#they commit acts of terror on large governing systems | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

instantpay · 2 months

Text

How Compliance Fosters Trust and Growth for Businesses Today

In today's fast-paced business world compliance is not just about obeying laws, especially now that regulations are evolving all the time. It is a cornerstone for every successful company. Observing rules and regulations is not just about avoiding penalties; it is about creating trust between an entity and its customers. Whereby a firm proves its commitment to compliance, this tells the buyers that it carries itself with honesty and respect for the law.

This cultivates a sense of assurance and loyalty from customers hence making them do businesses with such entities even in future. Additionally, compliance can enable business expansion in different areas. Firms are able to avoid difficulties they may encounter while penetrating into new markets by keeping to regulations.

But beyond that, compliance has more benefits than what one could imagine at first sight. A good compliance programme that stresses proactive risk management and ethical conduct can help foster accountability within an organisation. This subsequently keeps the organisation from facing legal problems and damaging its reputation down the road. Furthermore, as regulations become increasingly complex, companies that invest in strong compliance capabilities will be better placed to negotiate through this dynamic landscape over time and prosper accordingly in the long-term perspective.

Understanding Compliance for Indian Business

Compliance refers to the act of adhering to rules, regulations, laws, standards, or guidelines established by an authority or governing body. It involves ensuring that individuals, organisations, or systems adhere to these established requirements to avoid legal or regulatory penalties, financial losses, or reputational damage.

Compliance can apply to numerous areas such as business operations, finance, healthcare, environmental protection, data security, and more. It often involves implementing policies, procedures, and controls to ensure adherence to the regulations and standards relevant to a particular industry.

In the financial sector, companies are facing increasingly stringent know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Know Your Customer (KYC): This regulation requires financial institutions to thoroughly verify the identities of their customers. This is done by collecting personal information, such as name, address, and date of birth, and verifying it against government-issued IDs. KYC helps prevent financial crime by making it more difficult for criminals to launder money or finance terrorism.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML): AML regulations are designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegal funds as legitimate income. Financial institutions are required to monitor customer transactions for suspicious activity and report any such activity to the authorities. This includes transactions that are large, unusual for the customer, or involve high-risk countries.

Consumer Protection: Financial regulations also encompass consumer protection. They ensure that customers are treated fairly and that banking practices do not harm them. This includes requirements for clear disclosure of terms and fees, fair lending practices, and protection of customer data.

Market Integrity: Compliance also promotes fair and efficient markets. Regulations prevent insider trading, market manipulation, and other activities that could harm investors.

Risk Management: Financial compliance involves identifying, assessing, and managing risks. This helps financial institutions protect themselves from fraud, cyberattacks, and other threats.

By adhering to these regulations, financial institutions can help maintain a stable and secure financial system, protect consumers, and prevent financial crime. Related Reads: Future-Proof Your Online Business for the Digital Age

All About Central Know Your Customers (CKYC)

The Indispensable Role of Digital Identity Verification

Navigating the Digital Realm with Know Your Customer Precision

The Importance of Compliance for Business - Why is It So Critical Today?

Compliance has become a front-and-centre issue for companies today. Beyond just avoiding penalties, a robust compliance program powers key benefits:

Builds Customer Trust & Loyalty – In today's world, consumers, especially younger generations like millennials and Gen Z, are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on a company's ethical practices and sense of accountability. Conversely, businesses that fail to act ethically risk a significant loss of customer trust. Social media has empowered consumers to research and share information about companies with ease, so negative news travels fast.

On the other hand, companies that cultivate a reputation for trustworthiness are not only likely to retain their existing customer base but will also find it easier to attract new customers. Millennials and Gen Z are brand loyal when they connect with a company's values, and they are vocal advocates for brands they admire. By acting ethically, companies can expand their market reach and achieve long-term success.

Rules Strengthen – Regulators have enacted stricter KYC, AML, and data security rules to crack down on financial crimes and protect consumers. This proactive regulatory approach reflects a collective commitment to fostering a secure and transparent financial ecosystem, ensuring that financial institutions adhere to the highest standards of integrity while fortifying consumer trust.

Negligence Costs – Regulators are closely monitoring compliance, ready to slap hefty fines on lapses. Non-compliance exposes companies to huge potential costs, from fines and lawsuits to reputational damage impacting revenue and growth.

Increases Revenue – Partners and clients are more inclined to do business with companies that adhere to compliance standards. This can lead to a significant increase in sales revenue, as compliance becomes a key factor in business-to-business partnerships. Moreover, major banks and financial institutions will only work with compliant partners to avoid regulatory and reputation risk.

Improves Processes & Systems – Adhering to the latest regulations pushes companies to adopt stronger systems, standards and practices. This not only enhances internal systems and daily operations but also ensures the safety of both employees and customers.

Reduces Risk – Compliance is a shield against legal risks, protecting companies from lawsuits and hefty regulatory fines. By following regulations, businesses safeguard their financial well-being and maintain the trust of stakeholders.

In light of these realities, compliance has become both a strategic imperative and competitive advantage for leading companies.

Understanding Compliance In Banking & Fintech

In the realm of banking and fintech, compliance is crucial for ensuring the safety and security of financial information. Protecting personal information, preventing fraud, and meeting legal requirements are essential for maintaining the integrity of financial services.

For instance, KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations require verifying identities before onboarding customers. This process involves:

Collecting and validating identifying documents

Cross-checking against authoritative databases

Approving only legitimate and verified users

Additionally, AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations mandate ongoing monitoring of customer transactions to detect suspicious patterns that could indicate potential money laundering or other financial crimes.

Furthermore, ensuring data privacy and security is paramount. This involves:

Securely collecting, storing, and transmitting customer data using encryption techniques

Implementing robust access controls, such as passwords and multi-factor authentication

Adhering to the principle of data minimisation, collecting only the necessary customer data for the services provided By diligently adhering to these compliance measures, financial institutions can foster trust, mitigate risks, and maintain a secure and reliable environment for their customers.

Ensuring Compliance in Indian Business - Turning Compliance Into An Advantage

Compliance is an ongoing journey, not a one-and-done activity. It goes beyond mere regulatory adherence, encompassing ethical practices and the building of customer trust. Regulations will only expand as technologies like AI, blockchain and open banking take hold. To stay ahead:

Think long-term – Prioritise long-term gains over short-term expediency. Shortcuts that might seem convenient today can expose the company to significant legal and financial risks down the road. Invest in building a strong compliance foundation, this ensures stability and avoids costly scrambling to fix problems later.

Invest in automation –Tools like identity verification and transaction monitoring solutions can significantly reduce the manual effort required for compliance, freeing up your team's time for strategic initiatives. Automate repetitive tasks, This improves accuracy and reduces the risk of human error.

Make it a culture – Make compliance a core value, not just a legal obligation.

Empower everyone to be accountable. Train employees at all levels to understand their role in compliance. This fosters a sense of shared responsibility and ownership. Encourage employees to speak up about potential issues without fear of retaliation. This helps identify and address problems early on.

Collaborate with regulators – Maintain a transparent and cooperative relationship with regulatory bodies. Proactively engage with regulators. Stay informed about upcoming regulations and demonstrate your commitment to compliance.View regulations as an opportunity to improve your practices. Compliance can lead to better risk management and a more secure operation.

Showcase your commitment to compliance. Consumers are increasingly concerned about data privacy and security. By promoting your strong compliance practices, you can build trust and attract customers.Compliance can be a differentiator. In today's competitive landscape, a reputation for ethical behaviour and data protection can be a significant advantage.

While compliance undoubtedly comes with a cost, the consequences of negligence can prove far costlier in the long run. As businesses navigate the intricacies of regulatory frameworks, the investment in compliance becomes a strategic decision for long-term success.

Instantpay: Paving the Way for Seamless Compliance in Indian Business Operations

At Instantpay, we understand the challenges businesses face in staying ahead of evolving regulations. Our commitment is to assist companies in turning compliance from a cost into a competitive advantage. Here's how:

Faster Onboarding: Our automated ID verification streamlines the onboarding process, ensuring a swift and seamless experience for users.

Real-time Identity Checks: We verify user identities against official databases in real-time, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of the verification process.

Comprehensive Validation: Our suite of identity verification and onboarding APIs covers a range of factors, including addresses, income, and employment, providing a holistic approach to compliance.

By partnering with Instantpay, businesses can focus on their core operations, confident that compliance is not a hindrance but a strategic advantage. Let's connect and explore how Instantpay can future-proof your business in the ever-changing landscape of regulatory requirements.

The Bottom Line

In the dynamic world of fintech, compliance emerges as an essential for businesses aspiring to foster trust and achieve sustainable growth. From building customer trust to reducing risks and improving operational processes, compliance is a multifaceted tool that goes beyond regulatory checkboxes. As the financial landscape continues to evolve, businesses must view the importance of compliance for business not merely as a requirement but as a strategic imperative. Instantpay stands as a reliable partner in this journey, helping businesses navigate the complexities of compliance and transforming it into a competitive advantage. In an era where regulations shape relationships, businesses that prioritise compliance are poised for enduring success.

Compliance is about much more than avoiding penalties. It's about putting customers first, leading with ethics and building companies that stand the test of time. Companies that get compliance right have much to gain today and tomorrow.

FAQs

1. Why is compliance important for Indian businesses?

Compliance is paramount for Indian businesses as it serves as a safeguard against legal risks, ensuring adherence to laws and regulations. By prioritising compliance, businesses build trust with stakeholders, avoiding potential fines, reputational damage, and legal consequences that could otherwise hinder operational efficiency and profitability.

2. How does regulatory compliance contribute to the success of a business?

Regulatory compliance is a cornerstone for business success, fostering ethical conduct and shielding against legal liabilities. Beyond that, it elevates the organisational reputation by promoting a culture of integrity, transparency, and accountability. Also, it helps attract investors, customers, and top-tier employees.

3. Why is compliance crucial for the overall health of a business?

It serves as a proactive measure to mitigate risks, prevent penalties, and preserve the reputation of the business. This commitment to compliance cultivates a culture of responsibility and integrity, laying the groundwork for long-term success and growth in a dynamic regulatory landscape.

4. What are the key responsibilities and roles of compliance within an organisation?

The primary role of compliance within an organisation is to ensure alignment with applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards. This involves conducting comprehensive risk assessments, developing and updating policies, providing ongoing training, and implementing robust monitoring mechanisms.

5. How does compliance impact customer relationships for businesses?

Compliance plays a pivotal role in building and maintaining customer trust. By adhering to ethical practices and legal standards, businesses reassure customers, fostering a sense of reliability and dependability. This trust is integral for customer loyalty and sustained growth.

6. How does compliance adapt to the ever-changing regulatory landscape?

Compliance is not a one-time effort; it's an ongoing process. Organisations need to stay vigilant, regularly update policies, and invest in training to adapt to evolving regulations. This adaptability ensures that businesses remain resilient and can navigate through the complexities of an ever-changing regulatory environment.

7. What role does technology play in ensuring compliance for businesses?

Technology, like the solutions offered by Instantpay, can streamline and enhance the compliance process. Automated identity verification, real-time checks against official databases, and comprehensive validation tools not only ensure adherence to regulations but also make compliance more efficient, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations.

0 notes

mnmlawpartners · 4 months

Text

Everything You Need to Know About Public Interest Litigation in India

In the vast landscape of legal proceedings, one term that has gained significant prominence in India is "Public Interest Litigation" (PIL). the legal framework has grown into a potent tool that allows individuals and organizations to tackle matters of public interest, With its foundations in administrative law. In this blog let us explore everything you need to know about Public Interest Litigation in India.

What Is a Public Interest Litigation?

Generally, The meaning of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) refers to legal proceedings initiated in a court of law to safeguard the "Public Interest." Any issue that impacts the interest of the general public can be addressed through the filing of a Public Interest Litigation, encompassing concerns such as Pollution, Terrorism, Road safety, Construction hazards, and more.

What Are the Types of Public Interest Litigation?

