#australia trip 2024 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

starsainzjr · 5 months

Text

Ink on Tanned Skin

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo x tattoo artist!reader Faceclaim: Mitra Yosri

✷✷✷✷✷

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by chrishemsworth, thenewclassic, thehughjackman and 39,173 others

inkby.yn All set up in the new studio @/highsocietytattoomelbourne! Come by and visit me!

Books are now open for February and March. Email me: [email protected] to get a spot! Can't wait to meet everyone!

View all 617 comments

thenewclassic RUNNING

inkby.yn RUN FASTER

thehughjackman Finally! Been looking forward to this for longer than I am willing to admit.

inkby.yn You're gonna have to wolverine a few people if you don't hurry

chrishemsworth I'll bring you those Lamingtons you love if you get me in before Hugh

inkby.yn @/thehughjackman Now it's a competition

inkedmag 👀 New spotlight coming soon

inkedmag Melbourne, Australia

Liked by hanzloch_tattoo, danielricciardo, inkby.yn and 610,384 others

inkedmag First spotlight of February 2024 goes to Yn Yln, @/inkby.yn at @/highsocietytattoomelbourne! Yn is a Melbourne based artist specializing in Blackwork, Florals, and Geometric.

Full spotlight article and interview dropping Wednesday 2/7 at 12 AEST on inkedmag.com and Inked Magazine's YouTube Chanel!

View all 18,186 comments

hanzloch_tattoo Got a blank space... looks like I'm booking a flight!

thenewclassic That's my girl!!!!

highsocietytattoomelbourne Come see her in action! Yn's books are open for February and March now!

inkby.yn Such an honor! Thank you, @/inkedmag for this opportunity!

inkedmag Thank you for inviting us into your space!

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by thenewclassic, danielricciardo, chrishemsworth and 31,203 others

inkby.yn Just a little one to get started in the new space. Thank you to everyone who has booked with me so far!

View all 811 comments

inkie How does she manage to take the simplest designs and make them look so stunning 😭

tattooproblems I would well my left kidney to get a tattoo from her

chrishemsworth Counting down the days

inkby.yn I'm expecting those Lamingtons, Hemsworth. Don't disappoint me chrishemsworth This reads like a threat thehughjackman It is

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by chrishemsworth, inkedmag, danielricciardo and 40,001 others

inkby.yn All I wanted was a picture of the tattoo and he insisted on posing. What a poser this one

Thank you @/chrishemsworth for my Lamingtons and for coming to visit me! Still have a few spots open for March! Email me: [email protected] to book!

View all 1,028 comments

chrishemsworth Thank you for doing this one for me!

inkby.yn Keep bribing me and I'll do all your tattoos

inkie Yn + Chris Hemsworth = I'm dead

tattooproblems So real bestie

thehughjackman My turn next!

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by hanzloch_tattoo, danielricciardo, inkedmag and 43,427 others

inkby.yn When your client gives you free reign >>>

View all 399 comments

hanzloch_tattoo The best feeling ever

inkedmag Angelic 😇

inkie I would let her tattoo literally anything she wanted on me

danielricciardo Melbourne, Australia

Liked by landonorris, inkby.yn, lewishamilton and 301,103 others

danielricciardo Nice way to start the weekend! Thank you to @/inkby.yn for adding to my collection! Now we're ready to start the weekend 👊

View all 1,816 comments

inkby.yn Thank you for coming to visit! Come back soon!

danielricciardo Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!

lewishamilton Danny I'm blaming you for the fact that I now have the ink bug

danielricciardo Lucky for you I know a fantastic artist inkby.yn You flatter me, Ricciardo

dannyricsthightat This is not a drill, we have a new Danny Ric tat

holatodos I'm Not Okay

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by danielricciardo, redbullracing, chrishemsworth and 38,102 others

inkby.yn Got out of the shop for a field trip this weekend. Thank you @/danielricciardo and @/redbullracing for an incredible experience!

View all 810 comments

danielricciardo Thank you for coming!

inkby.yn No better teacher than you were!

redbullracing Just a little longer and we would have had Christian convinced to pay you a visit in the shop

inkby.yn Shucks, guess I'll just have to come again danielricciardo Now that I can get behind maxverstappen1 Yn I have a jet you can come every weekend if you want if it means Christian gets a tattoo danielricciardo I got Zak to get one, I can get Christian to get one

dannyricsthightat This is a matchup I have been waiting my entire life for

danielricciardo Suzuka, Japan

Liked by landonorris, inkby.yn, lewishamilton and 309,186 others

danielricciardo Taking in the sights and sounds before the weekend gets going

View all 1,198 comments

landonorris Who's that guy in the picture with you he's pretty handsome

danielricciardo Meh landonorris 🤯

redbullracing You didn't bring us back any sushi? 😥

danielricciardo My most sincere apologies I shall find some way to make it up to you

dannyricsthightat How is it possible for a man to be so cute and so hot at the same time

landonorris Ikr, I look good danielricciardo In your DREAMS dannyricsthightat Did I just start a grid fight

inkby.yn Tokyo, Japan

Liked by hanzloch_tattoo, inkedmag, danielricciardo and 41,347 others

inkby.yn So grateful to have expanded my horizons this weekend! Off to explore

View all 1,004 comments

hanzloch_tattoo We gotta take a field trip together at some point

inkby.yn The sheer power we would posses hanzloch_tattoo Unstoppable

inkedmag We love it when our artists expand their horizons! Never stop!

tattooproblems The way that she can literally do anything and it comes out perfect EVERY TIME

danielricciardo Shanghai, China

Liked by landonorris, inkby.yn, maxverstappen1 and 371,398 others

danielricciardo Yet another great weekend! Huge congrats to Max and Checo for that finish

View all 2,394 comments

maxverstappen1 Result purely possible because of our number one cheerleaders

danielricciardo Cheerleaders plural? Are you cheating on me Verstappen?? maxverstappen1 I said what I said

redbullracing Danny, do I need to be concerned for my job? Are you going to become the official team photographer?

danielricciardo Not if you convince Christian to keep up the catering

dannyricsthightat This man has been looking unfairly good recently

holatodos My spidey senses are tingling...

inkby.yn Shanghai, China

Liked by hanzloch_tattoo, danielricciardo, chrishemsworth and 40,193 others

inkby.yn That's the end of my art tour! Shanghai has been wonderful, one of my favorite places now. This dragon will be a part of my flash day when I get back on May 1st. Email me: [email protected] to claim your spot and this dragon! Would love to do it one someone's spine!

View all 1,304 comments

hanzloch_tattoo If you weren't in Australia...

inkby.yn As if you have more room anyway hanzloch_tattoo Ssshhhhhh

chrishemsworth You were in Shanghai and you didn't tell me????

inkby.yn You forgot the Lamingtons last time you stopped by that's just rude, Hemsworth. This is payback

inkie Hey Siri, how much are flights to Melbourne...

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by danielricciardo, chrishemsworth, hanzloch_tattoo and 38,017 others

inkby.yn Trying out a different medium for the night 👩‍🎨

View all 1,371 comments

hanzloch_tattoo A braver woman than I

inkby.yn You could have just stopped that at 'braver' and it would have meant the same thing danielricciardo She got ya on that one

chrishemsworth I'm stealing this idea

inkby.yn It's all yours, Dad holatodos Danny Ric gotta be shaking in his boots at dating Chris Hemsworth's pseudo daughter

dannyricsthightat I cannot believe that Twitter thread was right...

holatodos Who was right... I was right.

danielricciardo Melbourne, Australia

Liked by inkby.yn, landonorris, lewishamilton and 400,193 others

danielricciardo Much needed weekend off

View all 2,108 comments

landonorris How come you've never made heart shaped pizzas with me...

danielricciardo Get better inkby.yn He got ya on that one

maxverstappen1 Daniel do you have something to tell me

danielricciardo There's good wine in Australia

dannyricsthightat Heart shaped pizzas... he really is the perfect man isn't he

holatodos I. Called. It.

