Category Archives: Nihilism

In the early 90s, the fashion industry was dominated by waifish models with pale skin and dishevelled hair. Led by a young Kate Moss and Jaime King, and documented by photographers like Davide Sorrenti and Corinne Day, the trend was controversially dubbed heroin chic. It epitomised the decades grunge-inspired nihilism, which served as a pushback against the glossy excess of 80s hedonism. The aesthetic is widely considered to have come to an end with the death of 20-year-old Sorrenti in May 1997. Soon after, the fashion industry banded together to condemn the look and models like Gisele Bndchen, tanned and athletic, rose to prominence, with Vogue proclaiming the the return of the sexy model and the return of the curve.

Despite this declaration, thin bodies remained a mainstream ideal for another almost two decades, enduring through the shifting aesthetics of Y2K, Indie Sleaze, and Twee.In the early 00s messaging promoting unhealthily thin bodies was rampant on largely unmonitored online forums and communities like Tumblr. With the prevalence of pro-ana (pro-anorexia) content, and the glamorisation of depression and drugs, in many ways the Tumblr girl was just heroin chic repackaged for teens. G-Eazy infamously paid tribute to the aesthetic in his 2014 song Tumblr Girls which opened with: Im in love with these Tumblr girls / With skinny waists and drug habits.

It wasnt until the 2010s that standards changed as Kardashian curves became sought-after, the body positivity movement gained momentum, and the wellness boom saw glowy health become a status symbol. For a moment it seemed like the industry had reached a point where it was finally ready to embrace a wide diversity of body types. However, now, as we witness the trend cycle churn its way back through 90s and early 00s culture, as low-rise jeans, under-eye bags, and smoking make a comeback, are we in danger of returning to the thin body standards that toxically impacted a whole generation the first time around?

Its unlikely articles or trend forecasters will declare the return of heroin chic in the same way as the more palatable trends that succeeded it, but nevertheless, its influence has begun. Smoking is back, wrote the New York Times last month, reporting that in 2020, for the first time in two decades, cigarette sales had increased. Meanwhile, TikTok has declared BBLs (Brazilian butt lifts) over, if you believe the many videos zooming in on the Kardashians behinds to show a seeming reduction in size as the sisters go through their Indie Sleaze phase. On the runway, low-rise, micro-minis and cut-outs reign supreme, while in print, Robert Pattinson looks worse for wear on the cover of BritishGQ.On-screen, Euphorias chronicling of drug-tainted teenage angst recalls 90s movies like Kids and Basketball Diaries, with the shows main character Rue and handsome newcomer Elliot perhaps pop cultures most mainstream heroin use.

The trend has reached the beauty industry as well. According to the kids, dark under-eye circles are cool again, and a TikTok tutorial demonstrating how to fake it using concealer has been watched eight million times. Trend forecaster The Digital Fairy recently predicted wed soon be in the post-wellness party girl beauty phase of skincare. Skincare is very entwined with the concept of wellness, especially in recent years, she explains. However, now we are witnessingthe indie sleazification of skincare, as brandslike 4.a.m and Bad Habit rebel against and subvert these Goopified wellness ideals.The focus [is] on living less rigid lifestyles staying out all night, drinking and eating food thats not healthy.

In January 2022, Beat provided the highest number of support sessions for people affected by eating disorders in a single month in its history.

This cultural shift has already begun to permeate our brains. On TikTok, users have expressed concerns about growing pro-ana content on a platform already rife with it and ED (eating disorder) online support groups have documented a significant rise in members. Holly, who at 25 is an older Gen Z, can attest to that personally: she says she and at least five of her close friends have joined therapy or formal support for eating disorders in the last six - 12 months. Lockdown was definitely a trigger and so too was the reintroduction of Y2K. Especially the celebration of thinness and using thinness as an accessory, she says. TikToks algorithm has been showing her skinny, predominately white, girls eating the equivalent of a toddlers diet for months.

Lara, 21, joined an eight-week support group towards the end of last year, after a four-month wait due to a surge in people seeking help. She says despite losing her period and perpetually having no energy, she didnt realise she had a problem because she saw similar bodies all over the media. TikTok showcases regular people with so-called aspirational bodies doing normal things, like dances and making recipes, which makes it easy to slip into the mindset of thinking you should also look like that. In reality, one of the reasons theyre popular is because of their physical appearance.

ED clinics, too, have reported an increase in people seeking help in recent months. In January 2022, Beat provided the highest number of support sessions for people affected by eating disorders in a single month in its history, a seven per cent increase from the same time period last year. It is generally now widely accepted that the media, and social media in particular, can precipitate or feed into poor mental health and disordered eating, says Dr Heather Naylor, Clinical Director at The London Centre for Eating Disorders and Body Image.

As expected, messages through fashion, too, are triggers. "Harmful fashion trends, particularly during the 2000s, are often engrained in diet culture and encourage an infatuation with weight loss, adds Tom Quinn, Director of External Affairs at Beat. If a glorification of this era were to become prevalent in the mainstream media again, it would be very harmful for somebody who is susceptible to an eating disorder and could contribute to an eating disorder developing."