The types of Public Interest Litigation are classified as:

Representative Social Action

Representative Social Action involves litigation filed by an individual or group on behalf of others who may not have the means or resources to approach the court independently. Individuals are empowered to be the voice of the marginalized through this form of PIL.

Citizen Social Action

On the other hand, Citizen Social Action involves Public Interest Litigation initiated directly by concerned citizens who perceive an issue affecting the public at large. The role of an engaged and proactive citizenry in legal matters is highlighted by this form.

What Is the Nature and Scope of Public Interest Litigation in India?

Nature of Public Interest Litigation in India

Social Justice and Public Interest

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India is deeply intertwined with the pursuit of social justice. Equitable legal remedies are catalyzed by it, ensuring fairness and equal treatment for all.

Locus Standi and Liberal Interpretation

The nature of PIL in India is characterized by a liberal interpretation of locus standing, allowing individuals or groups to represent the wider public interest. This will make sure inclusivity in accessing the legal system.

Judicial Activism

Judicial activism is fostered by Public Interest Litigation, enabling societal issues to be proactively addressed by the judiciary. A dynamic approach to problem-solving beyond traditional legal constraints is reflected in this nature.

Remedies Beyond Traditional Damages

PIL goes beyond conventional legal remedies, seeking systemic changes rather than mere monetary compensations. The nature of PIL is distinguished from typical litigation by this innovative approach.

Environmental Conservation

Environmental conservation is encompassed by the nature of PIL, with cases addressing pollution, deforestation, and wildlife protection. As a potent force for preserving India's natural resources, Public Interest Litigation appears.

Human Rights Protection

Public Interest Litigation serves as a robust shield for protecting human rights. PIL addresses issues of discrimination and inequality by contributing to the advancement of fundamental rights.

Access to Healthcare and Education

PIL plays a key role in assuring access to healthcare and education for all citizens. Its commitment to promoting a healthy and educated society is highlighted by the nature of PIL.

Consumer Protection

Public Interest Litigation acts as a guardian of consumer rights. Cases related to misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices find resolution through PIL, ensuring consumer protection.

Public Accountability and Governance

PIL's nature includes holding public officials accountable and ensuring transparent governance. Good governance and accountability in administrative actions are promoted by it.

Scope of Public Interest Litigation in India

Access to Justice

The scope of PIL in India significantly contributes to enhancing access to justice. Justice being accessible to all is ensured by Public Interest Litigation by providing a platform for individuals and organizations.

Environmental Protection

PIL's scope extends to matters concerning environmental protection. As a powerful tool, environmental degradation is prevented, and sustainable development is promoted by it.

Human Rights

The broad scope of PIL encompasses human rights issues, addressing discrimination and safeguarding individual rights. PIL plays a pivotal role in the advancement of a rights-based society.

Government Accountability

Public Interest Litigation's scope includes ensuring government accountability by allowing citizens to question policies and actions. It enables transparency and governance responsiveness.

Corruption and Good Governance

PIL serves as a vital instrument in addressing corruption and promoting good governance. It acts as a deterrent, bringing issues of maladministration to the forefront.

Social Justice

The scope of PIL is integral to achieving social justice. by contributing to the creation of an inclusive and society equitable and It manages issues of inequality and discrimination.

Consumer Rights

PIL's scope extends to the protection of consumer rights. it gives rights to the consumers to aspire to justice against unfair trade practices and also makes sure that their rights are upheld.

Education and Health

PIL plays a vital role in shaping policies related to education and healthcare. By addressing deficiencies in these sectors, it contributes to the overall well-being and development of society.

Media and Freedom of Expression

The safeguarding of the freedom of expression, a cornerstone of democracy, is included in the scope of PIL. Cases related to media censorship and restrictions on free speech often find resolution through PIL.

Innovative Remedies

PIL allows for innovative remedies beyond traditional legal measures. It allows the judiciary to compose solutions that address individual challenges, fostering adaptability in the legal system.

Eligibility Criteria for Public Interest Litigation in India?

Eligibility Criteria for Public Interest Litigation in India is open to any citizen with a genuine interest in a matter that affects the public at large. The broader welfare of society must be focused on by the petitioner, and personal interests must not be pursued. The legal right and ability to file a case are really important prerequisites.

In India, the eligibility criteria extend to various avenues:

Anyone with Interest: Individuals or groups with a genuine interest in a matter.

Directly Affected Individuals: Those directly affected by the issue at hand.

Influencers for Change: Positive change can be influenced by individuals.

Legal Right and Ability: The petitioner or group must have the legal right and ability to file a lawsuit.

Any Indian citizen can file a public litigation in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution, in a High Court under Article 226, or in a magistrate court under Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

When Can Public Interest Litigation Be Rejected?

Despite its broad scope, some situations are When Can Public Interest Litigation Be Rejected? While social justice is facilitated by PIL, there are instances when such petitions may be rejected by the court. This could be due to the lack of a genuine public interest motive or if the matter falls outside the purview of PIL.

Frivolous Petitions: PIL case petitions lacking substance and filed for frivolous reasons may be rejected.

Personal Vendetta: If the litigation is motivated by personal vendetta rather than a genuine concern for public interest, it may be rejected.

Abuse of Judicial Process: If the court finds that the petitioner is abusing the judicial process or seeking personal gain, the PIL may be rejected.

Failure to Comply with Procedures: Failure to adhere to procedural requirements or guidelines may result in the rejection of a PIL.

Matters That Cannot Be Taken as a Public Interest Litigation Petition

Certain matters, even if of public concern, may not qualify as suitable for PIL. This includes

Private disputes without public interest.

where Matters are pending before other courts.

Matters affect only individuals without a wider societal impact.

For a comprehensive understanding of Public Interest Litigation, legal help on Public Interest Litigation, may be necessary. One can reach out to M&M Law Partners, Best Civil Lawyers in Delhi firm with expertise in these matters.

FAQ -

Can a Government Employee File a Public Interest Litigation in India?

Yes, a government employee can file a Public Interest Litigation if the issue raised is of public importance and not related to their grievances as an employee.

What Is the Importance of Public Interest Litigation?

The safeguarding of the broader interests of society, the promotion of justice, and the holding of authorities accountable for their actions are important through the mechanism of Public Interest Litigation.

Can a Foreigner File a Public Interest Litigation in India?

Foreigners are generally not eligible to file PIL in India. The petitioner must be an Indian citizen or an entity with a legal right to sue. However, it might be considered, when the matter has an effective public interest.

#legal firm #public litigation #m&m law partners #law #litigation

0 notes

dipperdesperado · 2 years

Text

MORE Story Ideas for my Feature Film Project (Project Dangerous Lovers)

For Project Dangerous Lovers, I spent some time thinking of interesting ideas for what the story could be. I have some initial situations, and the idea of using speculative fiction to explore different power structures relating to authoritarianism is exciting to me as well as some of my friends that I asked. Today, I’ll be doing some more Idea generation, and lead that into trying to come up with beats, scenes, characters, and moments for the story.

Situation (overall story arc)

Man gets roped into cell of terrorist group

Man’s love interest draws him into this world where he commits despicable acts in the name of freedom

Man follows love interest into terror group, charismatic leader wants them to become more brutal

Man has to learn the truth about “terrorists”, sees government for what it really is

Man joins terrorist group in caper to kill the president

Theme

You shouldn’t throw your life away in the pursuit of goals

Privileged people have to be told that they’re privileged

Love is dangerous

Be careful who you choose to idolize

Character (main character stuff)

Likability

Hardworking

-malleable

Proactivity

anxious/scared to pursue

Competence

Undrstanding society of “overworld”

Doesn’t understand “lowerworld”

Possible Idea Statements

A man doing his yearly identity renewal meets a peculiar clerk. When the president comes in with his entourage. The clerk tries to kill the president, and when it fails she takes the man hostage.

A man doing his yearly identity renewal meets a peculiar clerk. The clerk turns out to be an insurrectionist. Later on, she brings the team to the president’s office to take him down. The man chases them down and gets dragged into their plot.

100 boxes method

To come up with more ideas for the different story elements, I did some brainstorming using one of my go-to methods, “100 boxes”. If you want to know more about the 100 boxes method, you can subscribe to my mailing list, and I’ll send you a document I made that breaks it down!. There’s not a great way to showcase all of the ideas, so I’m just going to list them all.

Flaming Dog

Flame Corp (Military)

Fire Users

Fire Dept

Fire Force

Animation influence

LI not a vixen

A Story = romance

Cool guns

MC uses guns?

Any special powers?

Any connection to the real world?

Alternate Earth

Nation-State

Free Coalition

MC as secretary

MC as janitor

Love interest as evil

Don’t show president’s personality

Espionage montage

One big caper

heist setup

Capture president

work in the government

multiple double agents

animal farm

western stuff sux

create opposing systems

charismatic leaders

decadence

Large wealth divides

Other traitors from nation-state

People not missing, but defected

Tiers in military

Roman military inspiration

USA military inspiration

Guerilla warfare stuff

fighting in wastelands

Caper + siege

Journey to wastelands

Life in the wastelands

Working on a single mission

Does the president need to die?

Zaun / Piltover

How are the people being subjugated?

Gangs?

Gradation of alignment

Nation-State = Bad

Gangs = Neutral

Insurrectionists = Good

Classic Hero’s Journey

Cultist insurrectionists

Waiting to kill president for ritual

Ritual bringing salvation

Ritual will give them superpowers

Monkey’s paw powers

Can run fast but causes pain proportional to force,

Can teleport, but only when sneezing

control of the elemental forces

identity form based on authoritarian questionaries

For MC, clerk changes/adds question

MC has to unlearn preconceived notions

MC as secret service, guarding president

MC has friends in secret service

LI is working there as cook

Love interest tries to poison prez

MC catches her

MC gets knocked out by her

MC is fearful of change

MC is susceptible to authoritarian programming/dog whistles

MC and love interest have wholesome act 2 scenes

End of movie shows that victory comes at a cost

team of insurrectionists

Each member has a role

They are all on site when MC meets love interest

Blasphemous style masks for highest military rank

destiny style mask for midranks

absolver style mask for lower ranks

Nation state has better weapons

NS has way more soldiers and security

NS has a high quotient of people that agree

people from NS view insurrectionist like people viewed ISIS back in 2016

Unique technology

Earth-like tech

Unique vehicles

Unique weather

Unique culture

Unique biomes

Unique climate

Unique non-human companions

Talking robot as friend

Animals as silent companions

Space society

High quality technology

MC and love interest train together

Insurrectionist leader encourages brutality

Likability ↓ Proactivity ↑ Competence ↑ (MC)

Likable and Competent love interest

Deep dive into worldbuilding (finding places for expo dumps)

show the regular people in both societies

(MC = main character, LI = love interest)

Sheesh, that’s a long list. A lot of it is random, which is just a result of the brainstorming, but there are definitely some gems in there. Next, we’ll move to synthesize some of the ideas into exciting areas.

#PDL #writing #creative writing #filmmaking #creative #film #writers of tumblr #screen writer #screenwriter #screenwriting #scriptwriting #script #script writing #storytelling #writing ideas #writing community #writers #writeblr #writer things

1 note · View note

theravenclawrevolutionary · 3 years

Note

i'm not a frev expert. and you seem to be approchable enough and to have read enough. i had a question, or kind of a question. i just. i think that if robespierre wasn't against all the deaths by guillotine, he wouldn't have written that quote about virtue and terror. maybe i'm getting you wrong, or i'm not understanding the sense of that quote. could you explain?

Oh dang. I'm kinda surprised that people think I have any real authority on the subject of the Frev since I'm not an actual historian or anything and I'm surprised people find me approachable but of course I'll try my best for you Anon! And if anyone else has a better interpretation or anything else to add please, go ahead. I'll also try my best to keep it in as simple language as I can. But I digress.

⚠ This post is quite long so be prepared for that ⚠

First of all, Robespierre has more than one quote talking about terror and virtue. I'm assuming that you're thinking of the one that goes, "Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country." since that is the most common one. However, if you're talking about the one that goes "Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country." Let me know and I'll write about that one. The former is definitely a quote that, in my experience studying the Frev, gets misinterpreted from what it was originally meant to say fairly often.

