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starfast · 3 years

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So you want to write an autistic character

So I watched the trailer for Sia’s movie just to see if it really was that bad. Spoiler alert: Yes it is. It made me feel like Sia was making fun of me for two and a half minutes. But it also made me really fucking angry because there’s not autism representation to begin with, and most of what we do have isn’t really that great, which is what drove me to make this post. I don’t have many followers so even if like 3 people see this, then at least that’s 3 people who have seen this.

What would I like to see less of

Literally incapable of detecting sarcasm: “Wait,” you say, “But Starfast, there are autistic people out there who are like this!” Sure, there might be, but for me personally detecting sarcasm is a lot less difficult than literally every autistic character has made it out to be. Yes, there are times where it goes right over my head but those times are usually when there’s not enough context for me to figure out whether the person is being sarcastic or not. Some of us actually are able to tell when you’re being sarcastic, it usually depends on context.

The “Sheldon Cooper”: Autism is really diverse and yet I feel like 99% of autistic characters are basically all just carbon copies of Sheldon Cooper from BBT. They’re maybe overly formal, blunt, or have a hard time picking up social cues. And while these are all things that are commonly associated with autism (although this type of character rarely shows any major downsides to having autism, more on that later), like I said earlier, autism is different for everyone. Not all of us are going to feel represented by this type of character. Honestly I don’t even relate to a lot of autistic characters because they just keep reusing the same autistic stock characters and that’s really disheartening to me. It’s almost like they’re not making autistic characters for autistic people.

The Burden: This probably doesn’t need to be explained that much but it was the one thing that really pissed me off about S**’s movie. In the trailer, I really got the very distinct impression that the older sister saw Music as a burden. Her life was just oh so difficult because she had this autistic sister. No one wants to be thought of that way. And idk if you neurotypicals know this but autistic people have feelings and we hear it loud and clear when you say these kinds of things and it hurts.

Using autism as a punchline: I think it’s fine to have an autistic character to provide comic relief, BUT! if your comic relief involves laughing at an autistic character’s very autistic behaviour then you’re doing it wrong. This kind of goes back to my first point- the reason why I hate seeing the “incapable of detecting sarcasm” character is because it’s almost exclusively played for laughs. Please stop making fun of us.

What would I like to see more of

Diversity: I feel like this doesn’t really need much explaining. Autism can affect anyone regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality, etc. And yet most autistic characters I’ve encountered are straight white guys. Let’s see more girls, more POCs, more LGBT+ who are autistic.

Obvious drawbacks/struggles: When I talked about the Sheldon Cooper-type character I mentioned that this type of character doesn’t really seem to face many challenges that are directly related to autism. What I mean by this is that sometimes they’ll maybe just miss the odd social cue and it’s kinda embarrassing but it rarely gets worse than that. An autistic character is going to face challenges that a neurotypical won’t ever have to deal with and if you don’t acknowledge that then you’re not really properly portraying an autistic character. Show more autistic characters struggling to make friends, having meltdowns or experiencing sensory overload, having a hard time articulating themselves. The list goes on, honestly.

Actually saying it: Have you ever seen it where there’s a certain character and a bunch of people go “hey, that character seems like they could be [insert literally any minority] and then the creator goes “Oh, yeah that’s totally what I intended!” I personally don’t really like this, because it feels kind of disingenuous. If you’re going to write an autistic character, it would be nice to have that brought up within the story. Autism isn’t a dirty word, you’re allowed to say it. The only exception I can think of would be if you’re writing a historical fiction or some other setting where autism hasn’t been recognized but most examples I can think of don’t fall into that category whoop there it is.

Literally just anything that isn’t a stereotype. This seems to be setting the bar pretty low, but it still needs to be said. Autism looks different for everyone and just because someone doesn’t fit the mold for a stereotypical autistic person doesn’t mean they’re not autistic. No one wants to be represented by a stereotype.

“I’m not autistic but I want to write an autistic character. Can I do that?”

I can’t speak for the entire autistic community when I answer this but my opinion is yes, it’s ok provided that you’re being respectful and doing research beyond reading symptoms off of WebMD. That being said, here’s my final advice:

Listen and talk to autistic people: If you’re not listening to the group you’re trying to represent then you’re not doing a good job. There are lots of people here out there who would be willing to answer your questions or be a sensitivity reader. There’s a lot of people here on tumblr who are willing to answer your questions (you can even ask me, but I’m just one person and I don’t have all the answers. I’d recommend talking to multiple people).

Autism Speaks is not your friend: There’s been a lot of talk about why this organization sucks, but it mostly boils down to trying to end autism and not actually helping us. So make sure you’re steering clear of them while you’re doing your research.

Reddit and Quora are actually great resources: Reason being is that these kinds of sites will give you lots of first hand information about being autistic, and that’s the best kind of information to have, usually. Most sites will just list symptoms, but the right reddit/quora thread will provide more insight about how these symptoms affect their daily life. Additionally, you’ll have multiple people offering their own views and since autism is so different for everyone it’s good to have more than one person’s opinion (psst... this tip works for writing other minority characters too!)

#writing advice #autism #actually autistic #writing #autistic characters #thank you for coming to my TED talk

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thecomfywriter · 4 years

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On Writing Eating Disorders...

@thecomfywriter (original post; remember to tag me or lmk if you want to repost it)

NOTE: Everything in this post is based off of my personal research, thoughts, opinions and experiences.

If you or a loved one has an eating disorder, please seek help by letting a loved one know, or contact one of these resources. Take care of yourselves, lovelies.

Toll-Free Number (NEDA): 1-800-931-2237 or text NEDA to 741741

Eating disorders are often misrepresented in the media, rather in being glorified, or romanticized, or flat out ignoring some types while claiming others are a choice. As a person who has recently recovered from an eating disorder, these representations can be incredibly harmful and add to the stigmatization of the serious mental illness. As a writer, I thought I’d give some pointers of what to do and what to avoid when writing eating disorders.

1) Do your research

There are many different types of eating disorders, each with different symptoms and different treatment plans. It isn’t just anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating disorder (although this one is also not handled much or not properly). Here’s a list of eating disorders and their basic definitions.

TRIGGER WARNING:

Anorexia Nervosa: officially defined as the ed with dramatic weight loss or an aim for a weight below the healthy amount for age and height. characterized by extreme restriction in food, types of food and calories.

Bulimia Nervosa: subtype of anorexia involving a purging method in order to maintain low weight or dramatically lose weight. Purging can include extreme/obsessive exercise, vomiting, and/or use of laxatives.

Binge-Eating Disorder: reoccurring episodes of eating large quantities of food followed by shame or discomfort. Typically, these episodes are performed in secret, and include a feeling of lack of control. Binge eating disorder is not overeating once. It is a very serious and life threatening disorder where the sufferer feels a lack of control in eating to a point of discomfort repeatedly.

OFSED: encompasses individuals who don’t meet the specific guidelines for the other types of eating disorders but still engage in disordered eating behaviors. Includes frequent binge eating episodes and possibly purging episodes, body image issues (may include body dysmorphia), frequent dieting behaviours, restriction, “burn off” calories consumed, etc.

Orthorexia: included in OFSED, which is defined as an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy/clean to the point of disorder eating and restrictive behaviors. Often shares symptoms with bulimia nervosa (burning off calories through exercise) or anorexia (needing to eat clean/vegan/organic/etc.) Individuals may express body image issues through their desire to be “lean” or “skinny”

ARFID: known as the Selective Eating Disorder, involving limitations to types of food or amount of food consumed without the distress of body image or fears of fatness.

NOTE: these are general terms and definitions. I want to make clear that eating disorders do NOT have a body type or “look”, which brings me to point two.

2) Eating disorders do not have a “type” or “look”

We see this a lot. The anorexic girl is stick thin, dainty and pretty. The bulimic is probably thin too. The binge eater is fat.

It’s not that general.

I was anorexic long before I was skinny. Some anorexics never become skinny. Most people with restrictive eating disorders are actually on the ‘average’ to ‘higher’ end of the scale. Just because someone has a specific weight, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a mental illness. That’s not how mental illness’s work. They are mental meaning they are about what’s in your head, not how your body looks.

If you’re writing an OC with an eating disorder, consider separating their body type from their eating disorder. Eating disorders are about the mental anguish and the overthinking and fear related to food. It’s an unhealthy relationship with food, not a weight or body type. Not only will you be representing ed’s better, it is actually a lot more interesting to read (the books I’ve read focusing on the mental pain of having an ed are wayy better than, omg I wanna be skinny but I can’t see that I already am. Not saying that body dysmorphia isn’t a thing. It 100% is. I have it. But it’s often oversimplified and almost mocked in media, which sucks ass).

3) Do not discriminate

First of all, there is a huge underrepresentation of men with eating disorders. NEWS FLASH: BOYS CAN HAVE EATING DISORDERS TOO

This also goes for age. I personally know people who have eating disorders ranging from 6 years old (I know it’s sad) to in their late 40′s. Eating disorders do not discriminate based off age, nor sex, nor sexual orientation, nor race.

There are black people with eating disorders. There are asians with eating disorders. There are south asians and latinos and hispanics with eating disorders. There are old people and young people, and boys and girls, and gays and straights with eating disorders. It’s not just the average white teenage girl. Take it from the indian recovered anorexic.

Don’t be afraid, and honestly, please do consider adding diversity in your representation of eating disorders. Consider the cultural aspect of how the standards of each of these POC societies affect body image.

An example of this is, in indian culture, people are very blunt. They also glorify weight loss, but don’t be too skinny either. It’s all about looking fertile, but heaven forbid you put on too much weight. This affected me so much when I went on vacation and met with family, and they all started commenting on my weight or pinching at my developing body. It was hurtful. It was even worse to hear them say I looked healthier because of my weight gain because for an anorexic, hearing ‘you look healthier’ is synonymous with ‘you look fat’.

Also, the type of food per culture! Indian food is very healthy but also very dense, so it was my number one fear food when I still had my ed.

Consider all of these things when adding representation, and ADD REPRESENTATION.

4) DO NOT GLORIFY or ROMANTICIZE EATING DISORDERS

I can’t say this enough. Please do NOT glorify or romanticize eating disorders. Often times, the anorexic girl is “dainty” and “pretty” with a “slim weight that you can hold in your hands”, or “is so beautiful but she just can’t see it”.

BLEGH! VOMIT! STOP! DO NOT DO THAT!

Every time I read that, a part of me dies inside. There is nothing aesthetic or dainty about having your bones show, or having such little weight on your body that you physically can never get warm, even after wearing four layers of clothing. There is nothing romantic or aesthetic about having your bones rub together every time you try to sleep or having joint pain at 17. There is nothing romantic or aesthetic about shaking in fear every time someone touches you because you are so scared of someone touching your body, or judgement, or discovering how sick you are. There is nothing aesthetic or romantic about eating disorders. Period.

Please stop using language that makes an aesthetic out of eating disorders. Please stop describing it as if it is just a “dainty waist” or “tiny wrists,” because a) it implies only skinny people having eating disorders, and the skinny people with eating disorders are more brandable and “pretty”, whereas every other body type isn’t (WHICH ISN’T TRUE); and b) it adds a positive connotation, or almost makes eating disorders seem like a choice; like a diet gone wrong.

Repeat after me: Eating disorders are NEVER a choice

5) STOP. WITH. THE. ROMANCE. SAVING. LOVE STORY.

For some reason, most plots involving a person with an eating disorder (typically a pretty and skinny girl) involves a guy falling in love with her and saving her from herself, and being the reason she recovers.

News flash! If love was the cure all for mental illness, my family would have saved me a long time ago.

Mental illness is complicated. It’s debilitating. It steals your life away from you and it’s a long and gruesome process to try and recovery from it or learn to cope with it. I didn’t recover from my eating disorder ~through the power of l o v e~

My mom begged me with tears in her eyes for me to try harder and to eat properly. I yelled in her face.

It’s a sad reality. There’s never a day in my life where I don’t regret doing that. But eating disorders change you. They can turn you sour. Starving is painful and it makes you cold. I wasn’t a kind loving person anymore. My family’s love wasn’t enticing enough for me to recover. The truth was, I was more scared of food and my eating disorder than I loved them. I hate admiting that, but its true. Which is why they couldn’t have been my reason to recover.

It’s not the same for everyone. For some people, their family is the reaosn they recover. And I definently did try harder for my family too. But when I was in the deep, love wasn’t going to make me rational. It wasn’t going to cure me from my suffering. I was too busy pushing people away for that to happen. The sad reality of ed’s are that they ruin relationships a lot of the time. It takes a lot of resiliency to support a person with an ed because of how complex and difficult it is.

