There was some limited-time sandwich (i'm thinking this was probably in the 2000's maybe early 2010's), and the gist of the commercial was pretty much if you were truly hungry you should get this meaty sandwich. But they said it with some catchy slogan that me and a couple people in my family would quote for years. It didn't really mean anything. It was something like, "should have got a stromboli", but i don't think it started with "should have got" and the name of the sandwich (which is the whole thing i'm trying to remember) was some made-up Italian sounding word. It had a real ring to it.

Sorry if this sounds selfish but this is really only a one time thing for a friend. I need someone to use there undetectable AI account to paraphrase this please.
IntroductionThe rise of fast food chains in the United States from 2000 to 2010 had an impact on both the culture and economy. This period saw an increase in obesity rates among Americans, which coincided with the growth of these eateries. In this essay we delve into the connection between the expansion of fast food franchises and the obesity epidemic examining factors that influence health. Through an analysis of data, health studies and relevant literature our goal is to provide an understanding of how consuming food has played a role in fueling obesity during this particular decade, in America.The Growth of Fast Food Chains
Between 2000 and 2010 there was a rise in the fast food industry. Popular chains such as McDonalds, Burger King and Subway expanded their reach by opening stores to meet the demand for budget friendly meals. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the number of fast food eateries increased by around 20% during this timeframe (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). This expansion made fast food more convenient for a range of people, including kids and teenagers.
Obesity Trends in the U.S. (2000 2010)
The prevalence of obesity in America has been on a trajectory during the early years of the 21st century. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the rate of obesity among adults rose from 30.5% in 2000 to 35.7% in 2010 (CDC, 2011). Similarly among children and teens aged between 2 and 19 years old obesity rates increased from 13.9% to 16.9% over that period. This continuous increase signals a concerning public health issue with impacts on illness rates, mortality rates and healthcare expenses.
The Impact of Fast Food, on Eating Habits
food is commonly known for its levels of calories, excessive saturated fats, sugars and sodium with little nutritional value. These aspects of food are closely associated with weight gain and obesity. Studies show that regular consumption of food is linked to consuming calories and maintaining poor eating habits (Bowman & Vineyard 2004). Research conducted by Pereira et al. (2005) revealed that individuals who ate food than twice a week were more likely to gain weight and develop insulin resistance compared to those who consumed it less frequently.
Influence of Socioeconomic Factors
The easy availability and affordability of food make it an attractive option for people with incomes. Fast food establishments are often concentrated in low income areas where residents have limited access to dining choices (Powell et al. 2007). This situation, referred to as "food deserts " , worsens the issue of obesity because disadvantaged groups tend to rely on food as their main source of nutrition.
Impact of Advertising and Promotion
The aggressive advertising tactics used by fast food companies also have a significant influence on eating behaviors particularly among young individuals, like children and teenagers.
Many businesses invest sums of money each year in marketing showcasing their products across platforms, like TV, the web and social networks. Kids are especially influenced by these strategies that highlight the appeal and ease of food reinforcing harmful dietary patterns early on.
The impact of obesity, on health is significant and variedObesity is a factor in chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers (Flegal et al., 2012). The rise in obesity rates has led to an increase in health issues putting a strain on the healthcare system. The financial implications of obesity are also noteworthy with studies indicating that medical costs linked to obesity made up around 10% of healthcare expenses in the United States during that time (Cawley & Meyerhoefer 2012).
Policies and public health effortsIn response to the escalating obesity crisis, different policies and public health efforts have been put into action at state and local levels. These initiatives aim to encourage eating habits through measures like food labeling requirements, restrictions on advertising foods to children and campaigns raising awareness about the risks of obesity (Koplan et al., 2007). Schools have been a point for intervention well, with endeavors to enhance the nutritional value of school meals and boost physical activity among students.ExamplesVarious real life examples and stories showcase the effectiveness of taking action to address the issue of obesity. For example, New York City put in place a set of strategies to combat obesity, such as displaying calorie information on menus and prohibiting trans fats in restaurant dishes. These initiatives led to improvements in people's eating habits and a slight decrease in obesity levels, within the community (Dumanovsky et al. 2011).ChallengesThe obesity epidemic still poses challenges despite the efforts to address it. Unhealthy eating habits deeply ingrained in society, the presence of the fast food industry and disparities in status all add layers of complexity to this issue. Moving forward it is crucial to focus on creating an environment that encourages choices for vulnerable communities. This entails advocating for policies that restrict the marketing of foods to children, enhancing access to options in low income areas and urging food companies to improve the health profile of their products.
Psychological marketingWhen it comes to food marketing companies go beyond advertising tactics by leveraging deep rooted psychological triggers that influence consumer behavior. Bright colors, catchy tunes and recognizable mascots are commonly used in food ads to build a memorable brand image. This technique is particularly effective with audiences like children and teenagers who're more susceptible and likely to develop lasting brand loyalties. Research indicates that exposure to these advertisements can lead children to prefer calorie, nutrient foods ultimately impacting their dietary decisions and contributing to weight gain (Boyland & Halford 2013).The impact of portion sizes
One overlooked but significant factor contributing to the obesity crisis is the increasing sizes of portions served by food chains. Over time portion sizes have substantially grown, with meals exceeding the recommended calorie intake for a single meal. Young and Nestles (2002) study reveals that fast food item portions have expanded over the years with some items now more than double their size. This phenomenon of "portion distortion" results in calorie consumption as individuals tend to eat when faced with larger servings often underestimating the actual caloric content.
Changes in lifestyle and time constraints
The contemporary way of life characterized by schedules and time limitations has also played a role in the heightened dependence on fast food. With an increase in dual income households and longer work hours many people find themselves lacking the time to cook meals. Fast food emerges as a solution offering cost effective options that align with busy routines. Nonetheless this convenience comes at a price as frequent consumption of food is linked to dietary patterns and increased calorie intake contributing to the surge in obesity rates (Smith, Ng & Popkin 2013).Another significant measure involves restricting the promotion of foods to children. By reducing kids exposure to food ads policymakers aim to lessen the impact of marketing on their eating habits. Some cities have also imposed taxes on beverages and unhealthy foods in an effort to discourage consumption through penalties. While the effectiveness of these strategies may vary they mark progress in combating the obesity crisis.
Approaches Rooted in Communities
Community based strategies for addressing obesity highlight the importance of initiatives and grassroots movements. Programs that concentrate on enhancing access to foods encouraging activity and educating community members about healthy eating have shown positive outcomes. For example community gardens and farmers markets can offer produce to residents living in areas with access to healthy food options promoting better dietary choices. Schools and community centers can also play a role by providing nutrition education and physical activity programs.
The Impact of Technology
Technology has increasingly become an asset in the battle against obesity. Mobile applications and wearable gadgets enable individuals to monitor their calorie intake and exercise levels offering feedback and motivating lifestyle choices.
Furthermore social networking sites can play a role, in advocating for public health initiatives and sharing details on diet and wellness. Although technology isn't a solution to the issue of obesity it provides avenues to involve people and groups in embracing healthier habits (Stephens & Allen 2013).
Future Directions and Recommendations
The approach to tackling obesity needs to be multi-faceted and should involve collaboration between government departments, health workers, local communities, as well as the food industry. In future, there is need for more efforts in creating an atmosphere that supports healthier selections particularly among the disadvantaged groups. This means that one should continue to campaign for policies aimed at reducing children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertisements, improving availability of healthy foods in deprived neighborhoods and encouraging manufacturers in the food sector to change their products into a healthier version.
Further still public health campaigns will try and focus on having balanced diets regularly done exercises. Schools and offices can succeed by developing well-structured meals alongside opportunities for exercising. More research is also needed to understand why some people are poor eaters or overweight than others.
Policy Proposals
To further combat the menace of overweight, policy makers should think about enacting a variety of evidence-based strategies. Some of them could be: Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Taxes on sugary drinks can decrease consumption and raise funds for public health projects. Zoning Regulations: By controlling the number of fast food restaurants in given areas, intake will subside and encourage establishment of grocery stores among other healthier alternatives.Menu Labeling Laws: This makes sure that restaurants indicate calorie counts as well as other nutritional information to assist customers in making informed choices. School Nutrition Standards: Schools meals and snacks in the course of learning ought to meet recommended nutrition levels so that students are eating healthy. Addressing Behavioral FactorsBehavioral interventions also play a significant role in dealing with obesity. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other psychological approaches aid individuals to develop better eating habits and deal with triggers involved in overeating. Programs addressing weight control which incorporate behavior change counseling together with diet and exercise components show promise towards helping individuals achieve successful long term weight loss.Long-Term Commitment and Sustainable Change
Society must collectively make a commitment that will last over a long period to reduce obesity rates. The approach should be ongoing and flexible enough to accommodate changing circumstances and new information. For this change to be lasting, there must be continuous investment in public health infrastructure, research, and education. Therefore, significant strides can be achieved in reducing obesity rates by nurturing a culture that appreciates wellness.
Cultural Shifts and Public Perception
In addressing the obesity epidemic another critical factor is shifting public opinion as well as cultural norms with regards to food and health. The acceptance of fast food and oversize portions as normative has been one of the major drivers towards unhealthy eating habits over the past few decades. This would involve public health campaigns focused on what constitutes healthy balanced meals and promoting on good home cooked fresh meal benefits instead. To change public perception cooking classes nutrition workshops media campaign advertising preparation advantages of healthy meals at home for instance.
Strengthening Health Care Interventions
Routine screenings, counseling and support for weight management by health care providers are crucial in handling obesity. Obesity prevention and treatment should be integrated into primary care to ensure consistency and comprehensiveness in people’s health. Personalized advice can be availed by the healthcare practitioners and also set realistic targets as well as referring patients to dietitians or structured weight loss programs.
Advancing Research and Use of Proven Practices
To better understand the intricate contributors to obesity and curate effective interventions, it is important to sustain research. Longitudinal studies that follow diet patterns, activity levels, and disease outcomes offer useful information on how to prevent or reduce obesity. By exploring behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that affect obesity, this will enable us to make interventions that are specific for different populations and situations as well.
Conclusion
The period between 2000 and 2010 registered a sharp increase of obesity rates that is closely linked to the spread of fast food outlets across America. This public health menace can only be fought with multidimensional approaches that will change public attitude, improve education, enhance corporate accountability and support inclusive research plus health care interventions. By creating an environment where good health is appreciated through provision of necessary resources and support, we can achieve significant milestones in curbing cases of obesity within our population as well as overall improvement in their welfare.
Citations:
Boyland, E.J. & Halford, J.C.G., 2013. Television advertising and branding. Effects on eating behavior and food preferences in children. **Appetite**, 62, pp.236-241.
Brownell, K.D. & Frieden, T.R., 2009. Ounces of prevention—the public policy case for taxes on sugared beverages. **New England Journal of Medicine**, 360(18), pp.1805-1808.
Drewnowski, A. & Specter, S.E., 2004. Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and energy costs. **American Journal of Clinical Nutrition**, 79(1), pp.6-16.
Krieger, J.W., Chan, N.L., Saelens, B.E., Ta, M.L., Solet, D. & Fleming, D.W., 2013. Menu labeling regulations and calories purchased at chain restaurants. **American Journal of Preventive Medicine**, 44(6), pp.595-604.
Ogden, C.L., Carroll, M.D., Kit, B.K. & Flegal, K.M., 2014. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. **JAMA**, 311(8), pp.806-814.
Smith, L.P., Ng, S.W. & Popkin, B.M., 2013. Trends in US home food preparation and consumption: analysis of national nutrition surveys and time use studies from 1965-1966 to 2007-2008. **Nutrition Journal**, 12(1), p.45.
Stephens, J. & Allen, J., 2013. Mobile phone interventions to increase physical activity and reduce weight: a systematic review. **Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing**, 28(4), pp.320-329.
Story, M., Kaphingst, K.M., Robinson-O'Brien, R. & Glanz, K., 2008. Creating healthy food and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches. **Annual Review of Public Health**, 29, pp.253-272.
Walker, R.E., Keane, C.R. & Burke, J.G., 2010. Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature. **Health & Place**, 16(5), pp.876-884.
Young, L.R. & Nestle, M., 2002. The contribution of expanding portion sizes to the US obesity epidemic. **American Journal of Public Health**, 92(2), pp.246-249.
Fulkerson, J.A., Story, M., Neumark-Sztainer, D. & Rydell, S., 2008. Family meals: Perceptions of benefits and challenges among parents of 8-to 10-year-old children. **Journal of the American Dietetic Association**, 108(4), pp.706-709.
Huang, T.T.K., Drewnowski, A., Kumanyika, S.K. & Glass, T.A., 2009. A systems-oriented multilevel framework for addressing obesity in the 21st century. **Preventing Chronic Disease**, 6(3), A82.
Kumanyika, S.K., 2008. Environmental influences on childhood obesity: Ethnic and cultural influences in context. **Physician and Sportsmedicine**, 36(1), pp.45-51.
Larson, N.I., Story, M.T. & Nelson, M.C., 2009. Neighborhood environments: Disparities in access to healthy foods in the US. **American Journal of Preventive Medicine**, 36(1), pp.74-81.
Ludwig, D.S. & Pollack, H.A., 2009. Obesity and the economy: from crisis to opportunity. **JAMA**, 301(5), pp.533-535.
Powell, L.M., Chaloupka, F.J. & Bao, Y., 2007. The availability of fast-food and full-service restaurants in the United States: associations with neighborhood characteristics. **American Journal of Preventive Medicine**, 33(4), pp.S240-S245.
Sallis, J.F., Floyd, M.F., Rodríguez, D.A. & Saelens, B.E., 2012. Role of built environments in physical activity, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. **Circulation**, 125(5), pp.729-737.