To start with, it's very important to know what connotation and definition the words 'virtue' and 'terror' had in revolution-era France. Modern-day definitions may not be the same ones that were used in the past. According to my research, which of course isn't infallible, virtue was used to refer to someone's disposition and the way it would lead them to choose good over evil whereas where terror was seen simply as great fear. At the time there was no connotation of our modern-day terrorism to associate with the word. Nowadays we associate terror with terrorism which brings to mind murder, mindless destruction, oppression, and unchecked authority in which someone's ideals are forced upon large groups of people. Because of this many people assume that this is what Robespierre had in mind when he referenced terror when really he meant to describe the use of intimidation tactics to seize power from those who oppressed the lower class people and the general fear that was felt by the commoners.

Essentially the Reign of Terror meant 'a time period where everyone felt a sh*t load of Fear over all the bad stuff happening at once while the regular people try to overthrow the oppressive ruling class with intimidation tactics.' It does not mean 'a time period where loads of people were purposely committing widespread acts of terrorism to push their agendas'. And really, it was the only way to give everyone the chance to get rid of the old government, the monarchy, and allow a fair democracy that would be beneficial to the future of France to be built.

Next, it's important to know the context in which this quote was originally said. The speech where Robespierre said it took place on Feb 5th (?) of 1794. By this point, the revolution has been well underway for several long years and, as I said, a lot of sucky things are happening at the same time. The republic was in a war with a massive part of Europe and they're kinda getting curb-stomped. The country is in a state of civil war between the people that still supported the monarchy and all the different groups that had different views of how the country should be run. France's economy was complete sh*t too, so all this really radicalized the people and made the whole revolution situation so much worse than it already was.

At the time there were two factions, so to say, in the National Convention that were hella pissed at each other and really at odds. the Hébertists (who, to make things easy, wanted to escalate the Terror, go on the offensive with the military, and the overthrow and replace some of the existing government structures at the time) and the Dantonists (who wanted to sorta get rid of the revolutionary government, negotiate for peace in the war, and chill out on the whole Terror thing). And remember that these groups of people were very loose and like people in today's politic didn't agree with every stance their 'faction' took.

By the time Max made this speech, which was addressing these two groups, the situation between them was escalated big time. The Hébertists, with their views of 'more terror all over! That'll help us win everything,' or 'terror without virtue,' were pushing for a system that would quickly prove fatal. By contrast, the Dantonists with their, 'we just need to kinda chill and things will work out,' way of thinking or 'virtue without terror', would only lead to them (and the rest of the country) getting walked over by everyone else.

Throughout the entire speech, a speech I haven't recently read all the way through, Max comes back to the idea of terror and virtue, stressing that both are necessary. What I think he meant to do was talk about how the revolution couldn't survive without both terror (fear and the aggression that causes it) and virtue (the choice of good over evil) being applied. He's trying to explain to both groups that a little bit of both ideals is the most beneficial way to go about things. In reality, it has nothing to do with whether he personally believed in or advocated the death penalty/ the use of the guillotine. Instead, Robespierre is emphasizing that at that particular moment in time doing what is right and good (virtue) will most likely end up causing some bad things that will make people afraid for a while (terror).

What Robespierre is not saying is that terror, and by extension the violence that is causing the terror is virtuous. There are several easy-to-find sources that prove his personal disapproval of the death penalty from a moral standpoint. As a young lawyer in his hometown in Arras, he became physically ill at the idea of having one of his clients sentenced to death, even though he was found guilty of the crime he was on trial for. He made a speech agreeing with the abolition of the death penalty on May 30th of 1791 (?) arguing that there is no place for the death penalty in a civilized society because the law needs to be a model of what is good. He attempted to save the lives of Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins, two friends/coworkers that he is commonly charged with sending to their deaths when the opposite is actually true. Additionally, he did the same with other more controversial people including the king's sister of all people, Madame Elisabeth. Even when voting for the death of the king he reiterates his own opinion on the death penalty saying, "For myself, I abhor the penalty of death that your law so liberally imposes, and I have neither love nor hatred for the King; it is only the crimes that I hate…. It is with regret that I utter this baneful truth…Louis must die in order that our country may live." Though it conflicts with his personal views, Robespierre makes the decision based on the needs of France as a country, something that many politicians need to relearn how to do today.

Long story short, he was not supporting the use of the guillotine with that quote, but rather trying to get two opposing factions to realize that both intimidation/fear and making sound, beneficial decisions would keep France on the right track to building a successful democracy for the people. Hopefully this helped and I explained it in a way that was easy for you to understand. If you ever have any more Frev related questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer or I'll send you in the direction of someone else more knowledgeable if I don't know.

Also, can someone tell me if I did a good job of explaining this? I can never tell if things I write about the Frev make sense to me because I actually know exactly what I mean to say so everyone else kinda goes along with it or if I actually say helpful things of substance. Thanks guys! And if anyone else knows more about the subject or if I've made a mistake please help me out.

~Dara

#french revolution #robespierre #frev #maximilien robespierre #history #history facts #historical quotes #politics #my idiot explanations #idk if i worded this right #or if i even explained it right #i hope i helped though

35 notes · View notes

bring-it-all-down · 3 years

Text

I am begging people to familiarize themselves with US efforts to overthrow the Cuban government in order to reinstate private corporations.

Prior to the 1959 revolution, American businesses owned the vast majority of the country’s sugar production as well as roughly 70% of the country’s land. This land was organized into a plantation system consisting of latifundia––large privately-owned pieces of land worked by slaves. This ownership was aided by America’s support (and installation) of the brutal dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who received monetary and military support in violently silencing the poor Cubans who opposed his suspension of civil liberties, including the right to strike. During the Cuban revolution, many of these landowners and business owners escaped to America rather than cooperating with the revolution and allowing their property to be nationally controlled. JFK in 1963 admitted that Batista’s regime was the fault of the US.

After the nationalization of Cuba’s industries, like sugar plantations, oil refineries, and banks, the U.S. authorized the CIA to begin attempts to overthrow the government and re-establish American private corporations on the island.

The first such attempt was the Bay of Pigs invasion in April of 1961. The invasion was carried out by a combination of CIA-funded Cuban exiles (named the Democratic Revolutionary Front) and members of the US military. The 1,400 invaders where defeated after only three days, however, after Castro took over leadership of the Cuban troops.

Following this embarrassment, JFK announced a full trade embargo on Cuba, beginning in February 1962. This trade embargo is still in place and has denied Cuba roughly $130 billion over the past 6 decades, according to both Cuban and United Nations estimates.

In November of 1961, the US government created another project to overthrow the Cuban government, titled Operation Mongoose. This project was more secretive and sinister than the Bay of Pigs invasion, involving political, psychological, military, intelligence, and assassination components meant to destabilize the entire Castro regime and bring the island back under American control. This operation distributed anti-Castro propaganda in Cuba, the US, and worldwide; funded militias in Cuba; established guerilla bases throughout the country; carried out attacks on power plants, oil refineries, sugar mills, and other manufacturing sites; and attempted multiple times to assassinate Castro and other Communist Party members (the CIA planned at least 500 assassination attempts against Castro in his lifetime). The Operation was scaled back in late 1962 due to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In conjunction with Operation Mongoose, the US considered implementing Operation Bounty––distributing leaflets around Cuba offering significant monetary rewards for the murder of Castro and a handful of other party members––and Operation Northwoods––committing acts of terrorism against US military and civilians in the US and Cuba and blaming them on Cuba. These projects were both allegedly ultimately rejected.

From 1960 to 1962, the US facilitated Operation Peter Pan, in which Catholic “charities” and the US government sent 14,000 unaccompanied children (mainly of upperclass families) to the US so they wouldn’t be enrolled in the government’s literacy campaign. While many children were eventually reunited with their families, others were placed in foster families as far away as Illinois and New York. They were all made to learn English and speak only in English in the orphanages in which they all lived for at least 6 months. The result was an alienation from their Cuban culture and an indoctrination into US propaganda.

On October 6, 1976, CIA-assisted Cuban exiles planted bombs on Cubana de Aviación Flight 455, departing from Barbados and heading toward Jamaica. The bombs detonated, exploding the plane and killing all 73 passengers, including the entire Cuban Olympic fencing team. Two of the terrorists, Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles eventually moved to the US, and Bosch was pardoned by George H.W. Bush in 1990.

In 2010, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) created ZunZuneo, named “Cuban Twitter.” This social media platform, designed to undermine the communist Cuban government, spammed its users with propaganda and collected private data to assist them in fomenting a revolution among Cuban youths.

These are just the very basics of the US’s efforts to overthrow the Castro government and reinstitute Cuba as a resource for American capitalism and imperialism. If you want to talk about whatever protests may or may not be happening in Cuba right now, you cannot do so outside of this context. You cannot talk about the poverty of Cuba without placing the blame on American embargoes.

If you want to discuss America’s understanding of Cuban humanitarian need, you cannot do so without reckoning with America’s use of Guantanamo Bay on the same island which we are supposed to believe they want to liberate.

Just last week, the President submitted a budget to Congress, asking for $20,000,000 to fund support for private businesses in Cuba and $13,000,000 to find Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which transmits American propaganda in Spanish to Cuba. This office was created in the 1980s for the explicit purpose of undermining communism in Cuba.

This is not to say that every single Cuban is happy with the Cuban government at all times, but rather that the US has a vested interest in overthrowing the government and establishing a capitalist, US-friendly one in its place. Any international protest crowd that is full of American flags should be a GIANT tip-off that the CIA/US government might just be involved! Just imagine what the CIA is hiding when all of the information comes from declassified files!!!!!

#Cuba #CIA #America does not remotely care about legitimate humanitarian abuses #It cares about making it seem like communist countries are committing such abuses to give it pretext to meddle and commit acts of terrorism #Anti-capitalism #Anti-imperialism

20 notes · View notes

combat-wombatus · 3 years

Text

Anti-Asian Racism (Pt. 2)

so if you haven’t read my (long) post about historical anti-asian racism, you can find it here. i tried my best to put things in chronological order, so you might want to read that before you read this one!

i got really tired writing that one bc it was super long and i only covered up to like...the 1920s?? and so here’s a second part bc i couldn’t fit it all into one post oopsies

WARNING: this contains some graphic descriptions of violence. i don’t want to accidentally trigger anyone, so please read at your own discretion. however, i do feel that it is important to be educated on the parts of history that schools often overlook, so if you can handle this, please read it.

the watsonville riots—january 1930

as US nationals, filipinos had the legal right to work in the US, and employers exploited these workers relentlessly as they assumed the filipinos were unfamiliar with their rights. they were paid the lowest wages among all ethnic laborers. the immigration acts of 1917 and 1924 allowed filipinos to answer the growing demand for labor in the US, and many young filipino men migrated to the US. due to gender bias in immigration & hiring, filipino men courted women outside of their own ethnic community, contributing to mounting racial tensions. white men decried the takeover of jobs and women by filipinos and resorted to vigilantism to deal with the “third Asiatic invasion”, and filipino laborers in public risked being attacked by white men who felt threatened by them. eventually, on january 19, this culminated in 500 white men gathering outside of a filipino dance club—owned by a filipino man—with clubs and weapons intending to take the white women who lived there out and burn the place down. they were turned away by security guards and the armed owners, but returned later to beat dozens of filipino farmworkers. they dragged filipinos from their homes and beat them, threw them off the pajaro river bridge, attacked them at ranches—and at a labor camp, twenty-two filipinos were dragged out and almost beaten to death. the mob fired shots into filipino homes, killing 22-year-old fermin tobera: no one was ever charged for his murder. in stockton, a filipino club was blown up—the blast was blamed on the filipinos themselves.

many filipinos fled the country. filipino immigration plummeted. anti-filipino violence continued in california in the months after the violence ended.

japanese internment camps—1942–1945

established during ww2 by FDR through executive order 9066. shortly after the bombing of pearl harbor, FDR signed the executive order, supposedly to prevent espionage. military zones were created in california, washington, and oregon—states with a large population of japanese americans—and the executive order commanded the relocation of americans of japanese ancestry. it affected the lives of around 117,000 people—the majority of whom were american citizens. canada soon followed, relocating 21,000 of its japanese residents from its west coast. mexico did the same, and eventually 2,264 more people of japanese descent were removed from peru, brazil, and argentina to the camps in the united states.

even before the camps, discrimination ran rampant. just hours after pearl harbor, the FBI rounded up 1,291 japanese community & religious leaders, arresting them without evidence and freezing their assets. a month later, they were transferred to facilities in montana, new mexico, and north dakota, many of them unable to inform their families. most remained incarcerated for the duration of the war. the FBI searched the private homes of thousands of japanese residents, seizing “contraband” (looting).