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by danielricciardo, hanzloch_tattoo, inkedmag and 32,103 others

inkby.yn A nice and easy one to finish up June. Taking a weekend off, then I'll be back to the grind! Can't wait for everyone to come into the shop!

View all 991 comments

danielricciardo I hear a pretty cool guy said that once

inkby.yn Almost like I have the best inspiration

hanzloch_tattoo THAT LINE WORK ARE YOU KIDDING

holatodos SHE TATTOOED. ONE OF. HIS QUOTES. Okay we're ready for the hard launch now

danielricciardo Monaco

Liked by inkby.yn, landonorris, maxverstappen1 and 381,403 others

danielricciardo Managed to pull this beautiful girl away from the shop for the weekend. Been an amazing few days with you, my love!

View all 2,348 comments

inkby.yn Thank you for the wonderful weekend, darling!

danielricciardo Thank you for making it wonderful

landonorris Can Yn come to all the races she's more fun than you are

danielricciardo OUCH inkby.yn Lando knows what's up

maxverstappen1 Definitely my favorite garage guest of the season

dannyricsthightat I'm dying where can I find a love story like theirs

holatodos Aaaaand thank you, everyone, for coming to my TED Talk

inkby.yn Melbourne, Australia

Liked by danielricciardo, landonorris, chrishemsworth and 42,183 others

inkby.yn This is what I get for trying to get some designs done in the garage

View all 929 comments

danielricciardo Don't mind me just admiring the most beautiful work of art in the world

inkby.yn 🥰

chrishemsworth Family dinner is on Friday, don't be late. And I already know the schedule, there's no excuse

danielricciardo Yes, Mr. Thor 🫡 inkby.yn Daaaaaad

landonorris I have literally never seen him look at anyone like this. Not even me

danielricciardo LandoooOOOOOO inkby.yn Stop it that's adorable I can't do this

holatodos I'm retired. I'm retiring. I'm retired.

dannyricsthightat Bow down to the queen everyone

✷✷✷✷✷

All photos from Pinterest, Instagram, or Google Images

#daniel ricciardo #daniel riccardo x reader #daniel riccardo imagine #daniel ricciardo social media au #f1 fanfic #f1 social media au #f1 x reader #f1 x you #social media au #daniel ricciardo fanfic

377 notes · View notes

theroyalsandi · 3 months

Text

Happy 52nd Birthday to Queen Mary of Denmark! (b. 05 February 1972)

On this occasion, the Queen has chosen an image of a special moment with her father, John Donaldson, from her recent trip to Australia in December. Prince Vincent took the photo. | February 05, 2024

#royaltyedit #theroyalsandi #queen mary #queen mary of denmark #john donaldson #danish royal family #happy birthday #my edit

178 notes · View notes

landinrris · 1 month

Note

ohmygod you have GOT to write a drabble about the norrix shirtgate of march 2024 ™️ please

Oh ho ho something like this? Last night Taylor wrote some dialogue that popped into my head (as I have been doing lately), and this afternoon Taylor fleshed it out a bit. This is more in line with a reaction to the shirt + the Instagram photo, but still, same idea and same crazy.

Lando’s just finishing toweling his hair when his phone starts ringing. It’s nine in the morning— probably Max calling to see where he is and if he can have another fifteen minutes on their scheduled meet-up time.

The caller ID isn’t Max though. It’s Martin, a selfie of the two of them from Australia smiling up at Lando from where his phone is sitting on the bathroom counter. Lando quickly counts back the ten-hour time difference and is surprised Martin’s even still awake after the long day he’s had.

Beggars can’t be choosers though. Lando slides his finger across the answer button and presses the speakerphone before Martin has a chance to say anything. “Hello?”

Lando directs his attention back to his reflection in the mirror and sets about sorting out the tangled mop on top of his head.

“Are you trying to get me to out myself?” Martin asks point-blank, sounding semi-serious. Given the hour, he could also just be tired.

Lando’s fingers pause in his hair, and he glances back down at the phone as if it holds all the answers. “In what way?” It clicks in the few seconds between Lando finishing his question and Martin speaking again. He could easily correct himself but finds he wants to hear Martin admit to whatever embarrassing reaction he had to Lando’s post.

“Those pictures? In the shirt you stole from me? You did that on purpose.”

Lando can’t help the self-satisfied and questioning hum that makes it past his lips. Because Martin's right, almost. He didn't originally set out with the intention to take the photos wearing that shirt, but Lando woke up missing Martin a little harder in his jet-lagged state than he was prepared to. So, he shrugged on the shirt he’d stolen on the tail end of their France trip even though everyone would inevitably trace the origin of it. (Lando had caught Max trying to pretend he wasn’t looking at first, but rather than put him out of his misery, Lando let him stew.)

And then they'd stumbled across the new art that hadn't been in the graffiti alley last year. Max had looked at him knowingly, suggestively, this time not hiding what he was trying to infer, and Lando had taken the bait.

Only later, as he was looking through the photos, up early again because of jet lag, did Lando decide fuck it.

He and Martin talked about their plans for the year while they were in Vietnam, zipped inside their tent for the night and alone with their thoughts. They're not hiding anymore per se, themselves or their relationship. Lando’s finished with not just posting whatever the hell he wants because of what it’ll eventually look like.

Hide in plain sight, Martin agreed.

Now Martin groans somewhat dramatically. “Menno had to take my phone. My fingers were hovering over the keyboard for too long and he caught me.”

“They were not.” Because there’s no way. If Lando didn’t know better, he’d think Martin was reacting to the more blatant thirst traps in his .mov post.

“Lando, baby, have you seen the photos? And you didn't warn me. What do you expect me to do when you’re sitting there looking comfortable and proud like that?”

Just the implication makes Lando's face warm and his chest ache. It’s at least another month before they see each other in China, and the days feel exponentially long looking at a calendar. “I expect you to be a normal human who doesn’t feel like risking it all over an aesthetic picture. At least wait until I post another thirst trap,” Lando muses. He turns to prop his hip up against the counter and picks up the phone to bring it closer to his face to pull up Instagram.

Most of the comments are normal, taking the aesthetic at face value. A few people play into the tone of the bubblegum pink hearts. A few more seem to have the nerve to call him on what he’s trying to do.

“Post a thirst trap and see what happens.”

The smile that spreads across Lando’s face hurts his cheeks. “Maybe that’s in tomorrow’s dump. Guess you’re gonna have to go to bed to find out.”

A huff of laughter from Martin’s side of the phone might as well be music to Lando’s ears. “Fine, you freak. You can tell me about everything when I’m not about to fall asleep. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Can’t wait. Talk to you later.” The line goes quiet, much to Lando’s disappointment. He swears he could talk to Martin forever and not get bored— about everything and nothing at all. When Martin calls him at the end of his day, rested and recovered, Lando’s sure he’ll hear all about how the half marathon went. He’ll be on the brink of passing out himself, but he won’t care. He’ll lay there listening and counting down the days until next time.

#don't ask me why i just like writing their phone conversations but i have approximately 5 (including this) snippets of just convos #I think the idea is to maybe do something with them eventually but here's this one for now #norrix #writing tag #lando #martin

29 notes · View notes

coimbrabertone · 26 days

Text

Suzuka in April Feels Wrong

So, this weekend F1 will race at Suzuka. Suzuka is an amazing circuit, the esses at the beginning of the lap, trying to take Degner 1 as fast as possible but knowing the gravel trap is right there at the edge of the circuit, and then hard on the brakes for Degner 2, under the bridge, and up and to the right into the hairpin where Kamui Kobayashi seemed to overtake just about everyone in 2012. Spoon curve, the infamous 130R, and the Casio triangle at the end of the lap, Suzuka really is something special.

The only problem is, Raikkonen's 2005 charge (admittedly I was too young to properly enjoy that but it's literally the back to front challenge meme in real life), Kamui's 2012 podium as a Japanese driver, even Vettel's heartbreaking sparkplug failure in 2017, not to mention the historic Prost and Senna collisions...all of those happened at the end of the season, or close enough to it anyway. This year, Suzuka is in April, the fourth round of the 2024 Formula One season.

