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probablyasocialecologist · 3 months

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Far-right politicians with an explicit history of antisemitism, such as Marine Le Pen, have been praised in recent months for their support of Israel and virulently anti-Muslim sentiment. On November 15th, Elon Musk tweeted out his support for the “great replacement theory”—the idea that Jewish people are engineering white genocide—leading to condemnations from the White House, and from X advertisers such as Apple and Disney. On November 17th, Musk announced an X ban on pro-Palestinian phrases like “from the river to the sea,” which he characterized as antisemitic hate speech. Minutes after the announcement, Jonathan Greenblatt, Director of the ADL, logged on to express his gratitude to Musk, writing: “I appreciate this leadership in fighting hate.” In a recent article for the far-right Washington Free Beacon, provocatively titled “What Makes Hamas Worse Than the Nazis,” bestselling British historian Andrew Roberts mounts a rousing defense of Nazism, ostensibly in the name of condemning antisemitism. Although the Nazi government began systematically murdering disabled and queer people even before the start of the war, Roberts insists that their operations were incidentally rather than deliberately sadistic, and that the majority of German people during the war opposed mass murder. If his aim is clearly to demonize the cause of Palestinian liberation as a whole, his exoneration of European fascism as “just following orders” is no less central of a claim. By conflating “antisemitism,” “genocide,” and even “Nazism” with Palestine, Hamas, and Islam as a whole, this kind of historical revisionism works to redeem the European far-right as inherently civilized even in its most barbaric actions. Any attempt to adopt a more humanist perspective, to take a longer or wider lens on the annihilation of Europe’s Jewish communities, or to relate their struggles and suffering to the struggles and suffering of others would appear to betray the ethos of post-Holocaust Jewishness. Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon both famously argued that the extreme state violence of fascism and the Holocaust was an imperialist backlash, the excesses of colonial violence returning home, only shocking in that it took place on European soil. In his introduction to Modernity and the Holocaust, Zygmunt Bauman describes the insistence on the uniqueness of the Holocaust as a form of historical decontextualization. Or, more plainly, as a refusal to engage in collective self-reflection. “One way is to present the Holocaust as something that happened to the Jews; as an event in Jewish history. This makes the Holocaust unique, comfortably uncharacteristic and sociologically inconsequential.” Bauman asserts that the underlying rationale for this circular logic, by which abstracted antisemitism is both sole cause and sole effect of the Holocaust, is collective exoneration. It works as a shield for modern European civilization, capable of outliving such atrocities.

[...]

It is not incidental then that, in line with right-wing ideological programs, the mainstream current of Holocaust narratives primarily encourage identification with the perpetrators rather than with the victims. They are propelled by the cause of personal enlightenment, encouraging the reader to look within for evil and to root it out rather than ever looking outward at the world surrounding them. Evil, this version of history would have you believe, is a personal problem and not a systemic one. It can crystallize through a mysterious process into mass evil, a spiritual rot. This gives it a kind of mystical aspect. It is easier from this perspective to believe in the innate evil of some, in the innate goodness of others. This moral binary is frequently mobilized in defense of violence and injustice. In a deleted tweet, Netanyahu called Israel’s ongoing genocidal attack on Gaza “a war between the children of light and the children of darkness.” In a December 2023 speech, Joe Biden reaffirmed his condemnation of Hamas, which he implicitly collapsed into a condemnation of Palestinians as a whole, calling them “a brutal, ugly, inhumane people, and they have to be eliminated.” Both were invoking this moral binary, the deformed vocabulary of white supremacy and colonialism. For if the world is made up of people who are “good” and “bad,” “civilized” and “barbaric,” rather than of societies shaped by ideologies, then it is possible to characterize an entire group of people as evil, to dehumanize them, to declare them guilty all the way down to their newborn babies, to justify their mass murder. In broader terms, this is a totalizing story about history; one in which the European perpetrators of wars of aggression, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, can redeem themselves by retelling their crimes but this time as witnesses to horror rather than as active participants. They can atone and wash away the sin of what they have done by giving it a narrative structure with an ending and a moral lesson, one in which the Holocaust finds its silver lining in the creation of the state of Israel, one in which Europe becomes civilized again, one in which blame is shifted from Germany to Palestine, and from fascists to anti-fascists.

#israel #holocaust #genocide #antisemitism

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munsonsduchess · 2 years

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Sweet Child O' Mine

summary: you and eddie get together with everyone after the baby is born w/c: 1,925 warnings: tooth rotting fluff, domestic!eddie, dilf!eddie, eddie's shitty childhood, mentions of blood, cw: pregnancy, swearing a/n: i couldn't help myself ok? that tiktok has me in a chokehold and we all know i adore domestic!eddie so now he's a dilf too.

Not beta'd. We die like Barb and Bob and Billy and Alexi. If you see a typo or a mistake then please let my editor know, he loves it.

This is part five of The God and Goddess of Hellfire and you can read the other parts here:

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

(moodboard by me)

If you'd asked Eddie Munson a couple of years ago what he thought life would be like after his (eventual) graduation from High School he would have said something along the lines of,

"I don't know, maybe chilling with my girl in our own place? Not her folks place or my uncles. Somewhere that just belongs to us y'know?"

If you'd told him that would be very much on the cards but there would be some … additions to that vision he might have called you crazy. Especially if you mentioned a baby.

Eddie was aware that he didn't have the greatest start in life be it genetics or whatever. His old man was a drunk and an abusive son of a bitch who got off on making Eddie's mom feel small and frightened. He couldn't count the amount of impromptu three am sleepovers he'd had at your place while your mom drove his to the emergency room.

Eddie used to blame his mom for never leaving his dad, how could she just stand there and take it? Didn't she want to live somewhere in peace? Didn't she want that for Eddie? When he'd come home from elementary school and she was nowhere to be found he'd cried and cried until he was sick and until his old man had thrown a beer bottle at his head and told him to stop crying like a little pussy. Eddie had been ten years old. It was another three before he was left effectively orphaned when his dad got banged up for trying to steal some rich asshole's car in the city.

That was when Wayne had stepped in. Eddie didn't know who called his uncle and told him about his nephew's circumstances but Eddie would always be grateful for whoever it was. True at first Eddie had thought Wayne would be just like his Dad and he'd acted out about it but then Wayne had taken everything out of the back bedroom and bought Eddie a brand new record player for his birthday and Eddie had never cried so much.

So the idea of bringing a kid into the world, with his messed up family history was a little frightening to say the least, but then it happened anyway. Needless to say Eddie was a little shocked at first but he resolved to be the best Dad a kid could ask for, even going out of his way to ask Steve for tips on dealing with the kids they already 'shared custody' of.

Standing in that hospital room and holding your hand as tightly as he could Eddie was terrified, you were doing such an amazing thing and there he was stood there shaking like a newborn deer. Of course the second he heard that little baby cry every doubt, every fear left his mind, all that mattered was that kid screaming,

"Congratulations Mr and Mrs Munson, it's a girl!" the doctor had said with a smile, "would you like to cut the cord Mr Munson?"

"Cut the - ?" Eddie didn't know what he was being asked to do but you pushed on his back encouragingly and he followed the doctor. There she was, pink, all ten fingers and all ten toes, covered in blood and screaming bloody murder.

The doctor showed Eddie what to do then handed the baby to a nurse to be cleaned up before being presented to the proud parents. Eddie was in awe, how had he hand in creating something so perfect? There was no way he could have done something this right with his life,

"Hey you, nice to meet the person who's been playing kickball with my kidneys" you laughed as the nurse set the baby down on your chest, "i'm your mom and this sappy bastard is your dad"

"She's - she's perfect" Eddie whispered, "baby she's perfect" he could feel the tears running down his face but Eddie didn't care. He had a daughter. He was a dad.