1/3 of hawaii’s population was of japanese descent. some politicians called for their mass incarceration. 1,500 people were removed from hawaii and sent to camps on the US mainland. japanese-owned fishing boats were impounded.

lieutenant general john dewitt prepared a report filled with proven lies—such as examples of “sabotage” (cattle knocking down power lines)—and suggested the creation of military zones and japanese internment camps. his original plan included italians and germans (because we were at war with them too!) but the idea of rounding-up americans of EUROPEAN descent was not as popular.

california’s state attorney general and governor declared that all japanese should be removed at congressional hearings in february 1942. general francis biddle pleaded with the president that mass evacuation of citizens was not required, pushing for smaller, more targeted security measures. FDR didn’t listen, and signed the order anyways.

around 15,000 japanese americans willingly moved out of prohibited areas. inland states were not keen for new japanese residents, and they were met with racist resistance. ten state governors voiced opposition, fearing the japanese would “never leave”, and demanded they be incarcerated if the states were forced to accept them. eventually, a civilian organization called the “war relocation authority” was set up to administer the plan, but milton eisenhower (from the department of agriculture) resigned his leadership in protest over what he characterized as incarcerating innocent civilians.

no one really cared back then, but we appreciate the sentiment. however, this led to a stricter, military-led incentive to incarcerate the japanese civilians, so you didn’t really win, mr. eisenhower.

army-directed evacuations followed, and people had six days notice to dispose of their belongings other than what they could carry. anyone who was at least 1/16th japanese was interned, including 17,000 children under 10, as well as several thousand elderly and handicapped.

these camps were located in remote areas, the buildings not meant for human habitation—they were reconfigured horse stalls or cow sheds. food shortages and poor sanitation conditions were common. each center was its own town, with schools, post offices, work facilities, and farms—all surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

in new mexico, internees were delivered by trains and marched two miles, at night, to reach the camp. anyone who tried to escape was promptly shot and killed, no matter their age.

when riots broke out over the insufficient rations and overcrowding, the police tear-gassed crowds and even killed a japanese-american citizen. three people were shot and killed for “going too close to the perimeter”.

in 1942, fred korematsu was arrested for refusing to relocate to an internment camp. his case made it all the way to the supreme court, where he argued that the executive order violated the fifth amendment. the supreme court ruled against him.

the camps were finally closed in 1945, after mitsuye endo fought her way to the supreme court once again. the government initially offered to free her, but endo refused—she wanted her case to address all of the internment camps. she was successful; the court eventually ruled that the the war relocation authority “has no authority to subject citizens who are concededly loyal to its leave procedure.”

the my lai massacre—march 16, 1968

during the vietnam war, US army soldiers entered a vietnamese hamlet on a search-and-destroy mission. they didn’t encounter any enemy troops; they did, however, proceed to set huts on fire, gang-rape the women, and murder around 500 unarmed civilians—including approximately 50 children under the age of four. army leadership had conspired to sweep this massacre under the carpet—the my lai massacre triggered a cover-up by the army that served to keep the atrocities committed a secret from the american public for 20 months during an election year.

american soldiers stabbed, clubbed, and carved “C [for Charlie] Company” into the chests of their victims (alive); herded them into ditches and blew them to bits with grenades. they cut off victims’ heads and slashed their throats.

this was more than spontaneous barbarism; for years, the army had dehumanized the vietnamese people as “gooks” and depicted women and children as potentially lethal combatants.

army officers who heard eyewitness reports of a massacre were quick to discount them. they issued a press release that informed news coverage—with lies. they claimed that their troops had killed 128 viet cong forces, even though they had been met with no resistance and suffered only one self-inflicted wound.

after word of the massacre reached the general public, more than a dozen military servicemen were eventually charged with crimes, but lieutenant william calley (the leader of the charlie company who was the main perpetrator in the massacre) was the only one who was ever convicted. pres. richard nixon reduced calley’s sentence to a light punishment—three years of house arrest.

three years of house arrest, and for only one person. for slaughtering 500 unarmed civilians. you do the math.

deportations

in 1975, more than 1.2 million refugees from southeast asia fled war and were resettled in the US—the largest resettlement for a refugee group in US history. in 1996, the illegal immigration reform and immigrant responsibility act (IIRIRA) expanded the definition of what types of crimes could result in detention & deportation—this broader definition could be applied retroactively, resulting in more than 16,000 southeast asian americans receiving orders of removal—78% of which were based on old criminal records.

islamophobia (article 2 preview) (article 3)

after the 9/11 attacks, islamophobia was especially prevalent in the western world, although it was also prevalent in other places without large muslim populations. from a small percentage of violence, an “efficient system of government prosecution and media coverage brings muslim-american terrorism suspects to national attention, creating the impression that muslim-american terrorism is more prevalent than it really is”, even though since 9/11, the muslim-american community helped security and law enforcement officials prevent nearly two of every five al qaeda terrorist plots threatening the united states. globally, many muslims report feeling not respected by those in the west, including over half of those who live in the US. in late 2009, the largest party in the swiss parliament put to referendum a ban on minaret (a tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques) construction, and nearly 60% of swiss voters and 22 out of 26 voting districts voted in favor of the ban—even though most swiss say that religious freedom is important for swiss identity. a network of misinformation experts actively promotes islamophobia in america. muslims are more likely than americans of any other major religious groups to have personally experienced racial or religious discrimination in the past year—48%, compared to 31% of mormons, 25% of atheist/agnostics, 21% of jews, 20% of catholics, and 18% of protestants. 1/3 (36%) of americans say that they have an unfavorable opinion about islam (gallup polls).

in the aftermath of 9/11, the US government has increasingly implemented special programs with hopes of “curbing and countering terrorism” and “enemy combatants.” these policies—such as the USA Patriot Act and the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System—have been targeted towards and disproportionately affects arabs, south asians, and muslims in america.

of course, the most lethal terrorist groups active in america are white supremacist groups, but people tend to overlook that because it’s always easier to blame something you have zero understanding of.

the non-profit advocacy organization South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) cataloged 207 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric directed towards south asian, muslim, middle eastern, hindu, sikh, and arab communities between nov. 15, 2015, and nov. 16, 2016. approximately 95% of those instances were animated by anti-muslim sentiment. also, “approximately 1 in 5 of the documented xenophobic statements came from president-elect donald trump.”

that’s who america hired to run our country in 2016. this was way before his misdeeds in office, yet it took us so long—and such a hard fight—to oust him. did it really take that long for everyone to catch on?

police brutality—(christian hall) (angelo quinto) (tommy le)

“CHRISTIAN HALL was a 19-year-old chinese american teen who experienced a mental health emergency on december 30, 2020. pennsylvania state police were called and requested to help de-escalate the crisis. rather than providing aid or assistance, the troopers shot and killed christian. his hands were up in the air as he stood on the SR-33 southbound overpass to I-80, posing no threat to the armed officers.”

they shot him seven times, with his arms up in the air.

“I miss my son so much. I love him so much but if his death is the catalyst for change, then so be it. Let his name be remembered. His name is Christian Hall.” —Fe Hall, Christian’s mother.

a video, shot by his mother, shows ANGELO QUINTO, a 30-year-old Filipino immigrant, unresponsive on the floor after officers subdued him with a knee to the back of his neck. the video shows him bleeding form the mouth after police knelt on his neck when he was experiencing a mental health crisis in his family home. he died three days later in the hospital without waking up. the antioch police had no body camera footage, nor has the department named the officers involved.

“I was just hoping they could de-escalate the situation,” his sister said in an interview. she called 911 when her brother had been experiencing mental health problems and paranoia. she says that she remains conflicted about calling the police that night: “I don’t know if I will not feel bad. If it was the right thing to do they would not have killed my brother.”

“TOMMY LE, a 20-year-old Vietnamese-American student, died hours before he was scheduled to attend his high-school graduation in June 2017. He was shot multiple times by sheriff’s Deputy Cesar Molina after responding to reports of a man armed with a knife. Deputies discovered after the shooting that he was carrying an ink pen, not a knife.

The office reported that Le had lunged at the sheriff’s deputies with a knife and had been threatening residents, shouting he was “the creator.” An autopsy showed that two of the three bullets that struck Le were in his back, and a witness said that Le was shouting he was “Tommy the renter.”

despite the challenges our communities face, AAPI communities receive less than one percent of philanthropic funding.

covid-19

i’ll try to keep this brief. there have been so many instances of violence perpetrated against the asian community during covid-19—not to mention the casual snipes at our culture, the microaggressions we face every day, the verbal and sexual harassment we encounter, sometimes even on the way to the grocery store for a supply run.

VICHA RATANAPAKDEE: a thai-american, he became known as “grandpa” throughout his neighborhood, where he’d made it a ritual to go on morning walks each day. it was during one of those walks on january 28, 2021, when the 84-year-old was forcibly knocked onto the ground. he was transported to the hospital, where he died two days later.

“He never wake up again. He [was] bleeding on his brain,” his daughter said in an interview. “I called him, ‘Dad, wake up.’ I want him to stay alive and wake up and come and see me again, but he never wake up.”

between march and december last year, the organization Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate recorded nearly 3,000 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents nationwide. the new york city police department also reported a 1,900% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes last year.

i think senator tammy duckworth put it very aptly.

“Most people, I don’t think, think of Asians as being the subject of racist attacks, but we have been. And we’re the one community that’s often always seen as the ‘other’. I—to this day—still get asked, ‘So where are you from really?’“

i don’t think i’ve ever related so much to something a senator said.

actor and activist daniel dae kim talked about an encounter he had with a pollster who said asian americans are “statistically insignificant” in polling models in a congressional hearing:

“Statistically insignificant. Now all of you listening to me here, by virtue of your own elections, are more familiar with the intricacies of polling than I am, so undoubtedly, you already know what this means—statistically insignificant literally means that we don’t matter.”

do we matter? are we really “statistically insignificant”? blips in the machine, to be used and then thrown away once we become too “fussy” or demanding?

testimonies from victims showcase the array of xenophobic and racist insults they’ve encountered. i’ll put an (x) next to the ones i’ve personally heard.

“Go back to Wuhan and take the virus with you.” (x)

“You are the reason for the coronavirus.” (x)

“Damn, another Asian riding with me. Hope you don’t have covid.”

*fake coughing* “Chinese b—” *more fake coughing* (x)

now for some really “creative” ones that i’ve personally encountered:

“Cock up my dad’s botton, Chinease cunt”

“You don’t got the kung-flu, do ya?”

“Ever ate a dog?”

Along the same vein, “ever had any bats? Heard they’re delicious.”