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I’m starting my business, dresses brand,the brand gives off the vibe of a luxurious , high end but with reasonable price so you get to feel like you dress divinely but with good prices. I’ve been having a hard time coming up with a good slogan that grabs attention yet isn’t cringe or repetitive ,here are some clues to help me with : the brand’s name is Zia (which means brightness, radiance and divinity) the first collection dropping is summer dresses (casual). The brand revolves around the ideas of chic , outstanding , fresh , affordable, timeless , flexible , unique , comfy , bright , girly , and elegant. Help me with a slogan that either has a meaning or that is catchy and different such as “the devil wears Prada, for an instant”

1. Cosculluela “El Principe Ghost Edition” (2010) – Some may get mad at seeing this “El Principe” #1 when “Odisea” is at #8 especially because Coscu’s 200 thousand units sold is 10x less the amount of Ozuna’s “Odisea”. But unless you were there, you cannot fathom the fact that “El Principe” was the equivalent to “El Abayarde” during the “Back To The Underground Era” (2009-2014). Major labels dissed Rap & Reggaeton and most of it went back to the underground. And even if it did receive a release from a major like “El Principe”, unless you were Yankee or Don or signed a 360, you were not getting any promotional dollars invested in you. This album remained “underground” outside of Puerto Rico, but it became the hottest thing in the culture thus it did phenomenal numbers with no mainstream exposure. But the most important facet is the music. And this album is full of classics from beginning to end with much variety yet Cosculluela does not abandon his underground lyricism at any moment for commercial success. You have ballads with Zion & De La Ghetto, but hardcore songs like “Plaka Plaka” and “Un Pesito”. There is no doubt that when this album came out Cosculluela was the #1 Latin MC on planet earth and his career is now legendary thanks to “El Principe” in which every single song was good and a hit!

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6A6eSLDcS2r7qT9ZFYSJlL?si=-YBA4YGST0OIXn23ZU-XtQ

1. Jowell & Randy “El Momento” (2010) – Wisin & Yandel’s “WY Records” joined forces with the legendary “White Lion Records” to present this masterpiece. Half the album is produced by Wisin & Yandel’s superstar team of Nesty, Victor & Gomez while the other half is done by Live Music (DJ Giann, Dexter, Mr. Greenz & DJ Blass). It is Jowell & Randy’s best album to date and their most successful one too. People remember hits like “Un Booty Nuevo” feat. Yaviah, “Loco”, & “Solo Por Ti” but songs like “Amanece” and “Chica de Novela” are all time classics within the Reggaeton community. If you missed this one, do yourself a favor and save your life by hearing it.

Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6JUteqYW61MphFHmJe5AAU?si=FPqrD5hmSpqvpHknPvmVzw

3. Ñengo Flow “Real G 4 Life” (2010) - Ñengo Flow became a superstar in Colombia with this album and later the rest of the world. “Real G 4 Life” has now become a mantra for Latinos raised in the barrio across the globe. The album was the best of both worlds. Half of it is Ñengo’s gritty, dark and violent tone with help of ultra underrated MC John Jay. The second half is club bangers with all tracks becoming hits in the Reggaeton world. This album is now one of the most influential in the history of Latin Music, not just Rap & Reggaeton.
Listen on YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lyv_kcReUgQuIS_13uattK3TJKVK8Dhsc&si=W7rdpwG7vj5QyeiH

4. Anuel AA “Real Hasta La Muerte mixtape version” (2016) – Anuel’s debut 13 track mixtape is a tour de force. Every song is either an underground hit or a commercial radio/club smash. He was just untouchable at this point. Lyrically he was also at his peak here as his lyrics kinda made more sense in their angst while recently he sounds kinda pointless. His punchlines were also much more clever in this era and he became a legend in the culture with this work alone which is much superior to the album version of 2018. Please don’t get them confused, one is much better than the other.
Listen Here: Anuel AA - Real Hasta La Muerte (The Mixtape) (2016) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

5. Kase.O “El Círculo” (2016) – “El Ciculo” by Kase.O is definitely the most sophisticated album on this list. For those not “in the know” Kase.O has been widely considered the undisputed best lyricist alive since Canserbero passed away. He was a member of the legendary Hip Hop group ‘Violadores Del Verso’ and presented a masterclass of a product with “El Círculo” in 2016. Apart from his supreme battle rap skills, we have songs with social content, R&B romance, and a variety of underground Rap sounds from R de Rhumba. If we were to rate on pure skill alone, this album may be #1.
Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/el-c%C3%ADrculo/1152540356

6. Yandel “Dangerous” (2015) - Yandel’s most commercially successful album as a solo artist is just a tour de force from beginning to end. This is Yandel translating his hitmaking abilities from “Quien Contra Mi” to the modern era. It is very commercial without losing the essence of the true Reggaeton sound. Most people remember “Encantadora” but even deep cuts like “Riversa” feat. De La Ghetto, “Loba”, “Dejame Explorar” feat. French Montana & “No Sales De Mi Mente” feat. Nicky Jam were among the best Reggaeton songs that decade.
Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/dangerous/1046026029

7. Los De La Nazza “Orion” (2015) - This is the finest produced Reggaeton album of the 2010’s and the one that launched today’s #1 label ‘RIMAS’. It has an all star list of participants including Farruko, Nicky Jam, De La Ghetto, Ozuna, Kendo Kaponi, Pusho, Angel & Khriz, Luigi 21 Plus, Alexio (RIP) Juanka & many more… It is a very street album and not recommended for all audiences. The beats still sound impressive almost a decade later.
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1qA8Q6vn2oYXBwiMb55HTu?si=jFgI2oecQNKTj_uB3UZU-w

8. Ozuna “Odisea” (2017) – Ozuna’s debut album is chock full of hits and the most successful album on the list. He had already about 5 or 6 international hits before the album’s release and added another 5 or 6 more after it. Super catchy and well produced album.
Listen on YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ncFovAV-r37ILWMjp65C285WwN3-5CSbw&si=ofFXc57ZnREL52nv

9. Baby Rasta & Gringo “Los Cotizados” (2015) – After a career that spanned over 20 years by the time of “Los Cotizados” release date, this is Baby Rasta & Gringo’s most successful album to date. The album is full of catchy songs and impressive features including Tito El Bambino, Nicky Jam & Farruko. Jumbo “El Que Produce Solo” does a fantastic job on the production end.
Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/los-cotizados/1361900453

10. Nico Canada “A Lo Under vol. 1 & 2” (2012) – Nico Canada brought an all star double album to the game in 2012. You have exclusive tracks from Plan B, Cosculluela, Nicky Jam, J Alvarez, Ñengo Flow, Maicol & Manuel, Alberto Style, Ivy Queen, Mexicano, Yomo, Tito El Bambino, J-King & Maximan, Voltio, Jowell & Randy and more… All produced by Nico Canada alongside Kronix Magical mostly with an old school 90’s feel translated to the modern era. Sadly, this album was not known outside the underground but is worth the listen as it is full of classic tracks.
Listen on Spotify: Vol. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/6v6ie2iVsqY5HU0nYn9rgb?si=g6wVyDH-Qp6ZB98eLSbzhg
& Vol. 2 https://open.spotify.com/album/36McUo1zCJNAzHu7gmqfTG?si=ppYXTewfQiGWBqW4OPS-5Q

Honorable Mention: Shotta – Para Mi Gente/Flowesia (2014/2016), Plan B – House of Pleasure (2010), Cosculluela – Blanco Perla (2016), Alcolirykoz - Servicios Ambulatorioz (2017), Nicky Jam – Fenix (2017), Wisin & Yandel – Los Vaqueros El Regreso (2011), Daddy Yankee – King Daddy (2013) & Tito El Bambino – El Patron La Victoria Edition.
My personal Top 5: 1. King Daddy 2. Real Hasta La Muerte mixtape version 3. El Momento 4. Los Vaqueros El Regreso 5. El Principe

Something often repeated by “liberal” pro-Israelis is “Queers for Palestine” is wrong because Palestinians stone gay people to death and every queer person should be Pro-Israeli as it is the “only pro-LGBT” country in the middle east.

1. First of all, yes. There is no recognition of same-sex marriage (although decriminalised in the West Bank) and most Palestinians are overwhelmingly anti-LGBT.

But this doesn’t change the fact that:
A. The Israeli government routinely house arrests or deports hundreds of homosexual Palestinians have fled to Israel. And some of them are being blackmailed to become informants for Israel. It was only in 2022 that Israel began issuing work permits for gay Palestinian refugees, who had been granted asylum but I think we all know the treatment of Palestinian refugees in Israel today especially after 7/10.
B. Netanyahu’s government (prior to the war cabinet) is in alliance with far-right parties notably Bezalel Smotrich (who said he has a problem with LGBT culture and appeared to compare gay marriage to incest.) and also Itamar Ben-Gvir.
C. A Pew Research Report which showed that 56% of Israelis oppose same-sex marriage. (Report was posted in Nov. 2023 btw).
D. Lastly, a point to be noted is vast majority of Israelis support a Two-State Solution or a general peace process where both can live in peace. It is the often the Far-Right Israelis who actively call for genocide and annexation of West Bank and Gaza, the same people who happen to be the most opposed to LGBT rights.

1. Yes, Palestinians are anti-LGBT but the fact is people’s ideologies are shaped by the place and time they live in. 57.9% of West Bankers and a staggering 65.4% of Gazans are under 24. Most are kids who grew up under the views of their parent’s generation and their moral views.

Most of the Women’s Suffragette movementof the late-19th and early 20th century was extremely racist towards non-white people and was against Civil-Rights. Does that mean the then black women supporting equal voting rights were wrong and stupid? No, that movement was a product of it’s (racist) time. It was only after voting rights were passed, Civil Rights were fought for.

1. If Queers for Palestine is “Chickens for KFC” then why are queer-Palestinians chanting Free Palestine? What about the hundreds of queer Gazan people being bombed by Israel? Read this TIME article (In Gaza, ‘Queering the Map’ Shows Heartbreaking LGBT Notes TIME)
   
2. Last point not specific to this post but a lot of people support the Israeli bombings by saying, “They voted for Hamas.” Let me remind you, last elections happened in 2009 succeeding in a civil war. The only opposition to Hamas is PLA. A corrupt government that is supported by Israel and USA. When the only choice is between a corrupt government that sold its people to the countries that are bombing them and a terrorist organisation that at-least appears to fight for your rights. It’s unfortunate but most will support the latter.
   