➽───────────────❥

In what was perhaps the strangest game of telephone you'd ever participated in you and Eddie found yourselves staring at a house in downtown Hawkins with the keys in your hands. Apparently Steve had told the kids when you'd had the baby, after Eddie had told him, the kids had then relayed the message to their parents one such parent being Joyce Byers who then relayed the message to the not dead Chief Hopper and had apparently been very instant that you and Eddie couldn't raise a new baby in a trailer park that had been mostly decimated from an 'earthquake' especially when there were so many empty houses. Hawkins residents having simply fled after one too many disasters in a small town and left their homes abandoned and ready for just anyone to move in.

Anyone being you and Eddie apparently, and the baby of course. It felt strange to say the least but you would make it your own, a new start for your new family.

Of course neither of you had forgotten about the rest of the family. Your parents and Eddie's Uncle came over to help with whatever needed done, your mom would look after the baby when you slept. Eddie, your Dad and Wayne would take care of whatever needed done around the house until it looked just how you wanted it to.

When the house was finally in a sort of shape and both you and baby were up for visitors, Eddie called Steve and Nancy and asked if they'd ferry the kids over to the house since they'd all been chomping at the bit to come by. Eddie would have gone himself but he'd traded in the van for a 67 Chevy instead, something much safer to have a baby driving around in. The ride home from the hospital in the van had been, harrowing, to say the least so you both said goodbye to the van and the memories you'd made in it. It was time to move on, plain and simple.

➽───────────────❥

The sound of a car pulling into the drive had Eddie bouncing up off the couch to open the door, immediately he was swarmed with six children who were all jostling for his attention and speaking over one and other,

"Hey Shitheads! What did we talk about in the car?" Steve yelled at them but it went unheeded as usual, "I don't know why I bother"

The kids ran into the house after apparently having their fill of Eddie, it was great to see the older man but the real reason they were here was inside. Eddie didn't know whether to laugh or feel put out that the kids didn't want to spend time with him,

"Hey Harrington, thanks for bringing them" he smiled and held out a hand to shake Steve's but the other man simply used the outstretched hand to pull Eddie into a tight hug,

"Congratulations man, I'm happy for you both" his smile was blinding and Eddie almost had to pinch himself to think that Steve 'the hair' Harrington, King of Hawkins High was his friend now and had come by to see his daughter.

Steve was followed up the drive by Nancy Wheeler and the other two kids who had held back from the initial onslaught, Will Byers and his sister Eleven or was it Jane? Eddie couldn't remember what he was supposed to call the quiet girl,

"Hi Eddie" Nancy smiled and Steve stood aside to let the younger woman hug Eddie as well, "are you sure it's ok that we brought the kids?"

"Yeah! Totally! I mean they'd probably have biked all the way here otherwise" Eddie laughed, "no matter what you told them"

"Isn't that the truth" Steve agreed, "Robin said to tell you she's sorry but she couldn't be here. She and Vickie are still in Indy"

"Jonathan is at home with Joyce but he sent me with his camera so I can take lots of pictures for you guys" Nancy added.

Eddie could hardly believe where his life had ended up. Nancy Wheeler was standing in his driveway with a camera to take pictures of his baby with a pretty professional looking camera, it made the polaroid you and Eddie had been using pale in comparison,

"Well you'd better come in before the neighbours think I'm hexing you guys or something" Eddie laughed and stepped aside, "Welcome to Casa De Munson"

In the living room you'd been surrounded by children from the get go, they'd all clambored in wanting to see you and the baby. Everyone had brought something as well and each wanted to be the first to give you their gift for the baby,

"No way Mike you weren't here first!" Max argued, "back off and wait your turn!"

"Lucas tell your girlfriend not to be such a bitch!" the younger Wheeler snapped at his friend,

"Open mine first! It's the best!" Dustin was ignoring everyone else as he thrust a small wrapped package at your face,

"Hey dickheads!" Eddie called, "stop crowding my wife!"

"We haven't seen you guys in weeks!" Dustin protested, "you just dropped off the map"

"Alright that's it everybody back up!" you yelled, "I'm about five seconds from kicking your asses onto the lawn and locking the doors!"

There wasn't a sound out of the assembled group of pre teens after you'd raised your voice, as you scanned the room your eyes fell on Will and Eleven and you smiled,

"Which one of you wants to see the baby first?" you asked them kindly, "come on over, make some room you lot"

Will and El moved forwards carefully before coming to stop at the couch where you'd been sat with the baby in your arms,

"She is small," El said, peering at the sleeping baby in your arms, "is she ok?"

"Babies are pretty small at first" you explained, "she'll get bigger as she gets older"

"What's her name?" Will asked, he was clutching a piece of rolled up paper in his hands and twisting the elastic band wrapped around the paper nervously,

"Rosemary. Rosemary Beth Munson"

"That's such a nice name" Nancy said with a smile, peering over the heads of the kids in front of you, "she's beautiful"

"I figured you guys would have gone for some kind of rocker name honestly" Steve said, "but yeah Nance is right that's a really pretty name"

Eddie locked eyes with you and grinned back at Steve, you two had spoken at length about what you'd wanted to call the baby,

"Well we kind of did Harrington, her middle name is Beth for the Kiss song"

"Her first name is for Eddie's mom" you added, "she was a really nice lady and she'd have loved her granddaughter"

There was a moment of shared intimacy in the quiet moment that followed you speaking. You and Eddie just looking at one and other across the room. Eddie's mom was a kind and beautiful woman and you were sure her namesake would be just like her grandma.

The moment didn't last as once again the kids took up yelling and jostling each other about gifts and who got to give theirs first. Steve immediately flew into babysitter mode and tried to break the fighting up while Nancy just laughed and took some pictures.

Your little family was a strange one but you wouldn't change it for the world. It wasn't all connected by blood but it didn't need to be.

Family was what you made it.

Taglist: @pillow-titties @prettyboyeddiemunson @eddiesmutson @eddiemvnsonss @hellfireeddiemunson @that-lame-ghoul9000 @xbreezymeadowsx @boomhauer @flashyourgreeneyesatme @ches-86 @hoppershoe @slytherinintj13 @wheaty-melon @inluvweddiemunson @lucciaa9 @shenanigans-and-imagines @jobean12-blog (if you're scored out it means tumblr won't let me tag you properly)

If you want to be added/removed from the taglist just let me know!

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mindibindi · 5 months

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Was it Perfect? No. Was it Joyous? Yes.

Okay, I did a bunch of shitposting yesterday but now it's time to collect some coherent thoughts on what I liked and didn't about "The Giggle", the Doctors' bi-generation and RTD's HEA.

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Donna: I would’ve liked Donna to have a little more to do in the final ep. She just worked out the arpeggio thing and followed the Doctor round trying to have earnest conversations with him. When she was sat with the Doctor and the Toymaker, I kept thinking she was gonna insert herself into the game and insist she be dealt in too. Instead, it became another case of supernatural male genius vs supernatural male genius. Maybe this is me being greedy though. Because the last ep was ALL DT and CT and the whole anniversary season has been very focused on Donna and the Doctor. They had to make room somewhere for a fabulous villain (which he was), a new Doctor (also fab) and the UNIT ensemble (fab-est of all), so I guess that meant a little less Donna.

Donna did have some great moments, including annihilating those creepy puppets (which made me lol), meeting Mel and refusing to let the Doctor die alone. I do think Donna should’ve been the one to lust after 15 (much like she did when meeting Captain Jack), but maybe this older, settled version of Donna is less thirsty. As for UNIT, no doubt she will be fired regularly but then promptly rehired because she’s so indispensable (and beloved). Best of all, I love the idea of her, Shirley, Mel and Kate going out for post-work drinks while Donna’s two husbands wait at home, tapping their watches and wondering where their ginger chatterbox has gotten to.