Now of course, there's a reason for this - the geography of an increasingly bloated F1 calendar - but first, let's just establish why the Japanese Grand Prix being at the end of the season is so important.

The first Japanese Grand Prix, held in 1976 and 1977, marked the first time a world championship race was held in Asia, and it was the finale too, the place where the championship would be decided. The 1976 race in particular, covered in the excellent 2013 movie Rush, saw Niki Lauda pull into the pits in dangerously wet conditions - this was the same year as his Nürburgring crash - which allowed James Hunt to charge up the field and seal his only world title.

The first Fuji trip would only last two years, but in 1987, F1 would find its home in Suzuka. It was the penultimate race - Adelaide, Australia was now the finale - but nevertheless, Suzuka was still the place where titles were decided. In 1988, Senna came from behind in the wet to beat Prost, in 1989 Prost would close the door on a charging Senna in the Casio triangle on lap 47, taking Prost out. Senna cut the chicane rejoining the track, got disqualified, and handed the title to Prost. In 1990, Prost now in a Ferrari, got a better start than Senna's polesitting McLaren, but Senna's wouldn't give an inch, and they didn't even make it past the first corner this time. Senna would seal the 1990 title. And it continued, Senna over Mansell in 1991, Hill over Villeneuve in 1996, Hakkinen over Schumacher in 1998...it was the track where history was made.

That being said, it's position in the calendar started to change as F1 expanded its Asia-Pacific presence from just Suzuka. From 1987-1995, it was paired with the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide, in 1999 and 2000, it was paired with Malaysia, and from 2004-2008, it was paired with China. After that, the calendar more or less formed two flyaway blocks, with Australia-Malaysia-China-Bahrain at the beginning of the season, and a Singapore and Suzuka towards the end, paired with an everchanging host of flyaway races that included Abu Dhabi, Brazil, South Korea, and India. In 2009, Suzuka was the third to last race, come 2011, it was fifth to last.

The real blow to Suzuka as an end of season race, however, was the emergence of an American block of races late in the season. It started with Austin in 2012, and by 2015, we had Austin and Mexico back-to-back followed by Brazil, making for three western hemisphere races in a row. Las Vegas in 2023 made a fourth, with Abu Dhabi having long ago bought the season finale slot. All of this means that, in 2023, there were a whole two months of racing after Suzuka.

Thus, figuring that history is dead, F1 has decided to move Suzuka to April, so that, much like 2004-2008, it's back-to-back with the Chinese Grand Prix. Which means F1 will now have Baku and Singapore as a doubleheader in 2024...yeah.

For something meant to cut down on F1's travel related CO2 emissions, they really did just decide to make the entire circus fly over the entirety of the Asian continent in a week. Good job.

What the race does succeed in, however, is reminding us of the last time F1 raced in Japan in April, the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grand Prix. A rare moment of two races in the same country for F1, when in addition to the end of season trip to Suzuka, there was an early season trip to the T1 Circuit in Okayama. It's a pretty neat track, I've raced it on Ride 4, probably better for bikes than cars though.

So yeah, not much for the environment, but it does remind us of an obscure race nobody has ever heard of, so there is that.

#f1 #formula 1 #formula one #japanese grand prix #japan gp 2024 #japan gp #racing #motorsports

16 notes · View notes

luvdsc · 3 months

Note

I MISS YOU PLS COME BACK TO US

((hope you’re living your best life lately ilyyy))

i miss you and ilysm, honey bee !!!!! 🥹💗💗 i hope 2024 has been treating you kindly, and you’re doing well 🌷🌷 how have you been? what have you been up to, sweetpea? ☁️

i have been living my best life, thank you !!! 🤧 in 2023, i traveled with my friends, went to LA every month basically, visited japan for almost three weeks, visited australia for two weeks and steph and ti showed me around 💕, attended two music festivals (seeing dpr irl and rich brian coming down from the stage and stopping in front of us ???? immaculate) and a keshi concert (i was SO close to the stage and the videos are beautiful except my storage was full so I couldn’t get it all rip), hung out with els, omg and moon is basically my neighbor now and we hang out super often and I just went to her graduation (congrats on being one masters degree hotter 🥵), and lana came to visit us over the summer too !! 💘 also it’s been over two years of being blonde now lmaoo

and i’m so excited for 2024 !!!! 💛 one of my bsfs is getting married, i’m going to korea with my friends for two weeks, and i have one music festival already lined up 🥳 ooo also there’s gonna be a fun work trip with my work bsf soon and another nyc trip and mexico trip in the works !! ✨

also, i am slowly starting to write 🥹 i opened up one of my wips recently, ty to lana and moon for the moral support as we’re all gently peer pressuring each other into writing again 🤧 fingers crossed that i’ll have something to announce on my bday 🍒

i wanted to see what everyone has been interested in reading lately and the fic tags are all filled with text scenarios now ?? idk if any of you will still enjoy my fics but i’m having lots of fun writing again !!! 🐝✨

#asks #anonymous #flowers

21 notes · View notes

lewisvinga · 3 months

Note

can i request a royal!reader x oscar piastri smau. the royal family i had in mind was danish, since their current queen, mary is australian, so maybe reader could be the oldest child and she met oscar on a secret trip to australia wayy back and they kept in touch and oscar's never really tried to hide it, and the you really wouldn't recognise danish royals if they walked past you, but fred vesti maybe saw a picture of them and since he is danish he immediately recognised her and chaos!! and the rest of the grid and the fans not believing that piastri is really dating a princess who is now the crown princess since her father ascended to the throne in jan 2024 it's okay if you don't want to, love your work <3

here !

omg this was a really fun one 2 write<3

#formula one x reader #f1 x reader #f1 smau #oscar piastri x reader

33 notes · View notes

updatingranboo · 1 month

Text

more from ranboo?

(referencing this post)

#ranboo #ranboo update #twitter update #ranboosaysstuff tweet #video #moonzy #australia trip 2024 #tumblr won’t let me post a video in a reblog sorryyyy

333 notes · View notes

seniouesbabes · 3 months

Text

Lily Maymac 🌸💋🍒🌸 @prada love

3 notes · View notes

charlotte-of-wales · 3 months

Text

A new picture of Queen Mary was shared by the Royal Danish Court on the occasion of her birthday yesterday. The picture was chosen by her as it was taken during a special moment between her and her father during the family’s trip to Australia last December and it was taken by Prince Vincent | January 5, 2024

#forgot to post this yesterday #the difference between this and the picture of marie lol #queen mary #drf

17 notes · View notes

simplyclary · 4 months

Text

I Loved How Good You Looked: A TZP 2023 Fashion Wrap-Up (Part 1)

(Edit by yours truly)

In the world of fashion, every outfit tells a story, and 2023 has certainly been a memorable year for rising Hollywood star Taylor Zakhar Perez.

From his lead role in Amazon Prime's hit movie "Red, White and Royal Blue" to his unforgettable fits throughout the year, Taylor shows no signs of slowing down in both the acting world and the fashion world.

As 2023 comes to a close, it's time to take a glamorous stroll down the Taylor Zakhar Perez fashion memory lane! I'll unravel the variety of trends that graced the catwalks, adorned the red carpets, and became street-style staples.

This TZP fashion wrap-up promises a dazzling lineup of looks that defined the essence of elegance and daring creativity that made 2023 unforgettable, especially for Taylor and his ever growing fanbase.

Join me as I unwrap the fashion moments that left fans breathless, inspired, and utterly in love with the one and only Taylor Zakhar Perez.

So get comfortable, grab a drink and some snacks and let the fashion show begin..

Vanity Fair London- February 2023

Ahhh, look at how dashing he is in that black suit? Already slaying and it's only February!

Anyway, Taylor in this black ensemble is nothing but perfection. Also, the way that his hair was styled up and his clean-shaven look adds a bit of a pristine vibe to the overall look.

Give me Taylor in a black suit any day and you would just catch me swooning over it for the rest of the day.