People also conveniently forget how Gazans routinely were jailed and tortured for protesting against the Hamas dictatorship. Most Palestinians either are being forced/have no choice but to support Hamas.
Also, I’ll just keep this link. How Benjamin Netanyahu Relies on Hamas - Johnny Harris and ‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas - NYT
Edit

1. By reading comments especially of u/donedoneut876 and u/ParagoonTheFoon, I have changed my view. While I still think the LGBT community fighting for Palestinian rights is still a notable cause, the slogan “Queers for Palestine” is rather reductionist. As that could be interpreted as agreeing with the Palestinian state’s views towards homosexuality. The problem lies of sloganeering. It is more catchy to say “Queers For Palestine” than “Queers Against Indiscriminate Bombings Of Civillians”

However I still disagree with this point of u/Aggressive_Revenue75. Protesters by showcasing their support to Palestine by involving their LGBT identity makes it more likely that Palestinians will be in support of LGBT rights in the future. For example, read this comment by u/themcos

1. I didn’t expect so many people commenting allthough I have read all replies, I won’t reply to any points which I already talked about or comments that are simply reagebait and lack nuance.

Something often repeated by “liberal” pro-Israelis is “Queers for Palestine” is wrong because Palestinians stone gay people to death and every queer person should be Pro-Israeli as it is the “only pro-LGBT” country in the middle east.

1. First of all, yes. There is no recognition of same-sex marriage (although decriminalised in the West Bank) and most Palestinians are overwhelmingly anti-LGBT.

But this doesn’t change the fact that:
A. The Israeli government routinely house arrests or deports hundreds of homosexual Palestinians have fled to Israel. And some of them are being blackmailed to become informants for Israel. It was only in 2022 that Israel began issuing work permits for gay Palestinian refugees, who had been granted asylum but I think we all know the treatment of Palestinian refugees in Israel today especially after 7/10.
B. Netanyahu’s government (prior to the war cabinet) is in alliance with far-right parties notably Bezalel Smotrich (who said he has a problem with LGBT culture and appeared to compare gay marriage to incest.) and also Itamar Ben-Gvir.
C. A Pew Research Report which showed that 56% of Israelis oppose same-sex marriage. (Report was posted in Nov. 2023 btw).
D. Lastly, a point to be noted is vast majority of Israelis support a Two-State Solution or a general peace process where both can live in peace. It is the often the Far-Right Israelis who actively call for genocide and annexation of West Bank and Gaza, the same people who happen to be the most opposed to LGBT rights.

1. Yes, Palestinians are anti-LGBT but the fact is people’s ideologies are shaped by the place and time they live in. 57.9% of West Bankers and a staggering 65.4% of Gazans are under 24. Most are kids who grew up under the views of their parent’s generation and their moral views.

Most of the Women’s Suffragette movementof the late-19th and early 20th century was extremely racist towards non-white people and was against Civil-Rights. Does that mean the then black women supporting equal voting rights were wrong and stupid? No, that movement was a product of it’s (racist) time. It was only after voting rights were passed, Civil Rights were fought for.

1. If Queers for Palestine is “Chickens for KFC” then why are queer-Palestinians chanting Free Palestine? What about the hundreds of queer Gazan people being bombed by Israel? Read this TIME article (In Gaza, ‘Queering the Map’ Shows Heartbreaking LGBT Notes TIME)
   
2. Last point not specific to this post but a lot of people support the Israeli bombings by saying, “They voted for Hamas.” Let me remind you, last elections happened in 2009 succeeding in a civil war. The only opposition to Hamas is PLA. A corrupt government that is supported by Israel and USA. When the only choice is between a corrupt government that sold its people to the countries that are bombing them and a terrorist organisation that at-least appears to fight for your rights. It’s unfortunate but most will support the latter.
   

People also conveniently forget how Gazans routinely were jailed and tortured for protesting against the Hamas dictatorship. Most Palestinians either are being forced/have no choice but to support Hamas.
Also, I’ll just keep this link. How Benjamin Netanyahu Relies on Hamas - Johnny Harris and ‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas - NYT
Edit

1. By reading comments especially of u/donedoneut876 and u/ParagoonTheFoon, I have changed my view. While I still think the LGBT community fighting for Palestinian rights is still a notable cause, the slogan “Queers for Palestine” is rather reductionist. As that could be interpreted as agreeing with the Palestinian state’s views towards homosexuality. The problem lies of sloganeering. It is more catchy to say “Queers For Palestine” than “Queers Against Indiscriminate Bombings Of Civillians”

However I still disagree with this point of u/Aggressive_Revenue75. Protesters by showcasing their support to Palestine by involving their LGBT identity makes it more likely that Palestinians will be in support of LGBT rights in the future. For example, read this comment by u/themcos

1. I didn’t expect so many people commenting allthough I have read all replies, I won’t reply to any points which I already talked about or comments that are simply reagebait and lack nuance.

I think we saw the Nick Jr. rebrand coming a month before the rebrand took place and there were a few things that hinted the 2012 rebrand. The slogan "The Smart Place to Play" started to appear in ads promoting the Nick Jr. website as well as the new font in February of that year. There was also the new announcer voice for the rebrand that appeared as early as promos for shows that began to air on the Nickelodeon's Play Date block like Franklin & Friends. So it possibly looked like the rebrand didn't actually come as a complete surprise.

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I think everybody agrees that if the hostages are freed, the war will be over. We have heard such assurances from Israeli leaders across the political spectrum, and it is certainly the overwhelming sentiment of the Israeli people and Jewish people around the world. (I am aware that there is also messaging around finishing Hamas, which would presumably still happen in the form of targeted attacks against Hamas leadership, but not like what is happening today.)
Most if not all rational people want the war to be over. The IDF soldiers want to go home. Nobody wants to hear more explosions. Certainly, the people of Gaza would like this to be over.
These are things that all sides can agree upon, right? We don't want war. We don't want death. We want all firing of weapons to cease.
So, regardless of what you think of Israel or Jews or Palestinians or Hamas, etc., if you want peace and you know that the _only way to make that happen near-instantaneously_ is to _free the hostages_, then why is that not the singular point that every pro-ceasefire activist is promoting?
---
So, just to be clear, let's consider a scenario: You are a pro-ceasefire activist. The one thing that you want is ceasefire. And you are told that the only way for an instant ceasefire is the return of the hostages who have been held captive for over 200 days without even a visit from the Red Cross. You show up at a pro-ceasefire rally and somebody gets on the megaphone and shouts some catchy rhyming slogan about "Intifada is the only solution!" Do you find this at all confusing? Or do you just go along with it?
---
I consider myself to be pro-ceasefire and I look forward to the war being over as soon as possible. It is my hope that not a single person needs to be hurt or scared and that those holding the hostages will recognize the error in their ways and give them up. Is that wishful thinking? Sure, it is. But, if I go to a rally, that is the message that I'm going to bring because it is line with my desire for a ceasefire. In fact, it is the only solution that we know of that will actually end the fighting. Which is what we want, right?
I do not understand how one can brand themselves pro-ceasefire and simultaneously be in favor a violent uprising across the land of Israel and the world (as they say to "globalize the intifida").
Even if you believe that Jews and Israel are the ultimate evil and we all love genocide and eating babies and whatever tf you want to believe about us, you know the one thing that will end the war is freeing the hostages, so why not that make that your message?

It's clear that this year is an absolute mess, but that's not the point of this community, we are here to solely focus on Baby Lasagna.
I created this community to share the news, memes, art and love for one of my favorite (it not THE favorite) Eurovision acts ever. I am really happy to see this community growing and that there is a lot of people sharing the same love for Baby Lasagna.
From reserve on Dora, to one of the biggest favorites to win Eurovision, this is a movie-worthy story. Many of us had no idea until couple of months ago who Marko Purišić is and now he is taking entire world by storm.
Aside from addictive catchy tunes, a huge work ethic and important topics packed in humorous lyrics, Marko seems like the nicest and coolest guy. He is a perfect role model and a proof that hard work does pay off. And as a rock/metal fan myself, aside from many other genres, it melts my heart to see children listening to his music and a heavy song captivating people in Croatia, Balkans and entire World.
Eurovision slogan is "United by Music". We have seen this year that might not be the case. But Marko united us. He united entire Croatia, and entire Balkan. It might come as a surprise to some that I am actually from Serbia. I have a lot of family in Croatia, my grandmother is Croatian, and I visit my family whenever I get the chance. And trust me, Baby Lasagna euphoria is huge here as well, just as it was for Konstrakta in Croatia two years ago. Maybe even bigger. We have seen wonderful scenes with Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian representatives this year, and I feel we really support each other which is a wonderful thing and the point of music, to unite.
Nobody knows what will happen tonight. I hope for the best possible result, as probably all of us, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if he doesn't win considering everything that is going on.
Whatever happens tonight... It's just the beginning! Marko released 3 songs so far and has an album coming out soon. He went from an unknown singesongwriter looking for a "regular" job, to a European megastar and someone whose videos have millions of views. He also grew as an artist and performer in front of our eyes.
I wish him the best of luck tonight. Victory would be deserved and an amazing ending to an amazing story. But even if it doesn't happen, I am sure the best is yet to come.
VOTE FOR NUMBER 23 TONIGHT, enjoy and have fun as much as possible watching tonight.
P.S. Sorry for a long ass post. MEOW! ❤️

🪞 “It's much easier to get in that it is to get out,” Emilie Autumn used to say. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4.1 - Part 4.2
She was not wrong. Welcome back to the Asylum write-up!
In this installment, we're finally getting down to the nitty-gritty of the enmity between EA and her fans.
It's time for war. It's time for blood. It's time... for tea. 🎵

THE PRESENT DAY: “ASK ME ANYTHING (WELL, NOT QUITE)”

​

"Ask me anything" titles are catchy, and that’s why I’m using one. But, obviously, don’t ask me anything, by which I mean that, if you think I wouldn’t answer it, you’re probably right. Ask me something really good. I’d love to answer you. I’d love to have comments on these posts, in fact, so that I could answer questions there regularly and ask you things as well, but insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, or so Einstein is supposed to have said, and attempting to create yet another interactive online venue after every previous attempt has ended in heartbreak—forums, facebook groups, social media accounts—it would indeed be insanity to think that this time would be any different. So there are no comments. This too is heartbreaking in the sense that, and you may not realize this, but I desperately want to connect more completely with you—to be able to intelligently converse and share and exchange. We can do that in person, of course, because the wrong people never show up in person. Isn’t that funny… So, perhaps we’ll have to arrange that;). I’ll start you off with an example question I’d want to know if I were you (I can almost guarantee that you do not want to know this). Q. Hey EA, how do you keep your wireless bodypack transmitter secure when you are leaping about in skimpy costumes and doing frequent costume changes? Also, dye your roots. A. Fantastic question, EA, and I just dyed my roots thank you very much. ... (Deleted blog post followed by a year of radio silence, 2022 📝)

Sooo. For the past five-ish years, the vibe in the Asylum has been that of a protracted Christmas dinner where everyone is tensely moving their food around in their plate, bracing themselves for whatever will trigger the screaming match. Wondering what it's going to be this time. Weary old-timers make small talk about the food because no other topic feels safe. Every glance, every forced smile, is fraught with eons-old grudges and unspoken regrets; every nervous pleasantry sounds like a thinly-veiled accusation. Aunt Emilie always insists on hosting, but not-so-secretly hates having people over. Sooner or later, she finds a way to get all of these assholes out of her house. Most of the adult children are daydreaming about going no-contact.
Everyone ready for some dysfunctional family history?
CW for discussion of bullying, online harassment, mental illness stigma.

YE OLDEN DAYS: CUCKOOS OF A FEATHER NEST TOGETHER

In the beginning, it was beautiful.
EA had the excellent instinct to start banking on her online presence📝 long before MySpace was even a thing. She had a website, several online stores, an active LiveJournal and a ProBoards forum right from the turn of the millennium.
In 2004, she attached an official forum to her website; the earliest archive shows 74 registered users. By the time Opheliac came out in 2006, that number had grown tenfold. And it was, by most accounts, a pretty dope place to be! (I should specify that this write-up focuses on the anglophone side of the fandom: there were also thriving fan-run communities in at least German, French, and Spanish. Because EA doesn't speak any of those languages, the lucky bastards were mostly left alone.)
Forum users enjoyed interacting with some of EA's closest IRL friends and associates – and with the mistress of the house herself (user flair: PsychoFiddler), when she occasionally responded to comments under her own posts. But that wasn't even the main appeal for many. For a long time, on top of all EA-related topics, the official forum had very active “Off-Topic” subforums, with lively and friendly conversation on a variety of subjects. (There was even a “Filthy Libertines (18+)” sub for a while, which was closed due to preemptive concerns about minors.) Swear words (not slurs) were allowed and encouraged, and moderation was overall pretty loose beyond basic enforcement of civility. There was a lot of mutual support, creativity, and solid banter going around.