Male Parthenogenesis: Now, RTD knows his DW lore far better than I do and apparently there is some precedent for this. But I still say the metacrisis from ep 1 could have been used to better effect in this episode, with Donna essentially healing the Doctor with her excess regeneration energy and Rose creating the new Doctor with her share of the metacrisis/regeneration energy. Because, modern understandings of gender and deep-dive fan knowledge aside, Doctor Who pretty much revolves around the idea of male parthenogenesis, man birthing man, passing on history, tradition, power, experience and greatness. Socioculturally, asexuality is fairly unfamiliar to us, but we are all indoctrinated with patriarchal, heteronormative narratives from birth. And historically, men have expressed their fear and envy of the power and potential of women/pregnant people by attempting to steal it for themselves, control creation myths and birth male gods and monsters. All the while, they completely disavowed (even denigrated) the role women/pregnant people have played in birthing this world. Through the lens of heteronormativity, regeneration offers men and boys eternal power and godlike creativity. So yeah, I would’ve liked a grown woman/mother and a trans girl just coming into her power as a woman to get a little of that regeneration action that usually belongs to the boys (with the exception of 13). Not because women and birth parents are defined by this biological function but because the male urge to own and control birth, creation and reproduction still has very real-world impacts for girls, women, enbys and trans people.

Bi-generation: So. The big question is: Does bi-generation diffuse the power and pathos of THE Doctor? Yes. Does it follow that this is a bad thing? No. Not necessarily, not in my mind. I am not a fan of showrunners rewriting known history for shock value or fan service, but I’m not sure this is either. I understand the argument that there is power and meaning in the idea of death and rebirth, letting go and moving on, changing and learning with experience. But for all of that to be owned and embodied by one usually male/male presenting person and played by a popular, powerful cis-het male actor is a problem embedded in this show from the get. NuWho has consistently made an effort to alleviate the inherent power imbalance built into the format, distributing the incredible power of the Doctor amongst a community of extra/ordinary human beings. Some showrunners have been able to do this better than others. That said, we’ve also had a good long stint of the Doctor being a singular, tortured genius who no one quite understands, no one can ever really equal. Whatever gifts companions and their families bring, the Doctor will always be bigger, older, wiser, eternal. But, through the magic of bi-generation, his power can be shared, his centrality dispersed, his reach limited, his experience idiosyncratic, and his knowledge discrete.

Over the years, the Doctor has accrued a lot of trauma and tragedy and suffering and longing, all by virtue of this incredible power. This burden was never been more wetly portrayed than by DT so it’s fitting that he be the one to release both the power and the burden of the sad, wet, lonely Timelord by SHARING IT, by becoming plural rather than singular. It may not feel satisfying, partially because it feels unfamiliar. The trope of the lone tortured genius is recognisable and relatable. We know it well, from so many narratives. Personally, I can’t imagine Ncuti Gatwa as a lone tortured genius. I want him to have a new joyous start. And hey, if you miss the tortured Doctor then 15 has all of time and space in which to once again start accruing trauma and tragedy. But I think it’s good, and time, for 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 to drop their load and come down to earth. No longer a god, an avenging angel, an objective overseer, but essentially, a human being. Which is kinda what he/she/they wanted to be all along. This IS the death of one version of this show, one version of this character, but it isn’t being offered without regeneration and rebirth right there on the horizon.

Happily Ever After: RTD is not like other showrunners. He’s a bold and marvellous beast who isn’t afraid to change things up, especially when they’re not working or have outlived their usefulness. We’re often told that happy endings are trite, trivial, insignificant, unrealistic. Drama, tragedy, sorrow and suffering: that’s where all the weight and meaning of life lies. And look, RTD can write tragedy and pathos as well if not better than the best of them. He could have given us “Journey’s End” or “The End of Time” redux. He could have given twisted and complicated and harrowing. He chose not to. Because, unlike SO MANY SHOWRUNNERS, RTD knows when to write an ending, when to resolve tension, when to heal wounds. It’s common practice, especially in the American television industry, to just…never end, never resolve, never stop, never state, never land. To just flog a creative horse until it drops dead. (At least, this was the television I grew up with; streaming services have altered this model somewhat.)

Doctor Who is exactly the kind of intellectual property that could’ve (and could still under Disney) fall victim to the capitalistic urge for moremoremoremoremoremoremore, despite the fact that such endlessness eventually exhausts creativity and, with it, audience interest. A capitalist never wants the revenue stream to end. But a real writer, a true creator is bold enough to know where to place a well-timed full-stop. In my opinion, RTD read the room and wrote an ending. An ending that the show and the world needed. An ending that shared power. An ending that celebrated ordinary humanity. An ending that healed trauma and prioritised love. An ending that still allows for new life, new potential, new discoveries, new structures, new understandings, and new joy. All of that is totally on-brand for RTD. Those themes of multiplicity, humanity, healing, love and possibility pervade the 60th anniversary specials from beginning to end. They were built into the fabric of each episode. And they’re also the very essence of Doctor Who.

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sintassays · 8 months

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The Fascist Themes of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

I recently put together a presentation for my campus' Sociology Club analyzing the political messaging of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This story is very unsubtle in promoting fascistic ideas. I was shocked during my first watch how in-your-face these ideas are throughout the story.

I say "watch" because I watched the 2013 animated film adaptation. I haven't read the 1986 comic, but from what I know, the movie adaptation is almost 1 to 1, so I don't think there's a need to focus much on the distinctions.

The premise of the story is that after ten years of Batman's retirement, Gotham City has gone to hell. Super villains have either completely disappeared or been detained. The city's crime rate is at its highest in history, and hopelessness dominates Gotham. It is at this point that Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement as Batman to fix this horrible state of affairs.

I'll structure this post in the same way I structured the powerpoint presentation: Organized by the core themes of fascism that appear throughout the narrative.

Rehabilitative Justice Doesn't Work:

This film is very hostile to the idea that criminals are worth rehabilitating. One of the core antagonists of the story, the Mutant gang, is portrayed as purely sadistic, committing crime for their own sick pleasure rather than for profit or out of desperation. They commit violence for violence's sake. This fact heavily implies that an effort to turn them into normal, functioning members of society would be a waste.

The Mutants are hardly Batman's only enemies in this story, however. Two of Batman's most famous villains, Joker and Two Face, are in a rehabilitative mental health facility.

Two Face, embracing the identity of Harvey Dent at the beginning of the film, receives plastic surgery to correct his facial deformities and make both of his sides match. This surgery, combined with a decade of therapy, is sufficient for the mental institution to release Harvey and let him reenter society. However, within days of his release, Harvey suffers a psychotic break and returns to crime, threatening to blow up the Gotham City Life Building if he doesn't receive $22 million. Batman quickly moves to stop Two Face and bring him to justice, and at the end of their confrontation with, Harvey reveals that he believes the surgery failed and that he could never re enter society. He perceived his facial surgery as making the whole of his face scarred and deformed rather than normal. He told Batman that the therapists at the mental facility could never fix him. He embraced being fully consumed by his dark side.

Before I get to Joker, I have to introduce psychiatrist Dr. Bartholomew Wolper, the man in charge of the rehabilitation of criminals like Joker and Two Face. Dr. Wolper is portrayed by the film as naive, self righteous, and even arrogant in his confidence in the rehabilitative, compassionate approach to dealing with criminals and the mentally ill. He uses cheesy slogans like “Hey, I’m ok” and “Get real” in his promotional book and other promotional material for his work, implying that there may be a financial incentive involved in his stances. In his TV appearances addressing the Batman controversy, he blames Batman for his clients' wrongdoing, claiming that they're drawn in by Batman's "narcissistic hero complex" and compelled to fight him. The film makes him the personification of the conservative stereotype of the "soft on crime liberal."

On we go to Joker: He is brought onto a late night talk show with Dr. Wolper as “proof” of the effectiveness of the rehabilitative approach. Not long into the show’s recording, Joker shows his true colors and kills the entire studio and host with his laughing gas. Dr. Wolper is his first victim, with his throat slit by a coffee mug that Joker broke in half. This demonstrates the idea that "liberals will fall victim to their coddling of the criminal class."