Cyclops x Moncler Genius Show- February 2023

This is the lighter contrast to that of his look during Vanity Fair London, because instead of donning an all-black outfit, Taylor opted for more lighter colors like white, light blue and a dark(ish) aqua green shade.

For this event, he opted for a t-shirt with the name of the brand on it under a plaid flannel like shirt and dark aqua green pants that also has the brand's name on it.

The one thing that I didn't really like is the shades that he wore. It's too big for me and I would've preferred that he went without the shades. However, if he was going for an outer-space alien vibe with this look, I think he nailed it because those shades definitely looked like the eyes of an alien that's coming to invade or seek peace on Earth.

Versace Cruise 2024 Show- March 2023

This is one of Taylor's look that live rent-free in the minds of fans. I mean, how can it not? He looks so handsome.

This mesh tank top with leather pants is a combination that I never thought would work but it actually could, on Taylor at least. I love how his bits of jewelry added a bit of sparkle to the overall darkness of the outfit, similar to stars in the night sky.

I need Taylor to rock more outfits like this come 2024, because this look definitely had fans wanting more.

Green Carpet Fashion Awards-March 2023

I swear to the angels, this look is giving me real Rhysand vibes, and I'm not mad about that.

Just another all-black Taylor outfit for the year (trust me, I know you know this ain't the last all-black outfit he wore), and dang, he looks absolutely handsome. With the clean-shaven look and his hair that styled up, this is a vision of a Night Court prince right here.

Yep, I'm just here throwing out my fantasies, but it is what it is.

Woolmark Trip to Australia-March 2023

One of his memorable supply chain trips that he took to further understand the fabrics that go into the very clothes that people wear.

For the first photo, it was a good choice that he wore a sweater to Australia because he went there during the fall season in the country (which runs from March to May). It's also a good pop of color and compliments really well with the green of the grass (and the white of the sheep).

As for the second photo (which was taken when he was in one of the shops looking at fabrics), he wore a plain whitish-grey shirt underneath a navy blue blazer. It exudes simplicity with a dash of elegance. I also love how it was during this time that he made a custom-wool suit for himself.

I love a man who cares about the environment. Men like him are a rare breed nowadays.

BMW x Coachella- April 2023

Be honest with yourselves, when you look at this picture, what did you look at first? The scenery? The car? Or Taylor? It would be the third option, obviously.

This was a collaboration of BMW with the summer music festival Coachella and to have Taylor as a model for it is perfect because it's like mixing together adventure (with the car) and music & fun (I mean, that's one of the reasons people go to Coachella, right?), which sums up Taylor's personality in a way (adventurous and fun-loving).

For this, Taylor wore a summer look, with a white tank top underneath a black jacket with black shorts and green rubber shoes. I love how the green adds a touch of color to his overall neutral outfit. It's a simple combination but he makes it look like a masterpiece, if I'm being honest.

Ralph Lauren Event- April 2023

Taylor, why are you wearing gray? What do you have against color (Kidding..)

To be clear, I have nothing against the color gray. It's just not my first pick for a color. It comes off as dull and boring for me, but that's just my humble opinion.

For this event, Taylor wore a grey and white ensemble, with a gray shirt paired with a gray blazer and white pants. The overall look may lack color, but do admit that Taylor looks good in it (he looks good in whatever color he wears, to be completely honest).

International Woolmark Prize (IWP) Event- May 2023

Knowing Taylor, he would not pass up on an opportunity to advocate about fashion sustainability while still being fashionable himself, which I honestly love.

During this event with The Woolmark Company, he wore a navy blue ensemble, which is composed of a white tank top and a striped navy blue button-down that is layered by a navy blue coat. He completed his look with black loafers and a pair of necklaces, which add a little shine to his outfit. Again, a simple combination but on him, it looks like a masterpiece.

Take it from Taylor, folks. This is how you advocate for a good cause while also looking good yourself.

Prada (Spring/Summer 2024 Menswear Show)- June 2023

*This is also an excuse for me to post Taylor's unforgettable shirtless entrance photo*

The iconic Prada SS24 Show!! Taylor's fashion week debut (he said so himself during the "Get Ready With Me" video). He really said "this is my first fashion week so I gotta make it memorable". And it was memorable indeed, maybe more for the fans, but regardless, it was an iconic event.

Taylor's photos from this event was one of the first photos that I ever saw of him the moment I became a fan, and it will be one of those events that will forever live rent-free in my mind. I mean, how could I not? Look at the stunning assembly of looks he pulled off for the show. From stepping out of the car shirtless to wearing a white Prada tank top at the end of the day, he surely made the 2023 summer even hotter.

I also love how he made it a designer summer. Prada is a designer brand and then he combined it with some summer essentials like a white tank top and sunglasses. Personally, I love that theme.

Maybe Taylor will be able to beat this on 2024, if he gets invited to the Prada event again (I have faith that he will be).

Givenchy Event- June 2023

It's one fashion show after another, I take it. After Prada (or before, I'm not sure), it's Givenchy.

I got to be honest, this all-black jumpsuit outfit is not my favorite, but I'll make an exception because it's black which is one of my most favorite colors on Taylor. What I love about this is that he made the jumpsuit ensemble not too plain-looking by adding silver jewelry and sunglasses.

This is more of a practical look but hey, something that's both fashionable and functional is what people really look for nowadays.

Tag Heuer Event- July 2023

Let's be honest, it's not Taylor if there was no picture where he does the peace sign.

In this particular photo, I love how his outfit was the dark contrast to the light colors of his background and even to the very couch he's sitting on. His dark outfit is something I can see a warrior in a fairytale wear and I'm not one to complain about that.

This ensemble is something people can wear in the summertime, consider the varying degrees of heat that the summer season brings in every country during the summer months.

Miu Miu Event- July 2023

I would like to point out that this look is very similar to the one Taylor wore to the Tag Heuer event, only with a different brand, but I'll look past that, I guess.

With this look, it still has the summer vibes. I can see people wearing this type of outfit during the summer time where people often opt for sleeveless clothes.

Maybe pair this outfit with your favorite pair of sunglasses, get on a boat and go sailing off into the ocean with the sea breeze in your face and you'll have an unforgettable summer.

Red, White and Royal Blue Billboard Sighting and NYC Street Style- August 2023

Ahhh August, the month where Taylor was catapulted into even more fame (and also the month that I knew of him).

August was the month of the premiere of "Red, White and Royal Blue" where Taylor played his first lead role as Alex Claremont-Diaz. It also premiered in the middle of the 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike, so sadly, there was no red carpet event for the movie but Taylor had to show off his style one way or another.

In the first two photos, it's just Taylor casually walking in the streets but he still looks so good. In the first photo, he wore a blue-black ensemble (two of my favorite colors on him) and the second photo was a contrast to the somehow dark ensemble of the first photo because it shows him wearing a much lighter outfit, which includes a cream vest and green track pants with sneakers.

The third photo is special because it was when Taylor was in New York (Times Square to be exact) with his parents and they went to see the billboard that had the poster of RWRB on it. His outfit is a wool (or cotton) shirt with a mix of orange, brown, black and white colors paired with dark jeans. It was a more casual outfit as compared to the magnitude of what he saw on Times Square that night.

Aperol Spritz Event- August 2023

I suddenly want to have a drink with Taylor and just chill. I mean, don't we all?

With this event, Taylor wore a white tank top underneath a blue striped button-down with matching pants of the same design. I honestly love how the color of his outfit compliments the color of the drink (In art class, blue and orange are known to be complimentary colors because the darkness of blue makes the lightness of orange pop off).

The darkness of the grassy green background also makes Taylor stand out, especially with the angle of this photo, so this outfit is a yes from me. Plus the slightly tousled hair and the little scruff adds more to the chill vibe of the event.

Vogue World: London- September 2023

This was the event that cemented Taylor's status as a prince in my mind. As an avid fan of fairytale stories, his two looks during this event was how I sometimes imagine princes when I read.

The white top with the attached waistcoat and the flared bottoms gives me the vibes of what people in the olden eras of London would wear. Think Victorian/Edwardian era. The second look of the night was this sparkling sleeveless number which is also unforgettable and provided a good contrast to the pristine white top.

