A deal

Dear Breanie, Hello, my name is Jass Mauro and I’m just a recently new reader that had spend the lasts days reading your story “a second chance”. I wanna congratulate you. Your story is amazing, you gave Sirius that story and life that he deserved. Seriously I have no words to tell you how much I love it reading. Everything that you wrote is amazing, all the moments, all the characters, I truly love it your story. For many moments I thought that “this is the kind of fanfic that need to send to aunt Jo”, the way you wrote, never forgetting anything about any character, you gave them life. But it was Sirius that I love the most, everything that you wrote is exactly how I picture him you know? I was surprise to notice how well you wrote him, it was like you were reading my mind and writing. Sirius always were my favorite character from all the books that I have read in my all life, because of this quote. “If you want to know how a truly men is, look how he treat his inferiors not his equals-Hp4”, and during the fanfic you wrote of him and I swear I could see the same men that aunt Jo wrote, this amazing men, that suffered a lot but also would do anything for not only for the people that he loved but to everyone that showed a good heart. Now please forgive myself, I’m writing this crying as I never cried before. See during this 219 chapters you wrote a Sirius that I love it so much, that I felt attached to him more then aunt Jo’s Sirius, I feel like I know your Sirius as someone close to me, so yes, his death is hurting so much, more than I can explain and more than you will ever understand. I understand that you wanted to follow the book, and for a few moments I let myself dream that you never kill Sirius, because it is his story after all his second chance, not Remus’s or harry’s, Sirius Black second chance. I know that you said that you always knew that you would kill him, I know, I read your comments before the story, but I don’t understand why. It’s your story I know, if I wanted I could write my own story and give him the happy ending that we both know that he deserved. Yes he died for love, yes he died doing what he needed and he would regret it and suffer so much if he could not been there, yes if he had to do again he would, to save Harry,Zee and everyone, I know. But it just hurts you know? It hurts as If i was in the story too, it hurts as If he was a real person, he is a fucking character but i just feel like it died a part of me too, no, I’m not being dramatic, but that’s how I feel. I guess that I was so into the world that you were writing that I truly feel that I was part of it. “Yes, it had to be done, yes for the story to continue it has to be done”, you will say, “now it’s war and Sirius won’t protect him anymore”. So what? It’s a fanfiction, your writing is damn good, I love with all my heart, they way that you build up those caracters, Hinny story, it’s wonderful, but I just wanted to read a fanction that would give the happy ending that Sirius and Remus deserved, I bet you gonna kill Remus too, otherwise wouldn’t be fair, why does Remus deserved to live and Sirius didn’t? See I didn’t look for your fanfic, I was just re-reading HP4 and I commented with my friend, then he told that he was reading this amazing fanfic about “what if Sirius had a judgment?” and I only started the story after reading the title “A second chance”, reading the title it gave me hope that you wouldn’t kill Sirius, because how come he have a second chance if he would die? Please change the title, doesn’t fit anymore. “it was remus and Harry’s second chance” you may say, no it’s not, started with Sirius, his second chance, from the middle that you decide to add Remus as main character too, but I can bet that started with Sirius his story and how he dealt with Harry’s destiny, the fact that you brough so many pov into this is amazing but all connect to Sirius, if affects Harry, affect Sirius, affect his story as well, but it’s Sirius story, the story it’s about Sirius, not Remus or Harry. It started being about him, should end being about him too. I know I am being a bitch now, it’s your fucking story, I shouldn’t tell you anything, if I don’t like the story just stop reading right? Yes, that’s true but I can’t because your story really is amazing, your writing really is amazing, I just don’t understand how come it started like a fanfiction then at the end you decide to follow the book as it is, doesn’t make sense, you changed so many things only for the better, why you couldn’t change this too? Please explain. it was his second chance, but you didn’t give to him. Sirius Orion Black deserved better, and aunt Jo killing him was the biggest mistake from the books, and I thought that I truly had found a fanfic that would make justice to the biggest unfairness from the books, a fanfic that I would send to aunt Jo, see Brianie I live in Liverpool UK and I would actually print off and sent your story to aunt jo in Scotland, because it’s so damn good this fanfic, I spoke with other friends , make them read too, told the idea of sending to her and they would do the same, we would send at least 10 copies each, and we would wait for response, because I truly think that this fanfic have the potential to be noticed, so aunt Jo would see how much we love Sirius, I would do it, send to her, by post, it’s cheap for me here, I would do it until we or you receive a response. Your writing is amazing, and you deserve to be noticed by her. But killing Sirius you just confirmed that “she is right”, well aunt