’t dismiss women’s voices on topics often seen as masculine.”

6. Leaders, Take Note: “The signals sent by the person in charge matter,” says Karpowitz, who emphasizes this when presenting this research to Church members. In one student thesis, women overwhelmingly shared gratitude for inclusion in ward councils—but almost invariably expressed the feeling that their concerns were easily dismissed. “Occasionally you have a stake president or a bishop who isn’t really interested in counseling together,” says Karpowitz. “He already knows what he wants to do, and what he really wants is everyone to echo his preferences. . . . Our advice is to seek for unity and counsel together until everyone feels good about the outcome.”

7. Teach a Better Way: Parents can model respectful communication and full participation and have explicit conversations about these topics, says Preece. “Kids will be exposed to many examples of gendered patterns of interaction at school, through media, and via our own imperfect behavior, so unless parents take the time to point out unhealthy dynamics, they’re likely to just assume that is the normal way things should be.”

It Can’t Be Overcome by Excellence

Karpowitz, Preece, and Stoddard watched all of this unfold anew in the accounting-program study, where the women who were in the minority were routinely seen—by themselves and others—as the least competent, least influential members of their groups. And this is among 20-somethings raised in the era of #LeanIn and #MeToo—arguably a time in which women have been encouraged to be more ambitious and speak out.

For Preece, it boils down to this: “It can’t really be overcome by excellence.”

As women, she says, “our impulse a lot of times is to be like, ‘Well, if I am just clearly the best, then I can maybe overcome these biases. And the answer is maybe. Sometimes. But mostly, no. It’s bigger than an individual-level problem—it’s a systemic problem, a structural problem.”

From pundits in politics, the business world, and the media, “the solution so often has been, ‘You’ve got to fix the women,’ or, ‘Well, women have just got to lean in,’” says Stoddard. But the experiences women have when they lean in can be very different than a man’s in the same position.

“Advice that works for men doesn’t always work for women, because people react differently,” adds Preece—and this is well supported in the literature. Behavior that seems strong and decisive when it comes from a man, she says, may be interpreted as abrasive and aggressive from a woman. There’s even a term coined for it—the double bind.

“The double bind is huge,” says Stoddard: exhibit traditional female characteristics, she says—warmth, caring, responsiveness to all ideas and assignments—and “you’re going to experience others seeing you as less competent.” But take on male characteristics—leading, disagreeing freely, being assertive, speaking out—and likability suffers. “The competency-likability tradeoff is a constant balancing act for women.”

The goal, the researchers say, is not to change women, but to change the environment in the room.

“It’s not women who are broken; it’s society that’s broken,” says Preece. “Of course we can encourage women to seek for and take advantage of opportunities. . . . But I’d like to see us focus on training people to be—and creating systems that are—supportive of women who speak up.”

Women, Preece continues, have much to contribute. “If we build a world in which women’s voices are valued and listened to, they will speak up without having to be told to,” she says. “The goal is to create a space where women can be seen as influential as their authentic selves.”

Feedback: Send comments on this article to [email protected].

https://magazine.byu.edu/article/when-women-dont-speak/?fbclid=IwAR2eREStX7Y07GzMEBAOSPdGyxJTKUTG7T5gGRIH19djsXShlhlRpRIO8cg

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angrycollectordaze-me-blog · 6 years

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北美作业代写：International cooperation

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的paper代写范文- International cooperation，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了国际合作。国际合作是国际政治的重要领域。当今是全球化的时代，任何一国都不能孤立于国际社会而发展，都必须在不同程度上参与国际合作。一个新的时代，旧的国际格局正在崩溃。世界各国在经济、交流和人类理想等方面已经变得相互依赖了。

Since the 1970s, the pattern of international relations has undergone significant changes, which has promoted the rise and development of international cooperative research. This paper discusses the interdependence of the trajectory of the theories of international cooperation, and cooperation between China and asean, for example, from the main factors contributing to the development of china-asean relations and the establishment of China - asean free trade area two aspects, the significance of visible, China's cooperation with asean is an important part of east Asian integration process, its success to promote the development of east Asian integration has a good demonstration effect.

In 1977, the American scholar Robert keogh han and Joseph nai published book power and interdependence. In 1984, Robert keogh han introduced force after the hegemony in the world political and economic cooperation and conflict ", in the same year, Robert axelrod of the evolution of "cooperation". In October 1985, world politics published a set of articles on cooperation issues. The following year Kenneth the Iraq published the influential "cooperation under anarchy", become the masterpiece cooperative research. One of the purposes clearly stated by the United Nations in its charter is "to promote international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural and human welfare nature among states." However, the outbreak of the cold war and the formation of the bipolar structure made international cooperation difficult. Since the 1970s, the pattern of international relations has undergone significant changes, which has promoted the rise and development of international cooperative research.