I’m lucky my family did it for me. But I couldn’t expect that much from anyone beyond them. My recovery came from myself with the support of my family. I wasn’t saved by love. I was definently motivated by it, and supported by it, but that was only later.

I’m sorry if this isn’t the happy truth you want to hear. I’m only speaking my own reality. Eating disorders are tragic. They have tragic consequences. Ultimately, some guy who is crushing on your OC, or who your OC is crushing on isn’t going to be the person who “saves them from their ed”. Your OC has to help themselves by reaching out to the people they love and to professionals for support.

Don’t minimize the strength and bravery of a sufferer by making their mental illness disappear with love, because love is not a cure. Empower your readers by showing how your OC was strong enough to seek help, and what a big step it is towards taking care of themselves and recovery.

This is just a general list. Sorry it’s so long. I can go more in detail if you guys want a part 2, or I can make more tip posts. Let me know if this helps. And if you know anyone or if you yourself are suffering from an eating disorder, please use your local resources. Tell a friend, a loved one. If anything, you can always message me on tumblr (@thecomfywriter) or insta (@tovwriter). I’ve been there, and I’ll always be here to support you guys <3

You deserve to recover and live a free and happy life. Recovery is possible. For you and your OC’s. Write a story that makes you feel powerful.

Happy Writing <3

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teambondingsingapore-blog · 5 years

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TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES SINGAPORE: The Samurai Way

Group Building Activities are boosting analytical tasks designed to assist group participants develop their capacity to function efficiently with each other. Numerous team building as well as campaign jobs resemble youngsters games, others are unique, complex tasks and also created for particular requirements. Much more sophisticated campaign tasks can involve ropes courses, night-time activities, and also exercises lasting over several days.

Numerous workplace need somewhat a little bit of teamwork in order for things to run smoothly as well as with motivation to each in everyone. Group building activities are usually utilized to develop a partnership in between coworkers or co worker. On the other hand, different workplace want synergy however the staff members function individually. Workers working work like these actually require team building activities to aid them remain related with various other employees.

Team structure activities are frequently utilized in meetings, discussions, workshops, training workshops, education and learning programs, company training, with college, high, center, elementary and also pre-school institution teams, sporting activity groups, instructor training, youth job, as well as correctional setups. Team structure workouts can be adapted for practically any setup, young or old, large or little, as well as throughout societies. An integral part of group structure workouts is individuals' representation and also conversation concerning the task, how they came close to the circumstance, and possible factors of learning. For instance, a group might be videoed during an activity as well as the video viewed, analyzed, and also reviewed, to assist extract possible learning from team structure workouts.

As the head of the sales department of a large business, I'm the one responsible to all, specifically for the performance of all my employees. When sales are sluggish moving, I try to use various motivations to inspire every person. I utilized to use them bonuses as well as prizes for leading entertainers to work well in order to come up renovation on efficiency for a brief amount of time. Yet, this sort of idea resulted to competitive Team Bonding Singapore atmosphere around the office, which is not what I yearned for them to do. I want to use a group building tasks in order to work in the workplace, to ensure that my sales force interact to find up enhancement on performance, not to function as individual.

The initial idea that I was made is contact the personnel department to let them understand of my intends to apply team structure activities amongst my sales pressure. The head over there informed me that they don't have any person employees there that had that type of experience in teaching them team structure tasks, so she recommended that I made use of outdoors or other experts for that type of work. I began to get in touch with the names of a few local firms to discover their services. I was extremely overwhelmed by the selection of group building activities these consulting firms recommended for my sales force.

Staff member inspiration benefits from team building games, workouts, tasks, problems and also tests. I try to use free team building games and exercises suggestions to heat up meetings, training, and meetings. These complimentary team building video games are also great ice breakers for training sessions, conferences, workshops, seminars or conferences. Team building games and tasks are useful also in severe service job conferences, where video games as well as activities help delegates to see points differently and also use various thinking styles. To guarantee these team-building activities adhere to equality as well as discrimination policy and also legislation in respect of sex, race, special needs, age, and so on. Although some of the group structure activities seemed way also intense for our particular requirements, many sounded like they would be ideal for us. Best of all, he might teach us these group structure tasks throughout a two-day workshop held right in our offices. This seemed respectable, however regrettably, I wasn't able to obtain authorization from my employer for the budget plan expense.

I really did not give up on this; still I started looking for inexpensive or totally free group building tasks online which contained exceptional team building tasks. I made a decision to attempt a number of these very first that I found online with an evidence that this team structure activities work well. And I have a much better chance to my employer of getting authorization for this sort of training in the upcoming.

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theliberaltony · 5 years

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): Welcome, everyone, to a special debate-focused preview edition of our weekly politics chat!! In recent weeks, we’ve talked a lot about the different strategies the candidates should use on the debate stage, who the lineup is good for (and who it’s bad for) and whether the field might be consolidating around a handful of candidates.

So today, let’s have a little fun with the question of candidate debate strategy and play a game of buy/sell/hold with PredictIt prop bets (plus some I made up). We checked the prices (given in cents) of a bunch of propositions at noon Eastern on Tuesday and then translated those prices into probabilities. (We know that’s not exactly right, but it’s close enough.)

And in case you forgot how to play buy/sell/hold:

Buy means: “I think the chances of this happening are higher than indicated.”

Sell means: “I think they’re lower.”

Hold means: “I’m a coward and am unwilling to take a stand.”

OK, let’s start with a

spicy

proposition. Buy, sell or hold: Elizabeth Warren will win the 2020 presidential Democratic nomination? (33 percent)

nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): I am bullish on Warren overall, but I still think it’s a pretty open race. I’ll sell on Warren — I think her chances are a bit lower than 33 percent.

clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): I’ll buy! If only for the argument. I think that Warren is a secure bet in this race and that she’s the only candidate who’s seen steady, significant gains. That’s gotta count for something.

I also think that she’ll pick up establishment-leaning voters as the race goes on and other people drop out — or at the very least, she’s one of a few arms that establishment-leaning types will want to fall into.

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): I’m boarding a plane, so my answers will be brief at best. Warren’s somewhere between a hold and a sell. And 33 percent is a lot, given where her position in the polls is. That price puts a lot of weight on subjective vs. objective impressions, in other words. I happen to share those subjective impressions, i.e. my “gut” says Warren is a very strong candidate. However, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that my gut is usually full of shit.

clare.malone: NATE’S ON A PLANE

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): If Biden’s chances are, say, 40 percent based on his standing in polls from the first half of the year, that leaves like 60 percent for everyone else. Does Warren have a bit more than half of that? I’m skeptical of that so I’ll sell — for now.

ameliatd (Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, senior writer): I think I’m somewhere between a buy and a hold? (Outing myself immediately as a quasi-coward.)

clare.malone: Lol, it’s fine Amelia — I’m a little less wedded to the strict odds of this. I’m more going on the gut that Nate speaks of and strength on the ground, etc.

ameliatd: Warren’s growth has been impressive. And she stands to gain as the field narrows. It seems like she might be starting to overcome some voters’ worries about nominating a woman, too? Which would be big, if so.

natesilver: I mean Biden is way too low in these markets, so if you’re saying Warren has a 33 percent chance or higher, you’re saying it’s basically a two-horse race. Which, maybe?

clare.malone: I don’t think that’s crazy, Nate.

Not a lot of people are super bullish on Sanders right now.

And Harris is slipping in the polls.

So … it’s not totally nuts to go with the idea that it COULD potentially be a Biden-Warren showdown.

sarahf: Bernie is in third at 14 percent, but that’s a distant third behind Warren (33 percent) and Biden (26 percent) over at PredictIt.

natesilver: If Warren got into the low 20s in national polls instead of the high teens, I might feel more comfy with that. That tends to be a big inflection point. Being in the 20s in a multi-way race is serious business.

nrakich: Harris still has a lot of untapped potential, IMO.

ameliatd: I don’t know, Nathaniel. My “buy” sentiments for Warren are probably contingent on Harris not pulling it together. But based on how her summer went, that seems increasingly plausible. Like, at some point your untapped potential needs to start turning into actual gains.

geoffrey.skelley: I know I said I sell on Warren, but I can certainly see her winning heavily-white Iowa and New Hampshire, building up — Nate’s favorite word — “momentum” and going on to win the nomination.

And that’s the tough thing about this — the sequential nature of the primary means we can look at the national polls and early-state polls, but the moment Iowa happens, that will influence what happens in New Hampshire, and so on.

sarahf: Speaking of Iowa and New Hampshire … Warren has a 35 percent chance in Iowa and a 34 percent chance in New Hampshire … does that change anyone’s wager? The markets do give Biden a 48 percent chance in South Carolina, though, and Warren only a 14 percent shot.

nrakich: I think that 35 percent in Iowa is considerably closer to reality. I think her odds of winning Iowa are higher than her odds of winning the nomination writ large.

She has an excellent ground game, which could help her in a low-turnout, activist-driven caucus state like Iowa.

And she has performed better in Iowa polls than national ones so far.

geoffrey.skelley: There are 26 days between Iowa and South Carolina and 18 days between New Hampshire and South Carolina. That’s A LOT of time for the “Biden’s a loser” theme to permeate things if he can’t win either Iowa or New Hampshire. Nevada, as it’s worth reiterating, is BEFORE South Carolina, which could maybe help him. But the Silver State is a bit of a black box.

natesilver: I’d buy on Warren in IA/NH. There should be more of a spread in these markets between her Iowa price and her nomination price. The fact that there isn’t proves these markets are kinda dumb.

ameliatd: That underscores my very definitive wager of “somewhere between a hold and a buy.” She’s doing well in Iowa and New Hampshire — which is why I would say her chances are better than you might think if you just look at the national polls.

clare.malone: Warren is going to have an easier time in those very white first two states — Biden, for a number of reasons, enjoys an advantage with black voters in South Carolina, which is pretty much how you win that state.

But Warren’s campaign was one of the two or three campaigns that people in South Carolina talked about as being strong in voter outreach. Even a lot of pro-Biden people there told me they liked her. So, I could see momentum or winning in IA and NH upping her odds in South Carolina and then perhaps in other southern states where black voters are key.

But that probably involves Biden faltering so she becomes more dominant — or doing something that finally sticks as a criticism.

natesilver: If you had a market for “will the Iowa winner win the nomination?” I’d probably be a seller of it.

Like, I think it would be priced at 70 percent when it should be priced at 50 or something.

The Democratic electorate used to be a lot whiter and have a lot more caucuses, so Iowa used to be a lot more representative.

But Iowa is no longer a good representation of the overall Democratic electorate right now.

geoffrey.skelley: Oh definitely, but if Warren wins Iowa and New Hampshire, I bet she’ll be polling better in Nevada and South Carolina than she is right now.

Also, keep in mind, Bill Clinton is the only recent nominee of a major party not to win one of the first two states, although that is complicated by the fact that no one really contested Iowa in 1992 because Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin was running.

sarahf: Interestingly though, the betting markets seem less bullish on Warren winning the presidency. Buy, sell or hold: President Trump wins the 2020 presidential election? (41 percent)

natesilver: Lol I’m not touching that question.

ameliatd: Wow, Sarah, you really went there!

clare.malone: I give a hold on that.

I truly don’t know where things stand.

