#this isn't necessarily in defense of the mentioned women | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lauriemarch · 8 months

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and at the end of the day, people will still hate women.

because beyonce is a terrible songwriter who has a good body and nothing more and she's really nothing compared to olivia rodrigo, that stuck-up bitch who steals other people's music, but taylor swift is an old, bitter nothing who clearly hates other girls. and sabrina carpenter deserves to die because she followed her heart, not her brain, and that's exactly why zendaya will never be good enough for tom holland. don't forget about kylie jenner, who's stealing precious timothee's innocence away and dating her is like committing arthouse cinema suicide, or how we said the same thing about miley cyrus and her disgusting profanity, think of the children, poor liam hemsworth, trapped in a marriage with such a horrible woman. lana del rey was hot until she was big and she made trailerpark sexy until her ass got a little too fat. and ariana grande, talentless homewrecker, and selena gomez, jealous and unreasonable, and hailey bieber, even more boring than the blood drying on the knives you are so quick to pull. sophie turner is a bad mom and megan thee stallion deserved whatever was coming to her.

and amidst all of this, we still don't know these women. we cannot fathom the pain of having a public divorce, one where people choose sides and hurl insults at you until the battery on their phone dies. we don't watch them chase after sweet-cheeked children in tucked-away backyards or play board games with their best friends while their chests heave in laughter. we don't know their marriages and we don't know their solitudes. we don't watch them unravel themselves, time and time again, preparing for the battle that we have made of their lives. they can never make a mistake. they can never cry. they can never be who they believe themselves to be.

and we take all of this and we go to work, we ride the bus, we go grocery shopping, we walk in dappled sunlight, and we let ourselves shrivel. i compare myself to every body i see and i comfort in the fact that i can still encircle my wrists with my fingers. food turns to dust in my mouth when i think about the fact that taylor swift thinks she's fat and people still hate sabrina carpenter for sticking by joshua bassett's side when he almost died, for God's sake, and now the people on my twitter feed are saying GUTS is the worst album they've ever heard. i liked it, the tiny voice in my head cries out. she wrote songs that made me feel noticed. they're calling the song i relate to the most a total skip.

so i close the app. i try not to think about the endless profiles screaming about how much they hate a nineteen/thirty-two/thirty-eight/twenty-three/twenty-six/forty-two year old. i try not to think about how much they would hate me, if they knew anything at all.

#this isn't necessarily in defense of the mentioned women #twitter has just been so disgusting in the past week #and everything written in italics is either a direct quote or paraphrased from twitter so that's awesome #so. yeah #what does this mean you ask #i don't know i respond #olivia rodrigo #beyonce #taylor swift #kylie jenner #sabrina carpenter #lana del rey #zendaya #miley cyrus #ariana grande #selena gomez #sophie turner #megan thee stallion

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gingerteaonthetardis · 7 months

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Abbey, did you notice how the Rose and Ten/Rose hate is getting so strong and persistent lately? It is making me feel uncomfortable, because most of it is rooted in hypocrisy and misogyny. And the same people claiming to adore Nine/Rose while blatantly roasting Rose, and calling her misogynistic slurs… I try not to let this affect me, but I relate to Rose and seeing her constantly being called a "whore", called bland, stupid, clingy and/or unlikeable, reading she was only loved by the Doctor because she’s blonde and white, that she should have died… It’s like I am being attacked myself. It feels awful. :(

Also, most of it comes from either dudebros or Martha stans, especially the ones who ship her with Ten. Like…

hey, nonny! i'm quite sick, so forgive me if this reply isn't as clear as it could be. i am trying to extend grace across the board here, but i'm also on a lot of cold meds, lmao. another disclaimer: i'm not an authority on anything at all in the world.

the long and short of it is that you're right, this is a bunch of gross, misogynistic bullshit you're seeing right now! however, it's not quite accurate to say that this is a thing happening lately.

it wears new faces, but basically since nuwho started airing, people have found reasons to hate rose. people hated that she was uneducated, that she was poor, that she was a teenager, that she had acne, that she had the audacity to grow as a character, that she dressed in a certain way, and oh, did i mention that they really really hated that she was poor and uneducated? a lot of it was thinly-veiled classism (or not veiled at all) mixed with a spattering of misogyny, straight up, and a lot of rose fans were demeaned for their love of her.

seeing these sorts of takes has always been an unfortunate fact of existing in this fandom.

however, it is also important to point out that there was (and still is, i'm sure) a lot of racism baked into this fandom, and into rtd's era in general. i have less direct experience with this, but i am aware overall of the vitriol martha was subject to as a character, how dismissive people were of her being a viable love interest for ten, and it's almost impossible not to see how she was subject to humiliations within the canon of the show that white characters simply were not. i can guess, though i cannot cite any examples myself, that some black fans and fans of color in general have been demeaned and made to feel unwelcome here.

this is, like the above, an awful fact of the fandom and its history.

these are not necessarily equivalent. but they're both realities.

SO, cut to now. you have a fandom that has undergone several cataclysmic shifts, has imploded, has turned on itself dozens of times before. there are people who care about rose and are understandably defensive of her. there are people who care about martha and are understandably defensive of her. there are people who hate them both. there are plenty of people (like myself) who love both characters, who have nuanced reads of them. you have people who maybe ship one pairing or the other but not at cost of either rose or martha. you have multishippers. maybe some of us even ship martha and rose with each other, because we're cool and sexy and love women.

but then there are shit-stirrers. there are people sending hate to real living human beings in what they perceive as defense of their faves. there are users misrepresenting themselves as fans of anything when they are, in fact, just attention-starved, brain-poisoned lonely people.

and their shit ass takes are, i'm sorry to say, an unfortunate fact of this fandom.

they are not, however, representative of the majority of ninerose fans or tenmartha fans. the people bullying uninvolved ninerose bloggers? they are not representative of the majority of tenrose fans.

they're not representative of anything but their own misery.

the fact is, there are so many ways to be a fan of this stupid space show, so many ways of engaging in fandom, and some people have just chosen to be cruel, misogynistic, racist, classist, or some combination of the former. they've chosen to be unoriginal, hateful bullies, which is sad and sometimes very hurtful, because it's a huge disservice to both the material, the people who made it, and the people who enjoy it.

but!! there is an upside, i think, which is that we can make our spaces kinder if we curate them well. it's down to us to report harassment and to block people who make tumblr toxic. it is down to us to reblog the art and stories and meta and gifs that bring us joy, or that we feel add depth and meaning to the show. and it is essential!! that we remember we are here voluntarily. if fandom isn't fun anymore, if it makes us feel bad about ourselves, it often means it's time to step back and find our footing again. to unfollow some people, follow some new people. to try to connect with the people we do like and follow in a more personal way. to find the people in our personal lives who make us feel safe and tell them what's going on.

i'm sorry for what you're feeling, nonny. you're not the only one. <3 don't be ashamed if you feel you need support from irl friends/mutuals/etc.

i don't know how long you've been a part of the fandom, but as someone who has been around for 5 years and who has friends who have been here for twice, even three times that long, just know that there are plenty of good people around if you look for them.