It wasn't just about Emilie on the forums. People could chat about almost anything with near free reign, making connections and lifelong friends. ... This community mattered SO MUCH to people. They felt included, accepted, and understood within the walls of the Asylum. People invested their time and creative energy into keeping the forums a vibrant, active community, and made sure that carried over into the real world. ... I've never seen anything like it in a fan space. I doubt I ever will again. (@Asylum_Oracle - “Fandom History” Instagram highlight 🔍📝, which contains most of the sources for this segment.)

And it did, indeed, carry over into the real world. There were numerous meet-ups – a few organized by EA, many more spontaneous. People who didn't know any other EA fans in real life, or were just excited to add new Plague Rats to their friend group, would regularly connect with other forum users from their area to meet up and hang out before EA shows. “Who else is dressing up??”
In 2008, for instance, EA held an afternoon meet-up at Lincoln Park in Chicago. 📺 The event was free to attend; it featured live acoustic music and a reading from EA's upcoming book, the intriguingly-titled Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.
On the appointed day, EA rolled up in a fabulously tousled red wig, bedazzled white corset and steampunk-altered wedding dress. She had brought friends alongs. Sporting blue hair and a pink bustle and corset was her Chicago bestie, the main forum admin. Rocking a guitar and a top hat was EA's sound engineer, the soft-spoken wizard behind the Victoriandustrial sound, who was also a forum mod. The photographer from the original Opheliac cover art was there as well; he was formally introduced by EA and got his own round of applause.

People who would never normally be involved in an artist's fanbase were in EA's world. And not only were they known – they were respected and incredibly active with the fanbase. These people who managed an online message board were willing to engage in real-world meet-ups (with no security??) because of how tight-knit the community they had built was. People turned out to this event. People traveled to go to this event. It was a short reading of a book that hadn't been released yet, and wouldn't be for some time. Why? Because not only was it a chance to meet Emilie and listen to parts of the new book, but it was also a chance to hang out with their friends from the Asylum. ... The fandom really was a family for a lot of people. (@Asylum_Oracle)

“SERIOUSLY, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE.”

It all started with The End.
The End Records, that is! Quick refresher: in 2009, after three years or so with Trisol, EA split from the label over allegations that the owner was embezzling money from ticket sales. A few months later, she signed with The End Records. Understandably, EA still wanted to sell the album that had made her famous, and to which she had smartly retained the rights – which meant a brand new, “Deluxe” release of Opheliac. (Remember, from part 3? The one you could pre-order as a bundle with the book? Some projects are just cursed, I guess.)
At that point, Opheliac had been released three times already, as recently as the year before, with only slight variations in format and tracklist. (Yes, that is a theme in this story.) The End Records version would feature new cover art and a handful of new tracks, but overall, it was... you know... the same album.
(The following paragraphs are largely sourced from this excellent recap 🔍📝, which also provides potato screenshots for all quotes.)
One fateful day of August 2009, a user started a thread entitled “Opheliac US edition deluxe re-release??” in the “EA News” subforum. In the thread, some people were kind of balking at the re-do, pondering whether to buy the “new” Opheliac or sit this one out. Some expressed that after three years, they were jonesing for a new album. Others shared what B-sides or dream covers they would have liked to see included on the bonus disc. Just... fans being fans, in a fan discussion space.
And then EA jumped out from behind the curtains.

Fan: Okay. Before I start, I just want you to know that I think it's very good that EA is getting more popularity, and that she can release lots of albums, but - are 5 editions of the same album really needed? You may say now “ah, it's not the same, it has 2 bonus tracks” or whatever, but I mean: it's not new material. Now don't get me wrong. I'm happy for it, maybe I'll even buy it, but I'm just wondering if she shouldn't keep herself busy with other (maybe more important) stuff? * hides * EA: Nobody's forcing you to buy it. Thanks.

Record scratch.

Fan 1: is this Opheliac release version number 4? lol If she's recording NEW tracks, then surely they deserve to be sold by themselves, otherwise people are going to have to buy an album that they may have already bought twice (like me!). But... alas, I am a fool and adore everything this woman does... im buying it lol Fan 2: exactly – if it was just reissuing the last version of Opheliac to tap into new markets that would be fine (...) but if they start adding extra bits of material to albums people already have then the true muffins are going to feel obliged to buy new copies (...) EA: How exactly are you obliged to buy anything? Nobody is forcing you to spend a fucking penny, my dears. I suppose it would make more sense to you to simply not have my records available any more as the old label I just escaped from will no longer be distributing them? Forgive me for adding extra tracks. No obligation necessary.

...Okay, so I'm pretty sure that we can see both sides of the argument here. Fans are annoyed at the idea of spending money on barely-anything-new, because they love EA and buy every single CD she releases. EA is exasperated by fans acting like she's twisting their arm and somehow resenting the inclusion of new material, when she was just ensuring that her album would remain available for purchase and trying to keep things interesting.
But maybe we can also agree that those replies should have been screamed into a pillow rather than typed out on a keyboard.
EA was getting increasingly (and, I'll just say it: disproportionately) sarcastic and defensive in her replies. Enter poor FantineDormouse.
FantineDormouse meant well, I think. Maybe she thought, she's spiraling. Maybe she thought, friends don't let friends go down that road. Granted, FantineDormouse probably should have known better than to phrase it the way she did. Or to assume that EA perceived her as a friend.
Either way, at some point, FantineDormouse jumped in and posted the comment that finally made EA lose it. THE comment which, overnight, ended the honeymoon period of the Asylum, triggering a doomsday domino effect from which the fandom would never truly recover. Are you comfortably seated?

FantineDormouse: Uhm, Emilie, love, I don't mean to sound rude or anything... but maybe you should have a cup of tea and relax a little.

...
* sound of archduke getting shot *

EA: Excuse me? You can throw this onslaught of absolute cruel bullshit at me and those I work with in my own space that I own, and I can't say anything back? How fucking patronizing. Relax? Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? FD: I'm not trying to piss you off even more, Emilie. And trust me, I have to deal with it myself, and as much as I would really love to punch the cunts I have to deal with in the face, I don't. You're pissed off, I get it. You're bipolar, which makes it 10x worse, I get that. I'm just not the person to stand around and do nothing when a fight where I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of regret is going on.

Famous last words. Literally! Immediately after EA delivered her irate closing statement – which includes one of my all-time favorite EA zingers, bolded...

EA: I cannot believe this... You just don't stop, do you? So just because I've shared the personal information with you all that I happen to be bipolar, I can't get pissed off at all of you being perfectly awful in the very space that I pay fuckloads a month to have up (has it ever occurred to you all that I pay dearly for this space you play around in?) Why not just tell me that I must be upset because it's my time of the month? Seriously, get the fuck out of my house. You are unbelievable, and your level of patronization is almost criminal. Don't make me write another book. With muffins like you, who needs enemies? Nothing I say or feel is legitimate, not ever ever ever because I'm bipolar... discredited before I begin... unbelievable...

...FantineDormouse got permabanned.
Jaws dropped. After days of infighting between white knights, detractors, and crossfire negotiators, several mod resignations, and general mayhem surrounding the ban, EA made a post entitled “In Which: I Invite You to Make a Fucking Choice.” 📝 For brevity's sake (cue laugh track), I can't reproduce it in all of its righteous splendor, but it's quite a read. It runs the gamut from fair and articulate points about how mental illness shouldn't be used to discredit someone's legitimate anger... to histrionic commands that “deserters to the cause” should “turn in their weapons” if they can't handle her way of doing things.

To those of you who appear not to understand why said posts, most especially those of the banned party, were offensive to me, I give you the option to either educate yourselves on your own time and in your own space (because please never forget that this is my space that I share with all of you at my own expense, and in which I generally give you all the freedom I would wish for myself), or to resign your posts in the Asylum Army – this is not the place for you, and I humbly suggest that you turn your attention and support towards other artists of a more placid, non-controversial, and less opinionated nature; there are more than enough of them out there, and I’m sure they all have forums of their own.

Some fans did leave. Most stuck around, whiplashed. Soon, the storm quieted down, and business as usual resumed on the forum. But something had been damaged beyond repair. The FantineDormouse fiasco had erected walls and drawn lines in the sand, both around EA and among her fans; its sad specter would haunt every Asylum crisis that spiked up forever after. “Fucking Patronizing Fucking” or “FPF” 🔍 became memetic shorthand in the fandom for overreaction and self-righteousness. 🐀
...And now you understand why, in the following years, some fans were so delicate and diplomatic in voicing their very legitimate complaints about messed-up orders, unsigned books, and puzzling lies... while unofficial platforms like Tumblr flourished with pent-up resentment and snark. 🦠

A NOTE ON HARASSMENT: “MAD GIRL, CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO YOU?”

Wouldn't they stop When you asked them to leave you alone? (“Mad Girl”, 2008 🎵)

Now, let's be clear, because it should not be minimized: EA has also been the target of genuine online harassment. Based on the simple fact that she is a woman with a public presence on the internet, I have zero doubt that EA has received (and perhaps continues to receive) more than her share of truly vile, bigoted, creepy and threatening messages – and, knowing what I know about the darker recesses of the Asylum, a terrifying amount of emotional blackmail and obsessive projection from people who hold her to punitively high standards. I'm also inclined to believe that it started way before she ever did anything that warranted any backlash. And that fucking sucks. It's repulsive and inexcusable, and the people who harass her should crawl into a hole and live among the worms.
Notwithstanding. In my decade-plus of following EA drama, the public comments on EA's own platforms (where people knew she was likely to be reading) have been, for the most part... civil and nuanced, and relatively mindful of the human? Even very confrontational comments (some clearly written from a place of anger and desire to shame) rarely resorted to outright name-calling or cruelty. When abusive or bigoted language did crop up, it was often promptly shut down by other fans as gross and uncalled for. In short: I have, with mine own two eyes, in real time, read some of the comment sections that EA described as cesspools of blind rage and odious attacks, and... I just couldn't see it.
If anything, for a long time, a lot of the angry comments directed at EA during any given controversy read more like break-up letters to an ex-best friend: harsh, curt and targeted in a way that cuts deep.... but also kind of screams how much love you still have for this person, against your better judgement.
Not that it wouldn't mess a person up to get hundred of those in a matter of hours, even if they don't individually qualify as “abusive”.
It's worth noting that prior to becoming semi-famous and regretting it, EA was also (by her own account and among other forms of abuse) a victim of intense childhood bullying. It feels like the two situations are closely connected in her mind when her focus seamlessly transitions from one to the other. 📺 I don't think that tremor in her voice is put on.
Based on her writings, I get the feeling that over the years, EA has developed a very black-and-white view of two monolithic groups of people. There's (an idealized vision of) her “real audience”, well-dressed, well-read, kind-hearted, and Asylum-savvy, who she fully trusts to “get it” – and buy it, and love it, unquestioningly, whatever “it” may be at any given time – because that is the true measure of love and loyalty. These are the people she makes art and merch for, the people she writes heart-emoji-filled newsletters to, and desperately longs to see in person again.
And then there's the lynch mob, those who really don't “get it”: the trolls, the faceless creeps, the basement-dwelling mouthbreathers, the ones who stalk her every move obsessively, waiting for any chance to spam her with vicious abuse and slander and obscenities. The latter only exist online (they are manifested into arbitrary existence by the internet itself, not by anything EA said or did), and there is zero overlap between the two sets of people. That seems to be the official narrative.