There are a lot of plausible arguments to be made that Democrats come out of the nomination fight irritated at each other and unhappy with their candidate, and there’s less enthusiasm on Election Day.

nrakich: I’ll hold. Forty-one percent sounds right. Close to 50-50, as we are amid an era of close presidential elections. But every indicator right now, from his dropping approval rating to polls of the generic ballot to special elections to early general-election polls that you probably shouldn’t trust, indicates it’s a Democratic-leaning environment, so I’m willing to make a 9-point concession to that.

clare.malone: On the other hand, it could very well be a different ballgame from ’16, and people ARE really motivated to turn out against Trump, no matter who the Democratic nominee is, and the Democrats prevail against a GOP Electoral College advantage in a high-turnout election on both sides??

ameliatd: I would also say hold just because there are so many unknowns. A recent Pew poll found that most Democrats are excited by several 2020 candidates, not just their top choice, so maybe that’s good news for Democrats if it helps insulate voter enthusiasm against a potentially long and bruising primary? But I’m not sure.

geoffrey.skelley: Yeah, my feelings are similar to Nathaniel’s, though you could also make the case that 41 percent is too low for an incumbent president in a closely-divided country. So I’d say hold or maybe buy.

natesilver: He’s not much of an incumbent. He barely won last time. And the track record of incumbents who barely won is not so hot.

sarahf: And as Nathaniel mentioned, his presidential approval number seems to be

(his approval rating is still above 40 percent though).

geoffrey.skelley: But his approval has about as good a chance of going up again as going down in the long run — it’s been remarkably steady overall.

natesilver: That isn’t good news for Trump, though, because he probably needs his approval rating to improve for him to win reelection.

clare.malone: Nate’s not touching this, though.

natesilver: Like it’s not good news when your weight is steady if you weigh 300 pounds.

clare.malone: It could be good news if you’re 7 feet tall.

geoffrey.skelley: A BMI discussion is what we need here.

clare.malone: Clare googles “what does LeBron weigh?”

sarahf: OK … let’s pivot back to the 2020 Democratic primary. We’ve talked about where people stand on Warren’s chances of winning the nomination, and as a result where Biden or Sanders stand — but what about some of the lower polling candidates like, say, Kamala Harris? Markets put her at 10 percent. Buy, sell, hold?

ameliatd: I am not especially bullish on Harris, but that seems a little low to me. I’d say buy?

nrakich: I’m definitely buying on Harris — I think her chances are significantly higher than 10 percent.

Harris still has the potential to appeal to multiple wings of the Democratic Party — especially two very influential wings in college-educated whites and black voters. I also think her prosecutorial background means she has several good debates left in her.

geoffrey.skelley: As for Harris, I think I’d buy there just based on potential. It may be unrealized so far, but it’s still there, whether she ends up being Marco Rubio 2.0 or not.

sarahf: What about Pete Buttigieg, at 5 percent? Buy, sell, hold?

clare.malone: What the hell, sell. I do not think he has a good chance. Maybe an Iowa win? Maybe?

nrakich: I’d buy Buttigieg at 5 percent, but I think it’s a closer call than Harris.

clare.malone: I think that the markets are incredibly sensitive to the narratives of the news cycle.

So, the fact that Harris had a purportedly shitty back half of the summer, means that her odds go waaaay down — too low.

natesilver: Y’all should actually add everyone chances up because I bet you’d be at like 130 percent.

You can’t be a buy on everyone.

clare.malone: Nate, you’re not even participating fully!

Peanut Gallery!!

natesilver: The best way to participate is half-assedly.

clare.malone: Also, close read: People have sold.

sarahf: OK, so we’ve talked about some of the leading contenders for winning the nomination — Warren, Biden and Sanders. And we’ve talked about Harris, whom the markets seem a bit bearish on. But setting those candidates aside, what about the rest of the debaters? Andrew Yang is at 11 percent (insert Yang Gang joke) while everyone is at 10 percent (Harris) or lower. Would you buy any of the other candidates on Thursday night’s stage? Or sell them all?

natesilver: I’m probably the most bullish on Yang of any of the election-analyst-types, and I think that price is kind of insane and a discredit to PredictIt tbh.

geoffrey.skelley: Definitely sell on Yang at that mark. Buttigieg is harder because he, too, has potential and a lot of resources given his fundraising. But he really needs to win Iowa or finish 2nd, maybe 3rd there to be in the mix, and I’m struggling to see how that happens with the other candidates in the field — so I’ll sell him, too.

clare.malone: I’m bullish on Cory Booker, though not incredibly so (and I do remain, sadly, sensitive to Nate’s buying spree comment).

I think that Booker has the same kind of coalition-building potential — very much unrealized yet — but I think he’s probably worth being slightly-higher-valued? I think he’s investing on the ground and could have an appeal to white voters in Iowa, and if he did decently, proving his mettle there, black voters in South Carolina or Hispanic voters in Nevada might see him as more electable?

nrakich: At 2 percent, I’d be willing to buy a few of these names just because you don’t have much to lose.

I will probably get ridiculed for this, but I think Beto O’Rourke still could have something left in the tank. There’s a reason he caught fire in Texas last year — he’s a charismatic, appealing guy — and he has been holding a ton of campaign events.

ameliatd: Here’s my problem with this lower tier. A lot of these candidates have potential upside — but mainly if one or more of the higher-polling candidates stumble. That certainly seems to be the case with someone like Booker. So how much do you bake in the possibility of another candidate falling apart?

nrakich: I am also bullish on Booker, Clare, but it looks like PredictIt is too — he’s a bit higher than all the other lower-tier candidates, at 4 percent.

natesilver: If one of the front-runners stumble, wouldn’t one of the other front-runners benefit?

geoffrey.skelley: Yes, I agree with Clare and Amelia. Booker definitely could be there to pick up the pieces if Harris slides, so I’d buy at that price.

natesilver: But Harris is in 4th place now. Which pieces is he picking up?

sarahf: Yeah, I think it’s becoming increasingly harder for some of the candidates like Booker, Amy Klobuchar or O’Rourke to see any gains.

nrakich: Sarah, I think that is obviously literally true, in that every day that passes is one fewer day until the primaries. But I still think there are several months and several opportunities to stand out (e.g., debates) left.

natesilver: I’m bullish on Booker’s odds of finishing in 3rd place. I’d pay 10 percent for that.

sarahf: I keep coming back to Julián Castro, who had a strong moment in the first debate and saw a big jump in his favorability ratings and name recognition as a result, but then nothing in the polls.

ameliatd: But I’d put Castro’s chances higher than O’Rourke’s right now (if I’m choosing between the Texans). Maybe I’m wrong and O’Rourke will wow everyone in the debate … but his performances have been super snoozy so far.

clare.malone: I think Castro suffers from not being a national figure. He hasn’t had the same kind of grist as the senators have during the Trump years, and O’Rourke, his home-state rival, really crowded him out in the roll-out department.

nrakich: Yeah, I agree with Sarah that if Castro was going to make his move, he would have done it already, as he performed quite well in the first two debates.

To me, he suffers from inconsistency. He was great in the debates, but I thought he was really flat in the latest CNN town hall.

clare.malone: In the end, no one remembers who he is. The twin thing doesn’t help either …

NEVER TRUST A TWIN.

natesilver: I’d just say I have about 15 percent total to give out at most for everyone who’s not in the top 4. I’m not sure how I’d distribute that 15 percent, but it’s not a ton of wealth to go around.

nrakich: Yeah, I’m definitely splitting hairs — who cares if O’Rourke has a 5 percent chance instead of a 2 percent chance.

natesilver: FiveThirtyEight readers do!

ameliatd: Hair-splitting is what it’s all about, Nathaniel! Lean into it!

natesilver: And 20:1 vs 50:1 is a nontrivial difference

sarahf: OK, what about the candidates not on the stage? Lest we forget, Tom Steyer has made the October debate … but does that really change anything in your mind regarding who wins the nomination? My guess is maybe not … so here’s a buy/sell/hold I made up — Warren, Biden, Sanders, Harris don’t win the nomination (5 percent).

nrakich: I’d buy that, Sarah. As I said, there’s still a lot of time left, and several more debates where someone like O’Rourke or Booker or Castro could have their moment. I think Biden, Warren, Sanders and Harris are by far the most-likely nominees, but I wouldn’t be gobsmacked if it’s someone else.

clare.malone: I really don’t think anyone is going to have a moment who hasn’t already.

geoffrey.skelley: I think I would cautiously buy that. It’s obviously very likely that the nominee will be one of those four, but we’re still nearly five months out from Iowa so things could shift.

clare.malone: Call me a cynic, call me a stinker, but if you haven’t really started to prove you’ve got the potential for a coalition by mid-September … sorry, but it’s curtains.

nrakich: Clare, you’re the one who always says it’s early!

clare.malone: RIght, but now it’s September — people outside the top 4 or 5 have no shot.

And that’s the scope of this q.

natesilver: I mean I just said I think it’s a 15 percent chance on the high end. Maybe it’s more like 10 or 12. But definitely higher than 5. Five percent isn’t a lot!

nrakich: By this point in the 2012 Republican cycle, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum all had yet to have their “moment.”

sarahf: President Cain was such a good president.

clare.malone: heh heh

natesilver: I don’t think this race has much to do with 2012. The frontrunners are a much more robust group than Romney alone was.

And to Sarah’s snarky comment … all those candidates lost anyway!

ameliatd: I guess the way I’d think about it is — what are the odds that some series of events manages to tank the chances of all four of those candidates? That seems quite unlikely to me.

natesilver: Yeah it’s like being five games behind but in 5th place in the MLB wild card standings. #sports

Doesn’t seem like you’re that far behind, but it’s unlikely that everyone else gets cold.

geoffrey.skelley: I think everyone wants every cycle to be like 2012 because it was exciting and messy. Also because who can forget Gingrich and Cain having a “Lincoln-Douglas” debate? But yeah, I don’t think you’re going to see a collapse of all those candidates.

ameliatd: And it’s not like if Warren suddenly starts slipping, Buttigieg or one of the lower-polling candidates will grab her supporters.

I think there’s room for movement — but mostly within that upper tier.

nrakich: Nate, you had to turn this chat into a dig at the Mets.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #A FiveThirtyEight Chat

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representativecharacters · 7 years

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What characters can be submitted?

In short, whatever groups are underrepresented in the media. This includes, but is not limited to, the following groups:

LGBT+ members

POC characters.

Characters with disabilities

Characters with mental illnesses.

Addiction

Religious characters*

*This will be on a case by case basis; if the character is, say a Christian in America, they will not be accepted as they are already thought to be the norm. However, if a character is from a region where it is underrepresented (ex. Christians in India) they may be included.

Are there any characters that can’t be submitted?

Yes. representation has to be canon, number one. Non-canon examples, such as queerbaiting, will not be accepted. Please remember that fanon =/= canon. Although some headcanons are popular within a fandom, they do not count as actual representation - and this doesn’t mean the blog doesn’t love those headcanons, but this blog is about canon rep that people can watch and explicitly see rep in/is known for this representation. Examples include:

Dean Winchester from Supernatural - not a canon mlm character

Harry Potter - not a canon desi character

Peter Parker from the MCU - does not canonically have ADHD

Characters who are heavily represented - if a character is a white Christian man, for example, they are already represented heavily in the media. While they can obviously be important to you, they are not meant for this blog.

Characters who have threatened, attempted, or did rape another character.

Pedophilic characters, including “non-acting” characters.

Characters involved in hate groups (such as Nazis, KKK, etc.). For superhero/fantasy groups - if the character had to do it for a job, or was brainwashed, or realized they were wrong and stopped, they may be submitted, but characters who knowingly and willingly went along may not be submitted.

These are submissions that I will not accept under any circumstances; if I am aware/made aware that these characters fall under any of these categories, the submission will be deleted. I also reserve the right to deleted submissions that may also be triggering/offensive that aren’t mentioned here.

Does the representation have to be canon?

Yes. There are many blogs who will take non-canon submissions (who will be added soon), but we want to celebrate the characters who are canonically representing specific groups. Therefore, we will not accept queerbaiting, or any other implied subtext - we would like canon examples as a reference for people who want to see themselves represented.

In this case, canon counts as:

Explicitly stated in-canon: If the content specifically has the character say: “I am ____”, that is the most ideal form of canon representation, or if it’s stated by another character (*in terms of they know the character is this, instead of speculating). This tends to supersede all other forms of representation (ex. if a character says in-show they’re pan but an actor or writer later says they consider them bi, the pan label stands, as that was what was shown/portrayed/stated to the audience watching).

Shown in-canon: Unfortunately, most shows don’t have characters explicitly stating their rep. But, they do at least show it - for example, Tony Stark clearly has signs of a panic disorder throughout the Marvel series (not in a one-off episode like procedurals or superhero shows may show). There can be speculations on what it is, and signs point to PTSD, but it’s not explicitly mentioned. So, a submission for him would be “mental illness”. Or, a character who’s expressed attraction to men, women, and/or nonbinary people may be largely considered bi in fandom, but a submission would say “mspec”, “mlm”, or “wlw” as we do not know the specific label used.

Actor-stated: if the content shows the character as [xyz] and the actor gives a specific label, it is fine to submit the character as what the actor says (ex. Sara Lance in Arrow wasn’t stated to be bi until years later on LOT, but she was in a relationship with both a male and female character at points in the show, and her actress specifically stated that she is bi throughout this time).

