Things Hriob is No Longer Allowed to Do, Revised Edition - Part Quarte
#121 I am a Master of Conceptual and Elemental Magics, especially the Natural elements such as Wind, Lightning, Earth, Wood, and Water. However, no matter how ‘natural’ their existence may be, I cannot cast ‘Bear’ and it is not an element, and no amount of arguing, evidence, or demonstrations will change this.
#122 When courting certain individuals cough cough Sacara cough I will remember the following; “Using Protection” means the proper use of contraceptives or barriers during coitus, NOT using wards or other magical means of surviving close proximity to individuals whose mere existence provides a serious hazard to my health.
#123 Just because it is one of the few things that CAN still affect me given my supernatural constitution, and just because she is my friend, does not mean I am allowed to occasionally use Shylow-Venom as anti-anxiety medication a recreational drug for ANY reason on my own person or anyone else’s.
#124 When engaging in Small Talk with Lord Alexander, I am to respect the presence and personal safety of his Steward, Sir Cromwell, by politely avoiding use of the following terms and turns-of-phrase: ‘Splitting Hares’, ‘Hot Crossed Buns’, ‘Hare-Rasing’, ‘Hare Removal’, ‘Careful Hop-Timism’, ‘Bad Hare Day’, ‘Hoppily Ever After’, ‘I’m all Ears’, ‘Hare Conditioning’, and any other hilarious bad puns revolving around Lagomorphs in general. Upon further review, Bonnie Kalsang is to be given the extended benefits of this ruling.
#125 I shall remember that ‘Tuning’ is for Musical Instruments, ‘Attenuation’ is for Spiritual and Mystical aspects and machinations, and ‘Vibe Checks’ are for violently percussive maintenance on other people. Just because they SOUND like they’re the same thing doesn’t mean they ARE the same thing.
#126 If I am ever to host a ‘Movie Night’ with my friends/associates/subordinates/rivals/sworn enemies, I will avoid playing the following films for various reasons: Kill Bill, Repo: The Genetic Opera, Shrek 3, Saving Private Ryan, and any historical fiction "i may have been present for when it happened".
#127 I am forever forbidden from doing anything if I am preceding the action(s) in question with any variation of the phrase ‘Hey ___, Watch This!’
#128 I am forever forbidden from officiating Weddings Funerals Birthday Celebrations Coming-Of-Age-Ceremonies Duels Archery Contests Eating Contests Battle Royales Anything.
#129 I am a self-reincarnating Avatar of Life. I, at best, have an understanding with, and at worst, trying relationships with Entities that deeply connect to or convey Death as a Concept. This means that I need to maintain my moral superiority as best I can, which in turn means I should avoid conflict with them… and therefore not try to prank or annoy them.
#130 I am not the Patron Saint of Oktoberfest, no matter how much I wish to be.
#131 I am not allowed to visit Australia, nor am I to confuse it for Austria, be it to mess with other people or try and get around this ruling.
#132 I am forever barred from entering an IKEA store, and am forbidden from chanting backwards in Swedish in any language to assemble disassemble reconfigure rearrange manipulate IKEA-brand any furniture in any way.
#133 I am forever barred from teaching any variety of ‘Shop Class’.
#134 I am forever barred from leading field trips guided tours any sort of group of people for any reason through the following locations: Zoos, Museums, Government Buildings, Anarchist Buildings, Aquariums, Shopping Malls, Alternate Timelines, Alien Planets, Pocket Dimensions, Dimensional Nexus Points, Nuclear Reactors, Industrial Plants, and anything owned by a ‘rival’, ‘nemesis’, ‘adversary’, or any other hostile group or individual.
#135 I am not allowed to appropriate terminology research papers documents artifacts entities employees architecture ANYTHING from the SCP Foundation without due credit at all.
#136 Just because I am now able to transform into certain animals at will, does not mean I get to abuse the ability. This extends to bans against the following: eating my own paperwork and blaming ‘the dog’ on it, attempting to use ‘puppy-dog-eyes’ as a form of negotiation, massively decreasing the local wildlife population single-handedly, and leaving dog hair/fur in unpleasant locations as a petty form of revenge.
#137 I am forevermore banned from playing around with wax, especially heated. This is for my own safety and well-being more than any other reason.