“Wouldn’t want ya to pet my dog. Ya might steal it and cook it for dinner!” *hyena laugh*

a little personal anecdote

i debated whether or not to wear a mask to school in early march. my aunt lives in china, and she’s a first-responder (trained paramedic & contact tracer) and we knew how bad the virus was going to be in late february when we facetimed her, quarantined in her apartment. her toddler was staying with her husband at her parents’ house because she was afraid of infecting them. she didn’t see them in person for four months, working 14-hour shifts in the back of an ambulance decked out in a hazmat suit.

my mom cried when she facetimed us the second week of her grueling shift. i couldn’t stop thinking about her when i went to school that day. my mom sent me another picture during art class, and i just couldn’t control myself. i started crying during class.

i asked my mom whether or not i should wear a mask to school, and she said that if i did, i would be singling myself out. i wouldn’t be protecting myself—far from it. if i wore a mask to school, people would think that i had the virus, not that i was trying to protect myself from it.

gossip spreads like wildfire, and the next day, everyone knew i had relatives in china. most of my friends were sympathetic, but they were wholly removed from the situation. it was early march, and they never believed that the coronavirus would spread here. they were firmly rooted in their opinion that it was an easy situation, grossly mishandled by the chinese government, and that we’d do much better if it ever washed up on our shores.

i do hate the chinese government, and back then, i didn’t think too much of their antagonism. yes, the situation was mishandled. it was like a repeat of the SARS outbreak in 2003—first a cover-up by the local government, then a cover-up by the national government, and finally, a realization that no, in fact, they could not handle it in secret. yes, the media had to get involved. no, dead bodies were not piling up in the hallways while they waited for doctors to triage care. yes, we have capacity! look at these documentary mini-videos, forcing doctors and patients to leave a wing of the hospital empty and operate below maximum capacity so they could shoot propaganda videos for the lunar new year, boasting about how well they’re handling it!

i won’t argue that in the beginning, this was mishandled. i will argue, however, against the idea that asian countries are incompetent. that western approaches are oh-so-much-better.

in wuhan, they built a makeshift hospital spanning three soccer fields in the span of a week, with properly-functioning utilities, hospital beds, decontamination, and security. people rallied together and donated everything from money and supplies to food and ventilators, from all across the country. doctors and medical staff shaved their heads so they could better wear masks and volunteered to go to wuhan, where the situation was much more dire than in other areas. thousands of medical students from shanghai were transported to wuhan to fill the personnel shortages.

china reopened in june.

what did we do?

we didn’t ask the asian countries for experience. china, japan, and korea had handled the 2003 SARS outbreak and knew what kinds of things needed to be done. from the beginning, they wore masks. they halted travel, they did routine testing, performed contact tracing, set up programs for bringing food to the immunocompromised, elderly, and disabled, and worked as a cohesive community.

on the other hand, we resorted to childish infighting, political games, shunning masks and blaming it on asians, when we could’ve learned from them instead. we didn’t do contact-tracing. our testing systems were sorely inadequate. borders were closed with china, yes, but the majority of the cases in the US arrived from italy and other european countries who had already been infected. banning travel between the US and china was nothing more than a political gimmick.

states fought each other for basic medical supplies. there was no national unity. we were fractured in two, and COVID became more fuel for the fire dividing the two parties, when it could’ve been something that unified us.

and instead of blaming china, we would’ve been better off recognizing our own failures.

you can say that the virus caught china by surprise.

it shouldn’t have done the same to us.

we knew it was coming. but we still botched it.

blaming the virus on asian communities is a sign of immaturity and a lack of accountability. own up to your failures.

anyways, my mom was right. whenever we wore a mask in public, people really did think that we were “dirty, foreign chinese.” we stocked up on groceries so we wouldn’t have to go out, because every time my mom did, people would look at her weirdly. they didn’t wear masks.

one time, she was accosted by a blonde woman when we were at a supermarket. i’d gone with her that time because it was right after practice, and i was in the car anyways. the lady came up to us (without a mask: this was in may) and said, “excuse me, you don’t have the virus, do you?” with a pointed look at my mom (who was masked up).

my mom, being the polite person she is, simply responded “no, i don’t.”

the woman didn’t let us go after that. she pushed even more. “well, you see, i was just making sure...with this chinese virus going around, it’s scary, you know?”

i wanted to ask her why she wasn’t wearing a mask if it was “so scary”, but i couldn’t get a word in before she asked another question.

“by the way, y’all aren’t chinese, right?”

yes i am. yes we are. why does it fucking matter. we’re wearing masks, you’re not, get the hell out of my face.

honestly, i don’t know how my mom does it. she has the patience of a saint. she said “mhm”, grabbed a gallon of milk, and walked to the self-checkout area. the lady looked at me and raised her eyebrow, and i said “so what if we are?”

she looked like she’d been slapped in the face. i turned and followed my mom, but she said “now hold on young lady!” i ignored her and kept walking.

i don’t owe her anything. why do people think it’s okay to talk to others like that? we’re human beings too. we’re allowed our basic dignity. basic respect. we’re not something for you to joke at, to laugh at, to fetishize or bully into submission. i don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to realize that. i don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to treat others like human beings.

to people like that lady in kroger:

why do you feel the need to do it? is your opinion of yourself really that high to think that you’re superior to others who are different from you? are you really that conceited to think that you’re the perfect image of a perfect human, and anyone not like you is unworthy, considered lesser? or is your opinion of yourself really that low, to think that whatever you say, it doesn’t really matter anyways? why do you find derogatory jokes and demeaning comments funny? why do you think it’s okay to harass a stranger just going about their day? is your life really that boring, and you have nothing else to do with your time? why? would it be okay if i came up to you and asked if you ate rotten shark meat, then laughed it off and said “oh, i thought you were from iceland”? is that okay? can i ask if you eat cockroaches? how would you respond if i asked “where are you from?”? you would say america, right? and if i asked again? europe? where in europe? oh, you don’t know? are you illegal? was your mother a prostitute? are you a communist? why are your eyes so big? do you speak europeanese? crut iveroij aeish poient. oh, those aren’t words? well i think they sound like european words. what’s your name? je-re-mi-ah? like jeeryyy-miiiaaaccchh? oh, that’s not right? sorry, my tongue just won’t bend that way. your names are so weird! why would your parents name you that? oh, it means something? well, i don’t know the language, so don’t expect me to say it right. have you ever eaten haggis? oh, that’s scottish? oh, you’re not scottish? sorry, you all look the same to me. scots and italians are just so similar, you know? what’s your name? your last name is anderson? i know an anderson! she lived in texas. are you related to her? oh, you don’t know her? sorry, i thought you were all related. yeah, like i said before, you all just look so much alike, you know? are you lazy? oh, nothing, i just heard from my dad that all french people are lazy. oh, you’re not french? well, you still look lazy. are you good at english? oh, nothing, i just assumed that all white people were english. i know you like to assume that we’re good at math. oh, you got an A in english? isn’t that normal? i can’t help it, you’re just smarter. you probably don’t even study. oh, you do? well, you’re smart anyways, so it doesn’t matter. you’re so good at math for an american! oh no, nothing, i just assumed that all americans were bad at math. *starts playing with her hair* oh, that’s making you uncomfortable? but your hair’s so silky, and it’s so smooth. what kind of hair products do you use? i want to learn how to make my hair look exotic like that. oh, you’re not exotic? but you’re foreign. of course you’re exotic. you know, *leans in and whispers* men like you this way, yeah? they just looveeee exotic ladies. *winks*

can you see how this is demeaning? can you see how this diminishes our culture, our hard work, our accomplishments?

racism isn’t funny. it’s not cool, it’s not a joke, and it’s hurtful. it makes us question our capabilities, forces us to have unrealistic expectations of ourselves, makes us feel unworthy and “other”. just stop? stop making hurtful comments. stop stepping on other people to feel better about yourselves.

#racism #anti-asian hate #anti-asian racism #asian #asian racism #politics #covid #covid-19 #i'm so sick of it

42 notes · View notes

robbyrobinson · 4 years

Text

Favorite Monsters and Cryptids

1) Black-Eyed Children: What these beings are no one knows. Some cite them as being demons or vampires who require permission to be allowed in. Some say they're alien-human hybrids or tulpas (thought beings). Even interdimensional entities or the ghosts of deceased children. They are described as either wearing old-timey clothing or dark-colored hoodies. They have extremely pale, oftentimes peachy skin tones and speak in a monotonous, adult-like fashion. They approach their target's home or car to knock or their door or window saying that they needed to get in because of bizarre reasons. If they are further denied entry, they become increasingly enraged and reveal their dark, turquoise eyes. In some cases, the witness almost considers opening the door...at least until they catch a glimpse of their eyes.

2) Mothman: A large, red-eyed creature that was described as stalking Point Pleasant from 1966-1967 in West Virginia. Typical descriptions depict the Mothman as bat-like in appearance that had a deafening screech. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed killing 46 civilians. Strangely enough, Mothman seemingly disappeared after the tragedy, many believing that the Mothman was a harbinger of the bad omen.

3) Reptilians: Crazy conspiracy theory aside, Reptilians are shapeshifting extraterrestrials said to hail from the Alpha Draconis star system. David Icke, in particular, believes that they infiltrated the Earth to take over each of the world's governing bodies. Some also say that they terrorize humanity because they feed on negative emotions and what better way than to stoke the flames of anger and fearmongering than with propaganda?

4) Shadow People: Ever thing you catch something moving from the corner of your eye? Shadow People are believed to be different things ranging from guardian angels; demons; interdimensional beings, etc. The Hatman is often considered to be the leader of the Shadow People and is considered as being the most dangerous out of his wicked kind, but many say that he is an entirely different being.

5) Kuchisake-Onna: A Japanese urban legend, it is said that Kuchisake was once a beautiful woman married to a samurai. When the samurai felt that she was being unfaithful, he cut her mouth and killed her. Since then, she had become a vengeful spirit wearing a trench coat with a surgical mask. Carrying a pair of scissors, if she approaches a victim, she would ask them if they thought she was pretty. If they say no, she kills them. If yes, she would remove her mask to reveal her Glasgow grin and asks the question again. If the victim said yes again, she would make their mouth like hers.

6) Teke Teke: Another ghost from Japanese folklore, Teke Teke was a woman or schoolgirl who was bisected by a train. One take of the legends have her ask her victims if they knew where her legs were. If they said no, she would rip their legs off. Another variation has Teke Teke go after the listener if they heard the story.

7) Eight Foot Tall: A demon disguising itself as an 8-ft tall woman wearing a sundress and straw hat. She targets children and is recognizable by her demonic droning.

8) Machine Elves: They are extradimensional entities often described as being sighted by those taking DMT. They claim to be the architects of different planes of existence but have unstable forms that continually contort. Everything happens at a fast pace in their world with all of them having high-pitched voices.

9) Greys: The stock character many think of when the possibility of extraterrestrial life is speculated. They are buglike in depiction with almond-shaped black eyes. Some say they were created by the reptilians as a slave race that deflected. They are commonly associated with alien abductions.

10) Butterfly People of Joplin: In 2011, a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri that killed several people. But from the disaster, many children claimed that they experienced winged beings that saved them by holding back falling debris with their wings. One boy was found miles away in a field claiming that the Butterfly People wrapped him in it to smoothen his fall.

11) Chupacabra: Later takes of the cryptid posit the creature as being more canine in its features. They are accredited to draining the blood from livestock such as goats.

12) Jersey Devil: its origin story is really unique. The story goes that when a mother of 12 kids was due to have a 13th, she in annoyance, prayed for that child to be a devil. The baby is born and appears to be relatively normal. But then it, of course, transforms into a horrible abomination, escaping into the woods.

13) Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman: Bigfoot or the Sasquatch is an ape-like, humanoid creature believed to have been sighted in several parts of North America. Some believe that the Sasquatch is either an ancient ape species that had escaped extinction, or some even assume that Bigfoot is the missing link that researchers have been searching for. The Abominable Snowman is similar to Sasquatch in some fashion, the exception being that the creature was sighted in the mountains of the Himalayas. There have been some samples of hair believed to have been those of a Yeti's that were analyzed to be the fur of an extinct species of bear from the time of the ice age.

14) Mongolian Death Worm: In the Gobi Desert, there is believed to be a large species of worm that is said to have lethal venom that could kill anyone who even slightly touched the creature. It can even generate electricity. The worm was also known to hunt camels, and would then lay its eggs in the intestines.