Word of God: There may have to be an “issues” section in these submissions due to the fact that many Word of God (aka creator-stated) rep isn’t explicit to the audience, but it still counts as canon as it comes straight from the creator

Coded representation: This is the one I want to be most careful with, especially because there are many coded characters - of all types, but I’m going to go with characters coded to be gay/ace/lesbian/etc. in this example. I don’t want to accept say, queerbaiting, as representation. I generally reserve this for shows/books/movies/etc. that had to censor their representation due to the network they were on (ie. Leverage, Legend of Korra) or had to be careful due to the time period (ex. queer-coded characters in Old Hollywood movies).

We prefer canon examples that explicitly show or state the representation in the piece itself; however, we understand that certain types of representation can be hard to find, and will accept a writer’s words to be canon.

Can I submit a character with [x] representation?

In most cases, absolutely. Historically on this blog, submissions tend to fall under these umbrellas: religious, disorders, disabilities, sexuality, race, and abuse survivors. However, there can definitely be other characters submitted who don’t “fit” into any of those umbrellas, and if you’re unsure, shoot me an ask!

Are there other blogs I can submit to?

We accept all characters, but we would love to suggest other blogs that also take in character sheets/submissions - and who will take both canon and non canon sources.

@c-ptsdcharacteroftheday

@bi-characters

@transcharacters

@jewishcharacteroftheweek

@acecharacters

How do I submit?

You can either use the submit button (while following this template) or this submission via google forms.

I want my submission to be anonymous

If you submit via submission box, please specify that you want to be anonymous! If you submit via Google forms, there’s an option right there on the form.

Can I request [x] character?

Absolutely! Just double-check that they’re not already on our requests list

Can I submit a character with [x] representation?

What’s the posting schedule?

As of right now, the submissions have been on Mondays & Fridays at 1 PM, and should the schedule change; I’ll update it.

I submitted a character, but they aren’t in the queue. Should I resubmit?

Please give me a 1-2 week waiting time. I’m currently in school, studying for two boards, and will be starting rotations in the summer, so I’m not always on Tumblr, and when I am, it’s to relax on a break. If I haven’t updated anything within 2 weeks, please shoot me an ask or chat!

I don’t think [x] counts as representation/Why did you allow [x] to be submitted/Other clear discourse asks:

Discourse will not be tolerated on this blog, and if you send it you’re literally just wasting your time. I’m not going to argue with people on what representation is the “most” important or valid, and this is about celebrating the different and varied types of rep out there.

There was a mistake/update on [x] submission:

Please message or PM me for this instead of commenting on the post, as I might miss that notification. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible (again, please give me a grace period for responses) and update/correct a submission if needed.

#FAQ #don't mind me this is just for any potential questions anyone has

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duaa7343-blog · 4 years

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Annotated Bibliography

That is true, there are people that consider music as a fun way to learn a new language, and I am one of those people who learned a lot of English, Korean and Japanese from listening to music. For me, it is easier to remember words and sentences that are repeated and beautifully framed in a piece of music than to study them from a book. Besides, sometimes we listen to music a few times, then surprisingly we find it sticks in our minds all day or even all week. We find ourselves automatically keep playing the same song in our head over and over again until we remember it word by word. Not to mention that most people when they listen to a music that is with a different language, they get very curious about its meaning. Then, they search for the translation of its lyrics, and unintentionally learn words, phrases from this song which leads us to appreciate it more. This study research is amazing, because it proves to us that it is a right theory. The participants that were assigned to listen to “Arabic or Chinese” music on CD, were significantly able to recall and translate the music more than those who didn’t listen to the music.

That is why I believe this source has valuable information about using music for learning purposes and getting involved in different cultures. Exploring new music can be an important and eye opening experience, it is like exploring a whole new culture.

Background music can aid second language learning.

Odeh Rishmavi. “The Principle of the Harmony System of the Arabic Music.” Polylinguality and Transcultural Practices, no. 3, 2009, p. 123. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.678d2b52c0bb491c8b25857203884d48&site=eds-live.https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0305735613485152

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This source focused on analyzing Arabic music specially in hejaz and makkah from 1905 and 1906 and how it preserved by Westren. Makkah is the place where Islam started and it has the most famous place for musilm which is al-Kaaba. A long time ago, many musilms come to Hejaz to visit or stay there, that is why in hejaz there have been many mixed Islamic cultures and races from around the world. As I thought, many westren think it sounds similar to “Quran” recitation, and prayer calls which is very known and developed in that area. Not surprisingly, that affect the type of music too. Quran affected the melodies of Arabic music significantly. That is why many people think some types of music sounds religious because of the melodies that are used. Arabs back then known to be well-spoken and they honor and respect that. It is also mentioned in this research that the famous songs are written as a poem called “qasida”. These Arabic poems are even more famous on per-Islamic ages, and they are written using formal and old language. They usually talk about love, and the difficulty of love. One of the famous Arabic poets is “Majnun Layla” and many of his poems have become songs. I believe these poems have led to the huge development of music since Arabic songs originated most of the time from poems. Although they are beautiful, they are more famous locally, because the language used is sort of old and they can be hard to understand as a foreigner or not arabic person.

2. ARABIC MUSIC IN WESTERN EARS: AN ACCOUNT OF THE MUSIC OF THE HEJAZ AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Anne van Oostrum. “Arabic Music in Western Ears: An Account of the Music of the Hejaz at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” Quaderni Di Studi Arabi, vol. 7, 2012, p. 127. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.43819930&site=eds-live.https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/stable/43819930?seq=11#metadata_info_tab_contents

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From my own observation, now a days Arab in general and mostly in United Arab Emirate are very affected by the westren cultures due to globalization. One of the cultures that have been significantly impacted is “music culture”. In fact, Arabic music culture didn’t transform and develop a lot over the years. However, I believe what really transformed is the musical taste of the people. Most of my friends like to listen to English and Korean and they think Arabic songs sound “old” and not “cool”. This research was dedicated to Arabic students that study westren music at the university in UAE. After reading their responses on this topic, I realized another important reason for why Arabic music doesn't have a big impact among the society today, which is the lack of Arabic music education. However, they find studying Westren incongruent with Arbaic music and the two types can conflict, and there are huge differences between them. To me, I find one of the differences is that Arabic music is traditional, and talk about few topics while the westren music is more liberal and more open to new ideas. Also, the research talked about the difference in many singing techniques and talked about the idea of joining the two together. However, the students in the research implied that they are struggling to find their musical identity and to explain it to their families. After reading this research I realized that we need both cultures, and it is important to recognize the importance of sustaining the heritage and and the appreciate value of it.

3. Arab Students' Perceptions of University Music Education in the United Arab Emirates: A Discussion of Music Education and Cultural Relevance

Good-Perkins, Emily. “Arab Students’ Perceptions of University Music Education in the United Arab Emirates: A Discussion of Music Education and Cultural Relevance.” International Journal of Music Education, vol. 37, no. 4, Nov. 2019, pp. 524–535. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1233836&site=eds-live.

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What I liked about this song analysis is that it is about a song that I really like by “umm umm kulthum” and written by a doctor and poet called “Ibrahim Nagi”. This analysis showed the process of changing the original poem to the song. To turn the poem into a song they had to delete, substitute and add some words and finally distribute the song. Also, I think it is an impressive and profound song. I have heard that the poem came from an old love story between Nagi and the girl that lived next door. The story started when Nagi was 16 years old. He loved the girl that lived in the same neighbourhood. However, he went to study medicine abroad to be a doctor. When he came back a few years later, she had already got married and he was still in love with her. After 15 years and at midnight, he found a forty-year-old man that was asking for help to save his wife that was having a difficult childbirth. In the man’s house, the wife’s face was covered, and she was in a very dangerous condition. While he was trying to save her. Suddenly, her breath began to decrease and she lost consciousness. Then Nagi asked them to reveal her face so that she could breathe. He was shocked when he saw her and she was the love of his life that he had never forgotten. After a while, she gave birth to her newborn, and "Naji" walked from the man's house and returned to his house before dawn. Then he sat at the door of his house and wrote "AlAtlal".

4. Towards an Analysis of the Discourse of Arabic Song A Case Study: Umm Kulthoum’s Song AlAtlal

Hussein, Gameel Abdelmageed. “Towards an Analysis of the Discourse of Arabic Song: A Case Study--Umm Kulthoum’s Song ‘AlAtlal.’” Forum on Public Policy Online, vol. 2015, no. 1, Jan. 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1080948&site=eds-live.

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What I have read in this research is true regarding hip-hop culture in Arab countries. Hip-hop music is a new concept that is not very popular in the Arabic countries. It is very limited and I don’t remember listening to hip-hop music in Arabic before. However, this research has introduced me to some great Arabic rappers who shared some issues in the Arab world and some serious topics about the afflicted people of Palestine, Iraq and Syria. These rappers share these stories using hip-hop in a mixture of Arabic and English together into their music which makes it easy to non-arabic people to understand some words and the idea of it. What caught my attention was that it reached many people from other countries and cultures, and most of the audiences that showed on the comments were from non-Arab countries. Hip-hop might not be a part of Arabic culture, however it succeeded to prove that it can send powerful messages to the world and help cultural movement and the “Arab diaspora”. Hip-hop can be a strong representational way because it can express the feelings in a creative way besides that it is very realistic, and it gives people energy because of the high energy beats and the rhythms that make us feel that we are actually a part of it. That is why I strongly believe and expect this form of music to attract many people to listen to Arabic music, especially those who enjoy hip-hop and the younger generation.

5. The Hip-Hop Resistance: Forging Unity in the Arab Diaspora

Isherwood, Gustav. “The Hip-Hop Resistance: Forging Unity in the Arab Diaspora.” Review of Middle East Studies, vol. 48, no. 1–2, 2014, pp. 24–33. EBSCOhost.

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This video illustrated to me new things that I have never known before about classical Arab Music. The ��quarter note” or the “micro-tones” is what is used in Arabic music, and which gives the music a different quality than other types of music. To clarify what “quarter note” means, they have linked it to the piano. When you go from the white key to the black key, this small interval is called a half-step. However, in Arabic music they have a lot of these smaller intervals between the notes. They use it to break the stagnation in the monophony. That is why most of the time, Arab musicians play the same music but each one of them adds something different to it, using these ''microtones'' to make the music vibrate. Also, this technique allows you to add a variety of sounds that are changing and gives the listener different feelings. Some Arabic songs have a musical intro that can go for 10 minutes or even more before the singer actually begins to sing. Weirdly, you never feel tired or bored of it, and you never feel the time because the music does not repeat itself but it keeps changing, that is why I enjoy it. Classical Westren music has its own beauty. On the other hand, they play music in unison with a structured performance. The musicians are very precise and play together at the same pace or rhythm which makes the listener feel the harmony between them and we see it in the orchestra.

6. “Words Adorned: Classical Arab Music in Relation to Western Music.” YouTube, uploaded by AlBustanSeeds, 13 October 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whQkK3Jetg

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Alaa Wardi “the person who sings in the video” showed a very well illustration of the evolution of Arabic music by singing 42 from the most popular songs in the Arab history from before 1900 until 2015. I liked this video a lot not only because he is talented, and sings only by beatboxing without using actual musical instruments, but also because he showed a time series for how the music has developed. This video made me see the patterns of old songs along with the new ones in the same video. Everyone can notice the changes of the beats and the styles. Before 1900, they used to sing “Muwashahat” which are Arabic poetic form that came from Al-Andalus “Muslim kingdom that occupied much of the spain and Iberian Peninsula from 711 ce”. In 1920-1950, famous Egyption singers started their way such as “Sayed Darwish” who considered the father of Egyptian popular music and “umm kulthum” that is called “Star of the East”. These singers are considered very big in the hearts of everyone because they have strong voices that many people believe until today that it cannot exist twice. In 1950-1990, the style of the music was more elegant and the beats were slower and used to be very long. Some songs can go about one hour or more at that time. However in 1990-2000, the music shifted significantly and many new singers started during this small period of time. From 2000 to 2015 is how Arabic music sounds today. Music today is more energetic, has faster beats, shorter and as the time goes they are getting closer to pop music which young people like.

7. Wardi, Alaa. “Evolution of Arabic Music | تطور الموسيقى العربية.” YouTube, uploaded by Alaa Wardi, 26 april 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPvyl6MYxlg.