Jo is right, but Sirius deserved better, and you give it to him during 218 chapters, but killing him on the 219 it was a mistake. Your story is so good that I read as quick as I could because I wanted to start over and appreciate better, to imagine better these scenes, but I don’t know how now. You may think that I’m a bloody teenanger, well you’re bloody wrong, I’m an adult with almost 22 years old, a teacher that is trying to cope with this pandemic, and when I started reading your fanfic it did something to me that I haven’t done it in a big while, it took me back to the magic world, I was using Sirius’s wand, yes I have it,I was listening to the films songs, I was so damm happy to feel that magic again, reading and feeling that amazing feeling of walking into a place that you used to live, reliving memories, feeling at home. Yes, I read until chapter 230, yes still good, Romione it’s just getting started and i love Ron development, but you killed a star and all the character it’s suffering from the lack of light, you made Sirius do something to everyone, each of the character in this damm story have a connection with Sirius because all character had a connection to Sirius’s story, yes your fanfict still good, amazing, but it’s not a real book, it’s a fanfic, and I always believed that fanfic is the place that we can write anything that didn’t happened in the book and something that we really wanted,even if you don’t believ and after so many years I really wanted to your fanfic to fix the mistakes that Aunt Jo done it.  Your fanfic is almost good as her book, your fanfic is based on her character and her world, but bloody hell woman you done something extraordinary with her world that in my view compared as much. I will not be surprise if in a few years time you write your own book and be really famous for it, you have the hand for something really powerful and I will more than happy buy your books. But you didn’t have to kill him. “just forget it’s a fucking fanfic” you may say, see that’s the beauty of a good author, you write this characters and people fall in love it, learn from them, hold them as if it’s someone real, give them hope, so blooody hell I can’t just forget a fucking fanfic. “I wrote to myself first” you said in one of the chapters, I beg your pardon, but you didn’t, if you truly wrote for yourself you wouldn’t publish. I want to ignore chapter 219 and just go back and read again, but i feel like that I can’t even do that. I don’t wanna tell what to do, but I hope that you at least thought in actually change his destiny. During the chapter I though that Petter and Sirius would have a moment the way that Petter were there and I could see that Sirius didn’t really wanted to kill him all this time, but he just couldn’t forget, I thought that Peter would protect Sirius and maybe die doing so but he would be able to apologize to Sirius and he would truly believe and Peter would finally show why he was choose to be in Gryffindor, it’s been 5 hours since I finish reading your fanfic and I haven’t stoped crying since, it’s a pain that i can’t explain, it hurts so much. When i started cry I send a video to my bestfriend and she started cry too because she “could see my pain”. I don’t wanna tell you what to do, but i will anyway- please , go back and change his destiny, leave him dying and make him suffer a lot, you know how to write a good torture, make BellaBitch take him somewhere, make everyone think that he is dead, take him off for 10 chapters, but please bring him back. Please. I know I don’t have the right to ask you this and I know there is a 98.97% of chances that you will just ignore this but I hoping on that 01.03% of chances that you will read this and reconsider, it’s not late to change, it was only a few chapters back. I bet that you wrote many chapters a head but please reconsider. It’s a fanfic and you can do this. Bring Sirius back to life, let him be happy as much as possible, kill Authur, kill Percy,Kill Snape, Kill DUmbledore,kill Seamus,kill Dean, Kill Zabini, kill Draco, Kill Theo, kill Finn, kill Minerva, Kill Ted, Kill Andromenda, Kill Molly, kill dobby,Kill the grangers, kill one the twins that will born or both, kill all of them at once or one per chapter, destroy Hogwarts, burn to the ground without being able to rebuild, but please let Sirius live with harry,Zee,Remus, thonks,Ginny,Mione,Ron,Neville,Luna. Please. Remus deserved happy ending too, but I always felt that SIrius suffered the most in the book, shitty childhood, lost his bestfriend and then 12 fucking years in Azkaban. Please let them both have a happy ending in your story. “your story”, yeep I’m no one that can tell you anything, but at least I’m trying something. your story it’s the light in the middle of this darkness. please don’t do this. If you do this I will send your story to aunt Jo, I can’t promise you that she will notice, I will make the envelope as attractive as possible so she notice and maybe read and maybe answer us back, but I will try as much as I can to make this happen, i will contact more potterheads even youtubers potterheads, I will share your story as much as I can so people read this and know you as an author. Maybe aunt Jo can notice you. I know for a fact that she do reply letters. Just please let those characters above live.  Please. Give the second chance to Sirius that he so well deserved. Give us the chance to know Sirius as we should have before. with love, and a lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots,lots of tears. A big fan of yours.

