#we’ve seen boycotts working

[batwynn]

I know not everyone can care about things that don’t effect them personally. I know this, and I try to set my expectations to remember that. I try to remember that not everyone understands, cares, or even knows about some of the bad things out there. That even I miss things, or misunderstand, or don’t know everything about everything. And when I do know a thing, and educating them on it, even as gently as possible, does fuck all: I try to let it go because some people really just aren’t capable of understanding in a way that translates to caring enough to take a stand in the face of not getting something they want.

I try, I really do try to remember these things when I see people walk over hurting people for their own entertainment. When I see things like Netflix make an intentional choice to boost anti-trans ‘comedy’, the CEO specifically saying they love this kind of content and he supports it. And no one drops their Netflix accounts then, only a year later when they start their password bullshit. When JRK puts out a new game where the money funnels back into her anti trans donation funds, where her already highly-regarded, bigoted voice is boosted, and the game is literally openly antisemitic, and people want a ‘pass’ to be able to play because the ‘game looks fun.’ Where disabled people’s lives are at risk, or actually ending because going to Walmart without a mask is more important than not. For literally no fucking reason than that it’s slightly uncomfortable to mask. When a news agency intentionally continues to publish racist articles, leaning harder and harder into it over the years to the point where the majority of the news they publish is purely bigoted, and people still get their news from them and even quote them to their Black friends.

Do you see the common thread? The fact that something a person wants, not needs, usually entertainment, is valued over people’s suffering and sometimes even their lives.

And I’m trying to live with that. I’m trying to live with the fact that a lot of this does directly effect me, and even some people in my life… don’t see it. Don’t have that care-enough-to-make-a-stand in support of even me, never mind communities that deserve their support that aren’t someone they know directly. I really am trying to be understanding and forgiving and let it go let it go let it go. But jfc I’m so fucking angry. I’m so angry at so many people for valuing bullshit over real people. That their wants couldn’t be quelled for even a small, non-essential thing in support of someone else, or even sometimes their own communities. That, in the end, they’re just so fucking selfish.

I’m just… furious. And I’ve tried being quiet about it, and letting it go. But what the actual fuck does that do for anyone other than let people hurt me and others I care about? Fucking grow a back bone and support real people over your wants, or shut the fuck up and stay away from the communities and people you claim you love and support. You don’t belong with us when you side with and support bigots who actively harm other people. The end.

#Batwynn talks #antisemitism #transphobia #racism #ableism #tw: death #tw: swearing #jk rowling #Netflix #message me for any other trigger warning tags #personal #vent #ALSO #we’ve seen boycotts working #how many times have companies walked back policies #when masses do something about it #there’s tons of examples #but never for like trans people #or disabled people #or Black people #only if you personally don’t like the thing the company does #why is that? #why don’t you care about other people enough to stand up for them? #are you okay?

[omgthatdress]

Apparently, Molly is low-key a major gay icon, and honestly, I get it. After all, Molly did *really* like her pretty teacher, Miss Campbell. If you think about it, it makes sense that lot of future lesbians would absolutely love Molly. Most dolls in the 90s were hyper-feminine princess dolls, and Molly was... not. I’d imagine the market for girls who want to play with dolls that aren’t pretty pink princesses is pretty large and the supply is pretty small. Just like there’s plenty of boys out there who want to play with something other than GI Joes. Molly (and AG in general) fits neatly into that market, which I’m sure is why she was so successful.

Last year, with its re-launch of the classic dolls, AG put a post on it’s instagram, “To all the Molly girls in the world, we see you and celebrate you,” which a lot of folks on Twitter took to see as confirmation that Molly was gay. When asked if they just outed Molly, AG gave a very non-committal reply. AG has always had a distinctly feminist slant, but it’s only ever toed the line of actually being LGBT inclusive. So far the only actual inclusion we’ve seen from them is a Girl of the Year with a pair of gay aunts. Even that tiny whiff of queerness was enough to set off a frothing horde of angry conservative moms screaming for a boycott. Since Mattell is only motivated by profit, I doubt we’ll get more representation any time soon, but we can dream.

Anyway, World War II was pretty gay to begin with.

A lot of historians point to WW2 as the starting point of the modern gay rights movement because before it, you had very many people living on isolated farms and never going very far from home in their lifetimes. With mass recruitment of men into the military, gay servicemen were able to find other men like themselves and build a community. It was much the same way for women who went to work in factories, joined the WAC or WAVES, and joined women’s baseball leagues. That’s right, the league of their own was gay as FUCK.

As far as Molly’s fashion goes, I love her lack of pink. I’m glad there’s a doll out there that isn’t hyper-gendered, and I wish there were more dolls like her out there.

With sweaters coming into fashion in the 1920s and 30s, the sweaters of the 40s started to see more complex and colorful knits coming into style.

Much of the fashion of this era was dominated by frugality. Europe’s couture houses were shut down, and fabric was rationed. Hems were shortened and baggy cuts and useless frills were done away with. Britain introduced the “Utility Scheme” which hired designers to make chic ensembles using as few resources as possible. Because of this, separates and outfits that could be made with scraps of fabric were very popular, and at-home knitting and sewing continued to be highly popular.

“After the United States entered World War II in 1941, companies began to experiment with various materials in anticipation of rationing and shortages. This example is a prototype from Nina-Fay Foundations, which uses plastic for closures and stays instead of the usual metal. Although metal was not ultimately rationed, the company was experimenting with alternatives to metal zippers and hooks in the event that it was needed for the war effort.”

(The Met Museum)

Women were taking men’s jobs and taking on masculine roles

But they were still expected to maintain a certain level of femininity, “To give our boys something to fight for.”

Because of all of this, the gender politics of the 1940s are really complicated and interesting.

#1940s #American Girl #Molly

[mycovenofchaos]

Since the Emmy is on Monday, I did a reading on it!

“Is Evan going to win an Emmy on Monday, Jan 15th?!” 🔮✨

I got two cards: The Hierophant and 9 of Swords 🎴

The 9 of swords suggests that Evan is afraid that previous conflicts will be repeated. It's a stressful moment when negative thoughts can boycott him. The Hierophant is the card of traditional values and beliefs. It suggests that he stays connected to conventional values and traditions. It's time to work with the same tools that have proven to be efficient before.

My interpretation of the cards is that Evan may be distressed and thinking that he can receive again all the hatred he received when he won his Golden Globe (9 of swords) but if he stands firm in his principles and trusts himself, the success is guaranteed (The Hierophant)!

• Every reading I do, I send to Maddie so she can see if I did it right, and I sent this one to her too. I asked her to add her insights on it. Here is what she said:

“I would add that the 9 of Swords is illustrating the fear and anxiety of being in an Awards ceremony, so he has to cool it off and be extra social, could also indicate his inside thoughts about if he’s the winner or not because he knows he has been nominated with strong actors, could also symbolize social anxiety about giving a public speech. The Hierophant could also be giving us signs that he’ll appear in an old suit or something we’ve seen him with before.”