#SORRY FOR THE LITERAL ESSAY. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS #also nonny i hope you have/find your people who make you feel safe and who make fandom fun for you <3 #anyway....... tagging this as #discourse #just in case!#abbey.txt #dw #long post

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booasaur · 1 year

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You have me more than intrigued me. Do you know if anyone is posting Della Street scenes from Perry Mason? I gave up on HBO awhile ago but I may have to reup if this one proves engrossing enough. How procedural is the show on the whole? I love a good period mystery.

I couldn't find any scenes, of Della herself or of the ship(s). It's especially hard to find stuff about just the HBO series when the original was so iconic.

The show as a whole is....the first season started off as the most stereotypical cliched version of modern reboots as you could find, a dark, grim slow origin story where the thing the character is known for only happens near the end.

I'm not sure how much you know about the original series, well, we'll put aside the books, but the actual first show started airing all the way back in the '50s and it was really popular, and Della Street was a badass even then The show ended a few years later but was so popular, the same actors came back for a series of TV movies that basically acted liked more episodes, all the way from 1985 to 1995. So I guess the modern era isn't the only one doing these reboots. :P

But anyway, the original show was more of a classic procedural, each ep would have Perry, a defense lawyer, defending a client and figuring out a way to prove their innocence and get them off. The new HBO series has had one case a season so far, and there's no real guarantee that Perry'll be able to successfully defend their case, the tone is more cynical.

It is a pure mystery per season, though, as much as it may look like it's more a character introspection. It's a lot more realistic in terms of racism, sexism, and of course, with the changing of Della to a lesbian, homophobia. Perry himself is suffering PTSD after the war, he starts off as a private investigator so we see how it comes to happen that he becomes a lawyer.

Della's too main a character to do all her individual scenes, but I'd actually uploaded some of these short scenes for my friend (who then went back to watch the whole show herself) but maybe this will give you a good idea of what the show's about:

Season 1

1x01 - Della's first appearance: https://streamable.com/idap23

1x03 - This is when I first started to really like Della: https://streamable.com/pys6gf

1x03 - Again, being so awesome, I literally made a clip of this back when this first aired and made my friend watch, who forgot about the show again till this season: https://streamable.com/ezhcsu

1x04 - The first time we find out Della's into women, with her gf Hazel: https://streamable.com/uvzwpx

1x05 - Another sweet scene with Hazel: https://streamable.com/qi83ft

1x07 - Della with her friend Hamilton: https://streamable.com/dm6ezq

I didn't do every scene where Hazel was mentioned or appeared, though there's not much more.

And now in season 2:

2x01 - Della first sees Anita: https://streamable.com/yyttvi

2x01 - An extension of the scene above: https://streamable.com/lli2b1

2x01 - Della gives Anita a call: https://streamable.com/6b2enu

2x02 - Anita takes Della to a boxing match: https://streamable.com/7jm5mt

These last clips are the ones I used to make gifs from so they're not necessarily the full scenes. There are also obviously so many more scenes of Della in all, so if this does pique your interest, I'd go ahead and just watch the whole show, at least from season 2 onward. It's gotta be available to watch in places you don't have to pay. >_>

2x03 - Anita visits Della at the office: https://streamable.com/rl6870

2x04 - Della's still upset about their previous client's suicide, she meets up wiith Anita and they go on a trip: https://streamable.com/siiaw4

2x04 - Della waking up https://streamable.com/vws9kw

2x05 - Anita and Della's scenes this ep https://streamable.com/brv422

2x06 - A bit of Anita and a lot more Della individually, just figured it'd add more depth:

- Part 1: https://streamable.com/nur5ht

- Part 2: https://streamable.com/4h6m7p

2x07 - No Anita this week, but we did get a scene with Ham https://streamable.com/2x3xvv

2x08 - Not much Anita this week either, but a lot of good scenes of Della

- Part 1: https://streamable.com/csgm23

- Part 2: https://streamable.com/tu8h33

#replies #femslash related stuff #sent on 20230316 #Anonymous #5 #perry mason hbo #anita x della #I couldn't work it in anywhere above but juliet rylance's voice is SO gorgeous #that's like half the della appeal right there #in addition to her being a cool badass kind smart gorgeous lesbian :o #della street #how to watch della street hbo

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spicebiter · 1 year

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Well I've finished reading Gantz and there's A Lot to say about it, tbh. I have, overall, very mixed feelings about the series.

On one hand, sexual violence and general sexualization of characters both human and alien (the latter I was not expecting but WOW did the man invent ways to sexually assault shapeshifting entities) is not really high on my list of 'things I hope to see', but I have to begrudgingly admit that as far as the actions of characters in the story go I don't find that this was out of place. It's definitely a lot to take in and isn't always something you expect to happen, but I wouldn't necessarily call their inclusion or depiction gratuitous. Depressingly realistic, perhaps? The pinups at the beginning of most chapters, though, that I don't fuck with. They are neither tasteful or necessary and quite frankly there's simply not enough screen time for the women to justify it- especially early on, when most of the pinups occur.

On the other hand, god damn does this series go hard. Right from the beginning you have a really cool sci-fi horror feel, and tbh for the longest time I was mostly just reading because the art and concepts behind the sci-fi gear and alien design was so cool. From the start Gantz's strong point lies in its consistency juxtaposing the most high tech and unrealistic future gear with the mundanity of modern Earth. Despite killing aliens on the reg and using guns that seem to emit a fucking One Punch Man level hit, the main character of phase one is concerned with getting a girlfriend and losing his virginity, with other characters dealing with their own everyday lives throughout the series.

While the series lacks severely in its pacing, feeling like it drags on in the in-world sense of time while also having SO fucking much happening, I do have to appreciate the underlying sense of build up to the story and the stakes behind it. In the beginning you have a bunch of people who don't know what the hell they're doing and are less concerned with the implications behind their role as alien hunters conscripted by a black sphere than they are with their personal lives, but by the end the fate of humanity as a whole is at stake and the main character, a character I all but loathed in his immaturity and arrogance, is now a character I can actually root for and feel how far he's come. Additionally, the main characters are not the only focus and you see a decent amount of character work done on tertiary characters and their growth/backstories. Even by the beginning of the third and final phase of the series- almost 100 chapters from the end- I found myself fully invested in seeing where multiple characters ended up.