Jass M

Thank you for your kind words, Jass M.  

I have loved writing this story and I know that everyone is angry with me for killing Sirius off.  It was his second chance and he was given a chance to live the life he should have had.  He shouldn’t have died, of course not, it’s sad and tragic, but I felt that he had to.  I felt that it was important to the story because losing Sirius there is what makes Harry take that next step from boy to man.  I called it a A Second Chance because it is a second chance: For everyone.  Harry was given the childhood he deserved; Sirius was given the life with Harry he deserved; Sirius was given the chance to meet Zee and fall in love; Remus was given the chance to live a life not of poverty and hate, but full of love and friendship; Remus was given a chance to meet Tonks early and spend more time with her... a chance for a better life.  That doesn’t mean that there isn’t sadness, that there isn’t death and loss -- it just means they had a chance to live a better life... and they lived it well.

This story has always been about Harry, Sirius, and Remus, what Harry’s life would have been like had he bee raised by the two men who should have been there for him as opposed to the Dursleys -- those are my 3 main characters: Watching them grow, watching them love, watching them take care of each other, and through them, I branched off into the important ones in their lives: Ginny, Zee, and Tonks.  But it was always the story of Sirius and Remus raising Harry, and now Harry and Remus must cope with moving on without Sirius.  The world must move on without him.  Sometimes those we love die and it hurts.  

I cried buckets writing it.  But to me, every time I tried to go back and save him, I ended up writing his death and to me that means I was ready to let him go.  I always knew I planned on killing him.  I tried to push it back, make it to the final battle, but where my muse takes me is where I must let it go especially when I tried to change it and still ended up with the same outcome.  I plan to some extent, but I just write and let the muse guide my creative flow and what comes out sometimes surprises me.  I know many people hate me for that, but what’s done is done.  I can promise some surprises, some memories of Sirius that might surface, and of course, I have a few other ideas that will keep his memory alive.

What’s done is done and I do write ahead, up to chapter 237 is complete with most of 238 and pieces of 239 and 240, so going back to re-do things is definitely out of the question.  I have a creative flow and where it takes me is where I go.

I write this story first for me.  I publish it to share with others, but I write for me.  I don’t take prompts or let other people tell me what I should write, but I write what I want to write and I’m grateful that people take the time to read it, but even if they didn’t, I would still write it and still post it and hope that maybe one day, someone would read my words and appreciate the time and effort that I take in writing them.  

Thank you for reading.  Thank you for being so emotionally invested in my story.  Thank you for your words.