I would also like to note that the grey sleeveless top is cropped so a bit of midriff was shown but I'm not complaining since Taylor is cut and fit anyway. These two outfits were really fit for a handsome prince like Taylor who is off to a stunning night in London.

Burberry (Spring/Summer 2024, London Fashion Week)- September 2023

If there's one thing I'm sure about, it is the fact that Taylor will slay even the most common of clothing. In this event, he wore a trench coat that is almost like a raincoat over a plaid long sleeve. It could be a common outfit for people who experience the rainy weather more often, but Taylor rocks it like a masterpiece meant to be exhibited in a fashion show, which is also a lovely idea.

I don't adore this outfit as much as I do the others, but one of the things that I like about this one is the practicality of it. It's a trench coat that can be used as a raincoat if one does not have an umbrella on hand and the rain suddenly started pouring.

Another thing was the idea that Taylor went to London Fashion Week and it generated like the highest media value. Like, that is a record and I'm not mad that he was one of the reasons that happened.

London and Milan Street Style- September 2023

Taylor is one of those people who could make street style look absolutely stunning. He could wear like a super casual combination of clothes like jeans and sneakers but combine that with his charm and you get a photo of him walking the pedestrian lane as if it's a fashion runway or him standing outside of his hotel yet it's gonna look like he posed for a fashion magazine shoot.

His street style in between the gorgeous ensembles he wore attending fashion weeks in London and Milan had fans gasping. Why? Because he looks so good in them.

These are four of my favorite Taylor street-style looks because it’s style and comfort, casual and preppy at the same time. All his clothes look plain at best but it still has the element of shimmer because of his accessories like his signature necklaces and bracelets, which is always lovely to see.

Ferrari (Spring/Summer 2024)-September 2023

Taylor was in his Doctor Strange era during this fashion week and I was so here for that era. It also made me scream because if you don't know, Doctor Strange is one of my most favorite Marvel characters ever!

Taylor could've played a variant of the character because to me, he kind of pulled the reverse version of Doctor Strange. Instead of wearing an all-blue outfit like the character, Taylor wore a dark red turtleneck top with a set composed of a dark trench coat and pants. He kind of completed his Doctor Strange look with tousled dark locks and a bit of stubble.

Honestly speaking, he also gave me a bit of Sherlock Holmes vibes with the trench coat which I honestly love, because I love the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Other than the fact that I completely rambled and disassociated, this look gives immense fall vibes to me, and it's perfect for that chilly stroll around the city while drinking a cup of cocoa or a cup of pumpkin spice latte.

That's A Wrap....for now...

Well, due to the limited amount of images I can put on here, I'm gonna need to put a part 2 for this fashion wrap up. This only means that Taylor had so many good looks this year that this site couldn't keep up with the insane amount of photos (kidding!).

But anyway, here's a link to Part 2 of the TZP Fashion Wrap-Up, so head over there if you want to see more of Taylor's fashion for the year.

#taylor zakhar perez #red white and royal blue #rwrb #fashion show #fashion #style

20 notes · View notes

seeminglyranch87 · 2 months

Text

Taylor & Travis Timeline

March 2024 - part 1

March 2 - The Eras Tour, National Stadium, Singapore

Taylor Nation hints at an announcement on Twitter, Taylorswfit.com goes down just showing a black screen, Taylor Swift goes LIVE on IG during the acoustic section, we watch her perform her piano section, she blows a kiss then disappears diving into the stage. Fans are left wondering what was going on?

Mine x Starlight (guitar)

I Don't Want to Live Forever x Dress (piano) (x)

March 3 - The Eras Tour, National Stadium, Singapore.

Taylor Swift announces 4th variant of The Tortured Poets Department with exclusive bonus song: The Black Dog (x x)

Long Story Short x The Story of Us (guitar)

Clean x Evermore (piano)

March 4 - The Eras Tour, National Stadium, Singapore.

Cute little moment - Taylor shares "My hair has returned it to its factory settings" with all the humidity sending her hair curly. (x)

Foolish One x Tell Me Why (guitar)

This Love x Call it What You Want (piano)

Travis joins his brother Jason Kelce as he tearfully announces his retirement from NFL after a 13 year career with the Philadelphia Eagles (x). Jason makes a moving speech and reflects on his relationship with Travis (21:30) Jason says

It's only too poetic. I found my career being fulfilled in the city of Brotherly Love. I knew that relationship all too well.

Travis is wearing friendship bracelets: T💛T , Travis Kelce is a... and "The Match" gold chain presumably from a golf tournament.

March 5 - Travis attends Cleveland Cavaliers Game in Cleveland, Ohio with brother Jason. Travis & Jason are presented with bobbleheads

Taylor spotted out for dinner with her backup singers in Singapore

March 6 - New Heights Ep. 80 airs. Travis and Jason Kelce discuss Travis' trip to Sydney, Australia to visit with Taylor (x 31:24)

Jason asks about how there was footage of Travis and Taylor at the Sydney Zoo? Travis answers

there were full-on helicopters just flying around. They helicoptered us, well not us, this is all because...

Taylor's the biggest and the best thing possible

Travis also talks about the Australian crowds at the Era's Tour, Sydney night 1 in February.

Australians are pretty Rowdy they like to have a good time yeah I like to have a good time gosh they were just like a little bit louder than the Argentinian crowd and I was not expecting that because Argentina was f****n loud and they were into it and and so was Sydney so Taylor's very fond of performing in Australia because of the crowds over there and how into it they get, so awesome shout out to Australia for showing up.

Personally feeling proud as an Aussie Swiftie!

Travis flies out to Singapore

March 7 - The Eras Tour, National Stadium, Singapore

Death By A Thousand Cuts x Babe (guitar)

Fifteen x You're On Your Own Kid (piano)

Travis and friends arrive in Singapore

Travis & Taylor head out to Gardens by the Bay after the show together (x)

Above image of Taylor & Travis was shared by Taylor on April 19, 2024 (x)

ET release article (x)

A source tells ET, "Taylor is super busy with her tour, but Travis and her are continuing to make things work. He is enjoying his life in the off season while trying to be as supportive as possible of Taylor. They make a great match and both see a real future together. They have talked about next steps and are on the same page."

March 8 - The Eras Tour, National Stadium, Singapore

Travis is in attendance with friends

Sparks Fly x Gold Rush (guitar) (x)

False God x Slut! (piano) (x)

“Karma is the guys on the Chiefs!” ❤️💛 (x x)

Travis cheers Taylor on until she meets him back stage for a kiss ( x x x x)

Taylor and Travis seen out for dinner at KOMA Japanese restaurant and Sushi Bar at Marina Bay Sands - Singapore with Taylor 's band and backup singers (x)

Travis pictured with fan at the concert - such kind words about Travis. Posted on IG March 10.

March 9 - The Eras Tour, National Stadium, Singapore

Travis is in attendance with friends for a second night in Singapore.

Tim McGraw x Cowboy Like Me (guitar)

Mirrorball x Epiphany (piano)

Taylor sings "Karma is the guy on the chiefs coming straight home to me" once again and has sweet interaction with Travis as she takes her bow at the end of the show, grinning, waving and blowing kisses to each other (x x x)

Taylor & Travis leave Singapore together returning to the USA.

March 10 - Taylor & Travis arrive in Los Angeles

ET article (x)

A source tells ET that [Taylor] is "happier than ever and so in love."

"She likes that Travis is so proud of her and that he isn't afraid to show his love for her publicly,"

"She is in a great place and having the best time performing, making music, and feeling free to live her life more openly," the source adds. "Travis is enjoying being on tour with Taylor and is happy to support her."

"Taylor views Travis as a true partner and someone she can have a real future with."

Academy Awards & Oscars After Parties

According to People (x)

The pair [Taylor & Travis] attended Gucci's 16th annual event known as "The Party" on Sunday night, which was held at talent manager Guy Oseary's home.