Now, a slew of things that Suck. Spoilers ahead, but nothing that major, honestly. There's a whole leg of the story that splits focus between the alien fighting and... god it just sucks i barely even want to think about it... a cult of vampires trying to kill the alien hunters. This comes completely out of left field with no build up, and no real conclusion, either, as the last (?) of the vampires kinda just disappear 80 or so chapters from the end and show up for a singular panel where they muse over the possible end of the world and that's it! Their reasons behind killing the alien hunters is mentioned briefly as saying they're 'enemies' but with no real evidence to back that up since the vampires attack first and the alien hunters never retaliate out of more than self defense. The entire storyline of these vampires is completely dropped for the final phase of the series and while I was glad to not have to see any more of it I also have to just not know what the fuck that whole thing was about and why it was even a part of the story other than it just Could Be.

While it's not surprising for a manga written by a guy in the early 2000s, I still want to mention that this series is not kind to its female characters. For some, they have agency and character and some interesting moments. But especially in the first 150~ chapters, most women are disposable and/or used to show that certain male characters are garbage rapists. All of them have more interest in the male characters (primarily the primary protagonist Kurono Kei) than literally anything else, including a 23 year old woman with a child who meets the secondary protagonist, a 17 year old high schooler, and within a night decides she's in love with him and that he and his brother should live with her. For all its world building and sci-fi coolness, it can't make up for the less than stellar writing. Sad!

The series concludes quietly. While this is, in some ways, akin to the end of something like Titan A.E and you are left to ponder the possibilities of the future after so much hardship and chaos, and it can be a bit of a release as an ending because there is less to be disappointed in, it also leaves literally nothing to feel disappointment OR joy over. The climax of the series reaches its end, yes, but only for the main and secondary protagonists, really. There are so many loose threads left behind, characters I had grown attached to left unattached to any kind of ending of their own and the factions of humanity that botched the salvation of the world so handily left unaccountable (aside from the death of one small group, not enough to make up for the countless lives lost imo). In the span of less than 30 pages the fate of humanity is up in the air and then everything is over. While it's a somewhat dignified end, especially after such a long period of highs and lows and dread uncertainty, it still left a lot to be desired as far as I'm concerned.

This is not a series I could easily classify as good or bad. There's a lot I enjoyed endlessly about it, and the last third of it was some of the most intense and exciting manga I've ever read. But I also spent so much time thinking 'wow this is really really bad' that it's honestly surprising that I even made it to the end. Every time I thought about giving up, a chapter cliffhanger or thread of plot would pull me back in. It's like a train wreck, but if somehow all the train cars performed a respectable rendition of the Swan Lake ballet before the whole thing ended in a massive fireball. If you like sci-fi horror and don't mind a mind boggling amount nudity and blood and the idiocy of teenagers, Gantz might be just what you need in your life.

#gantz #media talk #spiced

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palmofafreezinghand · 2 years

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How do you think Carlisle and Esme dealt with another couple in their family when Emmett came along, especially a couple that is so overt with their physical expressions of love?

Ok first off thank you so much for the ask, second as a surprise to no one turns out I have a lot of thoughts on this I apologize in advance:

I think the first major concern on both Esme and Carlisle's part is essentially always going to boil down to Edward and how things effect him.

In my own head-canon realm Edward left in 1927 after walking in on them (there was a lot more to it but this isn't about that or him) and Esme and Carlisle kind of took that as if he comes back we will never dare to show as much as an ounce of affection in ‘public’ to the point when Edward returned in 1931 he thought they were divorced, for weeks.

So when Rosalie and Emmett become a thing and aren’t really... chaste in their affections, alarm bells start ringing for Es/C. Edward is shockingly okay with it, a little annoyed but mostly happy for Rosalie, although he’d never admit it.

Which leaves Esme and Carlisle having to deal with why they’re uncomfortable with this (beyond the it’s awkward to watch pda all the time).

- undercut for brief mentions of domestic abuse & sexual assault. -

Carlisle oversteps his place, shocking I know. It’s a couple weeks in and Emmett just kisses Rosalie, no reason besides he wanted to. Rosalie is fine with it she wanted him to too, Carlisle doesn’t get that. He pulls Emmett aside and not so gently explains that you can’t do that with women like the kind they love. He makes his stupid “easy to startle baby deer” analogy and emphasizes it’s their job as men and partners to wait and let their partners take control. And while Emmett has disagreed with Carlisle’s approach and the victim narrative he’s been touting for months this is the first time he pushes back.

“Why not? I like her, she likes me, I wanted to kiss her. If she had a problem with it she’d tell me.”

Carlisle hems and haws about consent and unspeakable horrors for awhile and Emmett finishes the conversation with something about liking to make the women he likes know he likes them and not being like Carlisle watching from afar. Which is a bug that sticks in Carlisle’s ear and doesn’t relent.

Esme has issues with it for different reasons. For a really long time she associated being a willing sexual partner to being a good wife. Which isn’t true but was a mindset she had to work like hell to get out of, and at this point probably, or ever, wasn’t fully out of. I think this contributed to her using sex as a crutch for emotions she didn’t really want to feel or conversations she didn’t want to have. There’s a bunch of psychology and commentary about hyper-sexuality after abuse but long story short for a really long time she was initiating sex she didn’t necessarily want to have but thought she should.

So now she sees Rosalie jump head first into a relationship with a guy Esme herself didn’t know well (which is a whole other set of analysis). Esme tries to mind her business, she knows meddling won’t end well, telling Rosalie not to do something will only make her do it. She holds her tongue until a few months in Rosalie comes to her and asks for advice because her and Emmett are considering taking the next step and Esme just can’t hush up anymore. She asks isn’t that a little soon, Rosalie gets defensive and makes the point that she’s known Emmett longer than Esme knew Carlisle when they got married. Esme counters with how she got married far too soon and she regrets not taking things much slower (both times), something she hadn’t quite vocalized to anyone, let alone Carlisle. Rosalie makes a snide comment about how Esme’s mistakes aren’t her own and she’s smarter than to fall for someone like... that. She means Carlisle but Esme interprets it to mean Charles which is much more hurtful.

Things kind of continue in this vein for a little while. Emmett and Rosalie decide to take things a little slower, because they communicated about it and not because of others’ opinions.

It’s one of those rare moments where all the ships are passing and Esme and Carlisle have a moment alone as one is getting ready to leave and the other is getting home when they finally talk about it all.

“Will you talk to him?” Carlisle sighed.

“What did Edward do now?”

“Emmett. I’ve tried to explain he needs to stop the kisses and the hugs and the everything and he just won’t listen to me.”

“Why should he stop?”

“It needs to be Rosalie’s choice.”

They then have a big conversation about how it’s not one partner’s job to initiate everything and that actually puts more pressure on someone and the only reason Esme initiates so much is because Carlisle refuses to and she wasn’t ever sure he even ever wanted her to.

“So I should just kiss you whenever I’m thinking of it?”