The "public eye" isn't an [enviable] place to be, and the closer I've come to it, the more horrified I've been. Because, for starters, who is "the public?" Is "the public" my audience? Hell no. My audience is special. They are not the general public. If they were the general public I would be a lot wealthier. The "public eye" means getting stalked, harassed, viscously judged, and put in danger. If I do things in the future that gain notoriety, I will do them in spite of fame, not because of it. I am out for world domination, but not fame. (Interview for The Moaning Times, 2014 📝)

In real life (well, mostly online, but I mean: on this shared plane of existence), things play out slightly differently. The Venn diagram of “true blue fans” and “people who criticize EA" and "people who know way too much about EA” is a circle. The call is 100% coming from inside the Asylum, and I think EA rationally knows that. But here's the thing: no matter how many shows and meet-and-greets you've dressed up for, how many loving and supportive comments you've left, or how many family heirlooms you once pawned to purchase a copy of the not-for-sale 2003 DJ pressing of Enchant... the instant EA feels attacked, everyone is a saboteur and a bully until proven otherwise, and suspected treason is dealt with on the spot. One strike, you're out. Unfortunately for everyone involved, her threshold for bullying seems to be “any remotely thoughtless opinion from any stranger on the internet”.
It makes for outstanding human-interest entertainment... but it also sounds an awful lot like the unhealthy patterns of a person suffering from all sorts of PTSD. 🔍 So, please bear that in mind as you read through this write-up. It's easy to make EA out to be the sole villain, a paranoid and delusional drama queen, based on her extreme reactions to things that often “weren't that bad”. Anything can, in fact, be “that bad” when you're thrown back into the very worst moments of your existence every time your brain decides that the situation is even remotely similar.
PTSD takes over your rational mind and actively distorts your perception of reality. That can be how a person ends up impulse-reacting to “a few people expressing an unfavorable opinion” as if the entire internet had just ganged up on them with knives. Which makes their audience feel unjustly accused, which makes them hostile, which gives the person actual good reason to feel attacked... and so the cycle of hurt continues.

You know the games I play And the words I say When I want my own way You know the lies I tell When you've gone through hell And I say I can't stay You know how hard it can be To keep believing in me When everything and everyone Becomes my enemy, and when There's nothing more you can do I'm gonna blame it on you – It's not the way I wanna be I only hope that in the end You will see: It's the Opheliac in me... (“Opheliac”, 2006 🎵)

And YES, it is extremely regrettable to have this as a trigger, when you're a public figure and you're bound to receive more negative feedback than the average citizen. “It's what she signed up for”, “it comes with the territory” and all that jazz. I really don't think EA was unaware of that fact when she decided to become a musician, share her personal life, and form an intense parasocial bond with her audience. But maybe she underestimated how hard it would be to process and recover from.
Just because you expect something unpleasant to happen, doesn't mean your psyche will be ready to handle it when it does – or that you'll pick the best and most effective strategy to deal with it.

A MADHOUSE UNDER MARTIAL LAW: MARCHING INTO THE FORUM WARS

There are two sides to every story... except for this one! (“If I Burn”, 2012 🎵)

You may have noted the military imagery in EA's “Make a Fucking Choice” response post – “resign your post in the Asylum Army”! What do psychiatry and the military have in common? They're both institutions of top-down social control. 🔍 EA's mixed metaphor may be a bit clunky, but it did foreshadow the evolution of the Asylum – in terms of aesthetics and power dynamics – in the years that followed the FantineDormouse incident and the release of The Book.
EA's next big release after the Asylum book came in 2012. It was a new album, an outline of the soon-to-be Asylum musical, called Fight Like a Girl (FLAG for short). As the name suggests, the main mood was bellicose. Incidentally, in the interim years, EA's communication style generally became noticeably more combative, incendiary, and (within her own spaces) controlling.📝 You remember those quirky word filters on the forum, that would change “fan” to “muffin” and “bra” to “teacup holder”? They kind of took on a Nineteen-Eighty-Four-burlesque flavor when you realized that one filter automatically changed “Fischkopf” to “Liddell” - and that circumventing the rule to address her totally real last name would get you banned, as would any discussion of her family. (“Wikipedia, random internet sites and heresay are not credible sources.” - Mod reminder of forum rules, 2010.)
Also, you try sustaining a serious, grown-up conversation among concerned fans about how Emilie Autumn should “take ratsponsibility for her mistakes out of ratspect for her muffins”. Thus, the official Asylum forum kept a tight grip on overt criticism of EA's claims and actions.

The Emilie Autumn forum is a dystopian hell. Truth be told, when I decided to leave you could not do anything but gush about Emilie. Otherwise all of her extremist arse kissing fans will be down your throat, ripping you apart in seconds, if you so much as questioned her behaviour. So much for freedom of opinion, let alone the idea of creating a harmonious community for ‘outcasts’. Hahaha. (2014 🐀)

The word filter thing really wasn't a big deal – I'm just pointing it out as one goofy expression of EA's need to control the narrative and rhetoric, which became especially noticeable in those post-book, pre-FLAG years. By that point, EA's fuse had been shortened by near on half a decade of non-stop touring / recording / writing / promoting / adjusting to the pressure and demands of an ever-growing fanbase, while also dealing with a horrorshow of personal turmoil and health issues behind the scenes. In other words: she was done taking any shit, in any form, or humoring anyone's ridiculous feedback regarding anything.
To be fair, it was never her forte to begin with. Will it come as a shock if I tell you that EA doesn't have the greatest track record for successful collaborative work? Let's do a quick-cut montage!
EA's very first corporate sponsor was her mother's “Enchant Clothing & Costume” online store 🔍; she went on to claim that her mother was dead. She sessioned for Billy Corgan, that went super well. 🎵 She liked Courtney Love for a minute, but that didn't work out because she felt that Courtney only valued her for her pee. 📝 (It probably didn't help that in early 2006, while EA was recording her post-break-up-tell-all album about Corgan, C-Love was recording her post-rehab-redemption album with Corgan. 🔍 Either way, EA didn't seem to like Courtney anymore after that. Courtney likes her, though! 📝) The one artist EA has ever approached for a duet (and by approached, I mean she recorded a demo and threw the CD on stage when he played Chicago in 2004) was, of all people, Morrissey. That never came to pass, thank mercy 🔍 – this fandom has suffered enough. In 2005, EA recorded some haunting vocals and violins for a potential collab with the frontman of Attrition. When, three years later, they were used on one track 🎵 of Attrition's All Mine Enemies Whisper, she alleged 📝 that the recordings had been obtained from her under the false pretense of a different project, then hideously altered to sound “out of tune”, and used without her permission. She enlisted her fans to boycott the album and the band, and threatened legal action. Meanwhile, on LiveJournal and Attrition's message boards, band associates were appalled: according to them, EA had been aware of the project's nature from the start... and had been completely unreachable, even through her label, during the months of its development. (Besides, Attrition is a semi-obscure English darkwave band from the 80s, whose micro-distributed albums don't even have their own Wikipedia pages... so I wonder what EA was hoping to get out of that theoretical lawsuit. These people own nothing but vintage gain pedals!) The song “Cold Hard Cash” 🎤 by Angelspit (who contributed a remix to one of her EPs in 2008) may or may not be an EA diss track. 🐀 Back when indie jewelry brand RockLove (which now has licensing deals with Disney, Marvel, and DC) was still someone's bedroom project, their first drop was an EA-inspired collection 🔍, which appears in many early Opheliac photoshoots. The partnership was terminated on bad terms, for unclear reasons; the RockLove owner shared in a statement that EA had “drunk the cool-aid” of Trisol Guy's shady business practices, and that the two of them had been spamming her with “crazed angry message[s]” for days.
Why am I talking about this? Because it was precisely one such ill-fated business partnership that triggered the Great Asylum Secession.
One fine day of spring 2010, the owner of vegan make-up brand Aromaleigh popped onto the Asylum forum to announce that they were cutting ties with EA, with damning receipts of copy-pasted emails (lost to time). Basically, the brand had been sponsoring her for half a decade, and while Aromaleigh had been actively promoting her music and tours, EA hadn't exactly been returning the favor. (Indeed, the extent of EA's sponcon seemed to have been a banner link to their website on her front page, and a single “random drunken endorsement” LiveJournal post that kind of reads like satire📝, from 2005.)
EA responded by banning the owner's account, deleting the thread, and posting this flippant statement a few days later:

Dearest Plague Rats, To be honest, I have no idea of what the hell happened with Aromaleigh, and I don't care to find out – the whole drama is a complete mystery to me, as I've been away for months touring and have not been in contact with anyone. All I know is that I've been promoting the company for ages and have not asked them for anything in years. (...) Please focus on more interesting things. I am. (“Save the Drama...” forum post, March 2010)

Posts questioning her good faith in the conflict were deleted from the forum. Shortly thereafter, citing how prolific and labor-intensive the Asylum forum had grown, EA shut down all non-EA related subforums – which, among many other topics, included a pretty active thread about Aromaleigh products.
So one Plague Rat decided to create a separate, members-only forum 📝, where users could recreate some of the now-defunct off-topic threads... and also freely voice their critical opinions of EA's behavior without fear of backlash from mods or rabid stans. Thus, “The Reform” was born. (Reform [n]: amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved.)
For a few weeks, the two-state solution seemed to work fine. And then word spread among forum mods and other diehard fans that there was this horrid other forum, where obsessive haters gathered to spew disgusting lies and vitriol about EA... and soon enough, it was bedlam in the Asylum.
Any explicit mention of the Reform was forbidden on the Asylum forum. Suspicion of participation in the Reform would get you banned. The party line was that The Reform was the enemy 🐀 – even though a number of people were active on both forums, because they liked freedom of expression almost as much as they liked EA. Double agents would lurk on the forum and report back with snark material; sycophants would infiltrate the Reform to identify traitors – much to the amusement of the “haters”, who mocked them and their ilk for “licking EA's pink sparkly boots”. There was no containing the seething, or the sass, among Asylum ranks.
Pretty soon, the insubordination spread to Tumblr. There was the “Ask the Reform” Q&A blog, where questioning fans could interact with “Rebel Rats”, get more details on past drama, and make up their own minds about the people EA called bullies.
And then, there were the “confession blogs”, which published anonymous submissions about EA, positive, negative or neutral, with little censorship. Finally, you didn't even have to pick a throw-away username on a private forum to voice your hottest / strangest / most controversial EA takes. Fans could vent, rant, lament, wonder, shitpost to their heart's content, anonymously. Obviously, given the context of frustration and censorship in the fandom, a lot of the first waves of confessions were EXTREMELY negative.
EA's acolyte Veronica managed to get the first one shut down. If memory serves, she misunderstood the confession blog format, and may have believed that all the posts on “Emilie Autumn Confessions” came from one or a small group of individuals. She was genuinely devastated, and wrote the blog admin to let them know that they were a terrible person who said terrible things. The admin was mortified, apologized profusely and deleted the blog of their own initiative. (Which goes to show that the concept did not come from cruel and malicious anti-fans, as detractors often claimed.)
But a new blog sprung up almost immediately, with a different mod team, and did not surrender. And much like in EA's own book, once the Plague Rats found out that they possessed the gift of speech... well, they really took to it.
Established in 2011 and passed on through generation after generation of mod teams to the present day, Wayward Victorian Confessions would turn out to be the longest-lived institution in the EA fandom. For over a decade now, through all the bleakest nights and dankest debacles of the Asylum, and despite its initial reputation as a troll den, WVC has acted as a kind of neutral ground and vox populi for the active fanbase and anti-fanbase. (The last nominally-active EA fansite to date, She Fights Like a Girl, is actually an offshoot of WVC: one of the old admins created it as a database to answer “frequently asked questions” about EA.)
Wayward Victorian Confessions has now outlived every other EA platform, official and unofficial. Were it not for the continued existence of the “troll den”, what little fan community survives in 2024 would be non-existent, plain and simple. To quote from late 20th century Canadian philosophy: isn't it ironic?