Millennials know this cycle all too well. When heroin chic was first prevalent, 28-year-old Ellen says she loved Kate Moss and was obsessed with Amy Winehouse. The Tumblr aesthetic turned into another weapon in my internal arsenal, she explains. Not only was I depressed, but I wasn't the right kind of depressed, so I tried desperately to align myself with what I saw. America's Next Top Model, high fashion magazines, runway shows, and music videos especially Lana del Ray showed me that to be cool and successful you had to be thin.

Ive definitely noticed theres a huge promotion of thinness in pop culture and on social media right now and far less bigger bodies on show, adds fellow millennial Lily. This time, I at least feel like I have the tools to understand its misogynistic bullshit and that I dont need to look a certain way. But at the same time, I cant help but feel body conscious because I dont look good in any of the currently trendy clothes. Theyre simply not made for my size 14-16 body. Lily seems to be onto something: brands like Revolve appear to have drastically reduced the number of diverse bodies on its site and others online have reported struggling to locate plus-sized items at their local H&M and Primark.

Were finding it hard to get curve models across the line at this time, a trend director at a popular high street retailer tells me anonymously over Instagram, noting her works Pinterest board has been algorithming to old runway photos from the Kate Moss era. Bodycon dressing lends itself to curves, she continues. But with trends moving more towards low-rise, midriffs, and separates, a lot of people in the company feel it just doesnt suit that shape.

Of course, until we stop buying into bodies as a trend, this cycle will continue. The sad fact is, bodies have always been a means to make money, says recovering Tumblr girl Jemma. Everything is sold back to us and what better way to sell products than to make people feel bad about themselves. There will always be a body type that is in or out and I have no idea how we will ever move away from that in our culture.

Like Jemma, Ellen went through years of therapy to unlearn her disordered eating habits and recently has begun to have to implement measures to protect her mental health again: logging off, speaking to professionals and reporting any triggering content she sees. As a society, we've only now really started to heal and grow from the excessive skinniness of the heroin chic and Tumblr era, she says. I really hope it stays in the past.

If youre worried about your own or someone elses health, you can contact Beat, the UKs eating disorder charity, 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677 or through online chat here, or The London Centre on 020 3137 9927.

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BBLs are over, eye bags are in, smoking is back. Is heroin chic next? - Dazed

Hypocrisy is the coin of the realm in Washington, as both political parties routinely change sides depending on if they are majority party in the Congress.

But Democrats are super-sizing their hypocrisy to levels never seen. It is their embrace of nihilism that is pushing them to these extremes.

Nihilists reject objective truth, morality, values or any sense of meaning.

And so it is with our Democratic friends.

California has among the strictest COVID-19 regulations, and Los Angeles is leading the pack when it comes to ridiculous requirements to wear masks indoor.Moral leaders would follow the rules that they impose on everybody else.

But there was California Gov. Gavin NewsomGavin NewsomCalifornia rooftop solar proposal sparks firestorm Is it time to recall the recall? Officials highlight mask requirement for fans at Super Bowl MORE, Los Angeles Mayor Gil Garcetti, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed all posing for maskless pictures with immunocompromised Magic Johnson at the Rams-49ers Divisional Championship, in an expensive box where the COVID-19 rules apparently dont apply.

They must have known that those pictures were going to make it out on social media, but they dont care.This is next level hypocrisy.

Similarly, it was revealed over the weekend by the right-wing New York Times that dark money has been very, very good for the Democrats.

For years, Republicans have been accused by Democrats such as Sen. Sheldon WhitehouseSheldon WhitehouseSchumer faces brewing war and progressives ramp up primary threats Lobbying world Feehery: The nihilist hypocrisy of the Democratic Party MORE of being the evil recipients of unregulated campaign funds from rich billionaires.But according to a Times analysis, it is the Democrats who have most profited from the bounty of the uber-wealthy.The analysis showed that 15 of the most politically active nonprofit organizations that generally align with the Democratic Party spent more than $1.5 billion in 2020 compared to roughly $900 million spent by a comparable sample of 15 of the most politically active groups aligned with the G.O.P.

Among the biggest funders for the left is the infamous George Soros, who most spectacularly has bankrolled the campaigns of progressive district attorneys across the country who refuse to prosecute known criminals.You wonder why we have so much blood on the streets these days? Look no further than Democratic dark-money.

Objective truth has no meaning for the beneficiaries of this campaign largess.Riots are mostly peaceful protests, looting is reparations, carjacking is just kids going out for a joyride.

The decennial effort to redraw congressional maps provides another great example.

When the Republicans have the pen to decide which representatives have to run where, cries of gerrymandering fill the air.It is a broken process that is subverting the will of the people. It is the reason we have radicals running for office.

But when the Democrats are the ones in charge, there is no complaining about the weird shape of the districts, like in Maryland, Illinois or New York. There is no worry about the right-wing extremism.Nope. Its all common-sense redistricting to keep Congress out of the hands of the Republicans.

The inconsistency coming from the left strips any sense of meaning from their attacks on the GOP. How can you accuse the Republicans of doing evil when you are doing the exact same thing as they are?

Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden to visit Israel later this year Working class insecurity and Build Back Better Experts open the door to lifting last mask mandates MORE wants to get credit for naming the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court.But when George Bush nominated to the U.S. Court of AppealsJanice Rogers Brown, a Black woman who many thought could be the actual first to make it to the Supreme Court in 2005, guess who led the charge to stop her nomination?Yep, Joe Biden.