“You think of it?” Esme asks genuinely, absent of the sardonic tone he would expect with such an absurd question.

He then proceeds to kiss her whenever he thinks of it for the rest of the fight discussion, which happens to be anytime she makes a good point because lord is her wit best when aimed at him.

They revisit the conversation at a later date: calmer and able to articulate their perspectives a little better. Carlisle’s able to reaffirm he does desire her and she’s able to admit part of the whole feeling obligated to initiate intimacy struggle (not all of it because Carlisle would never touch her again if he knew and she knows that). From then on they’ll never reach the full pda levels of r/e but Carlisle’s hand always finds the small of his wife’s back as he passes rather than her shoulder, he finds she fits pretty well in the crook of his elbow if he wraps his arm around her waist - he likes the way she leans into him when he holds her like that.

In the end they’re both able to recognize maybe they don’t know everything and are able to become a listening ear and a helpful friend to Rosalie and Emmett rather than an end all be all. The four of them end up learning from each other in odd ways.

#sorry this turned into a huge soliloquy #but thank you so much for the ask!!! 💖💖#rosalie hale #emmett cullen #esme cullen #carlisle cullen #ask #analysis #headcanons

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walkuntilthedaylight · 3 years

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The people have spoken! How can I not give them what they want?

I'm gonna put this all under a cut, since it's a bit long, and also because it's highly interpretative/speculative and not everyone likes those kinds of posts as they can be rather subjective and, I suppose, invasive. I want to give two major caveats to my thoughts below: first is that I tend not to buy the idea that Paul was the "stable/normal" Beatle, mostly b/c I view marijuana dependency and workaholism as addictions and I take them pretty seriously. Second is that I really do love this kind of tabloid/gossip/personal account shit; I think it should be taken with a handful of salt, but I don't think it should be entirely dismissed out of hand either. I read this stuff like I'm piling up sheets of stained glass: I'm intrigued by the places where the colours blend and overlap, and ignore things that fall outside the prism. Anyway, let's dig in:

Okay, so what I found fascinating about 'Body Count' is that it's one of the only sources which observes Paul McCartney's mental health during the period between the India trip and when the band breakup really got rolling. I think it's overall a fairly self-absorbed text that definitely has some lies and exaggerations peppered in there to make things spicier and more dramatic, but its broad characterization - as I mentioned in my first post - isn't exactly libelous or out of left field. Some elements that make me think it's generally if not wholly authentic are: Paul's simultaneously forceful and dorky seduction style, his terrible Liverpool diet and poor housekeeping, the bouts of thrill-seeking recklessness, avoidant adventure crafting, dark moods when drinking non-socially, the occasional hot and cold bouts with the Apple Scuffs camped out at his gate, and the way in which he underplays his drug habit, which is SO "in truthfulness we spent most of the filming of Help! slightly stoned":

These details are so bizarrely specific and have significant overlap with both sympathetic and spurned personal accounts of Paul I've read in the past, so I believe Francie is just telling "Her Version Of The Truth" here rather than crafting a piece of pure fiction. The most important and revealing anecdote in the book is this one.

There's no reason not to believe this is a fairly accurate representation of something that actually happened, imo, since we know that anxious purse strings were an ongoing issue in the unusual turnover rate within the band Wings, and there are plenty of confirmed and rumoured cases alike of extended family members feeling entitled to a "piece of the pie"; this is just like, the kind of thing that happens to working class people who get catapulted into fame and fortune. And Paul in particular already had deep-seated financial anxiety for whatever reasons he'll never fully admit (as is his right, but I think his offhand claim that he "once heard some adults arguing about money and that's why" might actually be alluding to having heard some adults - y'know, like his parents - arguing over money fairly frequently). What esp interests me about the anecdote is the way Paul seems to connect the conflict b/t his dual "identities" with these financial expectations. Perhaps the CAPSLOCK emotional hysteria related in the book is puffed up for drama, but it does bring to mind one of the most revealing comments Linda ever made about their relationship, which is that Paul needed to be told he would still be loved when the cameras weren't rolling. And that's the thing: Francie caught Paul at the exact moment that the pillars of his Smile-For-The-Camera "Beatle" identity were collapsing; the dissolution of his relationships with John and Jane.

Whatever all this could possibly mean re: the breakup of the Lennon-McCartney partnership is a post for another time. What I wanna do instead is apply the level of speculation we usually reserve for that relationship to the endpoint of Paul and Jane's courtship.

So like, Paul and Jane: I know people are resistant to this specific POV, but I honestly just don't... think it was that deep? "Not deep", mind you, doesn't mean "not significant". Paul was obviously Jane's first love (u never forget), but the feeling I get from Paul's side (as a subconscious process I mean) is that Jane's importance was primarily as a lynchpin in his London Socialite persona. He loved her family, he loved the friend group, the artistic scene dating her gave him access to, as well as the leg up he got in the class system, etc. He liked to be the kind of guy who was dating Jane Asher. But I don't know that he was the guy who was dating Jane Asher, you get me? When people describe their "great love" they accidentally tell on them (Cynthia innocently describing Paul as being pleased to have her on his arm like a trophy; John: "it was an ordinary love scene"; Alistair Taylor noting that Paul was humiliated by the breakup). Paul's a serial monogamist who U-Hauls like a lesbian, of course, so he definitely took the relationship VERY seriously, but it's telling that all of his love songs to her were either about hitting a brick wall in arguments (certainly not dreamy, fond, yearning of "sunday morning fights about saturday night"; and occasionally expressing hints of class tension too), or completely non-descript Guy With A Guitar Trying To Get Laid shit. I could extrapolate a lot about Linda just from listening to McCartney I/RAM and the Wings discography, but 'And I Love Her' doesn't tell me a single thing about Jane besides that she's pretty. It could be about literally anyone the same way 'My Love' or 'Maybe I'm Amazed' could only be about his dynamic with Linda. Some of this is obviously the natural result of getting older and gaining emotional maturity; what I'm saying is that Paul's behaviour and self-expression in this relationship does not suggest to me that it was one in which his emotional maturity was able to develop or flourish.

I want to stress again that I don't think this belittles the significance of the relationship or makes it "bad" or "fake". Like, sometimes hot people just date for a while in their teens and twenties and love each other without necessarily unlocking their inner emotional cores, usually because they don't know how to. It's, like, fine. You need to experience relationships like that as stepping stones. I simply believe that this sort of front-facing social importance being prime in the romance is a major factor in why it ultimately didn't work (and probably in Linda's reported lingering jealousy of Jane, who wasn't just an ex, but also a symbol of the life Paul ditched to build a new identity w/ her, and sometimes still pined for). With Jane, Paul was dating the "right" kind of girl (didn't put out on the first date, erudite and middle class, as serious about her career as he was, a good "celebrity" match), but the relationship often wasn't doing what he wanted it to do. Francie's observation is that by 1968 it also wasn't doing what he needed it to do either. This is the overwhelming "mood" in her affair with Paul McCartney: that he needed something very badly from a romantic partner that he just was NOT getting, and Francie couldn't figure out what it was either:

(note that she means "queer" as in "mad", not "gay")

This was an EXTREMELY roundabout way of asking: well, what WAS it that Paul needed a relationship to do for him? And I think this is Francie's big, accidental insight. The most scandalous claim in 'Body Count' is that Paul told Francie that he hit Jane and it "turned her on".