I feel like [WVC] is the only place I feel any of that old Asylum community kind of feeling I felt before EA got so focused on the book. It sucks that it’s so full of unhappiness, and I wish she hadn’t poisoned the sanctuary she claimed to have built. It’s just kind of fallen apart, like a crumbling building. (🐀 2016)

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

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Aside:
The first post from a different user was removed for being spam. Then my post was removed "pending moderator approval", I messaged the mods and they told me my previous post was removed since "Links to Google docs are often used to unmask and dox users by scraping their Gmail account ids. This is a security issue. Post whatever you want as a link to the open web, or not at all."
Obviously nothing is more doxing than the Gmail account ids (despite the Jewish students literally signing their names below), so I have posted the letter directly here instead. I removed the 322 signatures as well since that is dox-like as well.
I expect nothing but rational and civil discourse in the comments below.
To the Columbia Community:
Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who show up to wave the Israeli flag outside Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians looking to use our experiences to foment America’s culture war. Most notably, some are our Jewish peers who tokenize themselves by claiming to represent “real Jewish values,” and attempt to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism. We are here, writing to you as Jewish students at Columbia University, who are connected to our community and deeply engaged with our culture and history. We would like to speak in our name.
Many of us sit next to you in class. We are your lab partners, your study buddies, your peers, and your friends. We partake in the same student government, clubs, Greek life, volunteer organizations, and sports teams as you.
Most of us did not choose to be political activists. We do not bang on drums and chant catchy slogans. We are average students, just trying to make it through finals much like the rest of you. Those who demonize us under the cloak of anti-Zionism forced us into our activism and forced us to publicly defend our Jewish identities.
We proudly believe in the Jewish People’s right to self-determination in our historic homeland as a fundamental tenet of our Jewish identity. Contrary to what many have tried to sell you – no, Judaism cannot be separated from Israel. Zionism is, simply put, the manifestation of that belief.
Our religious texts are replete with references to Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem. The land of Israel is filled with archaeological remnants of a Jewish presence spanning centuries. Yet, despite generations of living in exile and diaspora across the globe, the Jewish People never ceased dreaming of returning to our homeland — Judea, the very place from which we derive our name, “Jews.” Indeed just a couple of days ago, we all closed our Passover seders with the proclamation, “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
Many of us are not religiously observant, yet Zionism remains a pillar of our Jewish identities. We have been kicked out of Russia, Libya, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Poland, Egypt, Algeria, Germany, Iran, and the list goes on. We connect to Israel not only as our ancestral homeland but as the only place in the modern world where Jews can safely take ownership of their own destiny. Our experiences at Columbia in the last six months are a poignant reminder of just that.
We were raised on stories from our grandparents of concentration camps, gas chambers, and ethnic cleansing. The essence of Hitler’s antisemitism was the very fact that we were “not European” enough, that as Jews we were threats to the “superior” Aryan race. This ideology ultimately left six million of our own in ashes.
The evil irony of today’s antisemitism is a twisted reversal of our Holocaust legacy; protestors on campus have dehumanized us, imposing upon us the characterization of the “white colonizer.” We have been told that we are “the oppressors of all brown people” and that “the Holocaust wasn’t special.” Students at Columbia have chanted “we don’t want no Zionists here,” alongside “death to the Zionist State” and to “go back to Poland,” where our relatives lie in mass graves.
This sick distortion illuminates the nature of antisemitism: In every generation, the Jewish People are blamed and scapegoated as responsible for the societal evil of the time. In Iran and in the Arab world, we were ethnically cleansed for our presumed ties to the “Zionist entity.” In Russia, we endured state-sponsored violence and were ultimately massacred for being capitalists. In Europe, we were the victims of genocide because we were communists and not European enough. And today, we face the accusation of being too European, painted as society’s worst evils – colonizers and oppressors. We are targeted for our belief that Israel, our ancestral and religious homeland, has a right to exist. We are targeted by those who misuse the word Zionist as a sanitized slur for Jew, synonymous with racist, oppressive, or genocidal. We know all too well that antisemitism is shapeshifting.
We are proud of Israel. The only democracy in the Middle East, Israel is home to millions of Mizrachi Jews (Jews of Middle Eastern descent), Ashkenazi Jews (Jews of Central and Eastern European descent), and Ethiopian Jews, as well as millions of Arab Israelis, over one million Muslims, and hundreds of thousands of Christians and Druze. Israel is nothing short of a miracle for the Jewish People and for the Middle East more broadly.
Our love for Israel does not necessitate blind political conformity. It’s quite the opposite. For many of us, it is our deep love for and commitment to Israel that pushes us to object when its government acts in ways we find problematic. Israeli political disagreement is an inherently Zionist activity; look no further than the protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms – from New York to Tel Aviv – to understand what it means to fight for the Israel we imagine. All it takes are a couple of coffee chats with us to realize that our visions for Israel differ dramatically from one another. Yet we all come from a place of love and an aspiration for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
If the last six months on campus have taught us anything, it is that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People. Yet despite the fact that we have been calling out the antisemitism we’ve been experiencing for months, our concerns have been brushed off and invalidated. So here we are to remind you:
We sounded the alarm on October 12 when many protested against Israel while our friends’ and families’ dead bodies were still warm.
We recoiled when people screamed “resist by any means necessary,” telling us we are “all inbred” and that we “have no culture.”
We shuddered when an “activist” held up a sign telling Jewish students they were Hamas’s next targets, and we shook our heads in disbelief when Sidechat users told us we were lying.
We ultimately were not surprised when a leader of the CUAD encampment said publicly and proudly that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and that we’re lucky they are “not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
We felt helpless when we watched students and faculty physically block Jewish students from entering parts of the campus we share, or even when they turned their faces away in silence. This silence is familiar. We will never forget.
One thing is for sure. We will not stop standing up for ourselves. We are proud to be Jews, and we are proud to be Zionists.
We came to Columbia because we wanted to expand our minds and engage in complex conversations. While campus may be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it is never too late to start repairing the fractures and begin developing meaningful relationships across political and religious divides. Our tradition tells us, “Love peace and pursue peace.” We hope you will join us in earnestly pursuing peace, truth, and empathy. Together we can repair our campus.
Signed:
322 Jewish students

Link to letter here: https://docs.google.com/document1/d/e/2PACX-1vRQgyDhIjZupO2H-2rIDXLy_zkf76RoM-_ZIYsOfn9FkI7TETgRtOfXK9VobMvGh6iEZfDPgALXJTCpub
Text:
To the Columbia Community:
Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who show up to wave the Israeli flag outside Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians looking to use our experiences to foment America’s culture war. Most notably, some are our Jewish peers who tokenize themselves by claiming to represent “real Jewish values,” and attempt to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism. We are here, writing to you as Jewish students at Columbia University, who are connected to our community and deeply engaged with our culture and history. We would like to speak in our name.
Many of us sit next to you in class. We are your lab partners, your study buddies, your peers, and your friends. We partake in the same student government, clubs, Greek life, volunteer organizations, and sports teams as you.
Most of us did not choose to be political activists. We do not bang on drums and chant catchy slogans. We are average students, just trying to make it through finals much like the rest of you. Those who demonize us under the cloak of anti-Zionism forced us into our activism and forced us to publicly defend our Jewish identities.
We proudly believe in the Jewish People’s right to self-determination in our historic homeland as a fundamental tenet of our Jewish identity. Contrary to what many have tried to sell you – no, Judaism cannot be separated from Israel. Zionism is, simply put, the manifestation of that belief.
Our religious texts are replete with references to Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem. The land of Israel is filled with archaeological remnants of a Jewish presence spanning centuries. Yet, despite generations of living in exile and diaspora across the globe, the Jewish People never ceased dreaming of returning to our homeland — Judea, the very place from which we derive our name, “Jews.” Indeed just a couple of days ago, we all closed our Passover seders with the proclamation, “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
Many of us are not religiously observant, yet Zionism remains a pillar of our Jewish identities. We have been kicked out of Russia, Libya, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Poland, Egypt, Algeria, Germany, Iran, and the list goes on. We connect to Israel not only as our ancestral homeland but as the only place in the modern world where Jews can safely take ownership of their own destiny. Our experiences at Columbia in the last six months are a poignant reminder of just that.
We were raised on stories from our grandparents of concentration camps, gas chambers, and ethnic cleansing. The essence of Hitler’s antisemitism was the very fact that we were “not European” enough, that as Jews we were threats to the “superior” Aryan race. This ideology ultimately left six million of our own in ashes.
The evil irony of today’s antisemitism is a twisted reversal of our Holocaust legacy; protestors on campus have dehumanized us, imposing upon us the characterization of the “white colonizer.” We have been told that we are “the oppressors of all brown people” and that “the Holocaust wasn’t special.” Students at Columbia have chanted “we don’t want no Zionists here,” alongside “death to the Zionist State” and to “go back to Poland,” where our relatives lie in mass graves.
This sick distortion illuminates the nature of antisemitism: In every generation, the Jewish People are blamed and scapegoated as responsible for the societal evil of the time. In Iran and in the Arab world, we were ethnically cleansed for our presumed ties to the “Zionist entity.” In Russia, we endured state-sponsored violence and were ultimately massacred for being capitalists. In Europe, we were the victims of genocide because we were communists and not European enough. And today, we face the accusation of being too European, painted as society’s worst evils – colonizers and oppressors. We are targeted for our belief that Israel, our ancestral and religious homeland, has a right to exist. We are targeted by those who misuse the word Zionist as a sanitized slur for Jew, synonymous with racist, oppressive, or genocidal. We know all too well that antisemitism is shapeshifting.
We are proud of Israel. The only democracy in the Middle East, Israel is home to millions of Mizrachi Jews (Jews of Middle Eastern descent), Ashkenazi Jews (Jews of Central and Eastern European descent), and Ethiopian Jews, as well as millions of Arab Israelis, over one million Muslims, and hundreds of thousands of Christians and Druze. Israel is nothing short of a miracle for the Jewish People and for the Middle East more broadly.
Our love for Israel does not necessitate blind political conformity. It’s quite the opposite. For many of us, it is our deep love for and commitment to Israel that pushes us to object when its government acts in ways we find problematic. Israeli political disagreement is an inherently Zionist activity; look no further than the protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms – from New York to Tel Aviv – to understand what it means to fight for the Israel we imagine. All it takes are a couple of coffee chats with us to realize that our visions for Israel differ dramatically from one another. Yet we all come from a place of love and an aspiration for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
If the last six months on campus have taught us anything, it is that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People. Yet despite the fact that we have been calling out the antisemitism we’ve been experiencing for months, our concerns have been brushed off and invalidated. So here we are to remind you:
We sounded the alarm on October 12 when many protested against Israel while our friends’ and families’ dead bodies were still warm.
We recoiled when people screamed “resist by any means necessary,” telling us we are “all inbred” and that we “have no culture.”
We shuddered when an “activist” held up a sign telling Jewish students they were Hamas’s next targets, and we shook our heads in disbelief when Sidechat users told us we were lying.
We ultimately were not surprised when a leader of the CUAD encampment said publicly and proudly that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and that we’re lucky they are “not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
We felt helpless when we watched students and faculty physically block Jewish students from entering parts of the campus we share, or even when they turned their faces away in silence. This silence is familiar. We will never forget.
One thing is for sure. We will not stop standing up for ourselves. We are proud to be Jews, and we are proud to be Zionists.
We came to Columbia because we wanted to expand our minds and engage in complex conversations. While campus may be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it is never too late to start repairing the fractures and begin developing meaningful relationships across political and religious divides. Our tradition tells us, “Love peace and pursue peace.” We hope you will join us in earnestly pursuing peace, truth, and empathy. Together we can repair our campus.

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After almost an entire year of waiting, tonight we finally get to watch Eurovision again as the first fifteen fabulous performers face their fate. But which ten acts will rise like a phoenix, and which five will trip over their giant rock props? In a semi-final this open literally anything could happen, and it probably will! So, to weigh up each entry like I did last year, I present a tongue-in-cheek look at everybody's chances tonight. Please don't take anything here too seriously, and remember I'm writing this as a regular Eurovision fan, not as a mod!
Cyprus

• Why they will make it:
  • Silia's charisma, stage presence and energy are ridiculously good considering her young age
  • History as shown you should never underestimate a girlbop, and this is incredibly catchy and danceable
  • Dimitris Kontopoulis has only failed to qualify once with a song he's written, and in that case came 11th in one of the strongest semi-finals of all time
  • Silia has enrolled in the Noa Kirel school of dancing - it worked for Noa, so why not for Silia?
• Why they might not:
  • Inviting two Eurovision's most prominent girlbop queens, Chanel and Eleni Foureira, to perform directly before Silia does her no favours
  • This really is a girlbop by numbers, and that lack of standout novel feature could cost them dearly
  • Lying is a sin, and therefore voting and endorsing a song called 'liar' is a big naughty no-no

Serbia

• Why they will make it:
  • 'Ramonda' is very similar to 'Džanum', which went internationally viral on TikTok, proving how popular ballads like this can be with a broad audience
  • Atmospheric staging and an engrossing, emotional performance by Teya
  • They pretty much have an ideal draw to optimise diaspora support, with a guaranteed 22 points from Slovenia and Croatia and likely smaller points from Sweden, Germany, Cyprus and the Rest of World vote.
  • She capitalises on the often understated yet undeniably important 'botanist' demographic by singing about a flower
• Why they might not:
  • Even Teya isn't massively happy with the amount of wide camera-shots towards the end of the song, robbing it of some of its intimacy
  • The curse of the dreaded #2 slot strikes again - in a semi which also features three of the big 5/host performing in the mix with impressive staging, performing 2nd out of 18 performances means this could well be forgotten by the end
  • Breskvica's fans travel to Malmo to protest live, disrupting Teya's performance

Lithuania

• Why they will make it:
  • You don't need to understand Lithuanian to enjoy what's happening on stage or vibe with its catchy tune
  • The song reached #1 domestically and has also placed consistently in top 10s in fan polls this year, showcasing its broad appeal
  • Even if the song wasn't already brilliant, Lithuania has substantial diaspora voting allies in this semi, with a large televoting score guaranteed from United Kingdom, Ireland, Ukraine and Sweden and likely from many others.
  • Incredibly polished live performance, with hypnotic lights, choreography and an entrancing club atmosphere
• Why they might not:
  • Could be forgotten this early in the draw as Lithuanian language club-pop isn't as accessible as other songs in the semi
  • 'Luktelk Luktelk' sounds a little too much like 'Lockdown Lockdown', causing Covid-related trauma flashbacks with casual voters
  • Do people really want to vote for a song about erectile dysfunction?