✨🎴🔮

✨ A gentle reminder: tarot is for fun and we should always take everything with a grain of salt and be opened to all the possibilities! ✨

#evan peters #evanpeters #evanpeterstarotreading #tarot reading #adminreading

[uniteds]

"the club also has a say in whether they get to go to the national team in the first place" no offence but you don't know what you're talking about here. spanish players legally can't refuse nt call. can't even fake injury because spain will have their own doctors check. yes barcelona did overplay gavi and yes the injury was random but there's no sense in denying specifically de la fuente's gross negligence around young players. the way he handled pedri and dani olmo was dangerous too. why obscure the issue with this falsely neutral take?

it’s not a neutral take, but you can take it as such because it’s a neutral post about football players generally, which is why I made a clarification that it was gavi who got injured but we’ve seen this time and time again from players from all clubs and federations.

But to your point about spanish players not being able to refuse the national team call, I’m so sorry but I’m going all law student on you for a second. It’s 104(c) of the spanish sports law which states that they’re not allowed “unjustifiable lack of attendance at the call of national sports team” which doesn’t include fatigue or prior discussions with clubs to manage minutes. The law is designed to stop strikes, boycotts, or mutiny. So, yes, if a player needed a break and the club and federation worked together, the club absolutely has a say in whether the player goes to the national team.

which brings me to de la fuente and spain themselves: yes, they are criminally negligent. Especially when they sent him out minutes after he got hurt the first time. In this case, I’d even wager that he should lose his job for it because gavi will miss the euros. there’s also every chance that spain wouldn’t have respected barcelona’s wishes had they wanted to pull gavi out.

however, with all that said, I don’t really think it’s right to absolve a club of responsibility when they’ve been bad at rotating players as well. the injury isn’t random. it might not be totally preventable because of the way he landed, but clubs need to take some responsibility too. It’s not one or the other but an absolute failure of football as a whole.

like you said it yourself that barcelona did overplay him too. I don’t see the point in trying to go out of your way to say this was an isolated instance with just spain/de la fuente at fault when football players, again across all clubs and federations, have been mismanaged as a whole by BOTH. the point of the post was the lack of player unions and player’s rights and therefore, clubs act as guardians and when your guardians aren’t doing a bang up job either, it’s really hard not to say they’re not contributorily negligent too even if they weren’t the main culprits.

#answered

[pleasespellchimerical]

Chi Does Problematic Media

So.

Announcing a big upcoming project for the New Year.

For a long time, I’ve been fascinated with problematic media criticism. Not bad media mind you, but problematic media. The kind that deals in unkindness, stereotyping, bad allegory, or bigotry - whether or not it is intended by the author. I’m talking the kind of media that you get pilloried or blocked by people for talking about. The kind that people would rather boycott and put on DNI lists than have in their life.

I’m sure a few titles just popped into your head.

I usually keep my criticism either private or for friends only, because the Discourse has made me feel like I’m playing with cultural dynamite. But a few friends who have read my critical Problematic Media work have encouraged me to go public with it. And I’m going to try this, and try not to be afraid of the results.

So: coming Feb 2023

Chi Does Hogwarts Legacy

This one has grabbed my attention for a few reasons. First: I’ve worked with JKR media before, and I’m super curious how the world she’s built will change with other people at the head of the project. I’m wondering how many antisemitic tropes/storylines are gonna pop up (given what we’ve seen of the trailers), and how they will be handled. I’m wondering how the devs will have or have not responded to criticism of previous Harry Potter works, and how that will have affected the project. I’ve also never worked with a video game before, a piece that requires a massive team (generally my criticism has been of books or graphic novels, which are primarily made by one person). 

I believe that problematic media, rather than throwing it in a dumpster, has things to teach us: about the state of the world we live in, how media both does and does not inform IRL discussions, about the author and the cultural context they’re coming from. I believe that critical analysis of problematic media is important. I believe it is better to be curious about what problematic media is or is not saying, rather than just discarding it and believing there is nothing to take away. I do this critical work because I am a curious and stubborn bastard who would rather analyze a thing myself than take someone else’s word for it.

And I’m inviting y’all to come analyze with me. 

A few notes:

This will be done on a sideblog so you can specifically opt-in. You don’t wanna see it? Cool. I’m quarantining this from my regular stuff.

The game will be pirated, so setup might be difficult. This project might not happen at all if I can’t get things working.

You can read previous essays I’ve done on video games here: https://pleasespellchimerical.tumblr.com/tagged/chi%27s%20video%20game%20essays

More details plus sideblog URL will come later! 

#chi does problematic media

[y0ur-maj3sty]

~How Hitler Defied and Defeated The International Banksters~

 Many people take joy in saying Wall Street and Jewish bankers “financed Hitler”. There’s plenty of documented evidence that many American companies  did indeed help finance GERMANY, AT FIRST(and only at first), partly because it allowed the bankers to get rich, and partly in order to control Stalin. They needed to be financed because of all the money that Germany was forced to pay after the first world war[Treaty of Versailles]. However, when Germany broke free from the bankers, the bankers declared a world war against Germany. When we look at all the facts, the claim that “Jews financed Hitler” becomes irrelevant.

 When Hitler got elected, Germany was hopelessly broke. The Treaty of Versailles had imposed crushing reparations on the German people, demanding that Germans repay every nation’s costs of the war. These costs totaled three times the value of all the property in Germany. Private currency manipulators caused the German mark to fall drastically, causing the worst runaway inflation in history. A wheelbarrow full of 100 billion-mark banknotes could not buy a loaf of bread. The national treasury was empty. Countless homes and farms were lost to private (Jewish controlled) banks. Germans were starving.

German soldier helping poor family.

 On top of this, the Great Depression soon came. Germany had no choice but to succumb to debt slavery under international (mainly Jewish) bankers until 1933, when the National Socialists came to power. At that point the German government thwarted the international banking cartels by issuing its own money; and removed Jews from positions of authority in Germany. This was for 2 reason. The first was to return German people to control their own country, the second was to ensure communism would not start.(Most communists at the time were Jewish, as we’ve seen with the Russian Revolution). World Jewry responded by declaring a global boycott against Germany and her goods.

Hitler was the only person in history to ever jail a Rothschild..

 Hitler began a national credit program, by devising a plan of public works that included flood control, repair of public buildings and private residences, and construction of new roads, bridges, railroads, canals, and port facilities. All these were paid for with money that no longer came from the private international bankers.Under the National Socialists, Germany’s money wasn’t backed by gold (which was owned by the international bankers). It was essentially a receipt for labor and materials delivered to the government. Hitler said, “For every mark issued, we required the equivalent of a mark’s worth of work done, or goods produced.” The government paid workers in Certificates. Workers spent those Certificates on other goods and services, thus creating more jobs for more people. In this way the German people climbed out of the crushing debt imposed on them by the international bankers. Hitler restored foreign trade eventually, but used a barter system that cut the bankers out of the picture. Germany flourished, since barter eliminates national debt and trade deficits.

German workers building new railroads.