#138 I am not allowed to start my own cult, religion, club, non-profit-organization, or any other form of organized group for any reason, least of all because I need an excuse to change any sort of government-issued id photo.
#139 I am an accomplished Arbormancer, capable of taking living trees of all kinds and fashioning them harmlessly into furnishings or tools, especially magical staves. I am Not, however, allowed to threaten sentient tree-based creatures such as demons, ents, and the like with transformation into such items, nor demonstrate my ability to do so.
#140 Just because some previously-incorporeal people enjoyed my gift of customized living human bodies for them to possess and inhabit, does not mean that Everyone will appreciate such a gift to the same degree. I am not to begin creating such vessels for those I know unless they specifically ask me to, no matter how convenient or helpful I think I am being.
#141 I am forevermore barred from following the ‘advice’ of the maxim ‘Tis better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission’, given that I have by now empirically proven it wrong.
#142 Just because I am a powerful and talented Oathkeeper for pacts and magical deals of all kinds, does not mean I can try and negotiate with children, especially those I am supposed to be babysitting.
#143 No matter how powerful and talented I am with Wood-based, Wind-based, and Ink-based magic, I am not allowed to make magically empowered paper planes and throw them into windstorms of any kind or origin. Not even if the kids ask nicely.
#144 I understand that, given my pact with the Worldspirit Gaia, I am often pulled to act as an emergency agent of their will to stop catastrophic incidents. I understand that, more often than not, those times when a single person is behind the danger, it is someone of necromantic alignment, skills, powers, or so on. Despite this, I am not to complain to them as I try to stop and/or slay them that they remind me of my ex-fiance, no matter how close, depressing, or infuriating the resemblance may be.
#145 I am forever banned from turning any portion of the Halls of the Mountain King into a Ball Pit of any size or depth.
#146 In regards to entry #53, given that I now do offer deals and pacts fairly regularly all things considered, I will remember to try and at least fall mostly in line with the Better Business Bureau’s ethical standards with said dealings.
#147 Given that prior rulings (#42 in particular) have failed, and I am happily sadly considered, among other things, The Wonderful Wizard of Gauze, I shall instead remind myself that flinging bandage wraps at people is not an effective attack. And that, strong as they may be, they cannot support my weight even in bulk - therefore I am forbidden from trying to swing off or around tall buildings with them as my ‘webs’. I am not ‘Spider-man’, and never will be - no matter what I attempt in order to change that.
#148 As an addition to the above ruling, I am to remember that, even if being able to wrap-and-pull items in the heat of battle is a neat and useful utility to have over my adversaries, using the same skill with my ‘bandage shooting’ to grab things around the Halls in a casual setting is frowned upon, even especially if people offer to be ‘test subjects’, ‘training dummies’, or any other kind of volunteer to be ‘shot’ thusly.
#149 Given item #72, I am to extend the same ‘general line of thought’ towards attempting to ‘forcibly evolve things with magic’, or any other medium to attempt the same end result. Spoiler alert: they always turn into crabs. Every. Single. Time. No more crabs.
#150 Just in case, I am forever banned from setting foot within 5 miles of Las Vegas, Nevada. No, not even if the magical forces behind it try to invite me.
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Neo-Liberalistic Society, Online Identities and Gift Economy
The Hunger Games and a Neo-Liberalistic Society
The Hunger Games originated as a trilogy of novels but was made into a 4-part film series due to its popularity. The series can essentially be described as a science fiction dystopian adventure. At its core, The Hunger Games is about a totalitarian society where the masses are used and abused for the gain of those that in the Capitol, the place where citizens get to live in luxury whilst the surrounding ‘districts’ live in poverty and slave away to provide resources to the higher class. However, they do so with the hope of them being able live a better life by being chosen to compete in the hunger games – a real life survival of the fittest-esque arena game.
Panem is a metaphor for a global economic system, very much based on the neo-liberalism that we face in our society now; using Marx’s theory (1886), the bourgeoisie control the fates of the proletariats, they choose who survives and who will fall, they play God to the lower class who have no option but to look to the elite for guidance and survival. Neo-liberalistic views from today’s world apply to this; for example, our society will happily use technology made in China or wear clothes that have been made in Asia. However, it isn’t just the elite upper class that treat others below them badly, the middle class take advantage of those in less-fortunate third world countries and the cheap services that they provide.