15) The Loch Ness Monster: Probably one of the most famous examples of a cryptid in cryptozoology. Believed to be an ancient creature such as a plesiosaur, the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, is believed to inhabit Loch Ness. Described as having a long neck, flippers, and endless humps, accounts of the creature date far back to the time of Saint Columbia. Interest in the creature continued until in the 1930s, an alleged photograph of the monster dubbed the Surgeon's Photograph goes down in history as one of the best cases for the existence of Nessie. Even though the photograph was a hoax, many others had given their accounts of the Loch Ness Monster through the use of sonar and photography.

16) Black Stick Men are what happens when you take drawings of simple stick figures and give them sentience. They are believed to be two-dimensional in appearance, and can even generate electrical discharges. Unlike with other paranormal entities, Black Stick Men are not connected to supernatural events. So, they just appear randomly for no real rhyme nor reason. They are believed to feed on negative emotions and their presence incites aggression and uneasiness.

17) Wendigo: In Native American myth, a Wendigo is born when a hapless human commits the act of cannibalism in desperation. As punishment, they are transformed into a monster with an insatiable hunger that would never be quenched. They don't have a corporal form, but they are often represented as antlered-humanoids.

18) Ningen: These are giant, aquatic humanoid entities that are commonly sighted in the waters of the Arctic. Some species are alleged to grow to great lengths.

535 notes · View notes

feelingbluepolitics · 3 years

Text

Useful lessons from history:

"Many presidents have declared national emergencies, including George W. Bush after 9/11 and Barack Obama during the swine flu outbreak in 2009.

..."The National Emergencies Act contains a mechanism for Congress to overrule the president by passing a joint resolution out of the House and Senate. With Democrats in control of the House, it would presumably pass there easily, and Ackerman, the Yale professor, says he believes it could pass the Senate too."

"[D]ue to a 35-year-old court case, Congress might not be able to override [a] president that easily. In the 1983 case Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, the Supreme Court decided that a one-house legislative veto violated the Constitution. After that, the National Emergencies Act was amended to require the joint resolution to override the president’s declaration — like a typical law, it requires a simple majority in the House and Senate and the president’s signature.

"[t]rump would probably not be willing to sign a joint resolution to reject his own emergency declaration, so that means that Congress would need to override him with a two-thirds majority in each chamber."

trump's situation was tenuous because, in point of fact, there was no emergency at the border as he alleged. And yet, along with a month-plus government shutdown, he did declare his emergency, and then swiped military construction funding from other projects, mostly in red states, for his wall funding. His tethered Senators stuck with him anyway, and of course, as long as they did, they faced no consequences from their trump-insane voters.

Now we have Biden, and as was discussed at the time, even a moderate Democrat ought to take a look at presidential emergency powers.

Because of trump's complete fabrication, there were issues of abuse of power. For example, could the climate crisis really be declared an emergency, having built up foreseeably? That is, forseeable by all but climate denying Republicons? But abuse of power now would be a pathetic argument after trump, and after trump, multiple emergencies are dire.

- Covid, due to trump's horrific malmanagement, is an emergency. It's two: medical and economic, system wide. We have states and local governments facing financial failure and projected to be unable to provide basic services! This pandemic has also exposed the state of emergency of the nation's public health measures.

- Gun control was absolutely an emergency before, based on mass casualty events such as school shootings killing Americans. It's more so now, because trump incited violent insurrection, and his militias and crazies are heavily armed.

- Racism is another. The on-going incidents of murder committed by law enforcement which set off national and international BLM protests prove it, as does the trump-inflamed white supremacy movement which has been officially flagged as high-threat domestic terrorism.

- The climate crisis may have been building up over time...but as a result of trump's intentional escalation of acute environmental damage, and the direly foreshortened time of response, and the immense costs burdens we already face from recent manifestations of climate damage, "emergency" is more than appropriate.

See:

- Immigration. Since an emergency declaration worked for trump's utter bullshit wall, it's more than reasonable that emergency corrective response is necessary against trump's human rights violations, from border refugee camps, to separated families, to long-term detained people in documented grossly abusive circumstances, as well as the rogue and racist trump-infested government entities with dangerous precepts and astounding budgets.

- Hunger, poverty, and the inherently unstable and extreme wealth imbalance have escalated to emergency conditions.

- Lies and misinformation about our election, as well as the planned escalation by Republicons of even worse voting rights abuses, puts reforming our elections to secure that they are free and fair, as well as establishing and enforcing political ethics measures, into emergency territory right now. And by the way, our nation's entire cyber security status is in a screaming state of emergency after trump let Russia rummage freely for years.

That's a solid start on our current plate of emergencies.

There's talk about "bipartisanship," and there's great deal of talk about the filibuster. Note that with or without the filibuster, Republicons can vote for democratic legislation, but just don't. In fact, they could more easily do so without the fibuster in place, as holding out then would be fruitless as well as unpopular.

But we have a miscount that's causing frustration and confusion. We don't really have a Democratic majority in the Senate until we have 52, to render our defectors Sinema and Manchin expendable on crucial votes.

Of course we can and will continue to look at Congressional parliamentary options.

But we do have emergencies, and a large majority of Americans want them addressed now. The point to keep in mind is really that Republicons absolutely don't have two-thirds majorities in both chambers.

18 notes · View notes

jordanianroyals · 3 years

Link

Jordan Has Become a Banana Monarchy (Foreign Policy)

By SEAN YOM APRIL 15, 2021

As the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan marks its centennial this month, its citizens are still buzzing about the “Hamzah affair.” The political earthquake began two weeks ago, when security services rounded up almost two dozen prominent figures on charges of coup-mongering. Among those was former Crown Prince Hamzah, one of King Abdullah II’s half-brothers, who was ordered to stop meeting with opposition-minded tribal communities. Angered by economic hardship and rampant corruption, many of those communities had begun to see him as a better choice for king than Abdullah.

Jordanian protesters chant slogans during an anti-austerity rally in front of the Labor Union offices in Amman, Jordan, on June 6, 2018. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

The British imported the Hashemites from the Arabian Peninsula to rule over their invented kingdom in 1921. Though it lacked wealth and prestige, the monarchy maintained domestic stability by patronizing and protecting its tribes, particularly after Jordan absorbed millions of Palestinians after the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars. The bargain was austere, but it worked: bread for loyalty. Since Abdullah’s enthronement in 1999, however, tribal Jordanians have seen many jobs and social services vanish. It was this fraying relationship between the monarchy and its tribal base that Hamzah entered.

While some allege a real conspiracy tied to Saudi meddling, most analysts believe that the entire affair was a manufactured crisis designed to distract a public enraged about the ruling monarchy’s worsening mismanagement over the past decade. The pandemic made the already-stagnant economy worse, spiking unemployment from 15 to 25 percent and raising the poverty rate from 16 to a staggering 37 percent. Fruitless promises of democratic reform from Abdullah have led nowhere. With tribal activists regularly criticizing the king—the ultimate act of transgression—the monarchy is responding not with better policies and more transparency, but by doubling down with heightened repression.

But neither stifling dissent nor palace intrigue is the real story. Like all autocracies, Jordan has little tolerance for popular opposition. Moreover, most of the Arab monarchies suffer from dynastic infighting. Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Bahrain have all seen powerful hard-liners muffle dissident princes over the last decade. Kuwait’s Sabah monarchy has been rocked by coup conspiracies and succession disputes.

What this crisis actually reveals is the painful demise of a U.S. protectorate in the heart of the Middle East. Jordan has become a banana monarchy whose popular legitimacy is in tatters and that survives only through massive infusions of aid and arms from Washington. It has surrendered much of its sovereignty with a new defense treaty—inked in January without the Jordanian public’s knowledge—giving the U.S. military such untrammeled operational rights that the entire kingdom is now cleared to become a giant U.S. base. All this makes the regime inherently unwilling to entertain any domestic reforms without explicit American pressure.

Meanwhile, the United States remains complicit in the economic bungling and political abuses unraveling the country. Abdullah is currently the longest-reigning national leader in the Arab world, and U.S. leaders routinely celebrate his pro-Western monarchy, framing it as an Arab model of reform and moderation. During the recent crisis, the Biden administration reached out to Abdullah to endorse the arrests and confirm his well-being. U.S. President Joe Biden counseled him to “stay strong,” while Secretary of State Antony Blinken trumpeted the U.S.-Jordanian “strategic partnership.”

This is a sad but familiar story. Think of Iran under the shah or non-Middle East cases such as South Vietnam or Honduras under the Somozas. History shows that when sponsoring a client dictatorship becomes a sacred pillar of Washington’s foreign policy, client rulers become extremely dependent upon U.S. support, prioritizing their relationship with Washington over their own people. In Jordan’s case, the government has preserved U.S. dominance in the Middle East and protected Israel while neglecting Jordanians’ own woes. Such rulers surrender to the worst excesses of autocracy, enriching themselves and alienating society. They ignore the warning signs of revolution, believing that Washington will save them. But it never does.

Client rulers ignore the warning signs of revolution, believing that Washington will save them. But it never does.

This hegemonic impulse to back banana regimes as they self-destruct is not simply a rehash of the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, the idea that even the most corrupt pro-Western dictatorships are preferable to anti-Western democracies. It stems from a more quotidian reality. Once the United States becomes committed not just to defending a regime but also to running the country itself, it cannot get out. Trapped in the trenches, the United States faces a paradox. Policymakers fear that reducing any part of their support will destabilize their client state, which could not survive without it. The only option is to perpetuate the current system, even though that regime’s own policies are clearly destabilizing it. This is why the Biden administration can recalibrate ties with large and wealthy Saudi Arabia on account of its authoritarian overreach, but it can do nothing in small, poor Jordan.

Jordan’s transformation into a U.S. dependency began during the Cold War. Washington replaced the fading British in the late 1950s as its great protector, a logical move given the need to back anti-Soviet regimes everywhere. Jordan had no oil. However, so long as Jordan endured, it could be a geopolitical firebreak insulating Israel and the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula from the radical forces of communism and Arab nationalism.

After the Cold War, Jordan became more integral by helping to inaugurate Pax Americana in the Middle East. It made peace with Israel, facilitated counterterrorism campaigns, and expedited the invasion of Iraq. It hosted the coalition against the Islamic State and funneled guns for Syrian rebels, albeit not without its own intelligence agents skimming off the top. The recent U.S. defense treaty goes a step further, conscripting the monarchy to help wage future U.S. wars in the region.

Throughout this process, Washington helped build the Jordanian state. Foreign aid was one mechanism. In many years, U.S. economic aid exceeded all domestic tax revenues, the only thing keeping “Fortress Jordan” from collapsing into insolvency. While Jordan today receives support from many donors, including the International Monetary Fund, U.S. economic support remains uniquely fungible: It comes mostly in cash, it is guaranteed, and it now exceeds $1 billion annually.

Likewise, the U.S. Agency for International Development began designing and operating much of Jordan’s physical infrastructure in the 1960s, doing the basic task of governance—providing public goods to society—for the monarchy. When Jordanians get water from the tap, no small feat in the bone-dry country, it is because of USAID. Even the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, a mega-project aimed at turning the Red Sea port city of Aqaba into a regional commercial hub, was funded and designed by U.S. technocrats.

Above all, the coercive institutions bolstering the Jordanian regime became symbiotically attached to America. The General Intelligence Directorate, glorified by Western journalists as an Arab version of Mossad, spends as much time smothering Jordanian dissent as battling terrorism. It owes much of its skills and resources to the CIA. The armed forces soldier on thanks to U.S. training and military aid. Most of its armory—tanks, jets, artillery, guns—is made in the United States.

All this explains why as Jordan’s banana monarchy devolves further, from rounding up its royal kin to suppressing its tribal critics, the U.S. instinct is still to give full-throated support. Washington cannot imagine any other kind of Jordan, because it never had to. It may yet learn the hard way. Not only does history show that American support fails to save authoritarian clients from social upheaval, but the governments that replace them are also often tenaciously anti-American. Iran’s Islamic Republic is a canonical case, one that has haunted U.S. leaders for 40 years. Closer to the United States, Cuba’s regime is the historical result of revolution toppling one of the original banana republics, the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship.