On Clout Nine

The Dangers of Social Media Pranks and Social Experiments

Have you ever seen something on social media and the only thing that your mind can come up with is “Why?!”

A popular saying on social media platform, Twitter, in response to the often obscene and unabashedly done acts and statements made is

“Clout is a dangerous drug”.

Lately, it seems like a lot of attention-deprived people on social media are trying to do the most shameful, extreme, scandalous, or ostentatious things for the rewards of the potential impact on each platform.

Clout is traditionally defined as influence in politics or business, but that definition has evolved to encapsulate having influence in online communities and, more accurately, wanting attention on social media. 

Over 2 million Instagram posts have been tagged #clout, videos with the same tag have gained over 3.7 billion views on TikTok and, words such as cloutchaser (Bamidele, 2019), clout check and cloutlighting (Nagesh, 2018) have been coined. The word even inspired an app of the same name — “Klout”, a service which boldly displayed one’s social media interactions and engagements in the form of an algorithm generated figure (Edwards et al., 2013.) And, had that platform survived, people would have definitely found a way to wear their scores on their foreheads if they could or add it to their résumé. (Hello, influencer marketing is the present and the future.)

From licking ice-cream straight from the tubs and putting them back in the freezer to persons falling to their deaths from seven-story buildings after failed Planking Challenge attempts (Shears, 2011) or YouTubers dying from a close range shot to the chest during a stunt with a Desert Eagle handgun (Brantley, 2018), so many people across the world are craving the fleeting sensations of clout.

Users will therefore use a sensationalized headline or caption, clickbait, to garner as many clicks or interactions with their content as possible in tandem with the already obnoxious or shocking display, and people fall for it every time. It’s like those completely obvious magazines in supermarkets from the early 2000s that you find yourself picking up even though you KNOW the headline is a trap!

(Just look at these stories. I mean, 2006 Me is SHOOK!)

The development of the internet and social media has created new opportunities for using pranks and social experiments as a veiled means of accumulating clicks and engagement by social media users. This clout manifests in the form of likes, quote tweets and retweets, subscriptions, reposts, shares, among other tools. Stacey Koosel, in The Renegotiated Self: Social Media’s Effects on Identity, states that this need for attention, to share and be a contributing part of the online community:

...motivates people to share more with each other in hopes of entertaining their audience and receiving positive reinforcement or reception of the content they posted, and in doing so, creating a sense of camaraderie or community.

Therefore, according to Koosel, some Internet users engage in “electronic exhibitionism” in an effort to lure as much attention as possible, and become celebrities by the careful construction of their online identity.

While pranks and social experiments can be a good laugh or even eye-opening, in the form of social commentary or satire, sometimes, things go a little too far. These pranksters tend to get so high off of the fame these stunts bring them and the effects can be sobering. I call this On Clout Nine. 

Physical Harm

The Tripping-Jump Challenge

Earlier this year, one of the most dangerous pranks to plague social media swept across the globe, claiming a few lives in its wake. The Tripping-Jump Challenge features an unsuspecting victim and two provocateurs on either side of him or her. The aim of the antagonists was to convince their target that they were all going to see who could jump the highest on camera, sometimes with a small cash reward as an incentive. When the middle person jumps, the persons on their right and left kick out their feet mid-air causing them to take an awkward tumble.

The injuries ranged from bruises to fractures to even death.

As news of the prank spread on social media, it wasn’t long before it was picked up by Jamaica’s youth and three Meadowbrook High School boys were met with the consequences. But, this challenge is merely one on a long list of pranks and social experiments that are steadily becoming a threat on our little island.

Popular local YouTuber and Prankster, iHeart Manii (née Kymani White), met his match when he scouted the Half Way Tree area for potential victims of his latest social experiment. For this act, Manii would pretend to find money at the people’s feet, hold the money up very obviously and either walk away or ask the person if the money is theirs.

Yuh ever owe a Jamaican money yet? Lol.