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Oud is one of the main instruments that is played on most of the Arabic classical songs and has a unique sound. Even though I like to listen to Arabic music, I haven’t actually had a chance to look closely into oud and I haven’t had an idea about the structure of this amazing instrument until I found this video. Now after watching this video, I have more information about how it works, and how it is played correctly. First of all, oud is the ancestor of the European “lute”. It started to appear around 5 thousand years ago. It is made of a strong hardwood and it contains a peg box in the top, a fretless neck, face of the instrument and strings. As a matter of fact, when it was first started, it used to have only four strings, however, it developed and most ouds nowadays have up to 11 strings. Oud and guitar can be similar, and many people might confuse them together due to the shape. However, there are huge differences between them in terms of the sound. Another main difference between Oud and guitar, is that the guitar is fretted unlike the oud. Oud is known to be fretless which gives it the unique sound and allows you to have an easier movement from notes. Not to mention that, there are around 50 scales people use when they play oud and some of them are used more than others. These scales are called “Maqamat” and they slightly vary from region to region.

8. "Introducing: The Arabic Oud.” uploaded by Brandon Acker, 9 Mar 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA5VdzRHh-U

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Music is a universal language. As a matter of fact, people often try to convey their messages through music in order to give these messages a deeper meaning in an artistic form. More often than not, music gets used to celebrate religious figures or spread their messages. In like manner, the middle east is known to be one of the areas that hold people from different religions and faiths. One of my all time favorite artists is Julia Boutros, who is a Lebanese arab singer and a Christian. She has a magical voice and when you listen to her music you could find some Christial references, or in some other cases, an entire Christian song, like “Ya Adra'' in which she celebrates and sings about Mary. On the other hand, you could tune to another channel on your radio to listen to some Islamic music, and the one that comes to my mind is “Qul Lel Maliha” By “Sabah Fakhri”. Sabah Fakhri is a syrian arab singer and a Quran reader and a person who used to call for prayers in mosques. In his song “Qul Lel Maliha'' he sings about someone who found a girl on his way to the mosque and fell in love with her. In the same song he performed the prayer call. By the same token you could find songs about other different religions. The middle eastern arabic music is not exclusive to one faith or one religion, but due to the background of a lot of people here, you can see diversity in this area.

9. “Julia Boutros ya 3adra جوليا بطرس - يا عدرا.” uploaded by Micha H.M, 3 Jan 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmBO87up5LY

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Throughout the history of the middle east, people have been migrating to other countries. Sometimes, this happens because of wars and politics, and some other time people migrate for simple reasons such as work and education. The middle east has been a heated area throughout the existence of mankind and humanity, this is most likely due to its unique location linking three continents. In fact, migration has brought a lot of talent and diversity to the area. At the same time, it led many talented people to leave for better opportunities. We are going to highlight two examples here. Dalida who is a famous arab singer born in Cairo, Egypt to Italian parents, her parents migrated to Egypt to have a better life and she grew there and studied music to become one of the most well known egyptian artists. She also won Miss Egypt beauty contest in 1954 and sang one an iconic Arabic song “Helwa ya baladi” which could be translated to English as “Egypt my beautiful homeland”. This song has been covered many times by different arab singers and artists who wanted to celebrate their homeland and country and this is how it became famous. Another example would be, Massari, who was born in Lebanon then migrated to Canada at an early age and became a famous R&B, pop, and hip-hop singer in Canada. He travels to the middle east a lot and collaborates with many Arab artists in different projects. There are many more other examples that migrated from, or to, the middle east and became famous and well known.

10. “داليدا - حلوة يا بلدي - Dalida - Helwa Ya Balady.” uploaded by Moseeqa TV, 29 May 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4b1K9GBLQ4

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oselatra · 5 years

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Gene Fortson opposes end to at-large city directors, won't run again in 2020

Also says infrastructure problems need to be addressed. During his 12 years as an at-large city director, Gene Fortson has learned that the city board is a “changing organism,” one influenced both by the mayor and by the issues facing Little Rock. “The city and society’s progress probably delineates as much as anything [else] how the board chemistry works,” he said. As Mayor Frank Scott’s administration begins making changes at City Hall, Fortson says he’s looking forward to working with the city’s leaders to determine the future of the at-large positions, increase revenue to alleviate a constricted city budget and make Little Rock the “safest city its size, anywhere.” [content-1] [content-2] Scott has said he’ll seek to eliminate the board’s at-large positions in favor of more ward-specific representation. Fortson disagrees with Scott on this, and not just because he’s an at-large director. “I think it gives a unique balance between ward politics and seeing the city as a whole,” Fortson said. “The proper use, I think, of the at-large directors is sometimes to provide a balance and maybe more impetus for citywide needs that may not necessarily receive the same emphasis from individual ward directors on a daily basis. And I think that’s sort of the division of powers.” Fortson referenced a Hendrix College study that found a move from citywide at-large races to a system in which representatives are elected based solely on geographic wards would result in more minorities and women being elected to the board. “Traditionally, one of the arguments for doing away with the at-large [positions] was that minority candidates could not be elected,” he said. But recent elections in Little Rock are indicative of a shift in access to positions of power, according to Fortson. “Well, I think Frank Scott’s election, Terri Hollingsworth’s election as the county clerk, [and] Eric Higgins’ election as sheriff shows maybe those days are past, that a properly financed and a well organized and an attractive minority candidate can do just as well as anyone else citywide,” he said. “I think that old argument that was used [negatively against] the at-large [positions] does not really have the validity on paper [that] it may have had in the past.” He added that because research on the at-large positions focuses solely on “who got elected and how they got elected,” he’d call for “credible research” on the voting history of at-large directors. This research, according to Fortson, would dispel the notion that the at-large directors all vote together and in opposition to minorities. That at-large directors vote against the interests of minorities is “not true,” he said. “Somebody needs to look at a five-year or ten-year history of voting patterns and you’ll see that [the] three at-large [directors] are all over the ballpark, not agreeing with each other, and you’ll find that the three at-large [directors] have variously, at various opportunities, worked with board directors to achieve different things.” He said the 2014 construction of the Little Rock Police Department’s 12th Street Substation is an example of this cooperation between at-large directors and other city directors. “The 12th Street station that Ken Richardson was pushing so hard … never would have happened without assistance from me and other at-large directors, because it was a lot of money,” he said. “And that was a lot of investment in that ward. Other wards thought, well, wait a minute, they’re going to put $12 million in here? How much of that can I get? Which is their job in representing their ward, but there’s a balance.” This balance between a city director’s concern for his or her ward and a larger vision for the city is a difficult one, according to Fortson, and it becomes frustrating when directors exclusively focus on problems in their wards. “The approach of ‘my ward, my people,’ if carried to the extreme, we would resurface this road in my ward if I can get the funds to do it, right up to your ward, and then you get there [to your ward] and you get potholes,” he said. “It doesn’t take care of the city as a whole when you do that.” Fortson, 82, said he won’t be running for re-election when his term ends in December 2020. He also said he supports and would prefer younger representation on the city board. “I go back in my career, [and] I tried to hire a lot of young people in management positions because, for the most part, they did things better than the old folks did,” he said. “I think we need a mixture. I think the average age of the board is not reflective of the average age of the city. The average age of Little Rock is getting younger. The median age here is 36 or 37, so to be reflective of the city, the leadership needs to be around that age, too, or else be old folks who are adaptable.” A former CEO of both Worthen Bank and Trust and Stebbins and Roberts Inc., Fortson said he understands Scott’s embrace of the strong mayor role as CEO of the city. “Coming from the private sector, I think he mirrored a lot of what you do there, and that is [that] the CEO has certain functions he deals with on a direct basis, but actually your chief operating officer runs the whole city from a day-to-day implementation standpoint,” Fortson said. “It’s an interesting structure, it’s new to the city, but I can understand where he’s coming from, and I think it can be an effective way to operate.” Fortson said Scott’s decision to take control of six city departments that previously reported to City Manager Bruce Moore (finance, fire, human resources, planning, police and public works) will allow Scott to be “more hands-on” in the areas of the city he “views as critical to what he wants to do,” and, as with anything new, it will take time to adjust to the new structure. The board is a “synergistic-cooperative type of thing,” according to Fortson, and an ever-changing one. “There’s the evolutionary process,” he said. “An organizational chart is something two dimensional on a wall or on a sheet of paper. Six months from now, if you sit down and take a look at how that organizational chart functions between him and the various players, then you’ll know it may functionally look a little bit different from the way he draws it, although that’s just because it evolves that way. Things don’t stay static very long.” Nor should they, Fortson added. “Not in business, not in the academic world, and not in government,” he said. “It’s got to reflect the real world in which we live [and] the needs you have.”

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Infrastructure problems such as potholes, aging plumbing systems and crumbling or nonexistent sidewalks are a main area of concern for the city, and Fortson said an increase in the city’s revenue is needed to begin fixing these problems. Like Ward 4 City Director Capi Peck, Fortson said he hopes state legislation that would require internet merchants to charge sales tax from sales in Arkansas will help restore more operating revenue to the city’s budget. Fortson compared navigating the budget management of a city in a constant state of flux to “punching a marshmallow.” “It won’t stay punched,” he said. “It comes back. That’s one of the joys of being involved in it, because you hope to try to help solve those problems. And I think … we sometimes disagree on things, [but] everybody on that board, the mayor especially, wants to solve them. … Finance is something that’s always intrigued me because it’s part of my background. You’ve got so many dollars, and that’s it. And people are wanting more police, they want this, they want that, they want a new fire station, and you can only go so far with those dollars.” Asked if he supports Scott’s plan to increase the LRPD police force by 25 officers per year for the next four years, Fortson said the city doesn’t have “spare money” and would need to reallocate dollars to do so. He added that while he doesn’t think there is a specific number of policeman that would be the “correct amount” for reducing crime in Little Rock, he does believe community-based policing is key to both reducing crime and restoring the relationship between police and citizens who don’t trust the force. Fortson said he also believes the next police chief should be a candidate who understands and respects Little Rock and its communities. “He or she needs to know the city,” he said. “They need to be somebody who can lead that force of however many we have and make sure that they are representative and responsive to the community. They need to be somebody who makes sure that the city and the police department are not adversarial.” According to Fortson, a key element to the “well-being” of Little Rock is the restored local control of the Little Rock School District, but like his board peers Peck and Ward 3 Director Kathy Webb, he said the best tool of the board is its voice. “We never had any input before [control] moved, and we don’t have any input now,” he said. “Getting it back here is important, and I would hope that as we continue to meet the criteria to improve the schools, that should increase the pressure to return it to local control and have a new, locally elected school board.” In addition to returning stability to teachers, students and parents of the LRSD who are experiencing “a lot of unknowns,” Fortson said local control of the district will enhance “quality of life” in Little Rock. Fortson said the city has an “inferiority complex” that prevents it from talking about “what we really offer.” “For those who choose to take advantage of it, we’ve got tremendous cultural and recreational opportunities,” he said. “If the Sun Belt is where you want to be, Little Rock is the buckle. We’re right in the center, and there’s so much available to you in so many different directions.” Fortson said this is why, despite opportunities to leave Little Rock during his career, he never did. He now looks forward to younger folks running for office and wants them to get involved in city government. “I encourage people in their 30s to get active and run for office,” he said. “If you don’t want to run for office, get involved. Do something. If you don’t like what’s going on, don’t talk to me about it, go out in the world and do something.” Fortson said he plans to stay involved in the Little Rock community, even if it’s not as an at-large director. “I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “I have a high energy level, and I have good health and a lot of interests, and I assume I’m still mentally acute. So as long as I can do that, I’m going to stay active doing something. If it’s not this, I’ll do something else.” Gene Fortson opposes end to at-large city directors, won't run again in 2020

#Gene Fortson opposes end to at-large city directors #won't run again in 2020

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the-oreoluwa-blog · 5 years

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Thought Paper #2: Misrepresentation

Regardless if what you see or hear is a fantasy, when it is constantly in your face it becomes your reality. Media has always been a powerful force in society, and heavily influences the way one can perceive other people, communities around them, and the world. The media contributes to the maintenance of inequalities because it pushes the notion that whiteness is rightness. With the subtle and blatant dehumanization of people of color, especially Black people, cause an exaggerated and unnecessary sense fear and puts a target on the backs of marginalized groups. bell hook’s Oppositional Gaze touches on the ways Black people should look at these incorrect representations and what should be done about them. hooks also goes into the difference in how Black men and women look at these representations and how Black women are more often than not get the short end of the stick. The difference in how Black and White people are treated in schools, businesses, the justice system, and advertising heavily relies on the way the media puts us out in the public. How deep these differences go also bring light to the difference in how Black men and women are represented in the media as well.