In the 1970s, the concept of mutual dependence was widely concerned by international political scholars. "We live in an era of interdependence," he said. The nations of the world have become interdependent in terms of economy, communication and human ideals. The international political scholars of the time, whether they were realists, behaviorists, or what became known as neoliberalism, used interdependence to some extent to characterize The Times. Interdependence expresses a kind of state in international politics, and is a characteristic expression of the mutual influence of different ultra actors, which is often the result of the international communication theory.

In the international political reality of interdependence, the international cooperation theory has been developing rapidly. Generally speaking, the research of the theory of international cooperation mainly involves the content, realization approach, performance and related research methods of international cooperation. In the 1970s, international multilateral cooperation, the rapid development of non-governmental organizations, especially transnational corporations, and the emergence of global financial market took shape. Mutual dependence is a situation where countries or other international actors interact with each other. However, mutual dependence only exists when the communication activities are generated and each other pays the price. As power plays a role in mutual dependence, the latter has two aspects, namely sensitivity and vulnerability. According to kiohan and nye, the realistic assumption cannot well reflect the international political reality, but it can depict the international political reality more realistically with a pattern of "compound interdependence". This model of interdependence is fundamentally different from the old model of power politics: the former focuses on high-level political issues such as security, balance of power and sphere of influence, while the latter focuses on low-level political issues such as natural resources, energy and environment. The former regards inter-state relations as the "national interest" of conflict, while the latter holds that countries are interdependent and share common interests and international cooperation. In terms of concrete laws, the former is the law of balance of power, "what you gain is what I lose", while the latter is the law of cooperation, "what we lose is all gain". The former prefers bilateral management while the latter prefers multilateral management. In terms of specific organizational mode, the former is a hierarchical system with two or more poles, while the latter is closer to egalitarianism. These statements lead to the practical necessity and possibility of international cooperation.

With the expansion of interdependence in the world economy and international cooperation, focusing on the study of international institutions is of great significance to advancing international cooperation. Neoliberal institutionalists argue that because of the international system, post-hegemonic cooperation is possible and realistic. Conceptually, the international system refers to "a set of formal or informal rules that define the duties of the act, limit the action and affect the enduring interconnectedness of the actor's expectations". International cooperation refers to "inter-governmental cooperation as a result of the process of policy coordination, when the policies followed by one government are regarded by the governments of other countries as promoting mutual understanding of their own goals". According to neo-liberal institutionalism, the international system plays a role in cooperation: promoting the conclusion of specific cooperative agreements among countries and providing information and trust foundation for the establishment of new cooperative relations; To alleviate the pressure of egoism, lack of regulation and market failure and promote the positive development of established cooperative relations; The principles and rules of the mechanism make the pursuit of short-sighted interest less attractive by facilitating the interconnection of issues. As for how to analyze the relationship between international system and international cooperation, neo-liberal institutionalism provides the analysis methods of game theory and functionalism. However, similar to the international mechanism theory of realism, it also serves to maintain the world hegemony system led by the United States. Moreover, it does not explain very well the factors that impede international cooperation, such as power and country considerations of relative gains.

With the end of the cold war, almost all countries in the world economy were involved in a unified market economy system; In the field of international politics, the two-level confrontation pattern breaks down and global interdependence becomes the most prominent feature of the era. In the 1990s, the development of constructivist theory was an innovation in international political research methods and provided a new perspective for people to understand international cooperation. Alexander ・ winter "multiculturalism" are put forward. "In most organizations, people cooperate not only because they cooperate to realize their personal interests, but also because they have a sense of loyalty and identity to the norms of cooperation." "Institutionalization means a culture of cooperation It's much thicker." According to the theory of constructivism, cooperation way is as follows: first, in the international structure, interactive behavior body in individual or group, category, character, and the collective to confirm their identity in the four types, that is because "every kind of identity is not only a script or schema, to different extent because of cultural form, involving in some situations such as who we are and what we should do." And, "interest is a prerequisite for identity Without identity, interests lose their direction." Constructivism starts from investigating how countries understand their interests in specific problem areas, and the identification and distribution of interests of relevant countries can help to understand whether cooperation is possible. As long as there is a cognitive community, countries tend to cooperate in the first place.

International cooperation is an important field of international political research. Today is an era of globalization. No country can develop in isolation from the international community. It is necessary to point out that the discussion of international cooperation in the context of global interdependence, and the research on international cooperation by Chinese international political scholars, has been gradually deepened from introduction and evaluation.