"They were on the patio and in great moods. She had a very happy, giant smile," a guest at the party tells PEOPLE. "He was protective of her and she was delightful and glowing — they seemed very happy together and loving the night."

Travis is photographed with an Oscar...

March 11 - Travis is out for lunch at Cecconi's in LA with some friends

March 12 - according to ET (x) with reference to “The Party” on March 10 into the early hours of the morning March 11…

The source added the GRAMMY-winning songstress and the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end were in high spirits throughout the evening, seen smiling, dancing, and engaging in conversations with friends.

Meanwhile, an eyewitness tells ET that the couple selected "The Party" because "they knew they would have privacy there." The eyewitness added, "They had a great time and were super cool to the other attendees. They felt like they could relax and kick back because of the no cellphone and photo policy. They spent most of the night close together and by each other's sides and looked happy and in love. They also spent time talking and hanging out with Miles and Keleigh [Teller]."

Travis records New Heights Podcast in LA (x)

Go to previous update -> February 2024 part 2

Go to next update -> March 2024 part 2

Return to the timeline

#taylor swift #taylor and travis #travis kelce #87 and 89 #taylor swift and travis kelce #traylor #killatrav #seemingly ranch #timeline #87 + 13 = 100 #Taylor & Travis timeline #TnT #Travlor #swelce #T&T

12 notes · View notes

religion-is-a-mental-illness · 4 months

Text

By: Michele Seminara

Published: Jan 4, 2024

My first exposure to what I now call “griftivism,” a hybrid of grifting and Critical Social Justice activism, occurred in the arts. It was 2020 when—in my role as managing editor of literary journal Verity La—I became embroiled in a social media cancellation precipitated by backlash to the publication of a story some deemed racist and sexist. The ensuing moral outrage razed our “little magazine that could” into internet infamy, where it remains strung up, replete with apologies, hanging its masthead in shame.

Verity means “truth,” and the journal’s motto was “Be Brave”—rendering its demise that little bit sorrier and sadder. The story that sank our publication depicted a disaffected Australian academic engaged in a sexual affair with a local woman while in the Philippines. The protagonist was uncomfortable with what the author described as the “patriarchal and colonial” power imbalance between his two characters, but not guilty enough to resist. He was an un-admirable and unreliable narrator, and in publishing the story, we sought to unveil an unsavory truth about how some men use women for casual sex. This truth was not well received.

What confounded me most about the backlash to the piece was not the mechanism of cancellation (if you’ve seen one online takedown, you’ve seen them all) but the beliefs and motivations of the cancellers, their supporters, and the silent mob of onlookers.

Upon examining this dynamic, I became aware of a new type of grifter who hitches their self-interest to activism and thrives in a culture hell-bent on “being kind”—or, at least, in appearing to be so. “Griftivists,” I call them.

The instigator of my cancellation was a colleague on the advisory board of our journal. Her bio on Ko-fi, an online “tip jar” to make “income directly from fans” proclaimed that she liked to “spread joy on social media, & care for others a lot.” Her Twitter feed was both a consummate work of self-curation and self-contradiction; earnest retweets from fellow social justice activists and scathing criticisms of “white people” (“Do not get me started on white men. Do not, ‘not all white’ me. I’m spicy today”) bookended daily selfies showcasing designer shoes, handbags, and dresses. Fine dining, trips to the theatre, and a steady stream of purchases sat incongruously beside tweets thanking followers for ostensibly essential UberEATS vouchers and requests to “buy her a Ko-fi” so that she could replace her cracked Miele cooktop or purchase a dehumidifier for her “damp” Sydney harbor-side apartment. Unbelievably, there was even a request for donations to enable the purchase of an alcoholic drink at the airport before boarding an international flight to go on vacation. Yet few seemed to notice the grift.

Someone that did was Sangeetha Thanapal, a Singaporean-Thamil writer and academic residing in Australia, who, in response to the plethora of praise showered on my colleague (“You are such a treasure. Such an advocate. Such a wonderful writer. We are lucky to have you in the world”), boldly tweeted, “It’s enraging to me that Singaporean Chinese people… who have access to every privilege and opportunity, can come here and play ‘person of colour.’ And y’all will fall for it cos you have zero understanding of the dynamics of race in Asia… This is why POC spaces in Australia will continue to shield privileged people like her while shutting out actually disadvantaged people like me.”

This surprised me. While I had no doubt that since moving to Australia my colleague had experienced racism, I hadn’t thought to question whether she was disingenuous to present herself as marginalized. She had, after all, grown up in a wealthy country as part of the dominant race and spoke English as her main language. Could she be appropriating disadvantage to her advantage, engaging in a kind of cultural double-dip to reap social and financial gain? For a lifelong small-l liberal, even entertaining the idea felt verboten.

* * *

Leading the charge in cancelling someone can be a profitable affair; in the cash-strapped arts, it can pay handsomely in the type of cultural capital that translates into invitations to publish work, speak at writers’ festivals, judge and win literary prizes, and secure competitive grants. In the year following the demise of my journal, my colleague succeeded in repurposing her tweets into a paid full-length article in a literary magazine, saw her Twitter followers burgeon from several hundred to nearly ten thousand, was featured in the news multiple times for her writing and social justice activism, and went on to receive two lucrative arts grants totaling seventy-five thousand dollars.

Of course, racism, disadvantage, and marginalization are real and must be challenged. Those dedicated to doing so have historically favored the left-wing of politics, a space heavily populated by my demographic: middle-class, educated white women (sometimes known as “bleeding hearts”). Having always been progressive, I was stunned by how swiftly and irrevocably I was recast during my cancellation as a “white supremacist.” A dreaded open letter signed by hundreds of my peers even demanded our funders withdraw their support for our “systemically racist” journal, despite the fact that we worked as volunteers and prioritized publishing and paying writers from marginalized demographics. Logically it made no sense; nonetheless, I was racked by guilt and shame.

However, after schooling myself in the recent trends in Western culture (a.k.a. scouring Twitter), my naiveté quickly resolved. I was both relieved and alarmed to discover that my case paled in comparison to more extreme pile-ons occurring around the world. Particularly in the arts, a space in which you might assume dissenting views could be aired and debated, there was a spate of ad hominem attacks being waged that seemed motivated by a mixture of moral certainty, self-advancement, and thinly veiled glee. As another Australian publisher confided to me when weathering their own public take-down, “One becomes a piñata.”

* * *

The moniker “Verity” in Verity La not only means “truth” but was inspired by the name of a once famous bookshop in Australia’s capital city, Canberra—which, in turn, was named after the inspirational woman who founded it. Verity Fitzhardinge brought literary culture to Canberra at a time when sheep still grazed on the paddocks of Old Parliament House and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was banned. From 1938-69, her bookshop was an oasis, a meeting place for thinkers, students and dissidents marooned in a cultural backwater. When Verity La was conceived in 2010, its founding editor happened to live on Verity Lane (rendered “Verity La.” on the street sign), and thus, the literary journal destined to live and die on the sword of its truth was born. Having no experience as an editor and no prescience, I enthusiastically took the helm in 2014 and would infamously go down with the ship just six years later.

After my cancellation, like the heterodox patrons gathered in Verity’s bookshop eighty years earlier, I sought comfort in knowing I was not alone. I discovered Counterweight, an organization established by author and academic Helen Pluckrose to help promote “reason and freedom by encouraging critical thinking” and support people like me who found themselves at odds with the new cultural climate. I devoured books, articles, and podcasts and realized that the verbal jabs thrown at me (“It’s not enough to be not racist, you have to be anti-racist!”) were not original but parroted from the rhetoric of far-left activism. As the 2020 global shitshow gathered steam, cultural commentators were warning that Critical Social Justice (CSJ)—a progeny of postmodernism and Critical Theory with roots in Marxism—had breached the walls of academia and was spreading its own divisive worldview.

CSJ was originally touted as a way to address “prejudice and discrimination on the grounds of characteristics like race, sex, sexuality, gender identity, disability and body size.” This certainly sounded rather positive to me. It appealed to my social conscience and to that of many others, as evidenced by the viral popularity of social media hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and corporate advertising campaigns like Nike’s "For Once, Don’t Do It," urging Americans not to turn their backs on the issue of racism.