Naturally, the responses were downright comical as most participants were dishonest and, at times, convincingly insistent. Thus, the video was circulated on social media rapidly. Today, the May 8, 2019 upload has since gained over 187,000 views, 10,000 likes and almost 2000 comments. While this is a huge accomplishment for Jamaican content creators, any well-thinking person must wonder if Kymani has really assessed the risks associated with these stunts.

The woman in both screenshots above was the real star of this video as she violently challenged Kymani regarding the ownership of the money, even after being told countless times that the events were staged, eventually causing him bodily harm.

Despite run-ins with law enforcement and hostile responses to his antics from some Jamaican victims, Kymani continues to develop new prank ideas as his primary means of income and rise to fame, stating to Jamaica STAR Writer, Stephanie Lyew, “The more pranks I upload, the faster my followers grow; for example, each time I upload a prank I gain an average 400 new subscribers.” The STAR previously put Kymani’s page at 15,000 subscribers in May 2019, growing from 5,000 over ten months. Today, White’s channel boasts approximately 96,400 subscribers and the ongoing pandemic has not stopped him from executing and uploading his experiments and pranks.

Yes, these videos have proven to be profitable content but at what cost? The unpredictability of Jamaicans is what makes these pranks such a risk to the entire iHeart Manii team. Today, it’s the old woman stabbing him. Tomorrow, maybe the woman is a man, maybe the knife is a gun...

Furthermore, Manii’s pinned prank upload features himself and fellow Jamaican YouTubers, Gio of Gio and Ken, and Rolley of Trouble Link, calling local taxi companies under the guise of heading to the airport with an extremely heavy suitcase. Each of the young men takes a turn being secured within the luggage, unbeknownst to the cab drivers, until the hidden participant begins to struggle and groan giving the appearance of a kidnapping in progress.

The first and third drivers were perturbed and refused to take them upon the realization that the young men had kidnapped someone. The second driver, however, began negotiating the fare and admonishing them for not speaking in hushed tones due to the nature of the act they were about to commit. This was just as, or even more disturbing than, the prank itself and, of course, my mind took OFF:

This clearly isn’t the first time this man has done this!!!

Yeah, I’m never taking another taxi again, thanks, xoxo.

So many women have been kidnapped within the public transport system. Hello, Jasmine Dean?!

Which company does he work for? Mortec?! Gadgepro?! On Time?! Mortec????!

Would he have carried the act right through for the right price?! I bet he would, the scum.

Is he going to be investigated? Paging JCF!!!!

Not ONE of them couldn’t see something wrong with this???

But, I digress (one issue at a time, Monét, one issue at a time). However, my mental tirade brings me to my second point.

Desensitization

Around October 1, 2020, a chilling video of a woman being abducted circulated on social media. In the two-minute-and-20-second-long video, the woman is shown walking down a roadway before she is restrained and pulled into a motor vehicle by four masked men. The man, Nathaniel, driving the getaway car is the woman, Tish’s, boyfriend and the video was originally uploaded to the couple’s YouTube as a prank.

Scathing reviews were aired out on every platform the video could be found as social media users condemned the men for their insensitivity and came to the woman’s defense. However, story come to bump when the video was removed for violating the platform's harmful and dangerous content policy and the girlfriend blamed it on envious people and guaranteed that the couple would come back bigger and better. So...she was in on it?!

In an interview with The Weekend STAR, Trish claimed:

The prank was actually acted out. It can teach other persons. As you can see when I was walking, I was looking. Persons, young girls, should look around and know them surroundings. That was the whole idea.

These men seemed very experienced to several Twitter users, including myself.

Very believable, 10/10 performance.

Who knew Jamaica had so many fine male actors doubling as activists, aiming to raise awareness around kidnapping incidents?