Batman: Outside the Law

Now you might be thinking, "How does disregard for the law line up with fascism?" But just bear with me here, I can explain.

Throughout the film, there is an ongoing debate among the public and the media over Batman’s apathy toward civil rights. Batman beats, captures, and sometimes even tortures people in pursuit of his vision of justice, all without due process of any kind. Batman does not abide by the Bill of Rights in any capacity in his approach to criminal justice.

Batman's interactions with police are also helpful in analyzing this theme.

Under pro-Batman Police Commissioner Gordon, the cops tend to step aside and let Batman go about his work. Early on in the movie, during a scene in which both a squad car and Batman are chasing after a group of armed robbers, an older cop in the squad car tells his younger partner to step aside when he realizes Batman is on the scene. Cops under Gordon are used to letting Batman do their dirty work, especially when that dirty work involves violating people's civil rights. Batman tackles one of the robbers, breaking his leg and choking him out in an effort to make him talk and spill information related to the robbery. The younger officer, insistent on doing things by the book and obeying the law, is disgusted by Batman's excessive force and cruel and unusual punishment. However, Batman's methods are portrayed by the film as effective, and Batman's detractors, like the young police officer, are portrayed as naive, unreasonable, and weak. Batman gets the job done, while the liberals who whine about civil rights just get in their own way.

In contrast, under anti-Batman Police Commissioner Ellen Yindel, who takes the role of police commissioner after Gordon's retirement, Batman is an outlaw. Intent on following the law, Yindel issues a warrant for the Batman's arrest on the charges of assault, battery, and vigilantism, among other crimes. On the night of Joker's mass murder during his talk show appearance, the police intercept Batman on the roof of the studio engage him in direct combat when he attempts to evade arrest. Batman's fight with the police goes on for an extended period of time, and once Batman is forced to flee from the cops, Robin informs him that Joker successfully fled the scene, evading capture from both the police and Batman. The police, in their pursuit of holding Batman accountable for his crimes and civil rights violations, let a serial killer get away. Their "soft on crime" approach, favoring due process and reasonable use of force, failed to apprehend a criminal and keep people safe.

Before moving onto the next theme, I'd like to bring up a character who is a stark contrast to Batman: Superman. In this film, Superman takes direct orders from US President Ronald Reagan. Rather than resorting to vigilantism and work to better society in whatever way he sees fit, Superman believes it is best to work within the system in order to create social change. Batman sees him as a government lackey, a sellout without the spine to break the chains of the existing liberal democratic order do what needs to be done for the public good.

Democracy is a Sham

In this movie, elected officials at all levels of government are portrayed as incompetent, weak, and/or disingenuous.

The mayor of Gotham City (who is never actually named, oddly enough) is weak and indecisive, relying heavily on opinion polls and frequently repeating himself in a weak attempt to appear capable and sure of himself. In an attempt to boost his approval rating, the mayor attempts to enter into negotiations with the leader of the Mutant gang rather than taking a bold stand against them. Immediately after he enters the Mutant leader's jail cell for the negotiations, the mayor is murdered by the mutant leader, who slashed the mayor's throat. He attempted to pursue peace and order through civility diplomacy, through compromise with criminals, and fell victim to those criminals as a result.

Upon taking office, the new mayor, Mayor Stevenson, states he is still willing to negotiate with the mutants even after their leader killed his predecessor. This is as weak and pathetic as it gets.

Local officials are hardly the only elected leaders criticized by this film. President Reagan is portrayed as not fully understanding the seriousness of his office as well as being a bit dim and goofy. In a conversation with Superman, Reagan compares Batman to a "wild bronco, kicking down the fence and making the other horses crazy." These cheesy cowboy metaphors are common in his approach to presidential policy, and he is hard to take seriously as a result. He is also transparently apathetic to the needs of the people, letting it slip that US troops were fighting the Soviets to “protect our interests” before immediately correcting himself to “stand up for freedom.”

Additionally, the president, governor, and mayor of Gotham all run away from taking a clear stance on the Batman issue, with each deferring to a lower ranking official when pressed for comment by the press.

Militarism

Batman views his crusade on crime as a war. He refers to Robins as "good soldiers," saying of the late Jason Todd, "He was a good soldier. He honored me." And when the Robin of this story, Carrie Kelly, nearly loses her life falling from a hang glider, Batman catches her, pulls her up to him, and holds her close, patting her back and saying "good soldier, good soldier." Additionally, he brought a literal tank into the Mutants' hideout (with rubber bullets. Even Frank Miller won't let Batman kill, thank goodness).

One Great Man

The most memorable scene in this film for me was Commissioner Gordon comparing Batman to FDR in his "too big to judge" speech. He gives this speech in a conversation with Yindel about why he supports the Batman.

Gordon recounts the state of the United States in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941. He says that the American people were scared and uncertain after the bombings, shaken to their core. But then president Roosevelt rallied America together to enter the war and defeat the Axis, motivating the populace with his "strong and sure" voice and oration skills. Later, it was rumored that FDR knew that the attack on Pearl Harbor was coming and decided to let it happen. "That rolled around in my head for days," Gordon said. "How horrible it would be if that were true." But Gordon eventually came to believe that it was FDR that won the US the war, and it was the Pearl Harbor attacks that drew the country into the war to begin with. For this, Gordon decided, he was "too big to judge." Sure, it would have been awful to let such a horrific attack happen, but that attack got the US into the war and eventually led to the defeat of the Axis. Similarly, Batman may violate people's rights with his brutal and illegal methods, but he lowers Gotham's crime rate, makes people safer, and gives people hope. Gordon's point: A leader who does horrible things should not be condemned if those horrible things ultimately contribute to the greater good.

Additionally, when a nuclear explosion above the US knocks out electricity in the country and plunges society into chaos, it’s Batman who leads Gotham to stability after everything falls apart, making Gotham the only major US city to maintain order. Despite this, Reagan still orders Superman to go through with the plan to get Batman out of the picture. In Batman’s words, “They only want me dead because I’m an embarrassment. Because I do what they can’t. What kind of an authority is that?” With the failure of the existing system, it is only Batman that is able to put Gotham back on a good path.

Closing thoughts:

As I stated in the beginning, I don't think this film's messaging is subtle in the slightest. It is very up front about everything it has to say, the vast majority of which I think is completely reprehensible. Still, despite being a staunch progressive who opposes pretty much everything this story stands for, this movie captivated me. Despite all the problematic elements, I still really enjoyed it and would honestly call it one of my favorite movies ever. I condemn its themes but wouldn't call it "bad" on a creative or artistic level at all. I thought it was incredibly compelling, even if I strongly disagree with it. I see why The Dark Knight Returns is revered as a classic, and because of its popularity, I thought it was important to do a deep dive into the significant problems of the story it wants to tell.

#comics #comic books #batman #dark knight returns #dc comics #dc

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triplethreatsonic · 2 years

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Hi I'm back 😆

I have a question about Knuckles and his role in the story!!

Does he end up getting any chaos powers and or getting dreams of a certain big green emerald, and feel a weird calling to it? Is the ME in this au? Does he know about Tikal?

Hi friend! 😄 This ask was so fun to respond to!!! It's longer so I put it under the cut. Here’s what I’ve got:

At the beginning of the story, Knuckles knows nothing about Tikal (so he’s in the same boat as the hedgehogs). No one knew what happened to her, so her story isn't in any legends or records. Knuckles is, however, extremely interested in his echidna heritage and has a passion for learning about that history. He feels very connected to and has a deep sense of duty to preserve his cultural past. Something else tells him also that his future is largely connected to that heritage. He studies a lot in his free time about ancient echidna mythology, and multiple times has come across the concepts of these “chaos stones” that seem to have been central to echidna ritual. (It’s an interesting moment when Sonic sees Knuckles reading about that kind of stuff over his shoulder!)