I personally think this is p. absurd absent any real proof to back it up, but like, what is Francie actually saying HE'S saying here? If she's exaggerating or lying, she's trying to make it believable within the psychological parameters laid out, right? It's not an expression of some secret desire to dominate women she's accusing him of, but emotional disturbance and confusion at the idea that the woman he was with might like that sort of forceful, masculine violence more than his softer, feminine side, which he was - yeah, we all know it - deeply insecure about.

Regardless of whether specific details are true or false (and I think there's both in this story, all hyper-magnified to make it, y'know, a ~STORY~), I think what might be true is the emotional undertow of the retelling, that this all taken together is actually representative of the side of Paul McCartney she was exposed to, at a time when his public and private facades had both become unbearable to the point of cracking and the drug-fueled optimism of the Summer of Love was getting scrubbed off of everyone and everything. It's the Paul McCartney who eviscerated frogs because he was worried he was too "soft" for compulsory military service. The Paul who modelled his masculine teen behaviour off John Lennon's fake "Marlon Brando" swagger, but was actually more fond of the velvet "Oscar Wilde" interior.

What's SO FASCINATING about all this to me, is I deeply believe that one of the key factors in what makes The Beatles music so unique and compelling is that both the songwriters experienced psychological strain from the tension b/t their parochial socially-defensive "masculine" pride, and their sensitive "feminine" core, the latter of which they were able to express in the unburdened emotionality of their music. The reason I care about doing these totally unhinged psych analyses is because I do think it reveals something about the underpinnings of the music, as well as the reasons why the band was such a hysteria-inducing phenomenon (the rise of psychology, imo, is almost as important as the rise of industrialization as a defining factor of the modern and postmodern eras; mass psychology can be understood and wielded in precise ways, and The Beatles were one of the first empires built on that). The subconscious drives caused by this tension have been ENDLESSLY picked apart re: John's psyche, but Paul's "mirrored" issues are very under-discussed (mostly b/c he's still alive so people are a little more leery about putting him on the "couch" as a historical figure). 'Body Count', intentionally or not, painted a portrait to me of someone who was drowning in their own ill-fitting celebrity "suit", collapsing under the weight of "Being" "Paul McCartney". A guy who desperately needed some sort of space to be vulnerable without feeling emasculated for doing it. By 1968, there was no one in his life anymore - and maybe there hadn't been for a while, or ever - who was giving him this space.

In other words: the thing he needed to avoid going "stark raving queer and killing himself" was simply someone who would love him 'after the ball'.

EDIT: read the comments for further clarification and discussion! ;)

#/#//#///#////#/////#the beatles #mccharmley #analysis #long post #Talking About Paul The Way I Talk About John lmfao #Taking Tabloid Bullshit Seriously #(if not literally)#*gets out my fake spectacles and jumps into the psychiatry armchair*#idk if i laid out my thoughts v well here but i hope it satisfied all the people who asked #i also tried to warn what genre of post it was for those who hate this kinda thing lol #i feel like i have more to say re: how toxic 'The Beatle' facade got for all of them by this point #and paul and john's mirrored post-india breakdowns #but francie's perspective is specifically on how it felt to be the girl he used to divebomb his relationship with jane asher SO

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voxmortuus · 3 years

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Herding The Calf

PAIRING: Hannibal Lecter x F!Reader

UNIVERSE: Hannibal (NBC)

WORDS: 1.1k

WARNING: Sorry if this is a little fast-paced and choppy. I feel like my writing is shit today!

SUMMARY/PROMPT: From a lovely Anon: may I ask for a hannibalxreader? id like Hannibal to try to kidnap reader after stalking them for months (as he is interested in the reader and wants to get closer to them, but the only way he thinks he can make the reader care for him is to make them rely on him for all support, therefore he holds them hostage) but the reader is a good fighter and ends up hurting him pretty good, though he eventually knocks them out and the reader is held hostage in his basement and isn't necessarily afraid, just more aggravated because they're bored and want to do something and every time he visits them they ask for stuff to ease their boredom and what have you I want you to take artistic liberty over this as it is pretty much a summary prompt, just have fun if you write this lol have a nice day!

TW: Language | Mentions of Violence | Hostage | Kidnapping | Stockholm Syndrome

IMAGE CREDIT: Google

My Masterlist | Taglist | REQUESTS ARE ALWAYS OPEN

A mess of monkeys was pounding on a steel door with ball-peen hammers. Neon lights flashed on and off fast enough to send any epileptic into a seizure. Looking around, you let out a slight moan. The last thing you remember was getting ready to leave Hannibal's house before your face met the floor. Rubbing your head, you look around.

"You have got to be fuckin' kidding me?" You mutter. Taking in your surroundings, you see a toilet with a privacy wall, a bed that of which you woke up on, a sink, and a stand-up shower... and that's it. "He just couldn't take the hint." You shake your head. You try screaming, but nothing was coming of it. Chances are, this basement was soundproof. You try to walk around but, there is no luck whatsoever; here is a glass wall separating you from the rest of the basement. "GOD DAMN IT! HANNIBAL! WHAT THE FUCK?!" you yell. Frustrated.

He makes his way downstairs and takes a seat in front of your... cell. He sits down, looking at you, wiping his lip from the blood you had caused, clocking him a good one in the jaw. "You're a good fighter, Y/N, you got me good, may have even fractured a few ribs... but, you lost, I'm afraid. I wish you would have just listened, given it a chance." He stated.

"Well, Hannibal, you screwed the pooch on that one now, didn't ya? Couldn't you just take the hint? I wasn't interested. You stalked me! For MONTHS! Yet you always managed to have a god damn alibi when I tried to get the police involved. You need help Hannibal." You told him. Looking over his face, rather proud of yourself. Though you thought a moment, you wanted your money back on those damn self-defense classes.

Hannibal wanted you to need him, to rely on him. This was the only other option. When you left his care, he was insistent that you needed to stay, but you felt like you didn't need him anymore, you were feeling better, you felt like you had accomplished in your mental strength. That, and he was getting far too involved; hence you started putting more distance.

Looking at him, you rubbed your face shaking your head. "Hannibal, just let me go. I won't get the police involved- just- let me go. Please."

He stands up and looks at you. "I will bring you dinner and something to drink." He walks away.