Dystopian future themes are still growing increasingly popular even now, for example Divergent, The Maze Runner, even the X-Men franchise – and they haven’t just been produced in recent years either, past examples being The Matrix, Battle Royale, Lord of The Flies. All of these films show a higher authoritative governing presence that gets to dictate and rule those that are deemed unworthy and classed as common working folk. There isn’t any form of satire used in these production pieces either; especially with The Hunger Games, there is a very propagandised overlay that shows one individual being the face of a revolution and another being the face of capitalism, for example this being Katniss Everdeen and President Snow in The Hunger Games. They square off to one another many times throughout the film and book series, as if this will solve all the problems. What this does it convince the audience that one governing presence that gets to live a life of luxury is not ideal for our society whilst the working class has to slave away in order to survive with the bare minimum.
One article from The Guardian (written by Ewan Morrison) debates on the impact young adult dystopia has on children and teenagers. The underlying propaganda influences lead children to believe they should “question authority” and to be wary and suspicious of it. Whilst dystopian futuristic genres can offer some insight into a neo-liberalistic society that can relate to the ones we live in now, often enough they tend to be a very hyperbolic version of this intended realism. Another article from The Postcolonialists talks about the presentation of The Hunger Games, namely that it could be “a hyperbolic representation of youthful disobedience and rebelliousness … that can be easily confused for the hard work required for a social revolution” (Khader, 2014).
It makes one wonder what the intended reading of The Hunger Games really was. Was The Hunger Games intended to slate our very own neoliberalist society that we currently live in, and convince others to not settle for it? Or was it just simply a story with no underlying political or propagandised ideals within it?
Commodification of Identity Online
Throughout the years, especially with the ever growing developments and freedom of technology and the Internet, human identity has been “transformed from a ‘given’ into a ‘task’ and this “self-realisation” becomes a driving force that promotes consumption” (Palmer, 2010). Society is always changing, humans adapt themselves to become more flexible, they remake themselves to suit the current society and economy that they live in. This neo-liberalistic society heavily relies on and makes use out of the commodification of people and their identity – self-branding, micro-celebrities, life streaming, all these new terms invented for a society that wants to be someone they’re not. People are no longer happy just existing, they want to be able to be who they want, so they turn to social media to reimagine themselves, either to become a “micro-celebrity” which is someone who becomes mainstream and gains a following via social media or to find their true identity using the means of social media. The development of Web 2.0 hasn’t helped means there is even more diversity found online which gives the audience opportunities for self-identification and expression. Now more than ever, personality and identity online has become such a huge factor in our lives that is even used by employers to find out about potential employees.
Back in 2015, Shawn Megira was a big deal on Instagram, being deemed “insta-famous” and a micro-celebtrity at only 15 years old. A short documentary, Instafame, was made about him and his 81K followers. In the documentary (Instafame, 2015), Megira talks about how all he does is post photos on his account and suddenly everyone is following his account and liking his posts, he’s getting stopped in the street by fans and asked for autographs and pictures – all because he has a lot of followers on social media. Due to his popularity, brands and companies began approaching him with job offers and opportunities for paid advertisement via his social media; Megira became a commodity, a means to an end of becoming known, popular or famous yourself rather than an actual human. This is because the advancement and development of technology and social media means that people can escape their ordinary lives and have a chance at becoming someone new, whether this is a micro-celebrity or not, using methods such as endorsements, company branding or even self-branding (which is most commonly found on Instagram).
KittyPlays is a live streamer, gamer and a lifestyle vlogger. She is quite the opposite of the ordeal that Shawn Megira was. She is very open with her viewers about her life and invites them into it; she asks them for advice, show vulnerability and offers guidance on matters that her viewers may ask about. Due to this, many of KittyPlays’ viewers find they are able to find their identities when watching her content, they can open themselves up to the inspiration and guiding presence in order to find who they are. It may be debated that how we choose to present ourselves online allows individuals to become their own producer, director, star and critic, therefore there is the argument that vloggers aren’t showing us their true selves and instead choose which aspects of themselves and their identity they want to share, as all media is an extension of ourselves (McLuhan, 1994). On the other hand, KittyPlays has developed such a strong and loyal community and made a career out of this ‘serious leisure’ activity that she doesn’t feel the need to hide her true identity. If she is sad then she will tell her viewers this, she will cry, she will get angry and she will be happy.