Yet, as I discovered, the stated goal of ending bigotry was soon subverted—hijacked, if you will—by those wishing to bend the truth to their own advantage.

Perhaps this should come as no surprise since CSJ was born of the postmodern view that knowledge is not objective, but socially constructed to maintain power. Critical theorists scrutinize structures, language, and social interactions to identify and dismantle oppressive power systems and dominant “truths.” This makes for an enlightening thought experiment, but in the wilds beyond academia, it’s easy to see how things might go awry. For if there is no objective yardstick for ranking truths, how will we know what to believe, and what values will we allow to guide us?

Enter the de-and-postcolonial theorists who argued for not only dismantling power systems such as white supremacy but inverting them. Drawing on their revolutionary vision, CSJ activists declared that those best placed to call out the oppressors’ false truths and design fairer alternatives are the ones who suffer oppression most: the marginalized. Perhaps because, in the absence of any method for judging the worth of one socially constructed thing against another, our safest bet is to run in the opposite direction of the powerful towards the powerless. But while it’s undeniably fair and wise to acknowledge, listen to, and learn from the experience of marginalized people, when groups who are viewed as oppressed are elevated to an unquestionable ethical status, problems predictably arise.

This has been evidenced in numerous social justice movements over the last decade (think #MeToo’s “Believe All Women” slogan), with activists claiming that lived experience trumps all other forms of knowledge and that the most marginalized person’s lived experience is the most valid. It follows that your right to engage in cultural and political dialogue is now dependent on your identity and positionality: the lower your position, the higher your status and the more weight your “truth” holds. Any skepticism is dismissed as racist, sexist, and so on. Even if you are a “marginalized” person whose dissenting views are inconvenient to the majority of activists within your group, you risk being diagnosed with “internalized” prejudice or dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.” Sadly, progressives have adopted this worldview with empathic gusto. I know I did. Many well-meaning people do. And so have corporations, universities, whole industries, and governments, effectively transforming the left—a formerly meager hunting ground for opportunists seeking power and reward—into a space fertile with possibilities for those on the grift.

The socially-enforced expectation that we not question the efficacy of progressive activist movements (or risk backlash and potential cancellation) has proved a godsend for the griftivist and has engendered what cultural commentators call a form of “new puritanism.” Whereas society used to judge morality according to religious and conservative values, now there is a shift to make the same judgments based on absolute acceptance of the tenets of CSJ. This has fostered a rigid leftist ideology equal to the far-right in both its pronouncements of acceptable truth and willingness to extinguish dissent. That may seem counterintuitive for a theory embedded in postmodern skepticism, but it’s perhaps not so surprising given human nature; as Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There is now power in being oppressed (or at least in appearing to be) and by establishing themselves as the marginalized or their allies and espousing the requisite leftist beliefs whilst denouncing those who fail to do so, the unscrupulous griftivist—like the Wolf dressed in Grandma’s clothing—succeeds in veiling their selfish intent under a cloak of harmlessness and virtue. And soft-hearted progressives, not hip to the ruse, are being eaten up.

* * *

A 2023 study published in the journal Current Psychology by Ann Krispenz and Alex Bertrams of the University of Bern entitled “Understanding left-wing authoritarianism: Relations to the dark personality traits, altruism, and social justice commitment” provides insight into the psyche of the griftivist. First, researchers characterized left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) as comprising three interconnected factors: anti-conventionalism, top-down censorship, and anti-hierarchical aggression. “Anti-conventionalism” is a dogmatic endorsement of radical moral values coupled with a desire to impose them on others. “Top-down censorship” is the use of authority to quash opposition and suppress “offensive and intolerant” speech. And “anti-hierarchical aggression” is the drive to overthrow and punish those with power. Together these paint a recognizable, if somewhat disturbing, portrait of left-wing CSJ activism, where the most virulent proponents possess traits mirroring those we’re accustomed to seeing on the authoritarian far-right.

To better understand left-wing authoritarianism, researchers designed two studies exploring its relationship with narcissism and psychopathy, as well as its correlation with traits they defined as prosocial, like altruism and social justice commitment. They found that left-wing activists who endorse aggressive actions to overthrow those in power are more likely to demonstrate “manipulative and exploitative behaviors… self-perceived entitlement, arrogance, reactive anger, distrust, lack of empathy, and thrill-seeking.” They also found that “neither dispositional altruism nor social justice commitment was related to left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression.” In fact, they concluded that “some political activists on the left side of the political spectrum do not actually strive for social justice and the support of underprivileged groups or persons, but rather endorse or express violence for the satisfaction of their own ego-focused needs.” Meaning that the most strident and morally outraged CSJ activists might not be driven by the desire for social justice at all. Quite the opposite.

As Krispenz and Bertrams explained to the science news website PsyPost, left-wing activism provides bad-faith players with “opportunities for positive self-presentation and displays of moral superiority to gain social status and dominate others.” Worse, those who “strive for influential positions that involve social visibility and outreach as well as access to financial and other resources” will likely misuse progressive movements for private purposes and cause “irreparable financial and reputational harm.” Indeed, it would seem a significant number of those marching under the banner of “doing good” while extolling others to “do better” and “be kind” are impelled by selfish, devious, or even harmful motives. And some are just on the grift.

So concerned were the authors that they advised minority groups should be made aware of these “narcissistic ‘enemies’ from within” who might hijack their causes and whose behavior could lead to dwindling public support.

Furthermore, they identified a phenomenon they dubbed “the dark-ego-vehicle principle” in which “individuals with dark personalities—such as high narcissistic and psychopathic traits—are attracted to certain ideologies and forms of political activism.” For example, someone might “participate in a pro-BLM protest pretending to fight against racism while actually using such protesting activities to meet their own aggressive motives and thrills” or because “this form of activism can provide them with opportunities for positive self-presentation (e.g., virtue signaling).”

The trajectory of the discredited Black Lives Matter Global Network certainly bears this out. In the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020, corporations and individuals desperate to demonstrate their CSJ credentials poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the organization globally. Happy to profit off the empathy (or, more cynically, the virtue-signaling) of those willing to donate to BLM, one of its founders, Patrisse Cullors, controversially bought a house worth $1.4 million. Another BLM organizer, Xahra Saleem, was recently jailed for stealing donations intended for a British “anti-racist” group. And there are still several lawsuits involving alleged misuse of BLM funds by members ongoing; as UnHeard journalist Niall Gooch noted: “When a cause is hedged around with taboos... to the extent that obvious questions about governance, spending and oversight are simply not asked, that cause will attract grifters like moths to a flame.”

Of course, activism per se is not psychopathic; Krispenz and Bertrams’ study merely confirms that for a confluence of reasons, leftist CSJ movements are currently attracting dark personality types. There are still many political activists who get involved for positive reasons. That’s a relief on the one hand, but a concern on the other; it suggests that the volatile world of left-wing activism is currently a murky meeting point of malignant griftivists and socially conscious bleeding hearts being manipulated into rewarding them. It’s a worrying trend that—once recognized—you begin to see everywhere.

Take, for example, my field: writing and publishing. The dirty secret behind the submissions wall is that many editors now read bios before even considering a writer’s work, and all know that the way to secure lucrative government funding is to tick as many diversity boxes on grant applications as possible. Of course, many (perhaps even the majority) of those working in publishing are motivated by good intentions and aim to nurture and platform underrepresented writers. However, it’s not a stretch to imagine that as publishers jostle to showcase the work of the marginalized, they might attract the attention of a canny griftivist.