 Within two years, the unemployment problem had been solved, and Germany was back on its feet. It had a solid, stable currency, with no debt, and no inflation, at a time when millions of people in the United States and other Western countries (controlled by international bankers) were still out of work. This economic freedom made Hitler extremely popular with the German people. Within two years, the unemployment problem had been solved, and Germany was back on its feet. It had a solid, stable currency, with no debt, and no inflation, at a time when millions of people in the United States and other Western countries (controlled by international bankers) were still out of work. This economic freedom made Hitler extremely popular with the German people. Germany was rescued from English “economic theory”, which says that all currency must be borrowed against the gold owned by a private and secretive banking cartel, such as the Federal Reserve, and the Central Bank of Europe, rather than issued by the government for the benefit of the people.

 Within five years, Germany went from the poorest nation in Europe to the richest. Churchill realized this and also realized that Britain was losing it’s place as the #1 power in Europe. And Jews would not tolerate this. Canadian researcher Dr. Henry Makow, who is Jewish himself, says the main reason why the bankers arranged for a world war against Germany was that Hitler went around the bankers by creating his own money, thereby freeing the German people. Worse, this freedom and prosperity threatened to spread to other nations.

Hitler had to be stopped!

#hitler #adolf hitler #world war 2 #germany #nazi #economics #new world order

[floralovebot]

No, if people just don’t buy clawdeen Mattel is going to assume she’s underperforming BECAUSE she’s black. Without like, a corresponding social media movement boycotting clawdeen will send the wrong message

And certain complaints about clawdeen are rubbing me the wrong way. Her hair still isn’t textured Right but in a lot of the dolls we’ve seen it’s as curly or curlier than it’s ever been, which goes a long way towards characterizing her as a black woman. Colorism aside, her two new actresses are a big step up from a white woman putting on a blaccent like it was before

Clawdeen should have darker skin and her hair shouldn’t be a pink/purple so light it’s almost blonde. But i think just randomly boycotting her will make things worse we need specifics

It wouldn't be randomly boycotting though? Like I get your concern but people are already starting to draw attention to this.

My post was specifically saying that people making posts about the whitewashing while also turning around and buying the whitewashed dolls is counterproductive and doesn't help. It sends the message that the company can continue doing it because it won't lose them money, regardless of people being upset. Fans can make all the posts they want but if Mattel doesn't lose money over it they're less likely to actually fix it. Which is exactly what happened throughout all of gen1, especially with the movies. People would occasionally call it out but they would still buy the dolls and give Mattel money. Because they never lost money, they never felt like they had to address or fix it.

With the recent resurgence, more eyes are on them now and people in the fandom have the ability to actually make a change. People need to make noise and boycott the whitewashed dolls. Which is what I said in the post??? Mattel knows that Clawdeen is a popular character, they're not going to assume it's because she's black. She's always been popular, and she's only going to get more popular with her being a more prominent main character than she was before (exactly what happened with the scaris movie). They're a company. They pay attention to social media (even when it seems like they aren't due to them not addressing anything). They're going to see people talking about the whitewashing.

As long as fans continue to talk about it and draw up attention, which is what we're trying to do!, they're going to see and be aware of how this could affect their overall profit. I'm not just saying this out of my ass yknow? I watched this exact same thing happen for years with Winx Club. I know what happens when fans talk about racism but continue to financially support the company. I don't think it'll get as bad as it did with Winx, but them whitewashing Clawdeen like this (arguably the worst it's ever been), is proof that they think they can get away with it and it won't affect how much money they make. That's why people boycott! Boycotts always come from a message. When fans who have supported the franchise for years suddenly stop, it's not because they randomly decided to not support the black girl, it's because something changed in how much they feel comfortable supporting her merch and the company will need to investigate it.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they already knew about these concerns, before people even started to talk about it.

And listen, I'm not trying to scare people into not supporting Clawdeen specifically. This is about sending a message to Mattel to let them know that fans won't support or stand for racism. My post was specifically a message for fans as well to say "hey, making an anti-racism post and then funding that racism doesn't work". Again, I've watched this happen for years with Winx Club (well over a decade). If you want a closer comparison, compare Monster High to Barbie! There's a shit ton more eyes on Barbie and everything they do is scrutinized to the max. And as we've seen, there's been fewer instances of them fucking up because they know what'll happen when they do. Don't be afraid to boycott them! It's worked in the past and as long as people are clear about why they're doing it, it can work again.

#answered #i get where youre coming from! #but mattel isnt going to think this is happening for no reason #clawdeen has always been popular #the people who are racist enough to not buy her dolls havent been buying them in the first place #theyve always boycotted her shit as well as all the other characters of colors #it wouldnt be a loss because its never been there #meanwhile if the larger fanbase boycotted clawdeen's whitewashed dolls specifically #that sends a message that something is wrong with That specific doll and mattel would have to figure out what it is #people have been talking about the whitewashing for a while now! it just got randomly Upped because of the doll pictures #trust me mattel isnt unaware of these concerns #the issue with fans and particularly white fans continuing to buy these dolls #is that is tells the company that they don't Need to worry about it or fix it or apologize #that they can just keep whitewashing and it wont matter because fans keep buying it

[jentlemahae]

And fuck nctzens too! We’ve literally seen how exhausted the members are and they’ve even talked about how brutal their schedule is and how they’ve visited the hospital on multiple occasions. But they’ll still ignore it because “the boys worked hard” Only for them to go “the concert is not safe they shouldn’t have gone through with it 😖”

100% 😐🙃 one thing is if it’s a fixed unit comeback or tour bcs yes the boys care about those so i understand people saying that they should be rewarded for their hardwork, but this nct 2023 and nct nation was completely unnecessary ???? it’s very clear that it was put together at the last second since everything is messy and the stage was built with superglue, like i doubt the boys give two fucks about it lol 🤷🏻‍♀️ it really sucks tho bcs from how ppl behaved with nct nation/2023 it’s clear we will never be able to have an actual boycott even when we need one

#anonymous #sophie ask

[the-final-straw-blog]

May Day 2016 with Peter Linebaugh (repodcast)

We're happy to share another past episode, this time from May Day 2016, about 4 months before the start of our rss feed for our podcast. I feel it’s notable that this show approaches it’s 13th birthday on the May 9th of this year.

In this show, you'll hear an interview with autonomous Marxist historian, Peter Linebaugh on essay collection The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of May Day plus some music we curated at the time.

To friends we've met, and to those we have yet to meet, I'd like to wish everyone a happy May Day. As we'll hear in the following hour, this day has a long celebrated history. From its many European pagan roots as a celebration of fertility as the fruits of the spring planting season began to... uh, spring forth. Then on to the repressive winter that fell early on May 3rd and 4th of 1886 in Illinois with, first, the killing of workers striking for an 8 hour work day at the McCormick Works and then the repression of anarchist and socialist workers and organizers following the bombing at Haymarket Square in Chicago of that same year. From there to the taking up of May 1st as International Workers Day by struggling groups around the world and the U.S. adoption of a sanctioned Labor Day in September of the year.

To divide an international working class, The U.S. government, oppressors of that May Day 1886 sanctioned a Labor Day to be celebrated in September, declared the first of May both Law Day (an obvious testament to Irony in respect to the Haymarket 8, all jailed and 4 executed) and, for some, it's celebration as Americanism Day. Whatever that means. In 2006 & 2007, immigrants rights marches were seen on and around May Days that, for many, re-sparked the importance of this day. The protests and festivals swelled to numbers nearly unmatched in the history of protest on Turtle Island, and were accompanied by school and work walkouts and boycott days.