Today, with the continuous development of globalization, the cooperation between China and asean is an important link in the process of east Asian integration. Its successful promotion has a good demonstration effect on the development of east Asian integration. East Asian cooperation has become a highlight in regional cooperation. China adheres to the guidelines of "building friendship and partnership with neighbors" and "building an amicable, prosperous and secure neighborhood" in developing relations with asean countries. The two sides have expanded exchanges and cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields, increased political mutual trust, launched the asean-china free trade area, increased bilateral trade and investment, and strengthened cooperation in non-traditional security areas.

The main factors contributing to the development of china-asean relations are various. In the new century, the economy of asean countries has just emerged from the shadow of the east Asian financial crisis. However, the economic growth of most countries has fluctuated due to the slowdown of the us economy and the sharp decline in international demand for electronic products. However, China's economic dominance in east Asia has increased the pressure on asean countries. There are widespread concerns about China's challenge and competition to asean. Under such circumstances, China's proposal to establish a china-asean free trade area undoubtedly plays an important role in eliminating asean's doubts and enhancing its belief in cooperation with China. Moreover, China's attitude towards multilateral cooperation in the region has changed from a cautious wait-and-see attitude in the early 1990s to an active involvement, striving to play an important role in regional affairs and establish an international image as a responsible major country. To further develop the good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust between China and asean and strengthen economic and trade cooperation is also an irresistible trend. During the financial crisis in the 1990s, China gave great help to asean, made great efforts to maintain the stability of regional economic forms, actively implemented the economic projects of cooperation with asean, gained the trust of asean countries, and put bilateral relations on the path of sound development.

In the early years of the new century, with the world economic growth slowed down, the us economy in 2001 "9 ・ 11" terrorist attacks hit a recession, to export to economic growth, which relies heavily on western markets of asean countries have to look more toward east Asia. In particular, China's economy has been growing at a high rate of more than 7% year after year. Asean wants to ride China's economic train and rely less on western markets. And because of the geographical proximity, closer cooperation between asean and China is an inevitable trend. Many southeast Asian leaders are more optimistic about an increasingly strong and confident China because they believe that a weak and divided China will harm the interests of the region.

The regional economic cooperation between China and asean under the framework of the free trade area has entered a new stage of all-round development. The main performance is: the formal signing of the goods trade agreement; the first china-asean expo was successfully held. The areas of cooperation between the two sides have been expanded. Cooperation between some provinces and cities of asean and China is getting better.

The establishment of china-asean free trade area has positive significance for both China and asean. The establishment of the china-asean free trade area is a historic step in the process of china-asean cooperation. It fully reflects the good wishes of the leaders of both sides to strengthen good-neighborly and friendly relations, and also reflects the ever-strengthening economic ties between China and asean. It is a new milestone in the development of china-asean relations. From the perspective of the relations between China and asean countries, the establishment of the china-asean free trade zone is conducive to resolving asean's doubts about China and promoting China's comprehensive, in-depth and rapid development of friendly relations with southeast Asia. From the perspective of establishing the new international order, the establishment of the china-asean free trade area is conducive to the solidarity and cooperation of developing countries. From the perspective of national security, the establishment of china-asean free trade area helps to ensure the smoothness of China's maritime transport channels and the exploration of maritime space. From the perspective of improving asean's international status, the establishment of the china-asean free trade area helps asean play a greater positive role in international social affairs. The establishment of the china-asean free trade area will have a great impact on the economic development of Asia and even the world. It would be the world's largest free-trade zone by population. From the perspective of economic scale, it will be the third largest free trade area in the world after the European Union and the north American free trade area, the third largest free trade area in the world jointly created by China and 10 asean countries, and the largest free trade area composed of developing countries. The establishment of the china-asean free trade area will better promote the talent flow, logistics, capital flow and information flow among countries in the region, more effectively promote the development of regional markets, create more wealth and seek welfare for the people of all countries in the region. The establishment of the china-asean free trade area will help asean seize China's big market, attract foreign investment and facilitate the integration process of asean. It is reasonable for asean to establish and develop close economic and trade relations with foreign countries. The establishment of china-asean free trade area has realistically inspired Japan, Japan and asean to establish a free trade area to promote Asian integration.

Thus, with the constant development of regional economic integration in the world today, east Asia economic development today has made remarkable achievements, China's cooperation with asean is an important part of east Asian integration process, its success to promote good demonstration effect on the development of east Asian integration, cooperation benefits brought by the induced with relevant countries to actively join the east Asian integration process.

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