The Master Emerald DOES exist. 🙂 Back in the day, the ancient echidna tribe had the sacred responsibility to honor and protect the powers of both the ME and the chaos emeralds. However, Tikal’s father became obsessed with the idea that in order to 'protect their tribe’, they had to conquer all others. He believed he could do so by using the emeralds. Similar to SA, this makes Chaos absolutely furious and his instinctual, destructive power threatens to destroy everything, Tikal selflessly seals her own soul and the rampaging Chaos inside the ME in order to stop him, successfully calming him down over the next few centuries so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. When all of that was done, however, Tikal found that her soul was still bound to the ME. This meant she could not move very far from it, nor could she leave it for very long. She also could not move on from this world, and currently has no idea if she will ever be able to do so or if she’ll be stuck in this plane of existence forever.

SIDE NOTE: The ME also has reality-warping powers. Similar to how the chaos emeralds make the boys unrecognizable when they’re powered up, the ME’s power makes it so the Floating Island on which it resides is invisible to everyone except people who have used chaos energy to travel there before, which is why no one has discovered it yet. (It’s a shock when Sonic, Shadow, and Silver suddenly realize they can suddenly see this huge floating mass of land in the sky after their first trip there lol) It’s also the reason why no planes have crashed into it.

Knuckles DOES eventually end up getting chaos powers. :D Actually, Tikal seriously considered contacting Knuckles instead of one of the hedgehogs as someone who could help her fix this chaos mess. As a descendent of the ancient echidnas, chaos sensitivity runs in his blood, so he was a natural candidate (chaos sensitivity is much more common among people with certain ancestry— otherwise it tends to crop up randomly in the population, as with the case of the hedgehogs). In the end, however, she couldn’t get the image of her own tribe’s echidnas storming the Emerald Shrine out of her head. What if, when presented with power, Knuckles turned out just like them? She was too afraid to risk it, so she turned to the hedgehogs instead. It isn’t until much later after a lot of resistance that Tikal finally lets Sonic tell Knuckles. She soon realizes that he actually has a heart of gold and is awesome. 🙂

As for dreams: Sonic, Shadow, and Silver’s initial dreams about each other are an unintended side-effect of Tikal leaving the emeralds with them before she formally met them. (Why would she just drop an emerald with each hedgehog without first appearing to them and explaining things, you ask? Because in her current spirit form, Tikal can’t actually be seen by anyone unless they’ve first been exposed to some form of chaos energy. She had no other choice but to have them interact to some extent with the emeralds first.) Because Knuckles isn’t given an emerald in the same way the boys are initially, he doesn't have any dreams… at least not in the story’s current version. However, you asking me this question is now kinda making me want to add that into the story somehow… Maybe constantly being around Sonic, who is practically radiating chaos energy after weeks of using chaos control, triggers dreams in Knuckles? Maybe not? I’ll have to think about this more!

When Knuckles does get his chaos powers, it’s a while after the boys have had theirs. As of now in my brain, he uses the silver emerald to transform. Knuckles’ chaos abilities give him incredible strength. He does boxing for teens through a local club, and he’s able to combine his boxing training with his new strength to great advantage. He later discovers he can also climb walls and dig extremely efficiently by punching the ground.

Although Tikal is super hesitant at first, as she introduces Knuckles to everything she eventually finds that it's actually really lovely to have another echidna around. She slowly begins to tell Knuckles more about her people—his ancestors. He’s been secretly teaching himself how to read ancient echidna (which delights Tikal) and she begins to teach him how to speak it. :D Eventually Tikal tells him about the Master Emerald. Because Knuckles has more of a background and a personal connection, Tikal goes into more depth about what the ME meant to her tribe and their legends about it. She tells him about the line of guardians that looked after the emerald and the shrine for centuries. Imagine the moment when Knuckles himself first sees the shrine, covered with Ancient Echidna carvings, and then climbs the crumbling steps to see this mystical gem that he’s read so much about (he is enthralled). Learning so much about his people, more than books could ever tell him, Knuckles finally starts to feel like he’s home.

Eventually, he’ll learn how to harness the ME’s power, using that (when possible) to power up instead of the white emerald.

Aaaaand at the end of the story, when Eggman is defeated and the world is safe again, Knuckles becomes the Master Emerald’s next guardian. :^D

#He won’t go live on the island immediately—he’ll go to college first and get a degree in archeology :)#punkinspice taught me coloring techniques that I used here so props to her!#I hope you like this friend :)#triple threat sonic au #knuckles #sonic au #triple threat lore #asks #my art #master emerald #chaos emeralds #tikal #chaos

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aspiringsophrosyne · 11 months

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Episode 8: The Echo Tree.

Do the floors seem stickier than usual? Are the walls dripping with something? Is that the smell of earthen rot in the air? Don't worry about it. You've got a show to catch. And it's probably nothing, anyway.

The Good.

Before anything else, I should point out that Syngorn is ridiculously beautiful. The art team is still hitting it out of the park. And I like how it feels like it's of the Fey Wild but not; you could believe that it's a city that travels between two worlds.

Vex'ahlia

One way that stream!Vex differs from her animated counterpart is that much of her development happens pre-stream. Not all or even most of it, but some. TLOVM is not directly animating any pre-stream content so far, (aside from the Krieg fight, but even that got changed around more than a bit) so my best guess is the choice was made to move Vex's development here, so we could see it.

Stream!Vex had insecurities about money and being perceived as high-class, but by this point in the campaign, she was already done with Syldor's shit.

Pulling her back from that here gives her room to grow, and in the meantime, we get beautifully and painfully tense moments between her, Vax, and Syldor that hurt me to watch in all the best ways. I can't give enough praise for just how perfectly uncomfortable that talk in Syldor's office is.

Also, as other watchers have pointed out, he scoffs at the idea that the twins could find Fenthras...while Vax is wearing the Death Walkers' Ward. Unobservant and a bag of cocks. What a combo. Troy Baker plays him dead to rights; every interaction with him is perfectly cold and unpleasant.

Of the covenant and of the womb.

On the topic of blood relatives, I'm not sure how I feel about the change in the twins' relationship with Velora. In the stream, they'd known she'd existed for a while before she was introduced, and all three siblings already had a good relationship. On the one hand, the twins already knowing her gives a sense of history. This world and these characters have more going on than the audience sees. On the other hand, the twins reacting with warm affection even though Velora is such a shock speaks to their characters in a way a lot of dialogue couldn't. I think it's effectively a wash.

All that said, Toks Olagundoye as Devana and Jayla Lavender Nicholas as Velora do a great job injecting some much-needed sweetness into half of Vox Machina's stay in Syngorn. Both are instantly endearing.

Similarly, the incomparable Henry Winkler serves as a lovely palette cleanser. How great is the contrast between a loving parent and a shit one? He has such a warmth that gets across so well in just his first short scene. You can really tell why Pike turned out like she did.

The Echo Tree

I love how they turned up the creepy grossness for this version of this confrontation. Vex is already shown to be in a vulnerable place....and then this comes at her. The area is suitably sick looking and muck-filled, and Vex walking across the water with no trouble while the other three are struggling through it is a nice subtle touch.

Sendhil Ramamurthy gives a spell-binding performance as the manipulative Archfey Saundor. His words ooze like his sickness, but there's this....understated charm to him that, if he'd been presented slightly differently to the audience, could've gotten us on his side. You could almost see him caring about Vex's problems and genuinely thinking he was doing her a favor. Almost.

~*~

As a side note, I've noticed some stream fans' reactions to this video (more in terms of commenting on it than live reactions) are comments on how Saundor is significantly different here than in the game.

He's really not, as far as I can tell.

What is different is that he's less subtle here. This is due to several factors, primarily the rearranging of Vex's character development and the amount of time we have in the episode to devote to this confrontation.

Also, in no world could I see Matt Mercer and/or Laura Bailey being comfortable with him yelling "Bitch!" at her at their live-stream table, even in character. I think that was also a factor.