How did he stop her?Well, he filibustered against her nomination.

And thats another great example of Democratic nihilistic hypocrisy.

One week, they launch a campaign to rid the Senate of the filibuster.The next week, they launch a filibuster to stop a Sen. Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzWhy former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine endorsed a congressional candidate Supreme Court should look more like America, or so Republicans once thought Sunday shows preview: US deploys troops, briefs lawmakers amid Russia-Ukraine tensions MORE (R-Texas) effort to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

When the Republicans filibuster to stop the Democrats from making it easier for them to win elections, it is evil. When Democrats filibuster to stop the Republicans from putting sanctions on an illegitimate Russian pipeline, it is bad.You got it?

Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) liked to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson.But this is not just typical Washington nonsense.This is next-level nihilistic hypocrisy. And it is killing our democracy.

Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs atwww.thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House SpeakerDennis HastertJohn (Dennis) Dennis HastertFeehery: The nihilist hypocrisy of the Democratic Party Feehery: The Fourth Estate needs to heal thyself Feehery: DC will become the inverse of West Berlin MORE(R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas), and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.).

Link:

Feehery: The nihilist hypocrisy of the Democratic Party | TheHill - The Hill

Boris Johnson has discovered an interest in Ukraine. Not just Ukraine, of course hes suddenly interested in all sorts of things to which hes paid precious little attention over the last couple of years, including levelling up, freeports and Jimmy Savile. Anything to get him out of the party scandal.

This week hes flown to Kyiv, where Ukrainians are facing tens of thousands of Russian troops massing on their border, and said all the right things. Vladimir Putin is trying to redraw the security map of Europe. He is threatening a sovereign democratic state. He is a force of rampant nihilism dedicated to undermining the post-war world order. All quite right. It was even backed up by an announcement that Britain would send another 900 troops to Estonia and introduce individual-specific sanctioning powers.

Its not the first time Johnson has discovered his interest in foreign policy. In actual fact, its the second. In June 2018, he arranged a trip to the Afghan capital of Kabul which allowed him to escape a Commons vote on Heathrow airport expansion, which he had once promised to lie down in front of bulldozers to prevent. That trip, seemingly taken for self-interested and cowardly reasons, was about as much interest as hed ever shown in foreign affairs while acting as Foreign Secretary.

The only other notable accomplishments he had in the post involved comparing a former French president to an officer in a Second World War prison camp, joking about Libyan corpses, reciting a colonial era Kipling poem in a Burmese temple, and inadvertently supporting the Iranian case against dual-British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

That was his record: indifference, negligence, imperial-tinged condescension and a complete inability to dedicate himself to the long, slow, detailed work required of one of the most senior positions in British government.

By the time he was Prime Minister that approach had metastasised across the entire government. Kabul fell to the Taliban in August last year. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab was enjoying the sun on holiday when it happened. We learned last week that Johnsons chief of staff, Dan Rosenfield, spent the day at the Cricket at Lords days beforehand. A report in the Sunday Times claimed that top secret Strap papers were left lying around Johnsons red box when his wife had guests over.

That negligence has defined the entirety of the foreign affairs brief and Russia is a case in point. Weve known for years now what needs to be done to challenge Putin. We need to hit him in the wallet. But security experts say it is almost impossible to get Johnson to pay attention to it.

London is a global laundering capital for dirty money. It does this in two ways. First, by investment allowing people to dump ill-gotten gains in UK assests without sufficient checks as to where it came from. And second, by services through providing the lawyers, accountants and others who enable the transactions.

This is the system which Putin used to establish himself in the UK. As the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said four years ago: President Putin and his allies have been able to continue business as usual by hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London. These assets, on which the Kremlin can call at any time, both directly and indirectly support President Putins campaign to subvert the international rules-based system.

Two years ago, The Intelligence and Security Committee told parliament that Russian oligarchs were using the UKs investor visa scheme and light-tough regulatory framework to establish a wealth-drenched eco-system of Kremlin lobbying. They used their cash to create a cottage industry of PR firms, charities, political groups and cultural institutions which helped launder the Kremlins reputation. Members of the Russian elite with close links to Putin engaged in donations to political parties, the committee said.

Kremlin-watchers have been pushing for years for powers which would clear up the Russian use of London as a moral and financial laundering centre. They want Companies House to be reformed so that it is more than a glorified library and instead becomes a statutory agency with the powers to verify the information provided to it. They want full transparency of those buying property. And they want powers to freeze, seize and return assets, alongside individual sanctions.

One potential mechanism for that was the economic crime bill. Its been ready to go for years, but the Government failed to do anything with it. Last week, the minister for counter fraud, Lord Agnew, quit his job with a blistering broadside against the Government. Last week, he wrote in his resignation letter, a foolish decision was made to kill off the prospect of an economic crime bill in the third session.

That provoked an outcry from MPs across the political divide which, together with the desperate scramble to get away from partygate, seems to have finally triggered Johnsons newfound interest in Ukraine.

But its not enough to half-heartedly pursue a programme which has been gathering dust in order to get out of domestic troubles. Putin is a deadly, aggressive opponent. He requires a sustained and robust legislative response which hits him where hes vulnerable. Instead we get this: laziness, lack of interest, and self-interested public relations exercises.