Whether you're out there today taking direct action, in repose from the horrors of wage slavery, resisting the carceral state, gardening, dancing around a May Pole or otherwise celebrating the possibilities of this year to come when, hell, we might as well end this system of exclusion and extraction: We wish you a fire on your tongue, love in your heart and free land beneath you.

.. ... . ..

Featured Tracks:

The International by Ani DiFranco & Utah Philips

The Earth Is Our Mother by Oi Polloi from Fuaim Catha

Surrounded by Matador from Taken

I Wish That They'd Sack Me by Chumbawamba from The Boy Bands Have Won

Addio a Lugano by Pietro Gori (performed by Gruppo Z on Canti Anarchici Italiani)

IO Pan by Spiral Bound from Leap Your Lazy Bounds

9-5ers Anthem by Aesop Rock from Labor Days

Check out this episode!

#anarchist #podcast #interview #feminist #antifa #anticapitalist

[human-collector0]

2bu

May 13, 2022May 13, 2022

lol i said it on twitter years ago, but i'm gonna say it again, and a lot of y'all are gonna be mad about it

2bu

May 13, 2022

creators of colour don’t owe you white folks shit. we really don’t

2bu

May 13, 2022

tacking onto this to say: you don’t get to police what we create especially after you demanded we ‘make our own media’. now what. now what now that we’re doing it?

you get mad. you get mad, act racist, act so fucking entitled even though you mfkers LITERALLY told us to ‘make’ shit ourselves. but let’s be honest here: you told us that in order to shut down our criticism, silence us, and worse, discourage us from demanding better of you and other white creators.

but now, now that it didn’t work, and we’re out here creating to our heart’s content and inspiring others like us, you’re upset? cry me a fucking river. you don’t have a right to be mad, hurt, sad, or anything like that. what did you seriously expect creators of colour to do? pander to your goofy illiterate headasses?

as a creator of colour i refuse to create to appease white people on any level. i don’t care how mad y’all are. you never created spaces for us, included us, etc - why should we do the same for you? why are you so deserving of ‘representation’ that’s already present and there for you? you sit here constantly and whine about creators of colour, boycott them, leave shite reviews, and lack any genuine depth, thought, or creativity much less empathy to see beyond race when it comes to media produced by us.

yall will sit here and pander to us the most vapid, insufferable, unoriginal, rank ass horseshit we’ve ever seen and get mad when we rightfully criticize it. some of yall white creators make the most self-serving, uninspired, boring, and disgustingly masturbatory works and think you’re entitled to fucking new york times best selling.

yall will sit there and create content and act cheeky when the few fans of colour approach you and either criticize your work or ask for better representation on the off chance you bother to include us.

how dare yall sit there and demand we do shit for yall after purposeful discouragement, exclusion, harassment, hatred, and unfounded, uneducated, undeserved criticism. fuck you

[talkingaboutblkcinema]

Sorry to Bother You

Sorry to bother you is one of the best and most insane movies I’ve ever watched. It is a film that will keep you on your toes at every minute. Just when you think you know what going to happen next the plot takes a sharp left turn into an even more insane realm than you thought possible. Despite all of this the most surprising thing about the film is that despite all of the weirdness the message of the film comes through loud and clear.

The Film tells the very strange story of Cassius Green. Cassius is a poor black man who just got hired by a telemarketing company. Cash isn’t very good at his job but he starts to have massive success after he starts using his “white voice”. He then gets massive success which sends him skyrocketing up the corporate ladder. This puts him at odds with his friend and fellow coworkers who are protesting for better wages. At the top Cash sees just how wild and corrupt the top of the company is and he has to decide whether he’ll stay with corruption or fight it.

One of the commentaries that the film makes that stood out most to me was the idea of making white people feel comfortable. In order to even be acknowledged by the people he calls Cash has to put on a fake happy white voice that gives off a constant air of positivity. When he becomes a power caller and is surrounded by white people he has to have the white voice on 24/7. He does these things to make the white people around him more comfortable. In contrast, his coworkers are doing the opposite. They constantly use stereotypical black slang around him that he is visibly not okay with. When he goes to the CEO’s party he gets asked to talk about if he’s ever shot someone or done gangster stuff then gets forced to rap the N-word which the crowd excitedly chants back at him. This is a commentary on how especially in corrupt spaces black people are forced to bend over backward to tone down their blackness for the comfort of their white coworkers. At the same time, there is no expectation for white people to do the same. On top of this even when we tone our blackness down we are often still only seen as the stereotypes that we’re trying so hard to not portray.

It’s incredible just how many topics this movie comments on at the same time. There are the obvious main topics of racism and workers being mistreated by there the companies they work for, but there are also so many smaller issues that get talked about in the background. Like how the most popular show on TV is just showing people suffering. Another more subtle example is how One of the protesters goes viral at a protest and soon after a company pays her to use her viral protest slogan to sell sodas.

I think one of the subtlest and most impactful messages from the movie comes from the ending. In the end after all of the crazy, unethical, and disgusting things that we’ve seen Regalview and its parent company do the “happy ending” is that everyone goes back to work with a slight pay raise. I think that this is a commentary on the effectiveness of protests and the nature of capitalism. So many times we see a company get exposed for doing terrible things and these terrible things inspire massive protests and boycotts. Then we see the company give a statement saying that they’re going to make a small change in the right direction or that there going to “analyze and reconsider their methods”. After a few weeks, the outrage has died down and things go back to normal. No one gets fired. no one goes to jail. And nothing changes. I think what Boots Riley is trying to say with this film is that even if a company got caught red-handed turning people into Horses, nothing would really change because they would just wait for the controversy to die down.  It begs the question. Can protests really cause change? and if not what should we do instead?

[newsblare1]

Do you know who are the richest women in the world? Since the beginning

Ever since they were born, women have been trying to break through the glass ceiling and make their mark on the world. Today, some of the richest women in the world are breaking all the stereotypes and defying all odds.

Women have always been achievers. In the past, they were not allowed to compete with men but today things are changing. Today we can see some of the successful women in the world.

The Richest Women in the World

There are many richest women in the world

, but who is the richest? Here is a list of the top 10 richest women in the world, according to Forbes.

1. Alice Walton - $54.4 billion

2. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers - $48.9 billion

3. Julia Koch - $38.2 billion

4. MacKenzie Scott - $36 billion

5. Laurene Powell Jobs - $18.6 billion

6. Marian Ilitch - $17.6 billion

7. Yang Huiyan - $16.7 billion

8. Gina Rinehart - $15.3 billion

9. Abigail Johnson - $15 billion

10. Jacqueline Mars - $14.8 billion

There are many different ways to measure wealth, but for this blog post, we’re going to focus on the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest women. This list is compiled using a variety of factors including public company stakes, real estate holdings, private investments, and more.

Successful Women from All Time

Many women have made great contributions to the world throughout history. They come from all walks of life and have made their mark in a variety of fields. Here are just a few of the most successful women of all time.