But Saundor was always an incel, exploiting Vex's weak spots to trick her into taking him as her patron. To the point where Taliesin and Marisha were mocking him and making faces during the original episode, like: "Holy shit, this guy is a creep."

And personally, given all the abuse the ladies of Critical Role (including Aimee Carrero and Aabria Iyengar) have gotten over the years, watching Vex beat the shit out of an absolutely unsubtle creep was incredibly satisfying on both a meta and in-story level.

~*~

And just in the story, it was magnificent to see a pure archer duel. As they say during the watch party, Vex hadn't had a big moment to shine in a fight up to this point. So I loved seeing her get one all to herself and excel at it. The recreation of Keyleth's tree-stride fire elemental move from the stream: the cherry on top.

Percy would periodically make various arrow types for Vex in the stream, and the arrowhead she kills Saundor with was a nice little nod to that. Laura and Taliesin were in fine form this episode, and there's been something so sweet about seeing these characters fall for each other all over again.

Of course, Artagan's reveal. It was so fun to see reactions from Critters who knew about him but not from Campaign One. The way they used Boyd as Garmelie was excellent, and seeing his transformation and then hearing Matt's voice…mwah!! There are a couple of characters that I was almost hoping Matt would voice, and Artie was definitely one of them. His design is perfect, and I particularly love his almost galaxy-like eyes. Makes him really seem like something with power. Can't wait to see him again.

The Bad. (Or at least not great.)

Really don't have much more than nitpicks.

Percy and Vex

Percy's words to Vex are, like previous bits of dialogue, too on the nose if you know what's coming. And given the events of season one, I feel it makes more sense that Percy might advocate instead for Vex's nerve, her fearlessness, and her not letting anyone intimidate her into folding or backing down. It's a more subtle setup for Saundor and fits their recent history.

Because I would think that watching Vex quake under her father's dismissal would be especially jarring for Percy after everything he's seen her do. Here's this incredibly brave and resilient woman who's faced down dragons and vampires. Who, with a gun to her head, stood her ground between Percy, his demon, and the target of their vengeance. That feels like a thing that would stick with him. He would want to remind her of that, and this reminder is what allows her to break free from Saundor before it's too late.

And it makes her immortal line about her heart feel more hers.

Nitpicks:

Let's look at some dialogue that could be improved.

Here's one more example of contradictory writing in this series:

The Twins' Asshole Dad: I will not be amending this for a meaningless title. Really, de Rolo, such a transparent ploy is beneath your dignity.

Vex'ahlia: Don't you dare talk to him like that. We came here seeking aid and you insult my friends?

So...Syldor basically tells Percy "You're better than this." And Vex comes along with a "How dare you say that about him!?"

Which is actually funny, albeit unintentionally.

It would've made more sense if Syldor sass-talked Whitestone or suggested Percy was a poor excuse for a noble indeed if he was pulling stunts like this, and then Vex stepped in to defend her teammate. As it stands, it's more like...Vex and Syldor were having two completely different conversations, but at each other and in the same space.

Moving along, we've got another one of Laura Bailey's immortal Campaign One lines.

Saundor: You've been a good daughter. You've tried. But it will never be enough. You will never be enough.

Vex'ahlia: If I could pull the blood of him from my veins and give it back, I would.

We can set such a stellar line up better than this. Let's just add one little line.

Saundor: You've been a good daughter. You've tried. But it will never be enough. You will never be enough. He will never consider you worthy of his blood.

Vex'ahlia: If I could pull the blood of him from my veins and give it back, I would.

~*~

Garmelie explaining that Saundor is an Archfey doesn't tell anyone who doesn't already know what that is anything. Stream watchers will know. And D&D players will know. Everyone else? Nope.

Theoretically, this could be a way to indirectly elucidate Garmelie's true level of power. We're told Saundor is an Archfey, so the audience understands from his duel with Vex that those are powerful creatures. Then make it clear that Garmelie himself is an Archfey later, so the audience has a reference for how powerful he actually is.

I don't have a lot of hope that this is what the writers are doing based on their previous record, though.

And that's the Echo Tree. Only one more episode until the crazy action sequences start. Be sure to get your tickets.

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admhawthorne · 1 year

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“So, like, is this it?” Jeff gave the small, watch looking item on the table a suspicious look. “It’s just an Apple watch.”

“Yes, this is it,” Amy replied, rolling her eyes at the man. “And its actually Android based, but that’s beside the point. Do you want the thing or not?”

“How do I even know this actually works? Let’s be real,” he commented as he started to reach for it, “we both know there’s no such thing as a time machine.”

“First of all, why are you here if you don’t believe me?” She snatched the watch up before he could touch it. “Second of all,” she huffed, “that’s a fair question. Come on, follow me, and I’ll prove it to you.”

He groused but followed her a few feet until they were out of the line of sight from where they were. “To travel with more than yourself, the other person has to be touching you, and they need to be secure because it would be very bad if they disconnect from you mid-timestream, so wrap your arm securely around my arm, okay?”

He rolled his eyes but followed directions and then watched her input information into the watch face. She set the watch for 2 minutes in the past with a command for returning thereafter and hit enter. Suddenly, everything around them distorted into a sci-fi looking blur of color, feel, smell, and sound. Just as quickly as it started, the effect ended, and he looked up to see himself and Amy standing a few feet away having the conversation they had JUST had about the watch. “What…?”

“Shh! Be quiet. If they see us, it’ll create a time paradox,” she chastised him.

“Okay,” he whispered, “but what happens when they start walking this way?”

“We’ll pop back to our present before they ever see us, but keep holding onto me. You don’t want to be left here.”

A moment later, they did, indeed, pop back into their present. Jeff awkwardly released her arm to lean against the nearby wall. He felt dazed and shocked. It was real. It was actually real. “Holy fuck!” He suddenly yelled as his brain caught up, “THAT’S A GOD DAMMED TIME MACHINE!”

“Yes,” she deadpanned as she walked back to the table. “I know. As I said in the ad: For Sale – Time Machine, slightly used.”

Jeff followed as he began to stutter, “I don’t… why would you… HOW…?”

She sat down with a plop at the table and let out a long sigh. “Don’t ask. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, and all I’m asking from you for you to take this off my hands is for you to give me three hundred in cash so I can get a real Android watch and promise you’ll never try to go back to make a situation that happened to yourself better.”

“No changing history, huh?” He cleared his throat as he tried to really consider what was being offered to him.

“No,” she glared at him, “I said don’t try to change YOUR personal history. Trust me, you don’t want to do it. It’ll only end in tears.”

He nodded solemnly. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out an envelop full of cash to hand to her. “I can do that.” Hesitating for a second, he added, “Are you speaking from personal experience?”

She groaned but took the envelope and opened it to count the money. “So, I had an helped created something that went really poorly and ended up putting me in a bad spot.” She finished counting the money, nodded to herself, and handed the watch over. “I went back in time and sent myself a message that gave instructions on how to avoid that, which my younger self, surprisingly, followed.” Shaking her head, she grabbed her purse and began heading for the exit.

“Well, what happened?” He looked as confused as he sounded.

“Turns out, that was an equally dumb thing to do. Honestly, I should’ve never tried to do it to begin with; it was a stupid idea, but hindsight is 20/20, right? Once I got the time machine, I quickly learned going back in time to try to fix the new issue I’d created just made it worse. Anything I could think of that wouldn’t cause a time paradox but might fix the problem always came out the same because, back then, I was a self-entitled asshole.”

Jeff stared at her. “W-what did you do?”

She allowed a humorless, self-loathing, chuckle leave her throat, “You know that Kylie Jenner Pepsi commercial?”

He blinked blankly at her for a second as his brain loaded the commercial. “The one that told us all we needed was Pepsi to solve racism?”

“Yeah, that,” she replied with a glare. “Well, that was my idea.”

“That was YOUR idea? That commercial was objectionably TERRIBLE. What did you do before you changed it that was WORSE than that?”