Johnson has proved himself singularly incapable of the task in front of us. He does not have the moral purpose, seriousness of mind, diligence of work ethic or basic sense of national responsibility.

That alone would be damning enough. But now were treated to the grotesque spectacle of watching him pretend to care about Ukraine so that he can escape from the humiliations he is facing at home. He is treating the victims of Russia aggression like a human shield, to defend himself against the consequences of his own actions.

They deserve better. And so do we, for that matter.

Read the rest here:

Boris Johnson is treating victims of Russian aggression like a human shield to protect him from partygate - iNews

After more than a decade away, fan-favorite creator Mitsuo It is back with more sci-fi shenanigans. However, behind its "kids in lost in space" surface is a much deeper treatise on humanity's relationship with tech, nihilism, and fighting your fate.

This series is streaming on Netflix

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.

I was excited for this series just for the fact that I'd have another opportunity to peer pressure friends into watching Den-noh Coil, hands down one of the best anime of the century and a criminally overlooked classic. But it certainly helps that Orbital Children is a mini-series basically made for me.

I haven't watched all of Den-noh Coil myself so I recognize I'm totally part of the problem. (In my defense, I own the Blu-ray). From what I know about it, The Orbital Children really does feel like a "spiritual successor." It's using kids to explore hard sci-fi ideas with a playful and adventurous heart.

Having technology both socially and physically embedded in you comes with its weaknesses too. After winning a contest, three Earth kidsMina, her little brother Hiroshi, and Taiyouall travel to a commercial space station, Anshin. They meet our main character, Touya, who lives there in order to undergo physical therapy before immigrating to Earth. He and another girl, Konoha, were both born in space and had microchips implanted in their brains in order to survive. This apparently comes with some issues that we'll go into later, but as stuff goes down we see how these kids are helped or hindered by technology.

Also, while all that Seven stuff becomes important later, my favorite early detail is that they can't even get compensation for the faulty brain implants because the company that made them filed for bankruptcy. Even in the future, tech companies just waltz through loopholes.

They're good kids.

It's not an entire swing into leftfield. All the elements of this are there throughout, but it goes from the background to the forefront.

Oh yeah, not arguing that it isn't some Giga-brained Big Thoughts! Stuff is a real trip, veering from the realistic tech and into spiritualism related to tech and its future. It's pure conspiracy, but it also represents another very real way that people interact with technology where they think it's infallible despite being made by extremely fallible and limited humans.

I shotgunned this series like a three-hour movie for the purposes of writing, but I still had to take a few breaks just to sit and think about some of the concepts. Furthermore, it's revealed that even though Second Seven is intelligent, and may be able to predict some things, it's still limited. Konoha refers to it as a child. When the John Doe group made it, they constructed it using very select sources of information. They didn't even let it have a frame of reference for humans vs the whole of humanity, limiting what it could actually know and what conclusions it could reach. Why else would it determine that the only way to save humanity was to destroy so many humans?

What resonated for me was Konoha's line about escaping the cradle of "Fate"embracing an uncertain future for the possibility of better things, rather than the insulating comfort of an immutable destiny. And also I assume she kicked her gacha game addiction. Good for her!

Anyways, The Orbital Children is a wonderful little show that will blow your mind, while also being pretty safe for most people to dive into. It's a solid, well-executed, and well-thought-out package that is definitely worth your time.

See the original post here:

This Week in Anime - The Deep Themes of Orbital Children - Anime News Network

We all recognise her, the woman in her Fleabag era. We know that she is prone to showing up at work in last nights make-up, smoking two cigarettes for breakfast or experiencing the feminine urge to fuck her sisters boyfriend. We have spotted her everywhere, from the listless Rachel in Virginia Woolfs Voyage Out to the checked-out narrator of Ottessa Moshfeghs My Year of Rest and Relaxation. We know that she performs her pain as if it were a form of art; something outside herself that can be controlled, and yet chooses to revel in it regardless. This woman is a mess, a menace to herself and others, a self-raising red flag who would sooner die than communicate an emotion directly and shes the face of a new strain of feminism that has risen to prominence over the last few years. But, for all her crimes, is she even real?

The term dissociation feminism was coined by Emmeline Clein in 2019 in reference to a growing voice in pop culture an oversharing-from-a-distance mode of expression used primarily by women when narrating their tragic life experiences. Think: Euphorias Rue, or any of the skinny, precocious Irish beauties in Sally Rooney novels. Described as a curdling of the hyperoptimistic, #girlboss feminism of the aughts, Cleins dissociated feminist is dry and deadpan. She details overtly horrifying facts about uniquely feminine struggles in offhand jokes, of which she is always the punchline. And now, after a lifespan of three years, she has been sentenced to death.

The nihilism, passivity, and destruction inherent to the Fleabag era and dissociative feminism are damaging to the entire feminist movement, Sophia Peyser writes in a recent article titled The Fleabag Era of Dissociative Feminism Must End. The riposte comes after dissociative feminism and Fleabag era gained traction on TikTok, resulting in a trend of young women posting about wearing bathing suit bottoms as underwear, seeking vengeance for fun and other things that men will never understand because they are not A WOMAN WITH PAIN BUILT IN. Like Clein, Peyser sees this as a symptom of something gone wrong. That, rather than fighting for progress as a movement, women are languishing in individualised malaise.