Mary Magdalene is one of the most well-known women in history. She was a close friend and follower of Jesus Christ and is said to have been the first person to see him after his resurrection. Magdalene is an important figure in Christianity, and her story is an inspiration to many women.

Marie Curie was a Polish scientist who made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she remains the only person to have won two Nobel Prizes in different sciences. Curie’s work has had a lasting impact on the world, and she is considered one of the most important scientists of all time.

Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who is best known for her role in the Montgomery bus boycott. Parks’s act of defiance sparked a nationwide movement for racial equality, and she is now considered one of the most important figures in American history.

Famous Women Around the Globe

There's no doubt that women have made great strides over the years. We've seen more women in leadership roles, we've seen more women starting their businesses, and we've seen more women becoming millionaires and billionaires. In fact, according to Forbes, there are now more than 2,000 women billionaires around the world.

So, who are the richest women in the world? Here's a look at the top 10, according to Forbes:

1. Alice Walton - $54.4 billion

2. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers - $48.9 billion

3. Julia Koch - $38.2 billion

4. MacKenzie Scott - $36 billion

5. Johanna Quandt - $35.8 billion

6. Jacqueline Mars - $33.8 billion

7. Yang Huiyan - $27 billion

8. Gina Rinehart - $26.7 billion

9. Abigail Johnson Johnson - $25.3 billion

10. Laurene Powell Jobs - $24

Powerful Billionaires

There are many powerful and wealthy women in the world. Here are some of the richest women in the world:

1. Christy Walton - Christy Walton is the richest woman in the world with a net worth of $41.7 billion. She is the widow of John T. Walton, who was one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.

2. Liliane Bettencourt - Liliane Bettencourt is the second richest woman in the world with a net worth of $39.5 billion. She is a French heiress and businesswoman. She is also the daughter of Eugene Schueller, who founded L'Oreal.

3. Alice Walton - Alice Walton is the third richest woman in the world with a net worth of $38.2 billion. She is one of the daughters of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.

4. Jacqueline Mars - Jacqueline Mars is the fourth richest woman in the world with a net worth of $27.7 billion. She is an American heiress and businesswoman who inherited from her father Frank C. Mars, who founded Mars Incorporated.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that women have made great strides in recent years, both in terms of their achievements and in terms of their financial success. The list of the richest women in the world is proof of this, with some truly impressive fortunes being amassed by these powerful and influential ladies. Whether they have inherited their wealth or built it up themselves, these women are an inspiration to us all and serve as a reminder that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

Here are some Dream Cars that are The Most expensive car for richest persons

#richest persons in the world #Best areas to live in delhi #Google Offices in India

[kkyujikoo]

These are my... 2...? Maybe 50, cents about the whole "freejk" thing. I'm gonna be extremely petty and at some points a whole lot sarcastic and it's gonna be long but I had to say it. As soon as I get my computer I'm gonna make it under read more, but the app does whatever it wants, as we know.

Listen, this ain't my first fan rodeo, and not even the first fan rodeo where I've been directly or indirectly accused of being some sort of pervert or delulu. I've been in fandom spaces since I was a teen, I was shipping mlm couples when queerbaiting in TV shows was still something that was seen as the norm rather than some cheap disgusting trick. I was there when fanfic spaces saw "slash" fics as something "different" and to be tagged with a more mature rating even when they just looked at each other.

I was in BBC's Sherlock's fandom and I shipped Johnlock during the hiatus between S3 and S4, at this point I'm not even feeling it when people call me delulu or a weirdo.

So, yeah, take this with a grain of salt: as a person who has seen thousands of times fandom drama unfolding and has lived too much of it... This whole situation is so ridiculous it makes me laugh. Like, yeah, it's maddening how people will blame anyone and everyone because they don't even see their own bias and homophobia, granted, but like... It also makes me laugh for the sheer dumbassery of the reasoning behind it all?

Like... Y'all are getting mad and for what? Because it sure as hell isn't the invasion of privacy, since y'all are watching the same content we're all watching and you're paying to see it the same way everyone else is. If you don't want to "invade their privacy", you should just... Stop watching content that isn't their music videos, RUN episodes or interviews. Memories and any kind of dvd/video that shows what they're doing behind the scenes shouldn't be part of their job as musicians, and therefore we're intruding in their privacy... Or aren't we?

Or maybe it's more nuanced than that: maybe the content they release on dvd/on their official channels is part of their job as entertainers, and it's been approved, and it's a small window THEY are granting us.

You know what's the REAL invasion of privacy and what REALLY invalidates someone autonomy? When you, who maybe aren't even paying to see that content (which is something I understand, like, dude, I'm not covered in money either), DEMAND what kind of behind the scenes content you want when I swear ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has asked you. Once again: you don't like it? You think it's some huge invasion of privacy? Don't buy it. Don't interact with it. Convince your friends to do the same. For all I care, just go and petition to boycott this kind of content. I know you won't do it, because... That's the thing, isn't it? It's not the invasion of privacy that bothers these people.

Y'all aren't mad because we get into their business or else you would have gotten real mad when we were privy to REAL private moments like people crying their hearts out.

No, no. Y'all are mad because it's "shipping content" and "fanservice" which apparently bothers you because it lacks authenticity.

Pick a side, lovelies: either you DON'T want to invade their privacy, and thus all the content they release should be focused on what fans want to see, or you WANT to know how they interact TRULY in private.

And here's the catch: "shipping content" can be anything. Shipping existed WAAAAAYYY before the word for it was invented, same way with fanfictions. Shipping means, literally, "seeing two (or more) people interact and thinking they would make a good romantic pair". That's it. That's quite literally it. Everything else is just some nuance of the concept of shipping, but at its core, it's nearly impossible to ban all shipping content when it's a group of seven people, because they should for real go in social distancing mode to do so. Most people who have parasocial relationships tend to have "ships" whether they know it or not, because we've all, at least once, looked at a dynamic from the outside and thought "oh man they look cute together". So, even if, o dear ones, your wishes were granted... What the hell do you mean by "shipping" content? Should they just film solo clips, avoiding talking about the other members? But wouldn't that be fanservice, since it's focused on pleasing the fans? (Which, ultimately, is what fanservice MEANS, and I hate to break it to y'all but the whole concept behind entertainment and thus all the content BTS releases it's... For the fans. Like, they're not going out of their way to just meet our expectations but they're certainly doing fanservice by the mere act of releasing bonus content.)

But it's not even quite that, is it? Because no one bats an eye if it's Tae kissing Nj's cheek. I've seen no hashtag against everyone - and I mean literally every one of them - wolf whistling at Nj. It's okay to show intimacy... Because they're bandmates and it's okay to be close to someone who you see basically 24/7, I hear you. And it's also okay when people see that and gush over that closeness, because it's such a nice thing to see.

Soooooo... We've got to free JK from whom exactly? From what?