She broke eye contact with him, glancing around and then out into nothing. “Before her, it was Justin Bieber,” she winced.

“No,” he said with a gasp.

“And before him, it was Kim K.”

“Are you SERIOUS right now?”

She nodded. “Before him, it was Paris Hilton.”

“Oh my god, woman.”

“I know,” she groaned. “Before her, the first one was,”

“No,” Jeff held a hand. “Stop.”

“I have to,” she sadly replied. “Before her, it was Snooki.”

“Get out,” Jeff replied in disgust. “Just... get out.”

“Yeah,” Amy said softly as she pushed open the door to leave. “I deserved that.”

#admhawthorne #redditwritingprompt

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representingot-neha · 7 months

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Strength in Diversity as the new notion for future Occupational Therapy

As an OT student going on fieldwork to clinics, hospitals and various institutions, one hears of occupational injustices through the stories told by clients. It is not until being in the community, around occupational beings who have been exposed to contextual, socio-economic, physical and psychological barriers, that I as an aspiring OT have really seen and understood the injustices in the community, in areas that require so much change. It was a shock to me realizing that I needed this secondary trauma to develop an empathetic and holistic approach to my therapy and contribution, taking every being as they are and using that to reach the best outcomes, no matter how big or small. I sit here and ask myself the question, why did it take me four years to really see the gaps in our holistic view of a client, a group or even a project? To that I answer, my thinking has been that of a minority world view.

I had come across a video of Whalley Hammel's address at the WFOT 2018 at the beginning of this year and it is only now that I have understood the concepts she had discussed.

youtube

The occupational therapy profession, like many others, has a rich history of theories and practices that have predominantly emerged from a Western industrial context, representing a mere 12% of the global population. (Hammel, 2020) This minority world perspective, while valuable in its own right, often falls short in addressing the complex challenges faced by the majority world – where approximately 80% of disabled individuals reside, predominantly in rural areas, grappling with severe poverty and social marginalization. (Watson, 2018)

Our theories, rooted in the experiences and realities of the minority world, may inadvertently perpetuate inadequacies due to their limited insight into the complex global issues faced by the majority world. (Hammell, 2017) It’s imperative that we critically examine the origins and biases inherent in these theories. We must ask ourselves whether most of our occupational therapy theorists come from positions of opportunity, advantage, and privilege.

This presents as a profession-based injustice perpetuating systemic biases, reinforces established power structures, and hampers the profession's ability to provide comprehensive care to diverse populations. Limited representation of individuals from marginalized communities undermines the profession's potential to address social determinants of health effectively. (Hammell, 2017)

This brings us to the next injustice, occupational marginalization. Groups of marginalized people result in limited or no occupational choice due to the effect of historical and political patterns to date. Their ability to be the agent to their engagement is prevented by their socio-cultural context and the effect on individual factors itself.

The reality is that individuals choosing shaping and orchestrating their occupation is not a universal norm, but privilege. Occupational choice is not granted to many in the community as we see people doing what needs to be done, or doing for survival as many of the conditions that the marginalized have experienced have not changed in the past 30 years. (Delport & Tshepo Lephakga, 2016)

There is however the other side we see in communities where we have whole individuals actively engaging in occupational choice, and the global neoliberal risen idea of the particular choice being a negative one. This may not be the case if we consider contextual, environmental and cultural aspects where there is increasing expression of freedom in those doing what leads to sense of belonging. (Hammell, 2017) This is seen in teenage mothers in the community who face so much of stigma and stereotypical judgment from the community and at times OTs themselves make assumptions on imposed occupations such as these, despite them choosing and thriving in the path of attaining a maternal role in their life. It is also seen in the creche teacher’s goal at Dalton creche in the Durban CBD, where her goals for these marginalized yet brilliant children are for them to choose to learn, succeed and grow. However, her primary concern in the work she does is shaping individuals that can make good occupational choices regarding not succumbing to the harsh realities of the environment they live in, for them not to replicate the disturbing behaviours they see outside of their time at creche at home. Again though, this is purely context based. In situations of severe environmental challenges like these, in intervention itself we are required to ask ourselves, what choices, besides school, can we offer for this child to thrive.

Occupation enables people to meet their basic needs, develop their personal capacities and skills cope with the environment, develop their identity and realize their aspirations. There is a very rigid expectation of what theories and frameworks classify as meaningful. An example presents in the client-centred desire for independence. However, there are many cultural norms that defy this notion to certain populations where in traditional households, men and the elderly generally carry out their occupations with a level of assistance. This is why we are required to view, learn and critique multiple diverse perspectives to uphold cultural humility. (Debbie Laliberte Rudman, 2015) To build models and theories that are responsive to this, we will create culturally inclusive, relevant and effective intervention by exploring other’s priorities and values. (Sakellariou & Algado, 2006)

These neoliberal notions presented, whether intentionally or unintentionally, need to be analyzed and challenged in the neutral and objective thinking of our scope in so many areas. (Debbie Laliberte Rudman, 2015) According to Sakellariou and Rotarou (2017) neoliberal assumptions about what is valuable and desirable are promoted and applied in contexts that are politically, culturally, economically and socially dissimilar, and occupational therapy practices informed by such assumptions may be inadequate, inappropriate, irrelevant and oppressive. We are required to advocate against these mindsets and monocultural shaping of theories and perceptions.

Occupational therapy is to then use the concept of triangulation to respect that our diversity in occupational engagement globally is meant to contribute and connect and is not only derived from our languages, race, religious and cultural experiences but also from gender identities, ages, disabilities, sexual orientation, location in community and ethnicity.

In conclusion, as I embark on my fieldwork journey and reflect on the eye-opening experiences that have shaped my understanding of occupational injustices, I can't help but wonder why it took me four years of academic study to truly see the gaps in our holistic view of clients and communities. The answer lies in the realization that my perspective has largely been influenced by a minority worldview. As I continue my journey in the field of occupational therapy, I am committed to advocating, expanding my perspective through a range of diverse experiences and contexts, embracing a more inclusive and culturally sensitive approach, and striving to bridge the gap between the minority and majority world views within our profession. It is through this introspection and commitment to change in that we can hope to create a more equitable and effective occupational therapy domain and practice for all.

References

Adams, S. (2021). Politics and paradigms: Challenging the status quo. Nursing Praxis in Aotearoa New Zealand, 37(1), 48-49. https://doi.org/10.36951/27034542.2021.016

Debbie Laliberte Rudman. (2015). Situating occupation in social relations of power: Occupational possibilities, ageism and the retirement “choice.” South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45(1). https://doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2015/v45no1a5

Delport, P. T., & Tshepo Lephakga. (2016). Spaces of alienation: Dispossession and justice in South Africa. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 72(1), 9. https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/3567/8676

Sakellariou, D., & Rotarou, E. S. (2017). The effects of neoliberal policies on access to healthcare for people with disabilities. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0699-3

Simó, S., & Sakellariou, D. (2016). Sexuality and Disability: A Case of Occupational Injustice - Dikaios Sakellariou, Salvador Simó Algado, 2006. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030802260606900204

Thato Masiangoako. (2019). Rationalizing injustice: The reinforcement of legal hegemony in South Africa. South African Crime Quarterly, 66, 7–18. https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3108/2018/i66a5633

Watson, L. (2018). Occupational therapy in South Africa after WFOT 2018 - Lyn Watson, 2018. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308022618804694

Hammell, K. R. (2017). Occupational injustice: A critique- Karen R. Whalley Hammell, Brenda Beagan, 2017. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0008417416638858

Hammell, K. W. (2020). Action on the social determinants of health: Advancing occupational equity and occupational rights. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.4322/2526-8910.ctoarf2052

#Youtube

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thebuzztrack · 10 months

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A Review of Gaspar Noé’s ‘Irréversible’ (2002)

What came first? The chicken or the egg? Irréversible was produced and distributed two years after Christopher Nolan’s breakout hit film Memento (2000), yet both films have a lot of similarities with their stories. Some correlations include the backward method of editing and presenting the storyline in reverse chronological order forcing you to suffer through viewing a harsh and nauseating crime before seeing the events that lead up to it. The first forty-five minutes of this film are one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen on film, except for the curbing scene in American History X (1998) or the knife in the cheek scene from Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). The brunt of the stomach-churning events occurs during the first thirty minutes before things start easing out a bit, and then throwing a knock-out punch with a lengthy rape scene around the forty-five-minute mark.