For me, the dissociative feminist is the archetypal cool girl, says Ione Gamble, editor-in-chief of Polyester, who discussed dissociative feminism in a recent podcast episode. Shes a bit messy without trying, doesnt give a fuck about anything, very dejected about the world and apathetic about her future. But also, on the flipside, very aware of her emotions. I dont think wed be seeing these TikToks if there wasnt a certain amount of self-awareness there.

Its worth noting that the critiques Clein and Peyser have put forward also exist on TikTok, where users are posting counter-definitions of what a Fleabag era is (i.e. destroying your life from the inside out, not free-bleeding in your Calvins) or lamenting the dangers of entangling romanticism with self-destruction. Its also worth remembering that the Fleabag era trend comes from a side of TikTok that, while taken at face value like other forms of social media, often has more in common with entertainment. These usually arent the literal thoughts of actual people, but a form of abstract humour that speaks to things in the zeitgeist that may not feel personal at all. There is a very fine line between Fleabag era TikToks and a post youd find on an absurdist meme page like @patiasfantasyworld. In fact, the dissociative feminist is very much the foil to another pseudo-ironic social media-born persona: the socialist bimbo. That is, a big-titted babe often seen reading out Marxist quotes in a sexy baby voice while holding a fluffy pink pen, like Elle Woods of the online left.

What were seeing here are signs of fracture, as the tone of feminism in a cultural sense splits between earnestness (the defining mood of the 2010s), and bitter irony (which has come to bookend it). Its no coincidence that the dissociated feminist has revived around the same time were seeing a resurgence of Effy Stonem standom, chaotic celebrity behaviour and indie sleaze all of which share a similar nonchalance. The fatalistic tone of dissociative feminism, rather than anything new, has been the default tone of posting for years. The last decade was defined just as much by hyperoptimistic, #girlboss feminism as it was by dejected meme formats like my parents at 25 / me at 25. Its just that now, rather than being applied to all life under late capitalism, theyre being applied specifically to the femme experience (call it the yassification of inequality). Cleins article itself was a product of this type of posting, prompted by a viral tweet that said what i love about my friends is that 70 years ago we all would have been lobotomized.

We do accept that a lot of different feminist movements coexist, whether its abolitionist feminism, fat liberation feminism all these things intersect with each other and exist separately, says Gamble, who examines the relationship between political and cultural feminism in her upcoming book, Poor Little Sick Girls. One thing she does note about dissociative feminism is that, despite arriving in response to empowerment exhaustion, its still being defined within feminism, rather than outside of it. The girlies are more informed. Theyve grown up on the internet in a way none of us have, so theyre used to seeing every TV show they watch picked apart and everything they listen to have feminist undertones, Gamble explains. It makes sense that instead of saying I hate all of this, they find a way to see themselves in it.

Though the term dissociation feminism is a relatively new one, the concept has been around for much longer, sometimes referred to in academia as nihilistic femininity or womanly nothingness. In a book called Modern Feminism and the Culture of Boredom, Allison Pease looks at Woolfs Voyage Out through the lens of boredom as political commentary. On one level, Woolf protests [...] womens difficulty in achieving meaning in the male-formed world and presents boredom, often quite humorously, as a side effect of this confrontation. On another level, however, Woolf presents boredom much in the way that Martin Heidegger described profound boredom in his 19291930 lectures on the Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, as an indeterminate mood that undoes all interest and possibility and in which time becomes an empty, yawning expanse.

The same, really, is true of the Fleabag era TikTok trend. On the one hand its fun to indulge the Joker within as a way to alleviate the doom of the pandemic, climate disaster, and endless political turmoil that pose a greater threat to younger generations. On the other hand, there is nowhere to go from there. With Tumblr feminism, there were clear A-to-Bs: people making art on the internet became artists, or people who were doing activism online became activists, or they were being influencers and started profiting, Gamble cautions. I think dissociative feminism is interesting to talk about and gives people language to understand things maybe. But what would the next step be?

Realistically, there isnt one. The logical end point of dissociation isnt revolution, its the void and thats a very dangerous thing to sleepwalk into, politically speaking. But it seems to me that young women on TikTok are more than aware of the void, if only due to how unavoidable it has become. And if you do accept that theres a sense of self-awareness involved, as Gamble suggests, then perhaps were better off looking elsewhere for the future wave of feminism, and seeing the Fleabag era trend for what it is: a performative self-own. Not Fleabag the woman, but Fleabag the show.

See more here:

What does it mean to be a 'dissociative feminist'? - Dazed

It has been quite a while since we last saw Historia in the final season of Attack on Titan. After all, she is one of the most beloved and popular characters, apart from Eren. She took the back seat this time and allowed the others to take the limelight.

The last time we saw Historia, she was sitting in a rocking chair and looked very pregnant. Also, right in front of her, a young man in farmer's clothes told her that she needed to take better care of her body.

Hmm, lets stop at this point. How fast does time fly? How did Historia become pregnant? Who was the baby daddy? Is she even married?

Obviously, many questions arise from Historias pregnancy situation. Fans divided themselves into two factions. The Eren Yeager is the baby's daddy, while the others assume that the farmer in front of Historia (Latin American fans coined the term Farmer-kun) is the father.