Are y'all mad cause people pointed out there's very little way a bruise that stayed for a whole ass night could be a quick bite? Because that doesn't harm jk, at most makes fun of him and jimin and their poor excuses (seriously, guys, next time consider using mosquitoes or "I was doing stuff". It'll be equally embarrassing but at least the meme will be funny), and it's literally... A fair observation. Like. It's a hickey, people are gonna make jokes about seeing a hickey and poor excuses of covering it up in the exact same way they're gonna make jokes over jimin falling out of chairs. And yeah, a hickey is AT LEAST something that happens in a sensual context. Like, I could understand "people who are extremely familiar with each other will have different body language/touch in areas where usually you wouldn't see friends touching each other", but that's not. Not a hand on the thigh. It's a hickey on the neck. I don't even know a more stereotypical placing for a hickey. But once again, are y'all mad because someone is pointing it out? Because that's not being delulu or even being a shipper, really, it's just commenting on something that was approved to be shown and discussed in something that was released BY THEM.

Are y'all mad at hybe for showing something that literally fell onto their hands? Cause like, unless someone (I'm counting on Jimin, since as we know Jungkook was busy spinning him round and round and had both his hands busy) called at hybe headquarters to say "yo bang pd substitute, is it okay if I give my friend jk here a hickey? Cause he's being really annoying rn and he has to pay", I highly doubt anyone expected Jungkook to come to rehearsal all neatly marked up. Or idk, maybe someone at hybe asked them "we need Jungkook to come in with a hickey but refuse to say it's a hickey, so that fans will feel reeeeally served." That sounds perfectly plausible too. Or a good marketing strategy.

Now, if you're a big company and your objective is to have some footage of the rehearsals for a concert, and the fandom is too good at noticing stuff for their own good, and one of your artists comes in with a very visible mark, and he and his bff bropal4lyfe come n with a story about how they were playing and a bite happened, you've got three choices: 1. Cut the artist out of aaaaalll the footage. Someone would have noticed the "bite mark" anyway, you best believe that. If you don't want anyone to notice it, you gotta cut him in most of the footage where it's visible. 2. Keep the hickey, discard the explanations. You could do that, but also it would feel a lot more unfaithful to everyone involved. Also they clearly worked their ass off to invent an explanation, come on! They truly tried to do their best inventing something that was not "it's a mosquito bite", they should get some credit! 3. Keep the bite, keep the explanation.

Notice how none of these solutions include the biting never happening because... They couldn't prevent it? The only thing they have any control over is how they're framing each "accident". And that's not an easy job.

I applaud you, people on the editing team.

So... On whom should we cast the blame now? Ah, yes, I think it's finally time for the ultimate scapegoat of this fandom: Jimin. Which is funny, cause... You know... If this were really about privacy, or being "victims" of shipping... This should be about freeing him too, you know? But obviously Jimin does it for attention, while Jungkook, poor angel that he is, doesn't even know what shipping is.

Furthermore, don't we all know how much Jimin imposes himself in Jungkook's life? To the point where he, multimillionaire man feels compelled to share a car with Jimin even if they're both late in the process. And can't you see how uncomfortable he is, draping himself over Jimin, making Jimin drap himself over him?

Oh lordy, truly such an awful eight years Jungkook spent, choosing to have vacations with someone who made him uncomfortable, spending free time with him, even having to suck his ear in public to the point you can see his saliva just because Jimin was sad :( truly an all-around bad time for Jungkook, as evidenced by alllll those times when he said Jimin was pretty, cute, and all-around knowing every little thing about Jimin. I absolutely concur, the dude would be so much more happy if jimin was not in his life.

Did that sound weird and absolutely ridiculous and a really absurd joke? Because that's what y'all sound like to me. Like. Jungkook is out there living his best life, getting hickeys and showered in affection and y'all paint him as a fucking martyr??? I'm sure he's really truly desperate that Jimin holds him in such high regards 😭😭😭 I can see him suffering whenever he starts doing his own serendipity rendition 😭😭 and when he claimed you are me, I am you as his and Jimin's only 😭😭😭 I cannot believe this poor baby 😭😭😭

I've reached a point where every time I hear this stuff I laugh because the levels of twisting reality when it comes to jikook are extraordinary, Jungkook will have a literally blissed out face and people will cry in outrage.

But coming back to my point: let's pretend you're not mad at Jimin and the possibility that jikook are dating: are y'all mad... At the hickey? Because at this point it seems like the only feasible solution. And if you are, do not worry: I'm sure Jungkook's skin was throughly healed by his boo. A kiss soothes even the worst pain, doesn't it?

#jikook #that freejk dumbassery

[slavghoul]

Kerrang #1655, January 2017

Have you ever had one of your shows protested?

“We’ve had people trying to boycott our shows. People will come in and tell us, ‘Hey, there are protesters handing out Bibles to the people in the queue.’ We also had problems getting our album Infestissumam pressed. Someone at the pressing plant in Tennessee had a problem with the artwork, but the problem wasn’t any of the Satanic elements or anything like that, it was the fact that there was a vagina. You don’t go round printing vaginas in Tennessee.”

What’s been your most jaw-dropping onstage moment ever?

“We’ve seen a lot of odd things now, but one of the most jaw-dropping for me was when we first started. We were supporting Paradise Lost in Germany. It was an 800-capacity club, and 799 of them hated us. I’ve never faced a group that was so uniform in their rudeness. In between songs they were telling us to fuck off and go home, but there was this one guy in the front row who was singing and head-banging and having a great time. That was Mille Petrozza from Kreator. As a kid I used to go to Kreator shows and stand outside to get my records signed. That was a cool moment and one that I’ll always remember.”

Have you ever suffered an onstage injury that no-one knew about?

“The environment is strange from a work safety point of view, because anywhere else with a lot of sharp, pointy objects would have safety notices everywhere. We’re doing it in the dark with masks on and usually there’s just a little tape indication that signals: ‘Don’t stand here or you will have a bomb in your face.’ So, yeah, I‘ve injured myself and no-one’s been aware. I’ve taken my mask off and blood’s just gone everywhere.”

Have you ever been refused entry to a venue or backstage?

“We Nameless Ghouls are not exactly recognisable without the masks, so if you forget your pass, that can be a problem. You have to learn the ‘I’m in the band’ strut. Just look like you have every right to be there and you’ll be fine.”

What’s the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to you onstage?

“Technical issues can be embarrassing, as well as a bit creepy. Wireless equipment has a tendency to being open to suggestion. It picks up signals, and if there’s a railway or something nearby it can just suddenly go, ‘DRRRRRRRRRR!’ If you’re in a certain emotional state and you’re distracted that way, it can be unnerving.”

What’s been your most surreal showbiz moment?

“Probably winning a GRAMMY last year, I was surprised at some of the people who knew who we were, Josh Groban came up and said he was a fan. I was trying to downplay it beforehand because we never thought we’d actually win, but when our category came up I thought, ‘I really want to win that fucking statue.’ It felt like it actually meant something.”

Who’s your most famous fan?

“Dave Grohl and James Hetfield have been very vocal in their support. Duff McKagan told me he was a fan when I met him, and Philip Anselmo was an early fan. I think a lot of the early success that we had was definitely aided by these people who talked about us or took us on tour.

If you ruled the world, what’s the first law you’d enact?

“I think most countries would benefit from a lack of legislation against marijuana. I think most people who know about it know it’s not that bad, whereas alcohol is much more of a home-wrecker and a source of violence.”

What would you do if you encountered a real ghost?