How are group of people is represented in the media, true or not, often is how society sees that group. From being nameless in the media to only have stereotypical roles available in entertainment, Black people are constantly victims of inequality. In media like the news White people are given the benefit of the doubt when they commit crimes. Their names, occupations, accolades, number of children, dog’s name, and favorite things to do are displayed when speaking of this White person that committed a crime. Even pictures that give them suburban and innocent demeanor are shown as well. This makes the person seen as if they are incapable of committing a crime, and if not always, most of the time makes you think maybe they got the wrong person. But in the case of Black people, incriminating pictures are used to show the accused. News networks will mention any potential prior or accused crimes of the person as well, making it extremely difficult to not see Black people as criminals and dangerous.

On the same note, but a different token the same type of framing happens with school shooting vs. any kind of violence committed by Black people. In the history of school shooting, an overwhelming amount of them have been committed by White men, but instead of seeing these people as the criminals they are, they get dubbed as mentally ill. And although that is the easy way to explain such tragic events, the reality is that not every person that does horrible things is “crazy”. I bring this up due to the fact that the same energy is not kept when Black people are involved. I personally do not know of any Black people who have committed mass shootings, and maybe that is my lack of knowledge or that there haven’t been any, but what I do know is that when Black people commit crimes like killings the media can’t even begin to conceive the idea that they could have mental illnesses as well. Having to deal with it being mandatory to work two to eight times harder than everyone else around you, having to grow up sooner than your counterparts, having to calculate every move you make around certain people and police, having to potentially code switch based on who you are speaking to, especially if you want to continue to or even just simply be employed, having to fight and protest for things that you deserve, having to see people you know being killed and abused because of the color of their skin, and having a goal be seeing the light of day tomorrow, Black people are forced to deal with so much just to be able to survive, and maybe make a living in this world, all of these are very possible reasons that a person could be mentally ill, or commit a crime, but being Black doesn’t come with the benefit of the doubt.

The misrepresentation of Black people is deeply rooted in this country. With caricatures like the Black Sambo, who played on the idea that the enslaved were content, and even happy about their place in society. The Black Mammy, who was depicted as pitch black, fat and happily obedient to her master and mistress. The Zip Coon, who was a caricature that mocked Black people in the North. It portrayed a Black person attempting to “act” white in their speech, dressing, and behavior, but failing miserably. The Zip Coon was a caricature that made inequality a joke because it made it seem that Black people were incapable of being the equal of white people. The Sapphire, who portrays black women as rude, loud, malicious, stubborn, and overbearing, the use of the Sapphire created the “angry black woman” stereotype. All of this caricatures were how Black people were represented in the media, and White people fed into them. Whether it was being a part of one of the many minstrel shows or consuming them without questioning if these things were even true. These caricatures were referenced in the documentary Ethnic Notions, directed by Marlon Riggs. Ethnic Notions dissected the anti-black stereotypes that have and still do penetrate the media. This documentary opened my eyes to how in most cases Black people are taken for a joke, our misrepresented experiences, pain, and oppression was, a still is used for comedic pleasure.

To be Black in this society is hard, and to be a Black women in this society is harder. Oppositional Gaze, an essay written by Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist. The name "bell hooks" is derived from that of her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. hooks speaks on the difference in how Black women and Black men are viewed and relate to the media she also discusses the importance of gaze. The meaning I got from gaze was being conscious, which is why I believe people who are politically and socially powerful want the masses to be separated from their gazes. This lack of consciousness ultimately allows people who have no concept of the Black experience to make a profit off of it’s misrepresentation. This misrepresentation affects all Black people, but due to the different types of gazes we have the effect is more severe for some. For example, due to Black men have the male gaze they can connect to the media they watch, whether it be the way the view women, sexuality, life, or education. Although for Black women the representation we see only goes as far as our bodies, sexualities, and perceived attitudes.

hooks speaks about the caricature of the Sapphire in the text as well. She describes the Sapphire’s purpose as being the one who makes the Black man likeable, humorous, and human to the audience, by being the opposite. When I read this I thought of the Black women on tv that I have seen and were most likely suppose to represent these Sapphires. There were Thelma and Winona from Good Times, Thelma would always make fun of her brother J.J. and insult his intelligence, and Winona always criticized Bookman for his weight. Others included the notorious Pam from Martin, Gina’s best friend who would go back and forth with Martin anytime they saw each other. I then thought about how all three of these women happen to be of a darker skin-tone. This made me dig deeper into the angry Black woman stereotype. Think, most of the time when someone is described as an “angry Black woman” they are dark, which demonizes dark skinned women. But what I don’t understand with the stereotype is why no on ever asked why these women are angry. In all honesty with the examples I gave it is because the men they criticized didn’t know how to act, and the way the audience takes this arguing might be deeper than it actually is. Most people insult the people their close with, and at the end of the day it’s all jokes, but its when Black people do it it’s seen as “castration of the Black man”. Then I compared Thelma, Pam, and Winona to Whitley Gilbert from A Different World, and realized that Whitley had many of the same characteristics of these women, but due to her wealth, pristine attitude, and skin color she was seen as just being sassy. Whitley, before she fell in love with Dwayne, would insult and make fun of any and everyone, regardless if they initiated it or not. So, why is Whitley Gilbert, not seen as a Sapphire?

The way the media portrays that Black community is detrimental to our advancement. More often than the way we are treated by society heavily relies on how people see us. People will tell you that they form their own opinions, but in reality if something is in your face enough you will believe it. A possible solution to this issue is to have more Black reporters, actors, doctors, engineers, and business owners to show that we more than a statistic. The humanization of Black people is something that needs to be brought to life as well. Say our names, show our accolades, explain that we have children, siblings and parents, discuss the possibility of mental illness, and give us the benefit of the doubt regardless of how light or dark we are. Show Black people as what we are, people.

Works Cited

“Oppositional Gaze.” Black Looks: Race and Representation, by Bell Hooks, South End Press, 1992, pp. 115–131.

Riggs, Marlon, director. Ethnic Notions. California Newsreel, 1987.

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habibialkaysani · 6 years

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okay, let me preface this with a little note about my identity. I am a queer, mentally ill muslim british cis woman of colour. specifically, I was born in britain and my parents both hail from bangladesh. I am not white or black or latinx. so my opinions will - understandably, I hope - be from the perspective I am offering based on the intersecting parts of my identity.

so, let’s start with that. as a nonblack woc, I think it’s pretty patronising to be told that you don’t have to be black to be a person of colour. I know that. I don’t need that explained to me when I am literally not even black to start with. nowhere in my post did I say a mixed race pairing requires a black person. of course it would be interracial if someone was latinx. rene/thea is interracial. so is cisco/caitlin, and amy/jake, and those are just off the top of my head. pairings involving asian people are also interracial - wally/linda, for instance, and lena/jack. and while not latinx myself, I am aware of the issues latinx people face, enough for me to know that of course they are people of colour. I never said that latinx people face the exact same struggles as black people. I know they don’t, although they do overlap at least insofar that they’re groups that deserve far better.

my focus on black people in this post, btw, was partly to address the antiblackness I see in my own racial community. but also, me making the focus on antiblackness in my post does nothing in and of itself to dismiss other poc or, as you’ve suggested, throw other poc under the bus.

and that brings me to my main point. as far as I was aware, for a character to be considered racial representation and thus a person of colour onscreen, I thought the person portraying that character had to be, at the very, very least, a person of colour also and preferably also at least the same race as the character purports to be.

let me put this another way. as a desi woman, I would not have considered jack spheer to be desi if he was portrayed by a white actor who’s a bit tanned, calls himself bengali onscreen and calls his mother “amma” and, idk, eats rice and curry every day, and thus I would not consider him bengali representation because he was whitewashed. I was under the impression that a similar logic could be applied here, because, yes, maggie calls herself nonwhite and andrew kreisberg called her latina and she spoke spanish to her father, but floriana lima is still white. if you personally feel like whitewashed representation counts as representation, fine. but to me, sanvers is just another white wlw ship that the racist white non straight fandom flocked to because god forbid they give an interracial ship, irrespective of genders, a chance. I listed it because I was trying to make that very point - and, absolutely, if maggie were portrayed by an actual latinx actress, I would never suggest that sanvers is the same representation wise as clexa, wayhaught, cophine, avalance, etc., because there would be a person of colour who could potentially make the pairing important and groundbreaking and different. but she’s not. floriana is white. chyler is white.

now, I don’t know a lot of latinx people on here, so I’m not sure what the general consensus is on this. but I have seen latinx people speak out against maggie being whitewashed. at the same time, I fully acknowledge that I am not latinx myself, so if you think that representation that is so watered down and in your own words flawed is still adequate, fine. but put simply, me slighting maggie sawyer or sanvers with regards to racial representation isn’t me slighting latinx people at all. because maggie, to me, at least, and to a fair few others, isn’t truly latinx when she is portrayed by a tanned white actress. just like an ~exotic-looking white woman does not desi representation make. *coughamyjacksoncough*

I feel like poc should be in solidarity with each other. and if I said anything against samantha arias, rosa diaz, amy santiago, cisco ramon, rene ramirez or any of the other latinx characters on tv who are genuinely portrayed by actual latinxs, I do apologise. but in this instance, I can’t in good conscience consider maggie a woman of colour when the actress portraying her is white and she is clearly whitewashed, and therefore, I don’t see sanvers as a truly interracial relationship when they clearly are not in reality.

fandom racism is a huge problem, I agree. but you pointing this out doesn’t help. in this instance, I’m pretty sure it was supergirl and floriana lima who whitewashed a character who was meant to be a woc, not the fandom. the fandom whitewashing actual poc played by poc is what you should be calling out - zari tomaz, for instance, is often whitewashed in edits, and people assume sameen shaw is white even though she’s persian. people lauding chyler leigh and caity lotz, two straight white women, for being lgbt ~allies when maisie richardson sellers and keiynan lonsdale, two non-straight black people, are right there being as straight and white as a rainbow, is fandom racism. the 100 fandom practically starting a riot over a fridged white lesbian who wore brownface and a bindi and then staying radio silent or, worse, defending poussey washington’s death is what you call fandom racism.

I get that you mean well, but I did not say anywhere in my post that I felt nonblack poc were in any way less important than black people. me focusing on one race of people in no way diminishes the importance of other (nonwhite) races. if you truly consider maggie sawyer a woman of colour, good for you. I don’t, and I won’t until they decide to recast her with an actual latinx person (which is highly unlikely). so please don’t assume all other poc share your view, and don’t label my behaviour as ignorant or careless.

- same anon as before, that's understanable. and i'm sorry for the racism that you do get. i'm glad you're able to just ignore it, and that most people respect you. (and for the a*dena,l*xa,s*ra thing) that makes sense. i like them all as characters. but the fandom saying that l*xa is wearing the helm of awe? (not sure if that's what they call it, but it is a bindi, that's just awful. s*ra being shipped with only white women, makes sense. i haven't watched lot for awhile. - p1

p2. but i did hear about the fandom shipping her with “new” character called a*ya? ev*? i’m not sure. and i was a bit confused, if they had like 5 lines together. (if ev*) now that i think about it, she is white right?

yeah, her name is ava, and they’re clearly building up to it and that’s - whatever, but just. five white women and one fleeting poc (leonard) and one woc who isn’t even mentioned by name this season does not diversity make.

it’s sad that that more subtle racism exists, but what’s sadder is that fandoms on the whole don’t want to admit that it’s a thing and that we’re complicit in that racism. and I say “we” because I’m guilty of it too. I remember when I was watching poi and I was for some reason reluctant to ship carter with reese. just like how I was initially reluctant to ship sara with jax romantically. even tho in both cases the ships had wonderful dynamics. I’m not saying that everyone who brotps them is racist. but this refusal to view black people as love interests for white people is definitely a worrying trend - look at finn in star wars, for example, or even iris west with barry allen and to some extent amaya jiwe with nate heywood. it’s this less blatant racism that most if not the vast majority of us are guilty of to some degree that I think we need to recognise in ourselves and try to do better with. and that doesn’t mean you can’t ship sara with ava, or kara with lena or cat, or, hell, even maggie with alex, but I just think we also have to recognise that that racist bias exists and is a real thing, and, I don’t know, just try to do better by taking a step back and seeing where that racism inherent in all of us is manifesting itself.

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eros-erion-eris-blog · 7 years

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The 13th Doctor’s Announcement!!!

Before I start the piece, I want to congratulate both Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall for their new role of the 13th Doctor and the Executive Producer respectively.