To support their claim, the Eren is the Father fans presented some arguments that really made a lot of sense. However, there are also counterarguments to invalidate this claim, most notably from the Mikasa X Eren fanbase and the existence of Farmer-kun. In your opinion, who do you think is the father?

Disclaimer: Spoilers Ahead! Also, this article is not rooting for any canon and non-canon ships in the series.

You will also like: How Did Ymir Fritz Become a Titan?

At this point, we are very well aware that Historia developed a close relationship with Eren in the uprising arc of the anime. As a matter of fact, Eren reacted violently when the higher-ups of Paradis Island suggested that Historia should devour Zeke Yeager in order to gain the powers of the Beast Titan.

Eren did not want to see Historia as an incubator for future inheritors of the Founding Titan. This made us realize that Eren truly cares for her.

Meanwhile, they both share a lot of similarities and experiences in life. They both killed one of their parents, Eren, by eating Grisha, while Historia landed the last blow on Rod Reiss' abnormal titan. They also have older siblings with different ideologies from them. These are some of the reasons why they both relate to each other so much. One time, Eren even told Historia that she saved him from his nihilism.

There were also a few moments in the anime where we witnessed how Eren behaved in front of Historia. Just like Reiner, he would often blush and smile as he watched Historia do some maternal things. Who wouldnt? She is indeed, a beautiful sight. Mikasa even had a rage face in one of the episodes wherein she interfered in the middle of Eren and Historia.

Parallel to the manga, there were some events wherein Eren told Historia that she is a wonderful person, making Historia blush as well.

Related: Who are the Titan Shifters?

To support the claims and theories of the fans, they made quite a few assumptions, especially in the events of the Attack on Titan manga. Counter-arguments also resurfaced because of the main narrative of the story, especially Hajime Isayamas built-up on the relationship between Mikasa and Eren.

The first major assumption tackles the timeline between Historias pregnancy and Erens mission to Marley. Historia got pregnant right before Eren left for his mission. 10 months later, she gave birth in the middle of Erens rumbling. Historia even lied about her due date, which added to the speculations of the fans. Yelena even mentioned Historias pregnancy as a blessing. It's quite good timing, right? In Japan, pregnancy counts for 10 months instead of the normal 9 months.

In the manga, Historia tells Eren about her wanting to have a baby. Fans assumed she was hinting at Eren being her accomplice to do the deed. However, counter-arguments resurface, claiming that Historia only told Eren about it in order for her to escape and delay inheriting the Beast Titan powers.

On the other hand, the second major assumption involves Historias knowledge of the real plan of Eren. Take note that there are only two people who knew about Erens plan, Historia and Floch. This assumption indicates the level of trust between Eren and Historia. He even offered to alter Historias memories in order to deal with her sadness.

Lastly, the symbolism of a man holding a baby up in the air after the rumbling was done. Fans assumed that it symbolizes how poetic Eren is to bring a child into the world he always wanted. In 2018, Hajime Isayama even made a sketch of the supposed to be the last manga panel in Attack on Titan wherein he draws a medium-haired man holding a baby in his hand. The man said You are free. Fans speculated that this was Eren.

Fans also know how Isayama loves duality and foreshadowing in the series. They speculated that Eren is the same as his father, Grisha. Both of them loved someone of royal blood and loved a normal girl just like Carla Yeager. On the other hand, Eren has Historia as the royal blooded girl, a parallel to Dina Fritz, while Mikasa is the equivalent of Carla.

In case you missed it: Attack on Titan Titans Ranked: Who is the Strongest Titan?

The existence of the young man in farmer's clothing has a lot of plot holes here and there. Isayama failed to reveal the name of this local, not to mention the details of Historias pregnancy. Whether it was irrelevant or unnecessary, we really cant say.

Anyway, this young man is depicted as the official partner of Historia in both the anime and the manga. He was some sort of childhood friend that bullied Historia a lot. He wanted to make amends by providing service to the orphanage managed by Historia. There, we assumed that they grew closer together and formed a partnership.

However, based on the expressions from Historia, fans still speculated a lot. She was very stoic and unhappy, the opposite of the Historia we remembered before. This is not the face of someone in love at all.

Others theorized that Historia only used the guy as a scapegoat to delay her devouring of the Beast Titan. The official ship between Farmer-kun and Historia is FarmHisu.

Related: Where to Watch Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 2

Officially, Hajime Isayama did not reveal any more details about Historias pregnancy. It is safe to assume that Farmer-kun is the lucky guy that knocked our Goddess. So much for being a bully!

A lot of people recognize this as a fact as well. If we are basing our story on the narrative built by Isayama about Eren and Mikasa, most especially in the last chapter of the Attack on Titan manga, then there is no way that Eren is the father at all.

Whether it is Eren, Farmer-kun, or even Reiner for the heck of it. It is up to you to decide. The bottom line is, we will always support our Cattle Farming Goddess until the end.

For your next read: Is Mikasa related to Levi in Attack on Titan?

Read the original here:

Is Eren the Father of Historia's Child in Attack on Titan? - Epicstream

Victoria has activated state-wideCode Brown emergency measuresfor the first time in its history on January 18. This means that all Melbourne public hospitals and major regional facilities will prioritise Covid patients while ceasing or reducing non-urgent clinical services.

The reason? An average of more than 4,000 medical workers are unavailable across the state each day due to Covid isolation requirements. Furthermore, administrators expect hospitalisation for Covid to increase to beyond 2,500 in the next month.