Given the unlikelihood of the United States imposing any pressures for serious reform from a distance, the onus of change rests upon Jordan’s shoulders. The monarchy already knows what not just tribal Jordanians but all citizens crave, because they have been loudly protesting for it since the Arab Spring. They want credible, transparent campaigns to end widespread corruption. They wish to replace wasteful public spending with productive, job-creating programs. They desire less repression and more democracy, a pledge famously made by Abdullah himself in 2011.

But time is running out. The Middle East remains a revolutionary place, as six of its autocratic rulers have lost power to mass uprisings in the last decade. Whether Jordan is next depends upon if the monarchy can fundamentally rethink its approach, rather than fall back upon the United States for affirmation. If it does, the Hashemite Kingdom may actually become the model of reform and moderation that Washington proclaims it is now.

#Jordan #article

8 notes · View notes

papermariosuggestion · 4 years

Note

Can't believe you created a petition to cancel a game. There's a pandemic going on, people are dying and that's what you focused on?

You’re right, anon, I should’ve started a petition to cancel COVID-19.

All of the effort I’ve put into ensuring that my family, friends, and co-workers are safe, as well as the resources that I’ve put into fighting the virus are for naught because I said something on the Internet that you found petty.

I started that petition as a joke; you can’t “cancel” a game that’s fully developed and available for pre-order. Even if Nintendo pulled the game, someone would still get their hands on it and spread that ROM/ISO like a wildfire, so there’s no “cancelling” it. It’s a nod to this petition from 2016, which was equally futile. Whether a game is in development or fully developed, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems aren’t going to backtrack on business decisions they’ve fully committed to based on some strong words from less than 2000 people.

On Tumblr, you’ll often see people say, “Why are you talking about ____ when you could be talking about ____?” This blog is on one of my multiple Tumblr accounts and I use it to talk exclusively about one of the many, many things in this world that I care about. You see a slice of who I am on this blog because that’s all I show, because this blog isn’t meant to be anything more than a Paper Mario blog. You don’t see the petitions I create and sign using my birthname, or the causes that I donate to, or the people I help on a personal basis.

If you’re so cut off from what’s going on in the world, that you need a parodic suggestion blog on a depreciating social media platform to keep you informed, then you’re doing something deeply, deeply wrong and you need to rethink your life.

But just in case you are that person, here are a few current social/sociopolitical issues that you can do something about:

Fighting COVID-19 — Currently, there’s a virus ravaging most of the world. Donate to help with the research and development of a vaccine. This link takes you to the website of Johns Hopkins, a well-renown a hospital in the U.S.A. I encourage you to find other organizations to donate to as well, and if you’re able, to volunteer in your local community.

Protecting LGBTQIA rights in the U.S.A. — The current administration is trying to legalize forms of discrimination because they’re a bunch of homophobic idiots. Find out more information on the topic and reach out to your representatives to give them a piece of your mind. The fight for LGBTQIA equality didn’t end with marriage equality in the U.S.A; there’s still plenty left to do, and I encourage you to get informed and get involved.

The pursuit of racial equality in the U.S.A. — I refuse to sugarcoat it: Black people, first and foremost, are being targeted and murdered by a system built on a foundation of racism and violence. It’s nothing new and it got old a very, VERY long time ago. We need reform, we need justice, we need reparations. There is no way to un-murder the innocent and the rehabilitatable people who were taken from us because of irrational fear and ignorance, and with that in mind, I say there has to be a way to prevent this in the future. There has to be a way because if there isn’t already one, then we’ll make one. The ongoing fight for equality is a battle, so don’t expect it to be pretty, and don’t shame marginalized people for doing what we have to do to make our voices heard. This link leads to a Google Doc full of links that should help you get involved. I encourage you to search for more information beyond this list, ideally from primary sources including POC.

Combating the Anti-Terrorism Act in the Philippines — As someone living in the U.S.A, I’m not always up to date on events in other countries, but I try to be, and wherever you live, I would encourage you to try as well. This act is moving quickly through legislation and will give unprecedented and unwarranted power to the Philippines government, allowing it to violate the rights of any groups and/or individuals suspected of terrorism. People are protesting, so I would imagine you could help by donating to them. This link leads to an article written by Human Rights Watch, who accepts donations for human rights at large, but if anybody knows of a more direct way to help, please let me know.

#paper mario #papermariosuggestion #the origami king #ask

87 notes · View notes

cosmicjoke · 3 years

Text

Okay, I gotta talk a little about chapter 65 of AoT, and really some of the themes being put forth in general in this chapter. This is probably gonna be totally incoherent, because these are some big brain concepts that largely go over my head, I’ll be real, haha. But I’ll do my best.

I want to focus on Kenny’s conversation with his Grandfather, because it’s here that we get into some of the more broad ranging and world relevant themes of SnK, particularly dealing with issues of racism, xenophobia, isolationism, and concepts of homogeneity.

Kenny’s Grandfather talks about how the Monarchy doesn’t hate the Ackerman’s, but rather fears them, because they can’t be controlled. Because the Ackerman’s, along with very few other bloodlines that somehow ended up behind the walls, are all of different races than the majority bloodline, meaning, of course, the Eldians. And because of this, the power of the Titans doesn’t work on them. The Monarchy then comes to think of these other bloodlines as threats to the peace it’s attempted to cultivate among the people behind the wall, because their memories aren’t able to be wiped. So they end up using threats of violence, death, intimidation, and the like, in order to get these bloodlines to comply with their demands and keep quiet about what they know about the truth of the world and human history. Most bloodlines end up complying under duress, but the only two that don’t are the Ackerman’s and the Asians. They rebel and refuse, the Ackerman’s in particular giving up their position as the sword and shield of the Royal Government. Until the head of the Ackerman clan decides to not pass down any of his generations knowledge to their children, and offers himself up for execution in an attempt to protect the Ackerman’s from being purged. His efforts end up being in vain, though, as the Royal Government still finds itself unable to tolerate a group of people it can’t control, and thus the persecution of the Ackerman’s continues, until they’re driven to the fringes of society, forced to into desperation and poverty.

What’s really interesting about this is how it reflects so many real life situations throughout human history, and where concepts of tribalism and nationalism and isolationism come from. It’s usually because some governing power wants to control its population, its citizenship, and they do this by cutting them off from outside influences, indoctrinating them into a certain belief system and way of thinking. We see this, for example, in countries today like China and North Korea. This all is represented in AoT through the erasure of human history outside the walls, and the altering of historical texts to push the narrative that all record of human history older than 100 years has been lost. The ruling government, in this case, has forced generation after generation to be taught that humanity simply doesn’t EXIST outside the walls, thus stomping out any hope or ambition to get outside those walls, and interact with the outside world. If there’s nothing there to find, then why bother? Of course, it’s an imperfect system, given it’s essentially impossible to quell human curiosity and, as another prominent theme in SnK, the desire for freedom, to be able to choose for oneself and have agency over your own destiny, etc... Not only does the Royal Government employ these false teachings as a way of controlling the populace, but of course, also, the threat of the Titans beyond the wall. If the “reality” that there’s nothing left of humanity out there isn’t enough to stop the more curious and skeptical among the population, then the threat of a horrific and painful death should do the trick.

If you study any sort of regime throughout human history that utilizes terror as a means of control, one thing they often do is get rid of the smart people first. They cull intellectuals, artists, philosophers, etc... They kill them or censor them so that they can’t influence or impact the general populace with rebellious notions, or instigate in people any ideas that their government might not be treating them right. They want there to be no contention, no differential in thought, no real ideas or any sort of chance for clashes among groups. They want everyone to look, act, think and feel the same, because when that’s the case, fewer quarrels arise, fewer tensions, fewer instances of rebellion, fewer cases of people clashing with one another, for various reasons, which can lead to critical thinking and ideas forming, to thought patterns and beliefs being challenged. They want everyone to just sit quietly and not THINK. They also, often, will target minority groups, and cast them into a kind of scapegoat role, a target for the general populace to aim their grievances at, to blame all their problems on, directing their unhappiness away from the true source of their woes, that being the government itself. This is something we often see throughout human history. One of the most prominent and tragic examples is the Jews in Nazi Germany. Jews were, at first, skewered and debased through propaganda, painting them as the enemy of Germans, the great source of all of Germany’s plights and woes, essentially working the populace up into a frenzy of extreme feelings of bias and prejudice against them, before that escalated into gathering up and forcing them into cut off ghettos, away from the general population, before it took a much darker turn still, wherein they were gathered up and sent to death camps to be exterminated.

Within the world of AoT, the same thing happens to groups like the Ackerman’s and Asians, and whatever other, unnamed minority groups exist behind the walls. They’re persecuted, badmouthed, hunted and threatened into compliance, their ability to do business and make money, thus make a living, cut off and blocked. Pushed into a corner until they eventually start to die out.

It’s really fascinating, and brilliantly depicted by Isyama, how the Monarchy’s self-delusion leads them to believe they’re preserving peace and prosperity for the homogeneous population by hunting down and terrorizing groups of minority bloodlines and ethnicity’s and races, creating for these subsets of people a world and a life of endless suffering, and blinding themselves to their own, tyrannical exercise of power over a large population. Of course this sort of thing also leads to greed and a lust for power, a need for ever more control, ever more expansion of that power, which in turn leads to the very thing the Monarchy here claims to want to prevent, which is war. Even if the Royal Government, and the Monarchy, and the King, started out with somewhat noble intentions, it eventually morphs into a twisted and persistently corrupting power play.

There’s also the theme here of scapegoating an entire group of people, and holding them accountable for sins they themselves did not commit. We see in Historia’s memories of Frieda, and how she would at times begin acting like another person, how she became vitriolic and almost violent in telling Historia that she can “never cross the fence”, proclaiming that they’re all “sinners” and thus need to be punished by being imprisoned. This is where the original King’s philosophy begins to become deeply problematic and dangerous. In order to control the population, he’s forced each inheritor of the world’s memories to also inherit his philosophy, forcing each heir to labor under the belief that the Eldian’s are somehow responsible for the atrocities committed by their ancestors, and thus should continue to pay for them, even though not a single person at this point living behind the walls was even yet born when those atrocities were committed. The danger here is in the possibility of those people being held accountable for things they didn’t do, realizing the injustice of that, and in turn, growing angry and resentful for being made to suffer for crimes they didn’t commit. This in turn leads to a desire to hit back, to fight, to defend themselves, etc... This same scenario plays out on a smaller scale with the Ackerman’s, with the future generations of Ackerman children continuing to be hunted and persecuted, despite none of them having any knowledge whatsoever of the history of humanity or the world. It’s all a vicious cycle.

Further, this kind of attempt to play God, by dictating to an entire group of otherwise uninvolved people what they do and don’t deserve, and in turn deciding for them that they should be punished for things they did not do, is morally bankrupt. Deciding, in general, for an entire population, how they should be allowed to live is also morally bankrupt. And this exposes the Royal Government and Monarchy as corrupt, among about a million other things in story. Essentially, it’s a condemnation against the concept of any, one person having absolute power. That never ends well, for anyone.

Well, anyway, I’m just rambling at this point, lol. It’s just really fascinating and amazing how Isyama weaves all of these deep themes into his story, I think, and forces the reader to really think about these kinds of things.

Also, I missed the fight between Levi and Kenny! I’m glad they added that to the anime, haha.

I also noticed how Historia might have had an unintentional impact on what Eren later decides he has to do. She keeps going on and on here about being an “enemy of humanity” and wanting to “destroy everything”. And while Historia clearly doesn’t actually mean what she’s saying, and is only acting out in her frustration and anger at her douchebag of a father trying to manipulate her into sacrificing herself for his delusions of grandeur, what she also says to Eren about her “being humanity’s enemy, but Eren being her FRIEND.” is clear foreshadowing of what Eren later decides is his best and only course, to do whatever it takes to protect his friends, including killing the rest of humanity. This probably also ties into Eren’s choice to not reveal what he learns from his father’s memories, in an attempt to protect Historia. But I haven’t gotten to that point yet, so I’ll come back around to it later maybe.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin

5 notes · View notes

howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 3 years

Text

Why QAnon’s similarity to other cults makes it a significant national security threat

Los Angeles Times February 21, 2021 By JASON BLAZAKIS It would be a mistake to believe that the election of Joseph R. Biden as president will silence the QAnon movement. Adherents of the conspiracy theory made former President Trump into a quasi-religious figure, and when he lost the November election it forced them to confront a reality that challenged the essence of their belief system. So they did what cults often do — and bent their narrative.