Now, I only got into Doctor Who when the 50th Anniversary Trailer was going around Youtube. And before that I did saw few episodes of Nu-Who, but I guess really did not feel the connection then. Then “The Day of The Doctor” trailer hit Youtube, something about that trailer lit a curiosity in me. And the involvement of David Tennant, Matt Smith and John Hurt (RIP) was definitely a contender in my final decision to give Doctor Who a try.

What happened afterwards is two month of Doctor Who obsession and sleepless nights of catching up on the latest episodes. And the show took me through high and low. through pure joy and devastating sadness. (I mean how can you not cry at the end of Doomsday...)

Doctor Who became an escape for me, it took me away from a reality that I wanted to desperately run away from. The Doctor (All new incarnation of him- from 9 to 12) took up a special place in my heart. Albeit the series has had quite a lot of inconsistency throughout the run of Nu-Who. I have thoroughly enjoyed the stories nevertheless.

Now to the announcement of Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor which happened just this week---

As I explained above, I am a relatively new Whovian, and when I finally decided to watch Doctor Who, I was catching up through three different Doctors. Therefore, as much as I love all the new incarnation of the Doctor. Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor is my first formal Actor transitioning period- You know the period?! Where it seems almost everyone hated the fact that their ‘faviourite’ Doctor/Actor is been swapped out for someone new... and now we’re gonna hate them and ‘Doctor Who is dead to me now’ etc... commotions?!- yeah... that period...

Honestly, when Peter was first announced I was kinda weird out by the notion of an older actor playing the role of the Doctor that has been played by relatively young actors. But as the airing date for season 8 is nearing, I guess the nerd in me took control as I started to anticipate for the pilot of the Doctor- and in a figurative sense, Peter Capaldi was my First Doctor- after a while, I realised that an older Doctor will be able to explore different storylines and moral struggles. What also intrigued me was that now the romantic element between Doctor and his companion will be the backburner and the show could show a different relationship be portrayed between the Doctor and his companion.

Now with Jodie Whittaker, I admit that I have never seen any project in which she was involved in, and I have yet to jump into Broadchurch. So, personally, I cannot criticise her acting skill. But when it comes to Chibnall, I very much enjoyed Torchwood, although he did leave after season two, the first two season in which he was involved in I bloody enjoyed. And I am looking forward to what he will bring to the table in Season 11.

What I am, and I guess most of the older fans of Doctor Who, afraid of with the change in gender is the timing of such change, with identity politic at the prolific in our society nowaday, and with the downfall of quality in most projects that pandered to such politics (All New All Different- Marvel Comics, Ghostbusters Remake, 2016 US- Presidential Elections, BBC in general nowadays) I was left in between a confused state as to decisions of BBC changing the gender of a character they have established for 50 year. Was it to pandering to radical societal snowflakes or was it a strategic decision to explore an alternative viewpoint from a female Doctor.

I can understand why many people were outraged at this change, but I can also understand why some people feel empowered by such change. But for me?! what is my opinion of such change?!

Easy-

I am fucking tired!

I am fucking tired of executives who do not understand the values of an already established character and decide to change the sex, sexuality or race of such character out right replace them with a minority just to tick their diversity boxes.

I DON’T WANT THESE TYPES OF REPRESENTATION!

Give me a minority character with “Character”, a POC with a personality and individuality, an LGBT character who does not flaunt their sexuality at every episode/panel/scenes. GIVE ME AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER!

I am repulsed by the way these people think I or any Minorities’ are that dumb that we cannot accomplish anything on our own and we have to overtake a position established by a white. straight. men. How useless do you think we are. This is not Diversity, this is not Progressiveness. This is Regression. This is disgusting.

Easy to understand right?!

Now, I will not judge Jodie Whittaker nor Chris Chibnall without seeing how they will tell the story of a female Doctor. For me, Quality before Diversity!

So yes! I am still very much looking forward to season 11, and I will pray that I won’t be constantly be reminded of that the Doctor has a Vagina- Every. Bloody. Episode.

But rather focus on this new dynamic between the Doctor and the new companion (whoever he or she may be.) and new adventures the Doctor and Companion have and what kind of personality will Whittaker bring to her run as the Doctor...

Sorry for the long rant. But I guess I really needed to let this out of my chest.

I will still support Doctor Who as long as they can continue to produce solid qualitative storylines.

I just don’t want to let them ruin my favourite show... is it really too much to ask.

#doctor who #13th doctor #personal rant #sorry for the rant

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certifiedchillona · 7 years

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Thoughts on“Reverse Racism”

Okay, this is all I’m going to say. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I barely got this done, but this is all I’m going to say about this. I won’t say anything more.

@creamsicklesz Here is my response, and although I highly doubt you’d change your mind, I wanted to say this.

Okay so this is the beginning of this long explanation on my thoughts to not only your responses on the topic, but just in general about the topic itself.

Racism

noun

1.a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.

2 . a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

To begin, I want to start off with talking about what racism is. Many people including yourself classify racism to be a simple definition is based off individual opinion and belief. They simply define racism as a belief that your skin color or “race” makes one race better or superior to the other. However, you can refuse it all you want, but racism is so much more than that. Its overly simplified, and to understand it you do not just look at a simple definition.

Prejudice is a belief. It is judging people or something without prior knowledge of said person or thing. You can be prejudiced towards a white person.

Discrimination is when the prejudice someone has, is put into action. If someone is refused a job or service because of their race or ethnicity or anything of the sort, it is discrimination. An example used by this article was if a black person who was an interviewer were to refuse a white person who is being interviewed, or vice versa, it would be discrimination. You can discriminate against white people.

Racism is when this combination of prejudice and discrimination is becoming the norm or “institutionalized” within the population. Never ever have white people being segregated, treated unfairly, or anything of that sort been the norm. Never has there been a law that made whites anything less than privileged.

Now that that’s out the way, I want to address the responses you’ve made.

First I want to say that opinions by nature are biased. Whomever writes them and whomever speaks them, have decided from different sources and have a bias towards a certain opinion. To me, what is considered “unbiased” to you means that the source must come from someone who shares your views. My views and the views of those who think like me are very much biased and so are yours.

“This belief that you SIMPLY CANNOT BE RACIST towards white people keeps racism alive, it keep the divide between people and you are part of the problem. You should do some research instead of blindly listening to your parents or what the media tells you. Racism is racism plain and simple. When you group an entire race together for the actions of some, you are being racist.”

1) Racism has never been a problem with white people. What you consider “racism” towards whites is not why racism is alive. Racism is alive because of whoop you guessed it racists. People who still believe it’s okay to discriminate against minorities and people who don’t have the power or institutional support to fight back.

2) If I am part of the problem, the problem you are speaking of is completely different than the one that is happening before us. The problem is that racists are still able to oppress and discriminate against racial minorities and get away with it. Trump is a GREAT example. He is a huge racist and look at him, he’s our president. He, a WHITE MAN is holding the power of the POTUS, and because racism is so normalized in our society, It’s okay. Being mean to white people isn’t the problem.

3) You do not know me, and the comment that I blindly listen to my parents or social media was unnecessary, don’t try to invalidate others without knowing where they come from first. On that note, my parents heavily prejudiced towards black people specifically. My mother has literally told my sister that a boy she liked was ugly because he was very dark-skinned,and my father said black people should be grateful that slavery allowed their race to be more built and good at sports. They’ve never made an opinion about white people and told me that I should listen to what they say. The media is a whole other story. Media always depicts minorities and anyone other than white, cis, heterosexuals in a different light. Media tells me that the white man is the superior to all of us, and if I believed that, well I wouldn’t be typing this right now.

4) Again, “racism is racism” means something different to you than me

” So if your source of education and research on this topic happens to be MTV Decoded and/or Francesca Ramsey, you really need to find another source that is unbiased and based in actual facts and logic, one that doesn’t Re-Define things to fit their agendas okay? MTV and Buzzfeed are heavy on that SJW sauce and they constantly contradict themselves. “

I will list my sources that I’ve used if you truly want to see that I’m not one to use only one source. I did not choose that video because of nothing, it made good points and although you may consider it heavily biased, the video made points that are important to address. Like I said before every opinion is biased and you can use different sources of facts to support your claim.

I’m going to break this quote into parts.

1) “White Americans are the racial majority in America. So it would make sense that we get the most representation in MSM right? with that being said, the beauty ideals in America differ from region to region, however, tan and golden is the Most sought after. Not pale AF like myself, Not super dark like some. You cant blame others for your internalized colorism. I am CERTAINLY not the ideal beauty according to ANYONES MSM.-“

Like you said, beauty standards may differ from place to place. I agree with this opinion, but you are focusing only on skin color. If the ideal is “tan and golden” then why arent most models like that? Why is it that for example a black model isn’t sought out by companies? It’s because beauty ideals do not deal only with skin tone. Black features like their big lips (and I mean big, not the ideal “thick and plump”) or any other natural black feature are often seen as ugly. You do have people to blame for internalized colorism. It’s in the name, meaning someone or something has made you feel that one color skin is more beautiful or preferred than another. The only difference is how you decide to deal with it. It’s not easy to rid of things that were internalized, but people need to try.

2) “Most people don’t give two fucks about your race and most people celebrate differences, especially these days. To those who have bad experiences with some white people, its is RACIST to assume all white people are the same and to avoid them completely.”

I personally don’t know where you live or what kind of environment you are surrounded by, but its true that in many places, specifically large urban areas, diversity is embraced and celebrated, but that isn’t the case everywhere. You have to understand that while you might live somewhere where racial diversity is embraced, others can be and are still discriminated against in other places. I do agree that ignoring someone based on their race is not okay, but this is an example of prejudice and discrimination of an individual, and NOT the normalized racism you see with others.

3) “Just like Not ALL black people in America are criminals or bad people. Would you say its okay for a white person to avoid and judge black people for past experiences they’ve had? NO, you would call it racist, wouldn’t you? I was physically attacked for my race and still, some would say that’s its not racist. You have no compassion if you think that’s not racist. And still! I don’t judge any other black person for the way those 4 girls ganged up on me. I don’t judge other for the looks that I get from SOME black people. I never judged when SOME black people wouldn’t touch my hand when I was trying to give them their money when I worked at Walgreens. I didn’t judge all black people when I lived in Chicago and was CLEARLY the minority in my neighborhood. Don’t have double standards. It’s perpetuating racism and making it worse. I’m sorry if this OFFENDS anyone, but this is something I’ve always HATED. I HATE racism, sexism, homophobia. And I know most people do too. So I can NEVER UNDERSTAND how some think this is okay?! “

It is true that we shouldn’t discriminate against each other. It is dumb to assume that a few people represent an entire group. But again, it’s not racist. It is prejudiced, it is discrimination, but it is not racism. I guess you would deem me with no compassion, but that is not true. I can’t say anything about the situation where those girls “ganged up on you” because I know nothing of the situation. As for the walgreens thing, how do you know specifically it was because of race? I don’t like when people touch my hands, especially not strangers, so again, unless I was there, I can’t say anything.

“Every race has had their slaves, but people don’t think that counts. For some reason, we never learn about how the Arabs and the Middle East hosted more African slaves than North America ever did, we don’t learn about how white slaves were sold in Africa along with their own people, the fact that the slaves who came to America were sold by their own people is just ignored bc it doesn fit the racist agenda that is popular now. The African Moors had white slaves for hundreds of years.

This doesn’t mean that the slave trade in America wasn’t horrible, it obviously was, it just means it wasn’t special. As far as discrimination in todays Western society, In America since that is what I can speak first hand for, I can agree that white people haven’t had to deal with what blacks did. that’s %100 true. However, bringing back segregation and shifting the racism towards white people doesn’t make up for what happened in the past. I wasn’t alive for slavery or for segregation in the 50’s and 60’s but I can tell you right now I would have been in the street and sit ins along with all the other humans that deserved equal treatment. “By the way, in my opinion, racism is a way of thinking, its not just a definition. It’s thinking you are better than someone bc of their skin. it’s using an entire race as a scapegoat to explain your or the worlds problems. Its simply not having love and compassion for another human being. Its evil and its the worst part of humanity, it is the utter LACK of humanity. And no race is exempt from this. To say an entire race IS exempt from this is to say that race is superior to the other. This is R A C I S M”

The entire first paragraph is what I would parallel with the “All Lives Matter”. Yes other people had slaves, I acknowledge that this happened, but using it to defend your point is tearing down not only the suffering people went through, and the work we’ve done to try and rid of it. The “white slaves sold by their own people.” were mostly from Ireland and Europe. They came here willingly and those who didn’t most likely were told they had to be indentured servants in the U.S. by their country. I am going to emphasized indentured servants, because they were not slaves at all. They were treated far better than slaves in the south.