The Internet has “provided a space for an ever-accumulating archive of personal visual experience, memory and emotion” (Palmer, 2010) where users are free to be themselves. The problem that needs to be addressed by this however is that users then become comfortable with the idea of becoming a micro-celebrity so are open to commodification of their identity without realising this. The fact that the internet is now a “mainstream, highly-developed commercial structure” (Marwick, 2005) however does not mean that all online identities are commodified and branded. Many social media celebrities, streamers, or vloggers such as KittyPlays manage to evade this neo-liberalistic market force and form stronger communities because of this.
The Gift Economy vs. The Rational Consumer
Following neo-liberalistic ideologies, it is highly appraised that we as a species are rational consumers; we will make decisions and choices based on those that will be most ideal, advantageous and utilisable for us as individuals. Market forces are huge driving factors in society even now, with them continuing to grow and develop into new areas. However, the idea of the gift economy has threatened the ideals of this neo-liberalistic stance on consumers with the introduction of services such as crowdfunding, free-cycling, Creative Commons licenses just to name a few. This wasn’t something that was expected to happen in this economy, but this idea of a gift economy has shown to be hugely popular and successful with the public and has slowly begun to change the way that consumers act.
A Creative Commons license is a way for the public to enable free distribution of otherwise copyrighted work. This is hugely used in the video game industry, for example with SCP: Containment Breach. This game is a free and open source indie supernatural horror video game developed by Joonas Rikkonen, based on the paranormal fiction stories found on the SCP Foundation website. Other examples of a Creative Commons license include music, short animation clips, images or graphics and logos that may be found online. In return, most creators tend to ask that they just get credited for their work in the video description for example. In his work, Post Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future (2015, p.276), Mason talks about how developments such as crowdfunding and the use of Creative Commons licenses shouldn’t be something that people become affixed and accustomed too fiercely to the non-profit parts of the activities relevant to them. Instead Mason believes it is all a part of a larger ever growing system of peer to peer transactions that are making the old ones appear as ineffective and cause them to slowly die out. In relation to the Creative Commons license, this is definitely accurate. People are more attuned to finding a good advantageous opportunity for themselves, as is the norm for rational consumers, that coming across a suitable or valuable piece for them that features a Creative Commons license is an opportunity that they can’t afford to miss. SCP: Containment Breach offers users a chance to play a full game for free using its Creative Commons license and allows it to be distributed freely to become more widely available for any potential consumers.
The gift economy in general is ideal for rational consumers; there are many opportunities for them to receive pieces and opportunities that suit them as an individual and will be the most advantageous. Furthermore, it begins to introduce a new system that proves the old economic systems and models ineffective and socially unjust. On the other hand, the gift economy does mean that those content creators that offer this free service and free valuables don’t get anything in return.
References:
IMDb. (2018). The Hunger Games (2012). [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].
Instafame. (2015). [film] Sylvain Labs.
Khader, J. (2018). Mockingjay Delusions: The Hunger Games and the Postcolonial Revolution to Come - The Postcolonialist. [online] Postcolonialist.com. Available at: http://postcolonialist.com/civil-discourse/mockingjay-delusions-the-hunger-games-and-the-postcolonial-revolution-to-come/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].
Marwick, A. (2005). Selling Your Self: Online Identity in the Age of a Commodified Internet. p.169.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1886). The Communist Manifesto. International Publishing Co.
Mason, P. (2015). Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. London, Penguin, p.276.
McLuhan, M. (1994). Understanding media. 13th ed. Cambridge (Mass.): The MIT Press.
Morrison, E. (2014). YA dystopias teach children to submit to the free market, not fight authority. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/01/ya-dystopias-children-free-market-hunger-games-the-giver-divergent [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].
Palmer, D. (2010) ‘Emotional archives: online photo sharing and the cultivation of the self’. Photographies, 3 (2): 155-171.
Scpcbgame.com. (n.d.). SCP - Containment Breach. [online] Available at: http://www.scpcbgame.com/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].
Twitch. (n.d.). KittyPlays - Twitch. [online] Available at: https://www.twitch.tv/kittyplays [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].
Yates, N. (2018). Instafame: The Rise of the Microcelebrity. [online] Social Media Week. Available at: https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2014/04/instafame-rise-microcelebrity/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].
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