Instead of admitting defeat, some QAnon followers are promoting a new convoluted conspiracy theory with the outcome they desire: Trump will once again be sworn in as president of the United States on March 4.

The most radical QAnon believers exhibit traits that have manifested among dangerous cults and doomsday groups — a willingness to dismiss their own individuality for a perceived greater good. These disciples often shun their families and friends in favor of QAnon fantasies. They identify with a calling to participate in a movement and share a belief that they are improving society, or themselves, in a new way. Members of the QAnon movement seem to truly believe they are fighting a secret cabal of elites who are engaged in the exploitation of children. Believers often wear clothes adorned with the letter “Q” and use slogans such as “Where we go one, we go all” as mantras to illustrate their commitment to a belief system.

Despite repeated predictions associated with the QAnon movement proving to be false — such as the arrival of an apocalyptic storm that would destroy the “deep state” during Trump’s presidency — the conspiracy theory continues to captivate followers by morphing its messaging to remain relevant. For more than a decade, I had observed that phenomenon as a federal government official charged with sanctioning groups and individuals as “terrorists.” By examining classified and unclassified research, I came to know the vicissitudes of ethno-nationalist separatists, religiously motivated extremists, left- and right-wing radicals and cults.

The followers of Q — an anonymous figure thought to be an individual or a group of people — more than fit the pattern. The QAnon movement has successfully blended elements of religious and cult-like practices to harden QAnon individual belief systems of its most ardent supporters. Because of this, I remain highly concerned that the QAnon movement constitutes a significant national security threat.

In 2017, Q began anonymously posting conspiracy theories. The first one purported to explain that Hillary Clinton was about to be arrested and her passport had been flagged in case she tried to flee the U.S. It was relatively straightforward, and wrong. Future posts, known as Q-drops, were inchoate. Q’s followers, some of whom attracted large social media followings, would feverishly try to decrypt Q’s riddles. Over time, the posts and decryptions began to take on more religious and violent overtones. And, ominously, they began to attract more followers.

Most cults have easily identifiable leadership figures who push members to the edifice of a belief system, but Q remains ethereal even while delivering messages to the faithful for four years. Trump’s outsized presence brought him a messianic-like following within the movement. Together, Q and Trump are an ample substitute for a clear cult-like figure. According to the most zealous of believers, if Trump or Q say something, it must be true — or eventually will be. And if someone cannot see the so-called truth, they aren’t looking hard enough. A refrain among QAnon adherents I track online is “dig deeper.” The phrase is often uttered by seemingly hardcore believers and is directed at those who begin to question the conspiracy theory or say they cannot see it.

In 2020, amid a global pandemic and a contentious U.S. presidential race, the QAnon conspiracy theory took on even more sinister overtones. The language of QAnon began to parallel that of previous cult leaders who had encouraged followers to take another step forward toward full indoctrination — a step that could result in self-harm or staging an attack.

For example, after one of the co-founders of the Heaven’s Gate cult died, the other began preaching about taking followers to the “Next Level,” a science-fiction version of the afterlife. To explain the unexpected death of his co-founder, he began sermonizing that his followers’ bodies were unimportant vessels that they would shed upon reaching their final destination. He blended aspects of New Age science and evangelical Christianity to persuade them to go on one final trip, which ended with a mass suicide by 39 cult members in 1997.

Like the Heaven’s Gate cult, the QAnon community brandishes religious imagery and repurposes theories to fit new truths. Q’s theory about an impending storm where global elites are vanquished is a recurring end-times scenario in many religions, including Christianity. The predicted storm is still coming, they now say, when Trump retakes power on March 4.

When the Rajneesh Movement emerged in the 1970s, it used spirituality to cultivate a mass following, much like QAnon does. Leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was known for saying variations of “I was asleep, and I am awake, and you can be awake also.” This message is echoed in the QAnon concept of a “Great Awakening,” a single event where people will become enlightened and see the truth. Ultimately, Rajneesh’s followers turned to violence, poisoning salad bars in 1984 as part of a failed plan to depress voter turnout in an Oregon election. It was the first documented bioterrorism attack in the United States. The Rajneesh movement’s overarching philosophy — to awaken the masses and then steal an election — could have served as a blueprint for the many QAnon members who stormed the Capitol Jan. 6 in an act of politically motivated violence with the objective of gaining power.

Like the cults that came before them, the followers of QAnon see great purpose in what they do — they believe they are saving God’s children. When March 4 comes and goes, and President Biden remains firmly in power, the threat of violence by QAnon conspiracists will persist. They’ll simply shift their narrative, hatch new plots and repurpose old ones — and endure as a potentially deadly menace.

Jason Blazakis is a professor of practice at the Middlebury Institute’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism and a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-21/qanon-cults-capitol-attack-trump-threat

_________________________________________

VIDEO: License to Q – The Divided State of America with Heather Gardner

#Los Angeles Times #QAnon #cults

3 notes · View notes

qqueenofhades · 4 years

Note

How did 9/11 affect the American psyche? I’ve heard people say that 9/11 is when America went insane, but I was born into the post-9/11 America, so it’s a bit hard for me to wrap my head around.

Oh man. You kids are asking the easy questions tonight, I see.

I’m not even sure I can adequately describe the effect that 9/11 had on the American psyche and the ways in which the entire world would be massively, almost unimaginably different if it had never happened, but here goes.

Basically, in the almost exactly ten-year period between the final collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the terror attacks in 2001, life for Americans was pretty damn good. They had won the Cold War, the economy was doing great, everybody was feeling rich and optimistic and like there was nothing but blue skies ahead. (Side note, I wonder if this resurgence of ‘90s nostalgia has to do with the fact that that’s the last time that we collectively felt safe.) The Columbine school shootings happened in 1999, back when that was completely still a shocking thing that nobody would expect, and not a semi-regular feature of the news every few months. I was 11 years old. Littleton was about an hour from where we lived at the time. I spent the whole morning crying about it and insisted on organizing a memorial service for the victims. The 2000 presidential election was bitterly contested between Bush and Gore, coming down to a handful of votes in Florida and the Supreme Court decision. Man, you also have to wonder how all of recent American history would have gone differently if Bush had lost.

Then…. 9/11. I was 13. It was an ordinary, sunny Tuesday, my dad came upstairs with a funny look on his face, and said that apparently the World Trade Center had been attacked. We didn’t have cable TV, so we didn’t watch any of it live, but I don’t remember that we discussed anything else for the whole day. We were at home, which was far away from the East Coast or where any of it was happening, so I don’t have any dramatic memories of seeing people freaking out or anything like that. At dinner that night, THAT NIGHT, my mom said that Osama bin Laden had probably done it. I repeat: everyone knew on the same night that it had happened that Osama was almost definitely responsible. You may note that Osama bin Laden was a Saudi national, all the hijackers were Saudi, and al-Qaeda was an organization with deep Saudi roots. (Remember the part where America attacked… Afghanistan? Yep. Seems legit. Then again, they weren’t the biggest oil producers in the region and a major US ally.)

It is impossible to overstate the shock that this caused. This had never happened. Even through both world wars and the long, dangerous 20th century and the turbulence and tension of the Cold War, there had never been an attack like this on mainland American soil. (And on that note, America got into World War II, despite all the heroic mythology about freeing the world from tyranny, because of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which in 1941 was an American territory. There were plenty of Nazi sympathizers among the establishment and government, and as soon as the war was over, America brought plenty of Nazis, including Wernher von Braun, to work in the space program. To say nothing of our problems with Nazis NOW. So yes.) The psychological effects were literally devastating for both Americans and many other people. Not to downplay the obvious horror of what happened on 9/11 and the people who were killed, but it turned America into a siege state. Everyone was terrified, and yet now we had a War on Terror, helpfully called a “crusade” by President Bush before European allies forced him to walk it back. His approval ratings hit 90%+ in the days after 9/11, and support to bomb Afghanistan – again, not in any way directly connected to this, aside from the fact that it was where Osama bin Laden had been active, and when the US government had armed him and fellow mujahadeen in the 1980s to fight against the Soviets, who had invaded in 1979, making it a Cold War proxy battlefield, and anyway – was MONUMENTAL. The whole public was behind this. International sympathy for America was incredible. Everyone was on our side and willing to say that we had been wronged. It didn’t really matter that Afghanistan was not really connected to this. Someone needed to suffer for this outrage. And boy, did they suffer.

Then came March 2003, and the infamous declaration that we were now going to invade Iraq, because Saddam Hussein (supported by the US in the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, in retaliation for Iran overthrowing their puppet shah in 1979, after CIA and MI6 staged a coup to remove Iran’s democratically elected prime minister in 1953 to protect their access to oil) apparently had weapons of mass destruction and was about to use them to kill more Americans. Everyone knew at the time that this was pretty much bullshit. But boy, did the Bush administration go hard to work selling it to us. The Department of Homeland Security was founded in 2002, after the attacks. The Patriot Act and other intrusive new surveillance methods and measures were quickly authorized. Americans became watched, spied on, mistrusted, and suspected of wrongdoing in ways never really tried on a large scale before. Any dissent was framed as taking the side of the terrorists; couldn’t you see that we needed all this to be safe? The state of national emergency that was declared after 9/11 was never actually revoked; we are all still living in it 19 years later. The culture of hyper-militarism, all these huge flags at sporting events and the visibility of these “Salute to Service” months and this aggressive fasciso-patriotism all grew up directly from the seeds of 9/11 and the sense of unforgivable affront to America, which could do what it wanted anywhere else in the world but could never forgive anyone for inflicting it in return.

It’s a mark of how badly all that public sympathy was mismanaged that by the time 2003 rolled around, the international community (except for Great Britain and Bush’s loyal compadre, Tony Blair) was… to say the least, skeptical of this Iraq adventure. It was pretty clearly a pretext to resume the Gulf War from Bush Senior’s tenure, unrelated to any actual justification or revenge for 9/11, and demonstrated the fact that far from resting on our laurels and feeling safe after winning the Cold War, America was now locked in mortal combat with an enemy that could be everywhere at any time. Nobody should feel safe, because the terrorists were out there. Despite the condemnation, Bush got re-elected in 2004, in part by painting his opponent, John Kerry, as someone who just couldn’t be trusted on national security. In short, Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, was “Swift Boated,” though he also did run a pretty wooden and uninspiring campaign. I just missed being old enough to vote in this election, though my parents and older sister all voted for Kerry, and Bush’s failings were a frequent subject of discussion in our house. He was getting more and more unpopular, was a figure of national ridicule, and yet this never actually discredited the whole War on Terror and the apparatus that sustained it. There were reports of war crimes, including Abu Ghraib, committed by the American forces. The indiscriminate torture and murder of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was also an object of national concern, but allowed to keep happening. Less than 5 years after 9/11, and all this sympathy for America, America had… well, lost its mind.

So… yes. There’s an entire generation now that is too young to remember 9/11 and thinks that America has always been this way, but it is, again, completely impossible to overstate how 9/11 turned this sense of comfortable complacency and national prosperity upside down. Everything was now justified in the name of freedom, and any disloyalty was suspect. Our “The Greatest!!” state had to be repeated and reissued and emphasized at every point. Many innocent Americans died on 9/11, sure. But the way that it was turned into the worst violation that any country had suffered anywhere, led to the death of thousands of Afghans, Iraqis, American servicepeople, Muslims, and everyone else involved in the wars and the system that was built to sustain them, and turned America into this paranoid, brutal, out-of-control war-machine juggernaut is, it can be well argued, its worst and most lasting tragedy.

#politics for ts #anonymous #ask

106 notes · View notes