"DAMN IT!" You bang on the glass, angry, and rightfully so. You begin to pace. There's nothing to do, nothing to read, he took your phone. You sigh; sitting on the bed, you put your head in your hands and close your eyes, trying to figure out ways to get out of this.

Day in and day out, you pace, growing bored, growing more frustrated, growing more aggravated and agitated. Looking at the wall, your back facing the glass wall, you sigh. Hannibal comes downstairs and takes a seat in front of the window wall.

"Hello, Y/N. How are you feeling?"

"Annoyed, bored, agitated, fuckin Christ Hannibal, a book, art supplies, something. I can't just sit here, pace and sleep. I need substance in my life, and you're not providing that." You state, facing away from him.

"I can give you books. What else?"

"To be let go."

"I will bring you some books. We will discuss some art supplies later."

You've gone through all six books he had brought down to you, Gone With the Wind, Pride and the Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Little Women, and Wuthering Heights. Sighing you had lost track of time, your sleep schedule was likely off, and your eating habits were off, you were losing weight, at least you showered, and he had given you a razor, knowing that you wouldn't harm yourself, so at least you could keep up on your shaving. He gave you clean clothes every day. To some, this wasn't so bad, but to you, it was starting to wear on you.

One night Hannibal had decided to sit in the dark you had no idea he was there. You had gone to sleep. Tossing and turning, cold sweats, you start dreaming.

You're stuck in a cage, hanging above a crowd of people, but there's something wrong with these people; they're sick, ill, bleeding from their eyes, noses, and ears. They're trying to get to you, trying to claw at you, not eat you, but they want to kill you. You see Hannibal in the distance, and you start screaming for him. Your voice goes horse. You begin to panic a little more; you're thrashing about in bed. You shoot up and gasp for breath. "HANNIBAL!" you scream.

Standing up, he walks over to the wall looking at you. "Are you okay Y/N?"

"I had the worst dream. People were trying to claw at me, trying to kill me. They were bleeding from their eyes, noses, and ears... I was in a cage, hanging above them, they started to climb the cage, and you were in the distance. I tried calling for you, but I woke up. It was horrifying." You wrap your arms around your knees and look up at him. "Hannibal, please, let me go. Please." You start to cry.

Tilting his head, he looks at you and shakes his head. "I'm afraid I cannot do that." He turns and leaves.

After a few days, he has brought you some high-quality art supplies, canvas, paints, brushes. You had gotten back in touch with your artistic side, and it was honestly a nice feeling. He would come down and watch you, observe you, and you had grown to like his company. Each day you two would talk a little longer, get to know each other a little better. You two would even have art time together and eat dinners together. He kept you in this glass box, and as time went on, you had grown accustomed to it. He had even given you a cat to keep you company. Things were changing in you.

Over time, you had liked the idea of being with him; it was this feeling of calm over you when you saw him. It was like everything was going to be okay. Fleeing wasn't a thought, not so much anymore- at least. He sits there and looks at you. "Good afternoon, Y/N. How are you feeling?"

"Hannibal, I would like to see the outside. Would you accompany me?"

He smiles and looks over your face. Tilting his head, he looks deep into your eyes and unlocks the door, takes your hand, and brings you out back. The sun hits your face you smile. Looking up at him, you smile again. "What a lovely day." you smile. And your wheels start turning surveying the area, but there was this tiny bit that stopped you; if you ran, and he caught you, your next capture, you could be the next meal.

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imaginariaextraordinaire · 3 years

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Considering how #MeToo in South Korea has been a conversation about the way institutions and systems have failed survivors of sexual assault, bold move of The Devil Judge to make the case in the live court show to be one of sexual harassment.

Writer Moon Yeo-Seok packs a LOT into the storytelling in this episode. First of all, Yo-Han doesn't want this case to be on the live show, but he's effectively forced to take it on. It becomes clear that the judicial system has no interest in upholding women's rights, but is more than willing to use the topic to engage in power play. Yo-Han is being made to preside over this case of sexual harassment because his enemies hope to put him in a weak and defensive spot.

The case is this: A leading male actor is accused of sexual harassment by other actors and technicians. He's a serial offender. We're shown how he uses his position as a senior to threaten, intimidate and harass women who are lower than him in the professional hierarchy.

I thought it was quite interesting that the show chose to make the harasser an actor. It feels like a pointed statement about the industry's internal sexism. However, it's also worth noting that the reason the public prosecutor picks this case is not because he thinks he can win the case because there is evidence backing the allegations. The reason he's confident of winning is because he has other dirt on the actor.

When the actor is being questioned by the prosecutor, the prosecutor says he has evidence of the actor's deviant sexual preferences. We're not told what exactly these preferences are, but the threat of this information coming out is enough to convince the actor to admit to the sexual harassment charge. Sexual harassment is the lesser evil — because society has accepted and normalised it.

So the prosecution's case (as well the actor's admission) are both mired in deceit and falsehood. Which tells us that even if the allegations are true, it isn't enough to report sexual harassment and getting justice for victims/ survivors has little to do with the truth of an allegation.

What The Devil Judge shows us is that cases of sexual harassment are weapons and in this case, the target isn't the actor, but Yo-Han. In an effort to make Yo-Han deliver an inhumane sentence, the prosecutor says that since the actor has admitted to sexual harassment, he should be castrated. The argument is that castration will ensure there are no more victims, but the actual intention is to force Yo-Han's hand. In a previous episode, Yo-Han had brought flogging as punishment out of the medieval ages into the present; the prosecution suggests he's taking a leaf out of the same book with castration.

In an effort to argue against castration, the actor's lawyer says that the punishment is too severe especially since South Korea is a country with a low crime rate. The other judge — a woman — points out that the reality of those who live in secure bubbles of privilege is not the same as the lived reality of the poor. She reminds him (and the audience) that statistics and official narratives don't necessarily reflect the lived reality and institutions like the judiciary are supposed to look out for the underprivileged and marginalised.

Which is a point well worth making, but it's ironic that all these excellent explorations into the normalising of violence, the role of institutions and the concept of justice itself send the issue of sexual harassment to the sidelines.

Even when we return to the subject of the case, the focus is on the actor and the question is what would be justice for him. What he's done and his victims recede into the background. There's no discussion of restorative justice or reparations. Instead, all that anyone seems to care about is the dick, both literally and figuratively.

Ultimately, Yo-Han arrives at a solution that is punitive enough to satisfy the unforgiving public without seeming barbaric. He outsources to America. Yo-Han's solution is to ship the abusive actor off to a prison in Texas. Yes, the Lone Star State of the United States of America.