However, the cause for pessimism is puzzling. Victorian case numbers, despite the addition of rapid antigen testing to the system, have been steadily falling since January 11. The case numbers hit nearly 42,000 at that point before dropping to 20,769 on January 19 a reduction of 50 per cent.

A recent study from America confirming previous research from South Africa, the UK, and Denmark also showed that therisk ofhospitalisation for Omicron (the dominant strain in Victoria) is 0.5 per cent, which is less than half that of Delta. Even when hospitalised, the median duration of stay is 3.4 days shorter than for Delta, representing a 70 per cent reduction. Back in October of 2021, despite a peak of just over 2,000 daily cases (less than a tenth of the current number), hospitalisations reached more than 850 (versus 1,173 now), and ICU cases peaked at 163 more than any time during this new wave.

What is more alarming than the logic behind the decision is the continued fixation on Covid at the expense of everything else. While Covid has been linked to the deaths of over 1,700 people in Victoria, the number needs to be examined in context. For instance, themedian agefor those who died from Covid in Australia is 86.9 years. This is older than the average life expectancy of Australians, which sits at around 83. Furthermore, the statistic being the median means that half of those who died from Covid were even older than 86.9 years.

This is not to make light of the deaths of the elderly, but it is to raise the question of priorities. For instance, most of us would instinctively conclude that the death of a child is more tragic than that of someone who passed at dotage. Uncomfortable though it is, what must be asked next is this what can we conclude about a society that has decided to prioritise saving the lives of the very old at the expense of the young? For this is the result of Australias current policies. It is made even more acute as the virus does not even make the top 30 causes of deathin the country.

In the fields of public health and health impact assessment, the notion of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) is used to measure how many otherwise good years of life are robbed from someone by illnesses. In Australia, as in much of the developed world,half of the DALY burdencomes from just four diseases cancers, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal conditions, and mental and substance use disorders. The harsh pandemic restrictions, including the Code Brown, are linked with an exacerbation of these conditions.

Ananalysis by the Heart Foundationof the Medicare Benefits Schedule data saw a 96,000 drop in visits to the GP in March 2020 compared to the same time in 2019. A study estimated that2,530 cancers went undiagnosed in Victoria during just a seven-month period in 2020.

Attempted suicide rates among Victorian teenagers over a six-month period from December 2020 to May 2021 jumped 184 per cent. Another report found that almost a tenth of Victorians seriously considered suicide, while a third reported symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Ambulance call-outs for alcohol-related harmsrose by 9 per cent in 2020, representing thousands of extra cases, as alcohol intake rose significantly in the state during the lockdowns. No doubt thousands of elective surgeries, such as for knee and hip replacements, were delayed throughout the pandemic as will be the case again during this Code Brown period.

While the media attention has solely been on Covid for almost two years, a lot of the harms caused by the various pandemic policies are silently accumulating and metastasising, like a bad debt, and will continue to manifest over years to come.

Two years into the pandemic, with the gentlest strain yet predominating, the blinders of Covid is still strapped firmly on the faces of policymakers, as shown by the Code Brown implementation.

Their policies are forcing medical practitioners into therapeutic nihilism, a trap mentioned in the modern Hippocratic Oath that doctors have vowed to avoid. The increased DALY as a result of these policies means that for tens of thousands of Victorians, they have been and still will be robbed of a millennias worth of quality life. And as the data show, tragically, this is not necessary.

Not only therapeutic nihilism, these policies reflect nihilism in general.

Policymakers have forgotten the wise words of Victor Hugo, who wrote that, It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.

Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.

Go here to see the original:

Melbourne's medical nihilism in the time of Covid - The Spectator Australia

During my first season covering Dallas Cowboys football here at StrongSide, I primarily attempted to analyze specific trends and determine what we might see next. I tried to contextualize the singularity of certain players so that we could properly appreciate what we were seeing. This team receives more coverage and analysis than any professional sports franchise in the world. I viewed it as my charge to take a topic, dive deep, educate myself, and convey what I learned to you.

Right now, that sort of micro analysis feels incredibly inconsequential. The fatalistic fog that has set in over this franchise and fanbase in the last week is like nothing Ive experienced in the world of sports. I say in the world of sports because this level of nihilism is usually reserved for, say, the world of politics. Out there, we have reached the your vote doesnt matter, and even if it did, nothing will ever change depths of depression, which, really, is just the other end of the spectrum from the this is the year things will be different zenith of psychosis with football.

So you could see why I considered simply sending our editor Mike Piellucci the words who cares, enjoy Arbys as my entire piece this week. [Editors note: I mean, I wouldnt entirely blame him.]

But the thing is, I was not among those who considered anything short of a Lombardi Trophy a failure. Mike McCarthy decided to lean into the 31 teams end the season in the same spot philosophy at his season-ending press conference last week. Only one team gets to answer these questions and feel good about your final lap, he said. I realize these are just comments from a coach that have no real value or bearing on the future of the team. But, all the same, this is BS. Equating the despair resulting from this level of disappointment to, say, how the Jaguars or Jets ended their season is absurd.