Here are a few descriptive reasons why this film is so disturbing for me. First, the most subtle reason is the sound effects in the first half-hour. A low-level 28Hz hum vibrates during this time is practically inaudible for humans but felt in their gut where they would begin to feel nauseated. In addition to the bass-level rumble noise, the photography was shot on 16mm film, then transferred through a few photographic steps before being finalized on Super 35mm film for theatrical distribution. These visuals can induce motion sickness in those with visual sensitivities.

The list doesn’t really end there. The audio turns your stomach, and the photography causes motion sickness, but there’s also the provoked confusion with the reverse chronological storytelling. If any of those three things don’t urge you to avoid this film, then here is the kicker of the whole shebang.

There is a shocking level of disturbing violence in the movie. It isn’t the standard issue of violence that Americans are used to seeing in their films. Americans should be used to their zombie films and war stories on the big screen, but there is a safe buffer of disconnect between the story and the viewer’s reality. Not every American viewer must battle disgusting zombies or live and fight in a war zone, so their reality is far removed from what is seen in a film. However, for the film Irréversible, we attest to seeing a proxy for real people in real situations that could happen in our hometown.

During the film’s opening moments, two main characters rush through a gay sex club to find the man responsible for raping the girlfriend of one of the main characters. Not many people feel comfortable with the idea of a gay sex club, but these places exist in the real world, and some people patronize these businesses.

As the main characters shuffle through the club, they witness some disturbing sex acts that several people would wish were left in the dark corners of humanity without seeing the light of day. Once the pair find the guy they are looking for, one of the men begins to clobber the guy’s face with a large and extremely heavy fire extinguisher.

This violent act of revenge leaves the recipient with several missing teeth and a caved-in skull. What makes the whole performance disturbing is the close-up shot of the victim’s face that continues on display unedited, forcing the viewer to watch a bloody act happen to an Average Joe, who could be our next-door neighbor as far as any of us may know.

These characters are people we would meet in our hometown, and the acts of violence they commit are real-life problems that we would read about in the local newspaper every morning. It is sad, disturbing, and all very true. There is no safe buffer between this film and reality. We live in a harsh world, and this film was designed to cut straight to the brutal reality of our world. The film has succeeded in disturbing me right to the core about the events that occur so often in our world that we would tune it all out like any other reoccurring background noise. It is sad, yet true.

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whatisonthemoon · 11 months

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If Jonestown was coordinated by US intelligence agencies... why?

The four paragraphs below are excerpted from Jim Jones, MK-ULTRA Poster Child? by Peoples Temple ex-member Kathy (Tropp) Barbour. Bolding added for emphasis.

The world since Jonestown

Jonestown is the black hole of history, the invisible line at which history turned and the US population, still in shock, turned with it, into what it is today.

With 38 years of hindsight, still as a fly on the wall, I see that the CIA more than triumphed on this one. Not just were 918 lives lost, the worldwide shock, and revulsion associated with all things integration, communitarian, and left-wing was ushered in. Four days after the final number of the dead was known, the assassination of Milk and Moscone occurred in San Francisco. Classic “shock doctrine” brought home.

Then began the unwinding, the turning by degrees of battleship USA from an antiwar, antinuclear consensus, to our present perpetual war posture, frog-march though it may be. It is more a stupefaction, a paralysis in comprehension of daily events and their significance to us amid the blur of technological change. There began the rollout of goodness and purity to be found only in acquisition, consumption and diversion, surrender to the warm and fuzzy world of entertainers and advertisers ready to fulfill us, make or remake us.

No antennae for anything else. No more history, no more civics, no more news, eventually. Another crop of perfect subjects.

Barbour makes it clear that Jonestown had a very cultural, psychological, and political effect, and even intended effect, on the masses. She even connects the events of 1978 to the idea of “shock doctrine.”

Now.. what is shock doctrine?

Shock doctrine is roughly the imperialist trend of using disasters and crises to push and implement free market, neoliberal policies, taking advantage of collective shock. Some have said that

Though Naomi Klein is not necessarily an articulate anti-imperialist, and is no stranger to spewing unverified CIA-backed history and analyses (such as anti-communist rhetoric), her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism reveals the most vital, pressing, and relevant aspects of “shock doctrine” and its history.

In one of his most influential essays, Friedman articulated contemporary capitalism's core tactical nostrum, what I have come to understand as the shock doctrine. He observed that "only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable." Some people stockpile canned goods and water in preparation for major disasters; Friedmanites stockpile free-market ideas. And once a crisis has struck, the University of Chicago professor was convinced that it was crucial to act swiftly, to impose rapid and irreversible change before the crisis-racked society slipped back into the "tyranny of the status quo." He estimated that "a new administration has some six to nine months in which to achieve major changes; if it does not seize the opportunity to act decisively during that period, it will not have another such opportunity." A variation on Machiavelli's advice that injuries should be inflicted "all at once," this proved to be one of Friedman's most lasting strategic legacies.

What we have been living for three decades is frontier capitalism, with the frontier constantly shifting location from crisis to crisis, moving on as soon as the law catches up.

That is how the shock doctrine works: the original disaster—the coup, the terrorist attack, the market meltdown, the war, the tsunami, the hurricane — puts the entire population into a state of collective shock. The falling bombs, the bursts of terror, the pounding winds serve to soften up whole societies much as the blaring music and blows in the torture cells soften up prisoners. Like the terrorized prisoner who gives up the names of comrades and renounces his faith, shocked societies often give up things they would otherwise fiercely protect. Jamar Perry and his fellow evacuees at the Baton Rouge shelter were supposed to give up their housing projects and public schools. After the tsunami, the fishing people in Sri Lanka were supposed to give up their valuable beachfront land to hoteliers. Iraqis, if all had gone according to plan, were supposed to be so shocked and awed that they would give up control of their oil reserves, their state companies and their sovereignty to U.S. military bases and green zones.

The widespread abuse of prisoners is a virtually foolproof indication that politicians are trying to impose a system--whether political, religious or economic--that is rejected by large numbers of the people they are ruling. Just as ecologists define ecosystems by the presence of certain "indicator species" of plants and birds, torture is an indicator species of a regime that is engaged in a deeply anti-democratic project, even if that regime happens to have come to power through elections.

“Extreme violence has a way of preventing us from seeing the interests it serves.”

The change of political mood from the 70s into the 80s undoubtedly has something to do with Jonestown, as Jones himself acquainted himself with some of most well known leftist figures in the Bay Area, including the Black Panther Party, largely recognized as one of the most advanced revolutionary formations that have been organized in the U.S. That said, there were thousands of coordinated strategies in quelling the revolutionary fervor of the generation, including the use of other cults that effectively transformed leftists and left-leaning young people into conservativism, even fascism, such as with the LaRoucheites and the Moonies. Peoples Temple was not the only group to be used in such a way, or the straw that broke the camel’s back... but as a religious cult in the Bay Area, a region flooded with agents and federal experiments, that was deeply connected to militant leftists and had a history with some of the most influential and controversial Evangelicals (William Branham), there’s a lot that gets touched on when you bring up Jim Jones. The more you press into research on Jonestown and Jim Jones, the more you press into strategies, histories, and ideas that have been effectively suppressed by the U.S. government. Like the Unification Church and William Branham, the more that is uncovered about Peoples Temple, the more the true nature of the US government is reveal, and it just so happens to be the same as Satan’s: to kill, steal, and destroy.