The African Moors did have white slaves, and it was a preference toward the blond hair, blue eyes. Their peak of european slaves was around 1.2 million, while America was home to about 4 million african slaves.

An example I want to use is if two people had a serious injury. Let’s say person 1 had one leg missing and person 2 had both legs missing. You wouldn’t tell person one to suck it up just because person 2 has both legs gone. You wouldn’t tell person 1 that their injury isn’t special or doesn’t matter because someone else has it worse. We are not shifting racism to whites, you are still in power, you are still majority, you are still privileged whether you want to deny it or not. It’s common sense that anyone should stand up to equality in the 50s and 60s. the 50s and 60s right? Well ye-no. In the decades of segregation, colorism was internalized and although you may have grown up with and abusive step father now, you have absolutely no idea who you would be raised by and how you would have grown up there. Racism is a way of thinking, but the thing that makes it racism is the fact that its normalized and minorities are not supported in any institution. The government is discriminatory of us, and that is racism.

In regards to this article

I don’t like this quote

“How would that have felt? Might you have imagined that this could reinforce in the minds of your classmates the stereotype that blacks are weak students?”

The whole situation itself that they used as an example is really weird. To say that someone is “randomly” put into an advanced class. Minorities in college were not “randomly” put there. You can’t compare someone being “randomly placed in an advanced class in high school” to someone who applied and has shown enough strength to be accepted into college. Colleges don’t pick minority students just because they can, minority students still have to work hard and have the qualifications to be accepted into colleges.

Stereotypes are bad enough. This sentence is saying that the students in your class already look down on you for being black. It is saying that this stereotype is already in their mind and that when they see you doing bad, they’re like “ see black people are lazy”.

Minorities don’t have the same opportunities as white people already, affirmative action is providing those opportunities. If minorities are failing in colleges because of SAT scores and grades, then maybe think why they don’t do as well.

University of Texas:

A lot of this is saying that blacks and minorities aren’t academically prepared or competitive but I’m going to tell you that that this starts even before college. Minorities tend to be predominantly low income so they’ll be more likely to live in low income areas. If you compare these two maps, most low-income areas are higher in population of black and hispanics. This means that most likely, their schools don’t have the funds to give them the opportunities and funds to even be able to be competitive from even before college or highschool. Same goes for this data.

“Minorities also have a higher chance of being accepted in universities, even if their grades or academic record is not as “good” as their white peers. Again, they have the privilege. The problem of minorities not getting higher level education is that a larger percentage than white people do not finish high school or seek higher education.”

“Second, strong black and Hispanic students accepted UCLA offers of admission at much higher rates after the preferences ban went into effect; their choices seem to suggest that they were eager to attend a school where the stigma of a preference could not be attached to them. This mitigated the drop in enrollment.”

Again, I believe that this has to do with the fact that minorities are discouraged to begin with.They have few role models and representation, and the prejudice in this country often tells them that they won’t be able to account to anything.

“I wont get into black on black crime being more prevalent than white on black crime bc no one seems to think that’s valid.”

Mm it really depends because yes, black on black is more than white on black, but so is white on white. So depending on what you’re trying to argue, it could or couldn’t be valid.

“Not as many white people experience this because the white community finishes high school more often, they have less babies at a young age and out of wedlock, and they get jobs because of this. “

Whites generally have higher incomes which means better education. Better education not only means knowledge like math and writing, but also knowledge about family planning and safe sex. This really seems like you’re trying to allude that whites are superior because of their favoring in our society, but I could be misunderstanding.

“ I see more positivity regarding black hair etc. than I’ve ever seen negativity, at least in my lifetime and this generation. I see more negativity within the black community itself. This racism against whites is not social equality.”

You see more positivity on black hair nowadays because you most likely see it on the internet (which is a big thing in this generation), in the real world out there, not the internet community, a lot of people experience negativity about their hair. Again, just because you personally haven’t seen much of it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And yes it is social equality, why? Because you are finally getting to see what it’s like to be us, and even now you still don’t and will not experience discrimination and racism at the level that we do.

“Two wrongs to not make a right. Knocking someone else down doesn’t bring you up. And it certainly doesn’t end racism in general, it perpetuates it. White people have not had privilege in a long time. Hell, white people aren’t even the race doing the best within America, that’s Asian Americans! They get the best jobs and the highest education. Because, on average, Asian families stay together, they have strong morals and work ethic, and they have a very strong emphasis in education.”

I agree with your first statement, but white people still have privilege….. The fact that whites get charged less time for the same crimes, you aren’t as frequent victims or police brutality, you won’t be ridiculed for your name, you can express yourself using other cultures and not be called “dirty” or be told to go back to your country for speaking your native language. Most likely, English is your first language, and you won’t be laughed at for an accent not favorable (ex: the Asian stereotype of “herro” vs people loving British accents). You guys are seen most times seen as one of the races least likely to commit serious crimes. Those are all privileges that aren’t available to all of us. Asian Americans are doing very well in America why though? You can look here. (and some other links in my sources). The very strong emphasis on education is a good thing, but it can also be very draining, as Asian American children have this weight put on their shoulders and even in Asian countries, many mental downsides come along with this. One example would be their very high suicide rates.

“I do feel entitled to be treated like a human, just as everyone else should. I don’t feel that its right to be called a “White Devil” or that all white people are born racist and are inferior or to be attacked for no reason, for things ive never done, all because I’m white. I don’t care what you or anyone says, that RACIST.”

You do have the right to be treated like a human and everyone else too, the problem is that’s not the case with us. White people are treated like humans. Minorities (and not just racial minorities I mean all minorities) are denied rights and treated like we are inferior to whites. WE are the ones treated like the inferiors, not you, especially because we tend to have lower incomes, we struggle even more as a group. WE are attacked for no reason and far more often than whites. Whites are definitely not the victim, which is what I’m getting from this statement.

“If i were to group you all together for what one person does, it would not affect your ability to get jobs, to get higher level education, and other things of that sort Affirmative action was created to specifically help minorities acquire jobs and it is still active today, so in fact, minorities have the privilege in this instance. If someone is denied work simply because of their race and not their attitude, qualifications, or overall skill, that person can sue and will %100 win.” “However on the occasion that there is discrimination, which I know there is, that person has the ability to sue and I can guarantee they will win. This disproves systematic racism along with the other examples I provided above. And just in case they can’t afford to sue, there are public defenders and the NAACP has provided legal counsel for the black community on numerous occasions. “

If you were to group us together of course it wouldn’t affect as as you are one person. When a lot of white people who are the ethnic majority were to do the same thing, then we have a problem. Affirmative action was created to help us, but maybe you should think why we would need help in the first place? It’s trying to help us have equal opportunities that come naturally to a person born white in America. How can you 100% guarantee that if someone sues that they would win? The justice system itself is a problem at times, police brutality is made out to be okay, so what makes you think that someone would win in a court for this? I really don’t understand how you think that special programs that are made to help us = reverse racism? If we were equal we wouldn’t even need these programs, if we were equal then everyone would have the money to sue, if we were equal, then we wouldn’t have had to sue to begin with. Just because there are some programs here and there that help us, doesn’t disprove systemic racism. Systemic racism is still very much valid.

“As for “Other things” minorities are more likely to receive government assistance in the way of housing, food stamps, child care, and disability pay. In fact, I can give you a personal anecdote to prove my point. My Mothers BF had surgery on his back and was unable to work for 3 months. In an attempt to collect disability for the months he needed to recuperate, he was told he would NEED to be out for AT LEAST 365 days to receive disability checks. He was confused by this because his coworker received disability for the 3 weeks he couldn’t work due to a broken hand. He brought this up and asked why it is different for him and the worker straight up told him it was because he was white. That coworker of his was also an illegal immigrant fyi.”

My only problem with these examples is that I really can’t say anything about them because I don’t have enough detail. Where did her BF work? What was his role? What were the circumstances? I don’t know. I also don’t want to get into the treatment of illegal immigrants, especially in agribusiness. What I will say is that more often than not, we are more likely to get assistance because we are more likely to need assistance. Again, this is because our races have been oppressed and forced to the bottom of this social hierarchy.

“Im sorry but that doesn’t seem like they are being treated justly by the government. As for “White people have always had the advantage when it comes to race.” I agree, especially with “had”. past tense. I have no advantages as a white. I am middle-lower middle class in America. I cannot afford to go to college yet I cannot get govt assistance because my mother makes too much money. Not enough to send me to college though. However, if I was a minority I would have no problems getting grants and scholarships and financial aid. I have to wait to apply for fafsa or student loans until I turn 24 this year so they no longer need my parent income info or a cosigner for loans. I am not advantaged. I get jobs based on my skill level and my work ethic, not my race. The current job I have, I got lucky bc I happened to know someone working here already. Before this I was at Walgreens with my mixed race fellow employees and my black female manager.”

You do have advantages as a white. Really you do. If it was a minority in your place, I can place my bets that they wouldn’t have as many opportunities as you do just by being white. If you are having problem getting grants or financial aid for college, I think it could be because of research. Now I don’t know if you did a lot of research or not, I don’t know what you’ve done to try and get help for college, so I’m not saying at all that you didn’t try hard enough or anything. You as a white person actually have more of a chance to get monetary scholarships than a minorities. I don’t know your grades or what you’ve done in school so again, I can’t say if you aren’t or are qualified for these, but I’m assuming if you do rather well in school, that you qualify for institutional, merit-based scholarships.

“Black people DO gain something from being racist. Note the newly segregated “safe spaces” and segregated housing that have been installed on certain college campuses. The fact that you and many others think black people can’t be racist. And if this racism continues, it will just be flipped opposite from the 50’s and 60’s.”

For as long as white people hold power in the United States, you can’t have a “flipped” version of segregation in the 50s and 60s. Safe spaces aren’t something “gained” for minorities. Does it help us get equal pay? Does it help us have equal chances in schools, homes, jobs, etc? Safe spaces were originally created to show people they can be themselves without discrimination, but it has changed recently. I don’t think it is right to have these, but we don’t gain anything from it as a group in our society.

“Racism is a system based on the fact that for example black people, have had disadvantages both socially and politically based off of the race they were born into. We do not have a racist system, systematic racism doesn’t exist in todays western society, as ive explained above. Our system is set up to help minorities. We had a black president for 2 terms, we have black members in all areas of our government. The only thing stopping minorities from succeeding is themselves.” ““There are three things a person needs to do in order to not be poor in America. Finish high school, don’t have kids, and get a job. Although I would also argue that now, you also need a two-year degree but A very large percentage of black people do not finish high school, have kids at young ages, and depend on government assistance to sustain themselves. They family dynamic is broken down and the father rarely stays with the mother. If you don’t finish high school your chances of getting a good job are very slim. If you are a single parent you ARE going to struggle financially. Lets not forget the heavy crime in the black communities resulting from low income and low education”

Our system is still racist, not fully, but still. Especially with the Trump Administration. Yes, we had a black president for two terms out of how many other terms? 43. 2/43 terms is enough for you to say our system isn’t racist? The fact that it took so long for us to be able to even have a black president should be enough evidence because many have tried to run for the position before. Yes we have black people in our government, but how many? Whites have always had over half of the government positions. This is just in the executive branch. This last sentence is what really really bothers me. Me as a minority myself can’t even begin to wonder how it is to think that it’s so simple to succeed in life. I can not comprehend being able to have that kind of privilege. You truly think that the only thing stopping us is us. That the only reason we don’t succeed is because we don’t want to or we don’t try hard enough? Wow. Really I don’t even know what to say.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/19/the-real-secret-to-asian-american-success-was-not-education/?utm_term=.da1ebde186ff

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/10/the-asian-disadvantage.html

http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/06/racism-against-asian-americans/4

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-median-income-in-the-us-by-race-2013-9

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/dear-white-people-please-stop-pretending-reverse-racism-is-real

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/07/15/884649/-Why-there-s-no-such-thing-as-Reverse-Racism

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/its-a-slap-in-the-face-when-white-women-wear-black-hairstyles_us_55c0c153e4b0b23e3ce3f27b?ebq08uxr=

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reverse-racism-isnt-a-thing_us_55d60a91e4b07addcb45da97

https://www.dailydot.com/via/reverse-racism-doesnt-exist/

http://www.gallup.com/poll/18487/blacks-whites-advantage-college-admissions.aspx

http://www.colorlines.com/articles/study-white-students-more-likely-win-college-scholarships

#racism #reverse racism #controversial

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