One who twigged to these opportunities earlier than most was Norma Bagain Toliopoulos (otherwise known as Norma Khouri), who made a literary killing in the early 2000s with her “memoir” Forbidden Love. The book hinged on the false narrative of its author growing up in Jordan before fleeing on witnessing her best friend’s “honor killing.” Norma referred to herself as a “humanitarian” and claimed she wrote the memoir to give voice to the plight of oppressed Arab women, yet was not only found to have duped her worldwide readership, but was investigated by the FBI for having swindled lovers, friends, family, and even elderly and infirm strangers out of at least one million US dollars. Her ruse was uncovered after her publisher, Random House, received a twelve-page dossier from the Jordanian Women’s Commission outlining seventy-three factual errors and discrepancies they had noticed in the book. An eighteen-month investigation revealed that, far from being a Jordanian who fled her home, Khouri was an American passport holder who had lived in Chicago from the age of three. Rana Husseini, a Jordanian writer and human-rights activist who spent years actually exposing and working to eradicate her country’s honor killings, told journalists that by profiting off false narratives about Middle-Eastern women’s deaths and appropriating the work of activists, Khouri—like the opportunistic Dark Triad individuals Krispenz and Bertrams warn of—had effectively “ruined our cause.”

A no less scandalous case is that of Egyptian-Australian activist Eman Sharobeem, who grifted on a fake narrative of being forced to marry her first cousin as a child bride before escaping to Australia. She was a finalist in the 2015 Australian of the Year Awards and founded two publicly funded not-for-profit community organizations to assist immigrant women before being found guilty of fraud in 2017 for misappropriating upwards of $800,000 in public funds for personal use. Like Khouri, Sharobeem styled herself as a women’s rights activist while stealing from the marginalized communities she claimed to support. She wasn’t investigated until a group of determined migrant women working for one of her organizations repeatedly filed complaints about her financial misappropriation and bullying of staff. Only then was it discovered the prominent activist’s entire backstory was fabricated, including her claim to have two PhDs. When asked how such fragrant lies could pass unchecked, the Immigrant Women's Health Service board chairman Audrey Lai testified, “We trusted Eman. We thought she had such a good reputation and high profile in the community, we didn't check. It's not very wise in hindsight but unfortunately we were very gullible because we believed in her.”

* * *

Establishing belief in an oppressed identity, a common enemy, or a worthy cause, is central to the griftivists’ game. And it’s disturbingly easy because few of the precariously privileged who have the power to call out their lies are prepared to risk questioning the veracity of a social justice activist’s claims; their reputations and often livelihoods depend upon asserting the emperor is indeed clothed.

Instead, the dirty business of calling out the truth is often left to the people who can afford it least but who it affects the most: people from the marginalized communities that the griftivists leech off.

Take, for example, the case of Rachel Dolezal, a white woman whose career, memoir, and Netflix documentary were based on her identification as a black American. While some white commentators were quick to reach for explanations such as mental instability and childhood trauma to explain Dolezal’s bizarre behavior, many black critics accused her of exploiting the history of black suffering in order to opt into victimhood and co-opt lucrative leadership positions in the black community. One of the most intriguing aspects of Dolezal’s case is that she continues to uphold her black identity despite admitting to being biologically Caucasian, claiming that race is just a “social construct”—another example of how the postmodern elasticization of “truth” is artfully manipulated by griftivists.

Another sphere where griftivists opting into an oppressed identity to secure advantage has succeeded is in the gender versus sex debate, with some biological men exploiting society’s support for transgender people to enter previously sex-segregated spaces, often with disastrous results. After violent criminal Stephen Wood (who adopted the name Karen White) expediently claimed to be trans while awaiting trial for multiple sexual crimes and then reoffended while housed in a women’s prison, there was outrage from both the gender critical and trans communities. Many feminists claimed such outcomes were the inevitable result of the recent legal and social sanctioning of gender self-identification and used the case to demonstrate the incompatibility of all trans women in all women’s spaces. However, trans activists, such as Steph Richards, denied that Wood was transgender at all and argued that by claiming to be so with nefarious intent, he had created a public and media backlash that harmed the trans rights movement. Indeed, in 2023, the British Ministry of Justice tightened its rules in an effort to curtail people of bad faith exploiting policies designed to keep inmates of all genders safe. As Richards pointed out, “Wood was very aware that the Prison Service procedures at that time (they have subsequently changed) meant that he could self-identify as a trans woman and easily get transferred to the female estate. This offered Wood two significant advantages... Firstly he himself would be in a safer environment... Secondly, he would be close to vulnerable cisgendered females and trans women—potentially more victims.” Yet another case where a malevolent griftivist exploited the empathy and damaged the reputation of the social justice movement that harboured him.

Griftivists and their cons come in many shapes and sizes—from hate crime hoaxes, to identity appropriation, to outrageously priced diversity dinners—but what they share is a canny eye for the opportunities created by Critical Social Justice ideology and a willingness to trade on progressive guilt in order to advance their own ends, often while destroying their competitors with allegations of bigotry. It’s beyond dispiriting.

In his essay ‘The Curse of the Man Who Could See the Little Fish at the Bottom of the Ocean,” sinologist Pierre Ryckmans pondered belief, truth and lies after the ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was confirmed in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre. For twenty years prior to the massacre, Ryckmans (who wrote for security reasons under the pen name Simon Leys) was a rare dissenting voice in the West. His warnings about the Chinese regime were drowned out by leftist media, academics, and film stars who were convinced that the Maoist Revolution was a net good. When asked how the world could have failed to recognize the reality of the CCP for so long, Ryckmans chose to ponder a much more profound question: “How and why do we usually endeavor to protect ourselves against the truth?” For, as he noted, the truth can be disturbing, inconvenient, and dangerous to acknowledge. Perhaps this explains why, in a culture captured by Critical Social Justice, we’re committed to not seeing certain obvious but unpopular “truths,” or to bending the truth so far out of shape with clever theories that it essentially becomes meaningless.

With a nuance atypical by today’s standards, Ryckmans’ article outlines the varied reasons people might choose to believe lies, even in the face of evidence to the contrary: “What people believe is essentially what they wish to believe. They cultivate illusions out of idealism—and also out of cynicism. They follow their own visions because doing so satisfies their religious cravings, and also because it is expedient. They seek beliefs that can exalt their souls, and that can fill their bellies. They believe out of generosity, and also because it serves their interests. They believe because they are stupid, and also because they are clever. Simply, they believe in order to survive. And because they need to survive, sometimes they could gladly kill whoever has the insensitivity, cruelty, and inhumanity to deny them their life-supporting lies.”

The lies peddled by CSJ activism and exploited by griftivists are not ones we are supposed to question, and yet, everyone does—in their minds, in their hearts, and in private rooms and messages, away from the censorious and punitive eyes and ears of ideologues.

We question privately because to do so publicly risks joining the ranks of the cancelled, becoming one of the shunned. Calling out griftivists can extract a heavy personal and professional price.

One of the more tragic examples in recent years is that of Canadian school principal Richard Bilkszto who took his own life after being publicly shamed for questioning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson during a Zoom presentation in which she claimed that Canada was a bastion of “white supremacy and colonialism.” The Toronto District School Board has finally announced an investigation into Bilkszto’s tragic case, but not before two years of bullying, disbelief, and social media pile-ons fatally took their toll. While his family must continue without him, Bilkszto’s peers who smeared him as racist for merely questioning Ojo-Thompson’s “truth” have prevailed.

Human rights activist Ginetta Sagan wrote that “silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor.” The questions we might ask in cases like Bilkszto’s are: where was the injustice and who was the oppressor? Or perhaps it’s time to drop the often-weaponized framework of oppressor and oppressed entirely for something that has the potential to unite us.

I imagine only a handful who took part in my cancellation did so out of self-interest or spite. Most believed the “truth” my detractors spun, and those who didn’t played along or stayed silent for fear of joining the ranks of the cancelled. Their fears were well-founded; the power of the scarlet letter is frighteningly real. To disarm the griftivists and limit the harm they cause their victims and the justice movements they claim to champion, more of us must fight for what Verity La tried to: truth and the bravery to face it. By doing so, and by speaking up, we can strip the Wolf of Grandma’s clothing and unveil bad-faith players.

#Michele Seminara #griftivism #grifting #social justice activism #critical social justice #machiavellianism #Richard Bilkszto #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity training #equity #inclusion #diversity #hate crime hoax #religion is a mental illness

12 notes · View notes