“I don’t know, but I’d definitely be startled. I’m a little afraid of the dark, which can be an issue. I’m trying to teach my kids that the Devil is our friend, I tell them they don’t have to be afraid of darkness, but I’m super-afraid of it myself. Hence my fascination with it.”

Does humanity need religion?

“The belief in something greater is good. I think that is part of our psyche to be open to that idea, but I think a lot of people have their minds closed because they’re overwhelmed by organised religion. I’d like to believe there’s a sphere we don’t know, but intellectually I know the chances of there being a bearded man in the sky and a ram in the pits of the Earth are highly unlikely.”

#from the archives #the band ghost #meliora era #interview

[only-johnny-deppp]

“Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...” 

 Johnny Depp’s NEW INTERVIEW!

Last saturday, August 14, The UK Times, released a new interview with Johnny for the Sunday Times section. It was realized sometime earlier this month, in London, probably on the same day he and Andrew Levitas were recording for the Q&A for the “Minamata” release in UK. This is Johnny’s first interview since the UK trials in London last year, and released three years after Johnny’s major interview for the British GQ Magazine. Here Johnny and Andrew Levitas speaks about “Minamata”, his future as actor and a thing or two about his personal life, although he cannot talk about the court case.

For those who couldn’t read yet, here is the FULL interview:  Enjoy.

***

“I’M BEING BOYCOTTED BY HOLLYWOOD”

Johnny Depp has a new film out this week. In the opening scene his character, the real-life photographer W Eugene Smith, says, “I’m done. I’m tired. My body is older than I am. I’m always in goddam pain. I can’t trust my f***ing dick any more. Constantly in a foul mood. Even the drugs bore me.”

I ask Depp if Smith’s despair resonated with him. Depp stops. Rocks back and forth. “That’s interesting,” he replies with painful hesitation.

“I didn’t approach playing Smith in that way… Although you bring your toolbox to work and use what is available. Having experienced...” He stops again. Depp takes any questions that might refer to his calamitous libel case last year slowly, in a mumbly, croaking drawl. “A surreal five years…”

In the film Smith needs to revive his reputation. In real life Depp’s task is even more daunting. Thanks to the judgment, everyone can call him a “wife-beater”. Now he must convince a Hollywood still convulsed by #MeToo that he’s not toxic — and that any attempt to rebuild his career is a risk worth taking. This is Depp’s first interview since the case.

We are speaking over Zoom, Depp in his London home, in front of a gold-framed painting. The 58-year-old is wearing a lot of clothes. Earrings. Floppy hat. Sunglasses. Bandana. Scarf. Checked shirt over a T-shirt with an indiscernible slogan. If you saw him on the Tube*, you might think he was off to work at the London Dungeon*, to play most of the characters.

PS. For those who are not familiar with British words: * Tube = British slang for London Underground, the subway trains. * London Dungeon = is a walk-through experience that recreates scenes from London's scary history in a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides.

Depp resumes, talking in broken sentences about the new film, Minamata, in which Smith, via Life magazine, exposes the brutal mercury poisoning of Japanese villagers in the early 1970s.

“How do we do this?” he asks rhetorically, meaning how to speak about the elephant in the Zoom. “Well, there’s no way one can’t recognise the absurdity of the mathematics.” He grins. “If you know what I mean?” No. “Absurdity of media mathematics.” He talks in riddles. “Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...”

He trails off again. He is holding a big brown roll-up of some sort. “What the people in Minamata dealt with? People who suffered with Covid? A lot of people lost lives. Children sick...Ill. Ultimately, in answer to your question? Yeah, you use what you’ve got. But what I’ve been through? That’s like getting scratched by a kitten. Comparatively.”

Last July, I went to the High Court in London to watch Depp on another screen — a video from the socially distanced court where the Hollywood star was losing a libel action against The Sun after it called him a “wife-beater”. It was the grottiest showbiz trial of the century. There were photos of the actor passed out in a foetal slump, socks on show. One lengthy exchange involved faeces. Another urination, inside or outside a house, after a violent night with his ex-wife Amber Heard.

This had all been going on for a while. In 2016 Heard applied for a temporary restraining order against him. The couple had long endured a narcotic, booze-filled, childish relationship, but that does not matter — 12 incidents levelled against Depp were proved, said the judge, and abuse is abuse, regardless of how badly they both behaved. Depp wanted to appeal, but the court said no. Next April in the US he has a $50 million defamation case against Heard relating to an opinion piece she wrote about being the victim of domestic abuse. It may be his last roll of the dice.

In the 1990s Depp was a sensitive heart-throb. Cooler than DiCaprio, edgier than Pitt. In this past year he has been stripped of his status and dignity. On day three of the trial Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun, asked Depp about daubing a penis on a painting. He could not remember. “That would be quite a big thing, painting a penis on a picture?”  Wass asked. “Quite a big thing?” Depp asked.

It was a well-delivered line, but Depp was on show. Performing. Now he is more timid, less lucid. His people say he cannot talk about the court case given the looming US trial, yet it hangs over everything. The director of Minamata, Andrew Levitas, is also on our call — as a pub trivia aside, Levitas is married to the Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins.

The two men clearly get on. “With regards to journalism, it was important for us to put across in the film the power of truth,” Levitas says. Depp nods. “The responsibility of journalists to look after citizens of the world. [Our film] coincided with the moment important publications had to put Raquel Welch on a cover to get enough eyeballs to sell enough ads in order to put something meaningful inside. A result of that is clickbait — it’s destroying the purpose of journalism,” Levitas continues.

“You said it beautifully,” says Depp, one of the world’s most pinned-up men, who built a career on magazine covers. “I couldn’t say it better than that.”

Last month Levitas wrote to MGM, which bought Minamata for the US market but decided not to release it. He accused MGM of being concerned that “the personal issues of an actor in the film could reflect negatively upon them”. Then the letter got really strong. Levitas accused MGM of failing in its “moral obligation” to release the film and said it needed to explain to the victims “why you think an actor’s personal life is more important than their dead children”. He then attached Smith’s photos of ghastly deformities that shocked the world 50 years ago.

“It’s important that the movie gets seen and supported,” Levitas says. “And if I get an inkling it’s not going to be, it’s my responsibility to say so. Where it goes from there? I don’t know. But we have responsibility to these victims . . .”

You can see why he’s passionate. The film is good. MGM bought the film because it is good. Depp is good too. He disappears into the role, far from his more recent pantomime parts. It’s being released worldwide, just not in the actor’s homeland.

Depp, who also produced the film, interrupts. “We looked these people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploitative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs.”

“Some films touch people,” he adds. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything…” He pauses, as he does. “For Hollywood’s boycott of, erm, me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?” He trails off. “But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that…” Again, he trails off. “To bring things to light.”

The fact, as I think Depp knows, is that for his career, the court that matters is not one of law, but public opinion. On social media, where a lot of minds are made up, Depp’s good reputation will always outweigh the bad, thanks to his frequently blinkered fans.

Outside the High Court, as Heard arrived, I saw Natasha, 30, yell: “Get hit by a truck, Amber!” She is extreme, but the persistent way his fans demand that others think their idol is a saint shows a career revival will happen. After all, most filmgoers do not follow his private life at all. To them, he is Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands. To them, he is a star — and a star can take an awful lot of heat before it burns out.