Ireland

• Why they will make it:
  • One of the most impressive performances this year, never mind of all time. Ridiculously tight camerawork and a clear artistic vision which commands attention
  • Beloved by fans, could also be beloved by casual
  • Everybody loves an underdog, and Ireland is the ultimate underdog of modern Eurovision, with one qualification in the last nine contests.
  • QUALIFY THE WITCH
• Why they might not:
  • Could be too artistic and too scary for a casual audience
  • 'ouija pop' is an incredibly niche genre, and the recap basically just being screaming at the camera could well turn off first-time listeners
  • Bambie's satanic ritual accidentally summons a demon, or worse, Anri Jokhadze

Ukraine

• Why they will make it:
  • The song navigates multiple genres with ease, taking the best parts of both recent Ukrainian winners and doing something unique with them
  • With lasting sympathy for the nation as it continues to labour against Russian invasion, and millions of displaced Ukrainians across Europe, Ukraine the most powerful guaranteed televote at the moment and would have to send something truly awful to fail to qualify from a televote only semi
  • Some of the most powerful and effective stage graphics of the year, adding an extra layer of poignancy to an already spiritual and otherworldly song
• Why they might not:
  • The religious imagery, particularly the use of a controversial figure in Mother Teresa, may prove a barrier to votes by evoking religious trauma
  • Perhaps sounding so much like both 'Stefania' and '1944' will prove an unhelpful comparison
  • 'All the divas are born as a human beings' ignites an angry mob of grammarati

Poland

• Why they will make it:
  • Some of the wackiest and most colourful staging of the year. I dunno why we need Luna on a horse, but it looks great and generally is a lot more cohesive than some of the snippets/gallery shots made it seem
  • Catchy, radio-friendly pop which will appeal to a broad audience
  • Subtly revamped for Eurovision with some additional instrumentation which gives it a bit more punch
  • They have pretty much a perfect draw for optimising diaspora support, with high televote scores guaranteed from Ireland, Ukraine, Germany, United Kingdom, Iceland and potentially Luxembourg.
• Why they might not:
  • Some of the wackiest and most colourful staging of the year. Less random chess piece people flailing limbs and more Luna please!
  • Though much improved from the preparties, Luna is still a little weak vocally, especially in the 'big notes' at the end and when doing the convoluted choreography
  • Luna didn't get planning permission to build her tower, getting her into legal trouble with the local authorities

Croatia

• Why they will make it:
  • It's one of the big favourites to win, has captured the soul of a nation and the hearts of thousands of fans across Europe
  • Manages to be both incredibly fun, incredibly catchy and also poignant in its message and themes
  • Baby Lasagna is an inspiration for all introverts
  • Call and response chorus always works excellent with a live audience - hearing the crowd do the 'woahs' raises this to another level
  • Never underestimate the power of the cat-lover diaspora vote - cat memes aren't popular for nothing!
• Why they might not:
  • Maybe the comparisons with Kaarija haven't been overdone, and the similarities in style and staging (because Kaarija has a copyright on neon green lighting of course) will work against viewers
  • Rammstein-esque electronic rock isn't everybody's cup of tea
  • The goat from the song's cover art, angry at being completely overlooked in subsequent graphics, promotions and the songs lyrics, causes a stage invasion wearing a t-shirt which reads 'Bleat goat, please bleat back'

Iceland

• Why they will make it:
  • Hera's lovable mum energy makes her an endearing performer
  • Surprisingly effective staging, which is upbeat and colourful
  • Hera is Eurovision royalty and must be treated as such!
  • People may have seen the TikToks about Iceland sending a Palestinian back when Bashar was in contention and may mistakenly vote for Hera still under that false understanding
• Why they might not:
  • 'Scared of Heights' somehow sounds more dated and less current than her previous Eurovision entry, which was release fourteen years ago.
  • Consistently at the bottom of fan polls
  • Hera is too scared of heights to climb her platform at the start of the performance, missing her opening cues

Slovenia

• Why they will make it:
  • Slovenia has strong diaspora support in the semi, with a near-guaranteed 20 points from Croatia and Serbia and likely smaller support from Poland and Germany.
  • Vocally impeccable from Raiven, and the camerawork is much improved from the rehearsal snippet
  • #SendTheWitch might also translate to some votes for Slovenia's own 'witchy' story
• Why they might not:
  • The song and its choreography aren't the most accessible on first listening - it lacks too much of a catchy melody to stay in the minds of viewers
  • The stage lights are a lot brighter than we were expecting, robbing it of the moody atmosphere of the music video
  • Too much nudity for a family show #outrage

Finland

• Why they will make it:
  • Historically the televote has almost always appreciated a good 'joke song' (non derogatory), and the crowd will lift them immensely
  • Great fun in a draw half full of more sombre songs
  • Gags like the giant jegg and the jorts descending from the ceiling are genuinely hilarious on first watch and will definitely resonate in viewer's memories
• Why they might not:
  • Perhaps the divided response to the nude gag and other shenanigans from the fandom itself will also translate to the general public - Latvia 2022 shows that Europe doesn't always resonate with 'joke songs'
  • Surprisingly dark and unexciting use of the LEDs, especially when compared to the likes of Joost
  • The Jegg hatches pre-emptively into a beatiful Jickin, which consumes Windows95man

Moldova

• Why they will make it:
  • The message of the song - Natalia's love for her children - may resonate with mums across Europe
  • Very beautiful use of the LED screens and cubes to create one of the most colourful performances of the year
  • Decent late-half draw and some guaranteed televote support from Portugal and Ukraine
• Why they might not:
  • The staging is lacking any of the usual Moldovan magic which has historically elevated Moldovan songs
  • Like Hera, this is sadly nowhere near as good as her first attempt, reflected in finishing low in fan polls all year
  • The song is not performed directly in the middle of the running order, and therefore is false advertising

Azerbaijan

• Why they will make it:
  • The song has a very chilled vibe which could appeal to a broad audience
  • Atmospheric staging with tight camerawork
  • Non-English Eurovision songs are in a bit of a Renaissance at the moment, and an Azeri language song is what fans have been asking for for years
  • Mugham has worked well to elevate a song before - see Azerbaijan 2012!
• Why they might not:
  • Azerbaijan has historically struggled to score highly in the televote and is lacking their only consistent televoting ally Georgia to help them out
  • The song isn't particularly instant, and has also had a pretty muted response in the fanbase too
  • The giant hands are quite a clumsy prop and don't really work

Australia

• Why they will make it:
  • Catchy, accessible pop with the added Eurovision national flair of having a digeridoo appear on stage
  • An excellent late stage draw
  • Surprisingly effective staging, with tight camerawork, warm colours and charismatic energy from our leads
  • Australia has only failed to qualify once, under circumstances where they weren't able to perform live. They also have both the UK and Ireland voting in this semi
• Why they might not:
  • The staging is noticeably low budget, lacking in any major gimmick or memorable moment
  • Australia traditionally struggles in the televote
  • Australia is not a part of Europe
  • The repressed trauma of the music video and those facial expressions may haunt fans

Portugal

• Why they will make it:
  • Some of the most engrossing staging of the year, with incredible use of colour
  • Last year proved that there is an audience for ballads in a televoting-only semi, with songs like Estonia, Lithuania, Switzerland and Cyprus all qualifying with ease, especially when they are as impeccably performed as this
  • The emotion Iolanda conveys transcends understanding of the Portuguese language
• Why they might not:
  • Facing stiff competition with Serbia for emotional ballad lovers
  • Portugal is lacking as many likely voting allies as most other countries in the semi, with only the Luxembourgish 12 points near-guaranteed
  • Voters mistake her name for Lolanda and try to vote for Lolanda instead

Luxembourg

• Why they will make it:
  • RTL have thrown the kitchen sink at this performance, with pyro, dry ice, big LED graphics, the lot!
  • Catchy, instant bop with the statistically best draw of the semi, serving as an effective closer
  • Tali is a charismatic performer and engages the camera well
  • The novelty of a country returning after 30+ away may resonate with viewers
• Why they might not:
  • Luxembourg is unlikely to have any kind of diaspora/bloc voting support, and perhaps the novelty of voting for them this year has been overstated
  • The revamp unfortunately has made the song disjointed and overcomplicated, making it hard to digest on first listen
  • Tali's braids, after being subject to so many comments over the past week or so, take on a life of their own and start to rotate like Rayman's hair midway through the song, carrying her away and into the rafters mid-performance

Whatever the result tonight, I hope you all have a wonderful start to the Eurovision week. For all the issues with the turquoise carpet, this really is an excellent production by SVT and this is one of the hardest semi-finals to predict of all time. Expect the unexpected, and may your favourites make the cut!

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RDJ will come back as Iron Man and also Chris Evans will return as Captain America.
In Avengers Endgame Tony denied to Steve, Natasha and Ant-Man to do time-travel cause it’s very risky and it has very dangerous outcomes. So finally they all go with Smart Hulk for time-travel try and that time they failed in time-travel and Ant-Man age started changing in every time-travel attempts and Most Important part is, Steve Rogers also present there so he knows how he could comeback later. And I am pretty sure it’s not a coincidence. (Cap will manage to get back mostly in next Avengers movie when others needs him)
Every MCU fan know Tony Stark is the only one character who is famous for learning from his mistakes.
For example, When Rhodey fall from sky (in Civil War) lose his legs, When Iron Man falls near Rose Hills Tennessee (in Iron Man 3) there is cold temperature outside and suite power goes off then he started feeling very catchy cold. So later in improvements he implemented parachute and heater in Spidey’s suite… (We seen this in Spiderman Homecoming). (There is lots of another scenes which shows us he is always keep improving self till Avengers Endgame)
So my point is, In Iron Man 2 when Natasha Romanoff comes in Tony house as a lawyer and later on Tony‘s suggestion Pepper Pots hired her as a Secretary of Stark Industries but she is spy agent of shield and that time Tony can’t able to recognise her, Also J.A.R.V.I.S. failed to recognise her (Which is Security Breach), So i am definitely sure later he will improve his A.I. security to at least recognise anyone for more safety of himself, obviously Entire MCU movies not show these type scenes in details always. It’s a fan guess part (cause as I said before Tony always learns from his mistakes)