Even if that was the intention, they went about it in the wrong way. There was no trigger warning to prevent potential viewers, or victims from having to see or relive their worst nightmare for a few laughs. The Jamaica Constabulary Force said it best in their statement addressing the situation:

Evidently, Cyberculture is blurring the lines between safe fun and harmful risks, between harmless pranks and trivialized social issues. For a little bit of clout, persons have been seriously hurt, sued, investigated by the authorities or have lost their lives. Social media has transformed the general perception on the value of lives as so many seem so eager to throw them away for a few clicks. 

Moreover, when we trivialize issues in the form of pranks and social experiments, desensitization is amplified exponentially. While there may have been outrage in response to the couple’s kidnapping prank, who knows how many men secretly thought this was a good idea, who may desire to attempt it, take it too far, not in an effort to cReaTe AwARenEsS, but to really catch a woman unawares with the intention to do more than shake her up a bit? 

Hopefully, these trends dissipate like so many ephemeral online fads. Until then, there is no doubt that these antics will only get worse, affecting more and more lives as this digi-cultural currency, clout, increases in its value and the risks increase in their damages. After all,  when it comes to Cyberculture, the road to fame is paved with shame, (Koestenbaum, 2011.)

Meanwhile, I? Feel zero remorse for these cloutchasers and the repurcussions which are sure to meet them when they come down from their high.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. 

References

Bamidele, M. (2019, November 4). Clout Chasing: 5 instances celebrities have stirred controversies to stay relevant. The Guardian. https://guardian.ng/life/clout-chasing-5-instances-celebrities-have-stirred-controversies-to-stay-relevant/

Brantley, K. (2018, June 24). Pictured: Book that YouTuber died holding after encouraging his pregnant girlfriend to shoot him for videotaped stunt. DailyMail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5878953/Prosecutors-release-pictures-bullet-holed-book.html

Education ministry warns against 'Jump Trip Challenge'. (2020, February 16). The Jamaica Observer.

Edwards, C., Spence, P. R., Gentile, C. J., Edwards, A., & Edwards, A. (2013).  How much Klout do you have … A test of system generated cues on source credibility. Computers in Human Behavior, volume 29 (issue 5), pages A12-A16. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563212003767

Hobbs, R. & Grafe, S. (2015, June 30). YouTube pranking across cultures. First Monday, volume 20 (issue 7). https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5981/4699

Koestenbaum, W. (2011). Humiliation. New York: Picador.

Koosel, S. (2015). The Renegotiated Self: Social Media’s Effects on Identity. Alfapress.

Lyew, S. (2019, May 17). Kymani the prankster - Man leaves call centre job to fool around. The Jamaica STAR. http://jamaica-star.com/article/news/20190517/kymani-prankster-man-leaves-call-centre-job-fool-around

Merrifield, R. (2020, February 24). Parents warn kids against YouTube 'killer Jump Trip Challenge' after two deaths. Mirror. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/parents-warn-kids-against-youtube-21563313

Nagesh, A. (2018, November 29). Cloutlighting: From online 'pranks' to toxic social media trend. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/2f85d272-c509-4d2c-86bf-d4ed4f4e6d9b 

Russell, T. (2020). Attorney Going After Miami-Dade School Board After Teen Injured In ‘Jump Challenge’ Prank. CBS Miami. https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/02/11/jump-challenge-prank-south-dade-high-school/

Shears, R. (2011, May 16). Bizarre internet craze 'planking' claims its first victim after man plunges from balcony to his death. MailOnline. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1387272/Planking-claims-victim-Acton-Beale-falls-balcony-death.html

Taylor, T. (2020, October 2). Kidnap prank’ creators surprised by backlash. The Jamaica STAR. http://jamaica-star.com/article/news/20201002/%E2%80%98kidnap-prank%E2%80%99-creators-surprised-backlash

White, K. [iHeart Manii]. (2019, May 8). “Gimmi me money” Finding money in public social experiment. [Video]. YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQUetpE2V8c&t=703s

White, K. [iHeart Manii]. (2020, March 28). Kidnapping Prank On Taxi Drivers (GONE WRONG) *must see* || Gio and Ken || Trouble link tv. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0HuRomRDzI