“They have always been my employers,” Depp says of his fans. “They are all our employers. They buy tickets, merchandise. They made all of those studios rich, but they forgot that a long time ago. I certainly haven’t. I’m proud of these people, because of what they are trying to say, which is the truth. The truth they’re trying to get out since it doesn’t in more mainstream publications. It’s a long road that sometimes gets clunky. Sometimes just plain stupid. But they stayed on the ride with me and it’s for them I will fight. Always, to the end. Whatever it may be.”

Depp will talk like this for ever — about his “truth”. Minamata is the last film Depp has listed on the industry site IMDb, where actors usually have half a dozen in development. So, yes, fans of the actor can see Depp in a new role now — it is a return, but is it a relaunch? The film was finished in 2019, way before last year’s court case. Is that it? His last film? He thinks and looks off to his bookshelves, at biographies of Betjeman and Olivier.

“Er...no,” he says, eventually. “No. No. Actually, I look forward to the next few films I make to be my first films, in a way. Because once you’ve...Well, look. The way they wrote it in The Wizard of Oz is that when you see behind the curtain, it’s not him. When you see behind the curtain, there’s a whole lot of motherf***ers squished into one spot. All praying that you don’t look at them. And notice them.”

I would ask him to explain, but I am not sure he is an explainer. Watch this space, I guess, but he is already taking a first step back. After we speak, it is announced Depp is getting the coveted Donostia award at the San Sebastian Film Festival next month. Some people are just too famous to fail.

~ Interview by Jonathan Dean, in London, for The Times UK (released on August 14, 2021)

#Johnny Depp #New Interview #Interview #Minamata #Justice For Johnny Depp #I Believe Him #Johnny Depp is Innocent #The Times UK

[thessalian]

Thess vs Living in a Plutocracy

The last little while has made me realise how efficiently the economic structure of the last little while has fucked over everyone but the incredibly wealthy. Right from the foundations, change will only ever really have a negative effect on the average individual at this point, and I’m not sure I can see a way to change it back.

Like, look at the freeze on the Russian central bank. Yes, this is good in terms of sanctions to a point, but a lot of the Russian oligarchs more than likely have a terrible lot of money stashed elsewhere. The UK, for example - London in particular is a breeding ground for Russian oligarchy money. There are reasons Johnson’s so slow at imposing sanctions; he’s waiting for those with all the assets (who have often made hefty donations to the Tories) to move them somewhere safer. It’s the only reason I can think of that we’ve only imposed sanctions on, like, eleven oligarchs while the US and EU have sanctioned over a hundred at my last reckoning. So the oligarchs will lose money but still be wealthy, but the ruble is tanking and that’s going to hit the average Russian very hard.

Then consider boycotts. I mean, first of all, those only work if everyone boycotts. Like, everyone everywhere, and that’s never going to happen. And even then, that’s not going to hit suppliers right away. They’ve already sent - and been paid for - significant amounts of stock to go to vendors, some of them independent. Hell, a lot of them independent. Like, I hear about the call to boycott the Coca-Cola Company and Pepsi-Co and I think about the nice Asian family who runs the corner shop I normally go to. They’ve bought a lot of stock and if no one buys it, they’re the ones that lose out. And it’s not even the big companies that get hit after that. The nice Asian family who runs the corner shop buys stuff from a cash-and-carry outlet and delivers it themselves in their transit van. So if they’re not buying any more stuff because the people aren’t buying it on the shelves and they can’t afford to restock, the people who run the cash-and-carry go next. It’ll take a damn long time for that to be felt by the big corporations - if indeed it ever is. Again, a boycott would have to be everyone, and even if any boycott could somehow make a dent, it’d be a tax write-off at best, and affect the livelihoods of an awful lot of people.

And then there’s how large companies deal with falls in profits, or even just wanting to maintain the illusion of bigger profits. We’ve seen it in the video game industry. Staff are overworked, underpaid, and entirely disposable in the eyes of the industry. Union-busting is a thing, and it’s left employees in a position where they have a really difficult time striking. Yes, the good folks at Activision Blizzard did just that, but the changes they’ve managed are weak at best - a bit like the writers’ and voice actors’ strikes of awhile back. People have been treated like disposable industry cogs for so long that we’ve had to adapt to that as a model because it’s the only way we’re allowed to survive these days, and there’s always someone younger and more desperate. Hell, consider the amount of fire-and-rehire that went on after the worst of the pandemic lockdowns; people on furlough were forced to reapply for jobs under worse conditions, and what choice did they have? Besides applying for different jobs somewhere else, when every other company was either doing the exact same thing or not fucking over their employees so not needing to do any hiring?

Going back to the strikes for a minute - the video game industry is one of the few industries left that can have an effect on a company’s bottom line by striking. Amazon’s another (though the union-busting there means it’s hugely unlikely because anyone working there has got to be too damn desperate to quit). The problem comes when you consider how much a service economy we’ve become. Like the Tube strikes recently, as a for-instance. Now, most strikes have the general population as collateral damage - mine workers’ strikes back in the day had rolling blackouts throughout the UK, for instance. But when it’s a strike in the service industry, it’s only the general population that really suffers. A good public transport strike would harm Transport for London’s bottom line by running the damn service but not making people pay for it - it’s been done before, to good effect. All shutting down the entire Tube system for two days does is inconvenience the general population, who are still expected to get into work to do their own jobs and have to face leaving exceptionally early and still get mired in traffic, especially with a lot of companies having dismantled their work-from-home infrastructure. And the general population, suffering their own economic hardships, are going to be less than sympathetic simply because of how the economic system is treating them, and so are going to blame the strikers rather than the company threatening their pensions and leaving them to struggle the hardship of understaffing. The strikes are affecting the wrong people, in short, and it undermines what they’re trying to do.

The wealthy will always find ways to enrich themselves at our expense, the way things are now. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that even total socioeconomic collapse would change that. I wish I was smart enough to think of a way to return some equity to the situation ... but so long as greedy assholes hold the reins, it’s always going to be the general population that suffers longest and hardest. Just, how long can we do this? How long can we survive in this unsustainable system without keeling over and dying? We don’t live in a plutocracy. We barely survive in one. But it’s all we have. And every so often it just depresses me beyond all comprehension. And then I try to take my mind off it with something else ... and remember that this is just me feeding more money to the plutocrats.

There’s no ethical consumption under late-stage capitalism. As guilty as it makes me feel, though ... we have two choices. We can struggle and suffer and barely survive ... or we can do all those things and have a tiny spark of joy somewhere in it. I can minimise damage where I can but fuck’s sake, I can’t ‘just survive’. I swear, we’re more invested in giving zoo animals, livestock and pets enrichment than we are in giving humans (who are also animals, lest we forget - Kingdom Animalia, baby) the same damn thing. Which is why it annoys me when people bitch at poor people having anything remotely fun because that money could be used to survive, somehow. Physical, emotional, and mental enrichment is a necessary component of survival, for fuck’s sake! It’s ... just a shame it helps prop up the system as it currently stands, is all.

#Thess on politics #Well economics really #Thess on economics