We're also told that the person who found this Texan prison and negotiated the prisoner-exchange deal is not Yo-Han but his niece, the wheelchair-bound teenager who is studying computer engineering in Stanford (she's a distance-education student). The whole complicated process shows how institutions fail women in South Korea. For anything close to justice, the guilty abuser has to be shipped to another country — in South Korea, he'd get away with bribing people and securing parole — and it's quite obvious that this is an exceptional situation for which credit is due to not to government institutions, but one individual woman's intelligence, resourcefulness and privilege.

The segment where Yo-Han delivers his verdict would have been hilarious and a really clever bit of satire if it didn't include a video in which American prisoners say they're waiting for their Korean inmate. The implication is that the Americans are going to sodomise the crap out of him, which is not just demonising homosexuality, but it also shows that to The Devil Judge, justice means continuing the cycle of abuse by reducing the abuser to a victim. Needless to say, the guy who makes our Korean abuser shudder in horror is a leering Black man, neatly combining racism and homophobia in a single shot. It's disgusting, unnecessary and completely lacking even a hint of nuance.

Episode 5 ends with Yo-Han handcuffed to a chair and Soon-Ah forcibly kissing him. It comes quick on the heels of the trial, which suggests the show is trying to make the point that women can sexually harass men too — a tired, hackneyed and idiotic argument because it ignores the tiny detail that our existing socio-cultural structures empower men and disempower women. But let's set aside sociology and cultural studies and just stick to what's happening in the plot of The Devil Judge.

In an earlier episode, when the housekeeper was telling Ga-On about Yo-Han, she'd mentioned there was a maid who fell in love with Yo-Han and that Yo-Han had made her jump off the second floor. It seems Soon-Ah might be that maid (or maybe she's related to that maid?) and that she's nursed an obsessive crush on Yo-Han.

Ergo, present-day Yo-Han being kidnapped and handcuffed to a chair. All for Soon-Ah's pleasure, thank you very much. To really bring that point home, Soon-Ah calls Yo-Han "young master" and then plants a very un-chaste kiss on his person.

Is this kiss supposed to be hot? I've no idea. What is definitely unambiguous is that the kiss is not consensual. Yo-Han is clearly not feeling it and the lack of response isn't bothering Soon-Ah in the slightest.

In earlier episodes, Soon-Ah has been the protector — like when she punishes the foundation's director for groping the server — so it's particularly disappointing that the writer chose to make Soon-Ah an abuser in order to establish her villain identity. I really liked the idea that Soon-Ah is the actual power behind the all-powerful Social Responsibility Foundation. The reveal was reminiscent of the reveal in Vincenzo, except in The Devil Judge, this charade felt far more credible and convincing. For Soon-Ah, a young woman in a patriarchal, male-dominated and conservative society, an old man as a figurehead would mean doors opening easier and other men taking her company seriously. The facade of the old man as the director and Soon-Ah being ignored by most people showed that seedy, sleazy men trust other seedy, sleazy men.

I was quite looking forward to this scheming, ambitious woman going up against Yo-Han, but the end of episode 5 has reduced Soon-Ah to a misogynist stereotype. I'm hoping that the next episode will add some nuance/ dimension to Soon-Ah, but as of episode 5, she's the incel's wet dream. And that is disappointing af.

#The Devil Judge #Kdrama #Metoo #Sexism #Misogyny

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terrifyingstories2 · 3 years

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daisy + gender/sexuality headcanons

daisy struggles with these a lot growing up. her particular experience growing up in a catholic orphanage was.. not. exactly Great for that and they spend a lot of time feeling very other, very lost and confused and acquire a lot of trauma they spend a lot of time Working Out that ultimately makes them kinda cynical about religion though i don't think she's completely closed off to it. mack helps - they respect mack's faith and i think in general are intrigued to the beliefs and inner workings of other religions though not necessarily drawn to any particular one

this gets a lot better when daisy is adopted by The Internet. the internet is a dangerous place for a young queer chinese girl but for the first time daisy has ACCESS, has INFORMATION, has RESOURCES. and they consume every bit of it. that study exploring the link between LGBTQIA+ identities and adhd? daisy's read it. daisy spends a lot of their teens working on internalized homophobia and devouring knowledge and attends their first pride at eighteen. while gender/sexuality were scary things in their youth, they're exciting later on and daisy learns A LOT. knowledge is armor, knowledge is strength, labels are community and connection and in that vein, power.

they realize they're bi first. that comes very easily. they've always kind of known just didn't really have a word for it, and when they meet an older foster kid in a group session who does, it's a very emotional thing for them. there's strength in the word bisexual.

daisy doesn't realize they're nonbinary until they're in their late teens. that's more of a private thing, a lot of introspection in their van alone. it answers a lot of questions they've had their entire life but never had anyone to ask or bounce ideas off of, and it's freeing for her. in a way, almost kinda gives her freedom to stay beyond what expression and presentation is expected of her based on her appearance and the comfort that regardless of where she falls on any given day, she's valid and nothing can take that away from her.

daisy doesn't really come out as bi to the team in s1; it's kind of just A Thing That Everyone knows, whether because they very openly Scream Ab Women (and have a big crush on jemma) or because they very casually mention it. it's known and accepted and that's kind of that. they do however at some point talk to everyone on the team when they feel comfortable about being nonbinary and their pronouns (she/they).

if it happened to come up, they'd talk about being nonbinary and in skye fashion, show no fear, but there'd be a hint of vulnerability there. she's fine being referred to as she/her and doesn't mind terms like girlfriend/wife/etc and is a little nervous about rejection from the team so they don't want to ask for too much, don't want to seem too high maintenance or sensitive or whatever, but there's a huge sense of warmth when someone uses "they" or refers to them as "person" rather than (strictly) "woman." just those little signs that the team listens and cares mean the world. by season 2, it's not a thought anymore.

demisexual isn't something daisy comes to terms with until she's in her late twenties/early thirties. she knows what it is and would be very vocal in defense of those who fall on the ace spectrum, but never really examined her own sexual attraction and mixed it up with aesthetic attraction more often than not. it takes time to become aware of the pattern that they don't really experience attraction or experience very low levels of attraction for people until they've become close with them and that more than that, a lot of the attraction they'd told themselves they'd felt wasn't really there (or that sex just being kind of an eh sure that's nice whatever thing could mean she wasn't really as into it as she thought).

there's a lot of guilt associated with the past relationships she realizes she didn't feel the greatest amount of passion for. at least, when it comes to miles and lincoln. ironically, given the nature of she and ward's short lived relationship, it's easier to look back and see that she hadn't really thought about ward in that way until he expressed clear and unquestionable interest in her, and that maybe she kind of convinced herself she could feel that back because she loved him and could see that the relationship could be good for him, could be the difference between ward relying on another person and ward dealing with all of his pain alone.

miles, and especially lincoln, are harder. it feels awful to admit that her feelings, at least her sexual and/or romantic feelings, weren't what she had thought. miles is easier to work through; their relationship started when skye was in a really bad place mentally and it seemed more bearable to be messes together rather than alone, and so it's easier to forgive herself for not fully reciprocating his feelings. lincoln's death and her guilt around lincoln's death, makes this process a lot more difficult. she loved lincoln and she enjoyed being with him, but the more she thinks about it the more she realizes a lot of her romantic/sexual feelings stemmed from wanting to make him happy, wanting to help him, wanting to be a source of support and healing for him, wanting to help him rebuild his life after (in her mind) she'd been partially responsible for the destruction of afterlife and everything he'd clung to before. begins to see that a life of being starved of love and affection made it difficult to separate her true feelings from the gut instinct to mirror what people want as a means of acquiring affection.

ultimately, this realization helps them listen to themselves more, work their way to the realization that someone isn't necessarily entitled to something from them just because they've been kind to her, that performing for people is no way to live a life. eventually demisexual is a label she'll accept proudly and find a lot of comfort in, it just takes a little more work.