1. In Avengers Endgame, When Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Ant-Man do time travel to 2012 in Stark Tower for A Loki’s mind stone and space stone (Tesseract). That time at the last of moment Loki stole Tesseract and he managed to gets away from Stark Tower and another time branch created by him (Because it’s not Loki’s Destiny) which is clearly indicates Kang Varients have open door from that new time branch but later by (TVA) He Who Remains erased the timeline but at the end of final episode of Loki Season 1 He Who Remains also failed to send back Loki and Tesseract to 2012. So still 2012 events are changed and also there is new possibilities open from that timeline (2012).
2. After failing the chance of steal Tesseract from 2012, Future Tony and Steve decided to go back to 1970 (New Jersy) from 2012 to get another Tesseract, Tony (From 2012) and his A.I. (J.A.R.V.I.S.) (In 2012 J.A.R.V.I.S. is alive) both have ability to find what’s happened in Stark Tower during that period because Tesseract is missing from that building and Tony is always curious about Tesseract from start cause (There is scene at the start of The Avengers movie (2012) where Tony is doing some research on Tesseract In Stark Tower), Then how Tony will sacrifice Tesseract easily, He will at least try to find out where Tesseract goes in Stark Tower or what’s happened there, Tony (From 2012) have ability to identify what’s happened in that building. Everyone know Tony Stark is capable to find out what’s happened in Stark Tower and Tony can able to get all information with the help of J.A.R.V.I.S. cause J.A.R.V.I.S. have full control and have full access of security of Stark Tower in 2012. If J.A.R.V.I.S. detects two Tony Stark and two Captain America present in Stark Tower, Tony (From 2012) surely gets the clue what happens there.
3. Once Tony (From 2012) got the clue of two Tony Stark and two Captain America present in Stark Tower then there is also possibility of only 2012 Tony Stark will try to find out time travel concept, Not so quickly cause he have low resources to reach out correct way of time-travel and also he don’t have any time travel watch like 2014 Thanos have (Nebula’s time travel watch) and also no two J.A.R.V.I.S. Available in same timeline to mix up J.A.R.V.I.S. memory like Nebula otherwise he will know everything by accessing J.A.R.V.I.S. memory and come quickly in year 2023 to Endgame fight Scene like Thanos did. Surely It will take time and May be 2012 Tony Stark will faces new problems cause events are changed.
4. Also MCU Deleted Tony’s Tribute scene from Avengers Endgame (All Avengers on Knee) Clearly indicates they also know it’s not end of Tony Stark.
5. We seen in Loki Season 1 episode no. 5 there is Stark Tower in void with the replaced name of Stark to Qeng that means something craziest things going to happen later after new timeline of 2012. May be 2012 time will flow correctly till the Asguard destroy but whenever Tesseract roles comes events will automatically change from there may be main villain of that timeline will Kang. Who knows? (And the funniest part is, In that timeline Thanos will never get six stones to wipe out half universe or create new universe because Tesseract is Missing from that timeline)
6. In Avengers Endgame at last moment when Steve do time travel to erase past changes by putting every stone to it’s exact same time and same place, every past changes got erased expect 2012 cause of Loki, Loki stole the Tesseract in 2012 event which clearly indicates only 2012 events is not erased but surely changed. (Not because of Loki because of Tesseract) Also He Who Remains failed to send Loki or Tesseract back to 2012 (Tesseract is important) So 2012 events still remains changed after Loki events that’s it.

My current hyperfixation is obviously the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, which has taken to enormous proportions this last week (or days) in the culture, American yes, but not only that. This effort post, it is my attempt to link thoughts that I’ve had while following it, and especially arguments that I have read or heard coming from several people doing their own analyses.

Timeline

Well before the explosion of recent weeks between the two artists, they had collaborated in 2011 and 2012 on several tracks, and Drake, by then already a superstar, had even included Kendrick as the opening act on his tour Club Paradise. From 2013 onwards, however, their relationship tarnished when Kendrick took on several names in the industry with “Control”, including Drake. The majority took it pretty well. Not Drake. Over the several following years, the two have sent sneak disses at each other. Kendrick saw everything that is wrong with the rap industry personified in Drake, the man disgusted him, the very fact that he could exist and thrive made him retch. Drake, with his pop-infused hip hop, always ready to do features with trending artists to surf on the different fashions of the day in the genre, saw his ego swell alongside his success. And he couldn't stand being attacked, he has had beefs with too many people to count. Let's jump to March 2024, where Kendrick responded to J. Cole including him in the "Big Three", Drake, J. Cole, and himself with this line: "Motherfuck the big three, n***a, it’s just big me.” In April 2024, Drake released “Push Ups”, relatively unimportant in this affair, then “Taylor Made Freestyle”. That’s where shit exploded. Drake had used an AI on this track to copy 2Pac's voice, one of the giants of hip-hop. The Tupac Estate threatened him with a lawsuit, forcing him to delist the song. On April 30, Kendrick released “Euphoria” (Drake served as executive producer on both seasons of the series of the same name), a six-minute diss showing the extent of his contempt for Drake, threatening him throughout with retaliation if he didn't stay well above the belt (i.e. keep the family out of it—a social contract softened when Pusha T revealed the existence of Drake's son in “The Story of Adidon” in 2018). May 3, less than 72 hours after Euphoria, Kendrick released “6:16 in LA”, where he implied that he had a mole in Drake’s entourage feeding him information. The same day, 15 hours after 6:16 in LA, Drake releases “Family Matters” with a music video, in which Drake appeared at the restaurant mentioned in Euphoria, and crushed a van of the same model that Kendrick had used in his early days and which appeared on the cover of his second studio album, “good kid, m.A.A.d city”. He talks about Whitney, Kendrick’s fiancée since 2015, accusing him of beating her, and of being an absent father.

meet the grahams, Not Like Us, BBL Drizzy & The Heart part 6

About fifteen minutes after Family Matters, Kendrick releases “meet the grahams”, a song with a horror movie beat, in epistolary form to each member of Drake's family, Drizzy himself included. Honestly, my mouth was hanging open from the first line “Dear Adonis [...]” (where he addresses Drake's son directly), I couldn't believe it. Imagine for a moment that a man who hates your guts interrupts your family stroll, kneels down in front of your six-year-old child, and says “Dear [Adonis], I'm sorry that this person is your parent” while looking straight into your eyes. The disrespect shook me. In Family Matters, Drake had gone where Kendrick had warned him not to go, his family. But Kendrick had anticipated that angle of attack, and dressed him down in meet the grahams a mere fifteen minutes after the last drop, accusing him of being addicted to gambling, to prostitutes, to drugs, of having a hidden and abandoned second child, of not really being part of Black culture, and even more damning, of being a pedophile, hiding other pedophiles in OVO, and being part of a child sex trafficking ring. I insist, this is not what is expected in your typical beef. Juicy details about cheating, addiction problems, sure, but above all good bars that get people excited and talking. Not allegations of that magnitude. Not a song that makes people widen their eyes and wonder where such visceral hatred comes from.
Less than 24 hours later, Kendrick drops again, with “Not Like Us”, this time a catchy club hit, with an energy the polar opposite of meet the grahams. The level of accusations remains the same, or worse. The difference is that this track had been made to play in clubs, and by its structure encouraged the crowds to harmonize on lines such as “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles”, or “Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A-Minor”. In my opinion, this is the moment when Drake lost the battle for the public’s heart. Everyone was stunned after meet the grahams, not really knowing what to do with this filthy beast, but it seems hard to come back when people are dancing and singing along to a track calling you a pedophile.
Of course, everyone was waiting and is still waiting for solid evidence on these allegations, from Drake sure, but more importantly from Kendrick. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to wonder the why of these damning accusations, and why at this precise moment (the trial of Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy, began in early April 2024 with very similar accusations).
On May 5, Drake released “The Heart part 6”. He responds to Kendrick's allegations, and ends the song without rapping, saying he’s disinterested with continuing this beef. In my opinion, and I think I speak for a lot of the people following the culture even a little bit, this ain’t it. The name of the song, the little sample at the beginning and the first line are the only solid parts of the track. Why say that he discussed and planned the leak about the alleged daughter with his entourage, only to five lines later say that the moles are clowns? Why not show the receipts with phone calls, or screenshots, when that would prove his stroke of genius? Why give Kendrick bullets when he accuses him of being a manipulator? And what’s with that unhinged read of “Mother I Sober”? To say Kendrick has an obsession with child-touchers because he was SAed as a child when he was talking about his mother, who suffered this horror in her childhood and couldn’t see past her trauma ? Going there is the mark of sick mind. Not to mention that even with that stupid read, plucking that string when Kdot accuses him of being a pedo with his full chest ? That’s damning. Or, while the P. Diddy trial is going on—after Weinstein, after Epstein and all these rich sex pests, defending himself from this accusation by saying that he’s too famous and respected? Is he out of his mind? Especially when for almost 15 years he’s been seen as a creep when it comes to girls way too young for him. And besides, why even name drop Epstein or Millie Bobby Brown on his own? The guy fuels the allegations against him when he tries to defend himself.
Not to mention that just before that, Metro Boomin dropped on his Twitter his “BBL Drizzy” beat with a challenge: the best bars win a beat from him, free of charge. Literal stroke of genius when Drake dissed him and told him to stick to doing drums. Malicious compliance at its finest. Thousands of up-and-comers from all over the world rushed into the breach. I was able to hear bars in Japanese, German, or French. To quote Drake, it's no longer 20 to 1, but thousands to 1, with a disstrumental where the diss is baked in. Just like Not Like Us, it doesn’t help him that the beat is an earworm.

Lol, who the fuck cares

Usually, I would say “more power to you” to those who don’t give a single fuck. But this hits different. Kendrick is not only attacking Drake but the entire culture industry (naming Weinstein in meet the grahams and using the word “industry” in every track starting from Euphoria). #MeToo was not very successful. Some wins, but overall, it wasn’t the revolution anyone hoped for. Way too much pushback from mainstream media. Attacking those giants is dangerous. For years, the hegemonic media has been abusing people who point at their attackers, the vast majority of them women accusing men. By asking about their dress, their perceived sexuality, the supposed kickbacks they’d get when blasting their abusers. We’ve seen this with Amber Heard, who, by physically defending herself from Johnny Depp the alcoholic, could not be the perfect victim, even though she fits all the other criteria: she’s white, she’s gorgeous, she’s talented. The list of people who were in Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express has been published and…nothing. Or not much. On the other hand, right now, we have millions of people in all countries sharing tracks calling Drake and his entourage pedophiles, a global culture primed and ready for testimonies, even calling for them, if they exist. Imagine for a moment being someone who has had this kind of experience. Not the sordid details, but the anxiety, the fear of losing the small support network that you've been able to keep, the impossibility of filing a complaint when half the cop population are wife-beaters. Seeing Roman Polanski or Woody Allen parading around with a litany of allegations behind them. Contrast this with a moment when the culture dances while naming your abuser a pedophile, where it dissects his every word, finding filth in everything he says. Where thousands of artists put their best bars on a disstrumental ridiculing him. The court of public opinion is already on your side. It calls for you.

The important things

There is a genocide going on. Several, in fact. As I write, Rafah, the so-called “safe enclave” in which the Gazans have been forced to take refuge by the Israeli occupying army at the start of this phase of an ethnic cleansing that's been going on for more than 75 years, is threatened. Nearly a quarter of the clothing we wear goes through the hands of the enslaved Uyghur people in China. So why talk about a stupid beef between two very rich men? It demonstrates the power of soft power in the structure of global culture. It provides, in what I think a completely unexpected way, keys to possible solutions to all the struggles pitting the small against the powerful. Make no mistake, the soft power that we see with Kendrick and Metro Boomin clowning on Drake is not the one coming from the American empire, but the one from the African diaspora, from those that are still being enslaved in the American prison system, and resonates powerfully throughout the world. I absolutely do not recognize myself in American culture as it is introduced in propaganda blockbusters like Top Gun Maverick or other tools of the DOD to promote the illusion of the American empire. The messy and contradictory culture of hip hop, on the other hand, yes. Its homophobic delusions and toxic masculinity while it worships the ground that 2Pac touched. Tupac Shakur, a theatre kid who did ballet and presented himself dressed like a leather daddy at times. That culture I vibe with. Kendrick's demonstration of the power of cultural circulation at a time when we see the facade of the imperial core collapse, its criminalization of anti-war protests and climate justice activists, while we’re in the middle of public health disasters—no, covid is not over—, humanitarian crises, and climate chaos makes me weep with joy. It’s the only time I’ve laughed out loud and danced in the streets since the beginning of October last year. This is one of the rare moments where I understand with my guts Mariame Kaba when she says “hope is a discipline”. It’s been years since I’ve written this much. So let's diss our so-called elites. Let's dance while calling them murderers. Let's bang on pots every single time they open their mouths. Chuck some eggs their way. Let's stand in the way of cops trying to assault students occupying universities (funny, suddenly they're against territorial occupations, uh?). Let's create safe spaces for those who have the courage, the need, or the opportunity to go further.
I leave you with this incredible bop from Charlie Curlis-Beard using the application that the American government wants to ban: TikTok