#re: of your heart.#meta: daisy.#*

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cryptnus-blog · 6 years

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Could It Rebuild American Democracy?

New Post has been published on https://cryptnus.com/2018/10/could-it-rebuild-american-democracy/

Could It Rebuild American Democracy?

It was in J.K. Rowling’s world of Harry Potter where we learned that neither Harry Potter nor Lord Voldemort could live, while the other survived.

Similar to Rowling’s magical prophecy, when it comes to American politics, a true democracy without voter participation, also cannot survive. With the 2018 U.S. elections right around the corner, there’s no telling what the polls will look like.

But, if there’s one vision the crystal ball can present, it’s that states and advocacy groups are now turning to a new technology—blockchain.

A New Prophecy: The Blockchain

Representatives whom are chosen by a small portion of their constituents, lack legitimacy and often ignore non-voters. Consequently, those voters who feel neglected, often respond by avoiding the polls. This is a never-ending circle that seems to be hurting our political climate. Unfortunately, if historical trends hold true, fewer voters will be heading to the polls in comparison to 2016.

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

Many of America’s political challenges can be traced to that cycle. Voter participation has been in decline for half a century. Barely half of voting-age Americans made it to the ballot box in 2016, putting the U.S. turnout rate behind the vast majority of OECD countries.

Even by U.S. standards, overseas voter turnout is abysmal. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense, approximately seven percent of the 3 million American adults living abroad, voted in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.

For this year’s upcoming election, one state in particular, West Virginia, is not leaving it to chance. In April, the state implemented a first-in-the-nation blockchain system, for your phone. The application allows for its citizens living abroad to vote securely if mail services or polling places are unavailable. Specifically, it helps to enfranchise members of our U.S. Military.

“There is nobody more deserving of the right to vote, than the men and women out there putting their lives on the line,” said Mac Warner, West Virginia’s Secretary of State, in a recent interview with CNN.

3-Part System To Maintaining Election Security

West Virginia’s mobile application uses a three-piece system for election security, a key part of restoring confidence in elections:

First, users will need to take a photo of their government-issued identification, and record a “selfie” style video, showing their face before casting their ballot.

Second, once the ballots are submitted, they are then made anonymous within the Blockchain.

Lastly, those casted ballots are recorded on an indelible public-ledger.

Nobody Puts Voters in the Corner

While citizens of other states will have to cast their ballots the old-fashioned way, there’s always another alternative in spreading the good word about the blockchain technology.

#1 –”Rock The Vote” With A Younger Demographic

For the past three decades, Rock the Vote has been at the vanguard of voter drives, outreach, and education. This year, the nonpartisan nonprofit is partnering with Sweet, an online social marketplace and loyalty platform, to gamify voter outreach.

With support from names and figures including the Black Eyed Peas, Sweet rewards users for watching election-related videos, educating themselves on the issues, and sharing content. Users earn Sugar tokens for these actions, which can then be redeemed for unique rewards in Sweet’s Rock The Vote Rewards Marketplace.

“More than ever, young people want to engage, but don’t necessarily know how,” said Tom Mizzone, CEO of Sweet. His hope is that this system will connect new voters, providing them with the tools to both participate in the political sphere, and make it a fun, social experience. This innovative technology drives home the kind of payoff civic engagement can have.

#2 –Making Earth Great Again

Although the midterm elections will be the Blockchain’s first test as a civic engagement and voting aid, some entrepreneurs envision an entirely new election system.

Headed by Santiago Siri, videogamer-turned-political theorist, nonprofit startup Democracy Earth has a radical idea for a blockchain-based civic community—building a social platform where the currency isn’t “likes”, but rather, “vote tokens”, which can be spent by users who state their preferences on an enormous range of questions.

Corporations could conceivably ask shareholders to use the tool to vote for board members, while municipalities could put local ordinances on the platform for members to support or oppose with a single click.

“We are not in the business of selling e-voting machines or helping modernize governments with internet voting,” Siri explained to Wired Magazine.

“We want to empower people down to the individual level without asking the permission of governments.”

But, don’t expect Democracy Earth’s platform to host U.S. elections anytime soon, though. Siri and his team are still unsure how to balance transparency and anonymity on the network, not to mention how to democratize the tokens.

The company plans to mint up to 500 million tokens priced at 12 cents each, which will be used to compensate employees and investors. It’s tough to see, however, how the principle of “one person, one vote” could survive in a market environment.

#3–Voting With “My Number”

Tsukuba city, known for its technology-forward agenda and a center of scientific research in Japan, has joined a growing list of governments that are now turning to blockchain technology to power and secure voting solutions.

Last month, the government of Tsukuba introduced its own blockchain powered online voting system, enabling residents to vote on local social development programs.

With the first-of-its-kind digital vote in Japan, Tsukuba will use Japan’s “My Number” system – a 12-digit social security identifier afforded to all Japanese residents. This helps to verify voters’ credentials before securing the vote from being falsified or accessed through decentralized blockchain technology, the Japan Times reported.

While the digital vote wasn’t a complete success, as several voters forgot their passwords, reportedly, leaving them unable to cast a vote, this is still a step in the right direction. The voting system presumably required an additional layer of security in the form of passwords to verify the person present at the ballot, beyond merely scanning his/her social security card.

Vote for the Blockchain

On this cycle for the upcoming election, the use of blockchain technology is on the ballot as much as any candidate or issue. Whether the technology can increase turnout by rewarding engagement, facilitating overseas voting, and/or keeping out troublemakers, are all questions up for debate.

If the experiment works, expect to see other jurisdictions join West Virginia and other countries like Japan, in the online voting camp.

If it exceeds expectations, get ready for groups like Democracy Earth to push for a new election system entirely.

And if it crashes and burns? Give entrepreneurs and officials some credit–they’re trying to build a more perfect union, one new tool at a time.

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