And McCarthy knows that. As recently as Week 17, when they headed into the Arizona game at 11-4, Dallas had at least a shot at the top seed in the NFC. They didnt earn it, but they still finished the year ranked first in Football Outsiders all-encompassing DVOA metric, third in Ben Baldwins EPA-based team tiers, and third in Pro Football Focus team-wide overall grading. The weight of this colossal failure is not just the result of Super Bowl Or Bust: Bust. Its that they couldnt get one playoff win with a team that was really talented.

That final game served as the perfect microcosm for everything that ailed this team for much of the year. Punched in the mouth on an opening drive aided by penalties. A three-and-out. More penalties. The coaching staffs misguided belief that they were the only galaxy brains who could execute the final play with zero margin for error. The general manager/stadium designer thinking he could outsmart THE SUN. The hubris this organization embodies was on full display for all to see, at every level.

Speaking of microcosms and poetic encapsulations, it wasnt just that this loss works as a stand-in for the season. This season works as a stand-in for the last two decades of Cowboys football. Listening to people talk about this team for the last week, I have heard a lot of, Well, in the end they just werent a very good football team, which is the same thing Ive heard people say about them for several years. I suppose it just depends on your definition of good or bad. But the Cowboys won 12 regular-season football games this year, more than all but two other NFL teams. Some might invalidate this due to the schedule they faced, but Im sorry, it takes a good football team to win 70 percent of the time.

Heres a fact: dating back to 2003, when Bill Parcells was hired, the Dallas Cowboys have the eighth-best regular season winning percentage in the NFL. I truly believe that most people, Cowboys fans or otherwise, do not realize this. The clubs ranked one through seven all have a Super Bowl win in that timeframe, as do the teams ranked nine through 11. Again, though, Super Bowls are hard to win, and thats a high bar. What about just playoff wins? During this 18-year sample, Dallas has only three, tied for the third-fewest with Chicago, Jacksonville, and Buffalo (all three Bills wins have come in the last four years). They are above Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Miami, Detroit, and Oakland/Las Vegas. Please let that sink in: all of the teams ranked near Dallas in regular season wins have Super Bowls. Just about all of the teams ranked near Dallas in playoff wins are year in, year out, the worst of the worst in the league.

Statistically, this is hard to do. Some of this is bad luck, sure. But when the sample size is this large, luck is supposed to balance itself out. I dont believe in curses, and neither should you. The problem is that no other explanation makes any sense.

Except for Jerry. Jerry Jones has been the only constant over this period. But I have no way to determine or quantify what exactly that continued presence means in any sort of tangible way, and it drives me insane. Nominally, he is the general manager, and the Cowboys personnel department has been one of the best in the business on draft weekend. Of course, we can point to the fact that Will McClay and his staff likely have a lot more to do with this than Jerry does, but Jerry hired McClay and has convinced him to stick around. Of course, we can say the Cowboys lucked into Dak Prescott and tried to trade up for Paxton Lynch, but then we are reminded that Tom Brady was once selected with pick No. 199.

We hear about the country club attitude and the coddling environment that the Jones family supposedly creates. I can buy this, especially when it comes from the likes of Troy Aikman. What I cant wrap my head around is why this amorphous fatal flaw only seems to present itself when the games matter the most.

Certainly, Mike McCarthy can look at this history and understand the abrupt conclusion of this Cowboys season is not on par with what 31 other teams have experienced. Its not even about living off of the glory days of the 90s; those teams were assembled before the NFL enacted a salary cap in 1994. We could even discard the history and simply say that the only reason McCarthy is here is to ensure that a 12-win team has postseason success. In his first attempt, he and his staff got thoroughly dismantled by their counterparts.

Ive never experienced such bleak, hopeless vibes around this team. Or any local team for that matter, which is really something when you consider that they just drafted the NFLs soon-to-be Defensive Rookie Of The Year. This isnt akin to the Rangers losing 100 games as part of a rebuild or the Stars meandering around two years after being in the Cup Final (aberration or not, the Cowboys would love to have a lightning-in-a-bottle run to the Super Bowl on their recent ledger). It isnt comparable to the pre-Luka Doncic Mavs, coming off of 15 years of postseason success in the twilight of Dirk Nowtizkis career.

What makes this misery unique is that this is the Cowboys window, with a highly paid franchise quarterback. And I know you dont want to hear this, but this team, barring major injury, is probably going to win the NFC East next year, too. Im aware the division hasnt had a repeat winner since 2004, but that has zero predictive value. Maybe the Eagles swing a trade for Russell Wilson. Who knows? As presently constructed, as nihilistic as we may be about the future of the Cowboys, they will be the favorites to win the division, and they likely will do just that.

And it will mean next to nothing. The NFC East is like a friend after college who hasnt started taking life seriously yet: Sure I havent made all of the life changes I intended to, but I mean, at least Im not them! Im doing fine! That friend is keeping you from realizing youre still basically a slob.

Until we are notified otherwise, the regular season is now just a Sisyphean rock. This team has largely robbed us of the joy of watching them win most of their games in the regular season, which is now the only thing they do dependably well. Which means were not just waiting seven months for the season to begin, but a full calendar year to see if any of it matters. If recent history tells us anything, it probably wont. Im starting to understand the collective depression.

Thanks a lot, Cowboys. Enjoy Arbys.

Jake Kemp covers the Cowboys and Mavericks for StrongSide. He is a lifelong Dallas sports fan who currently works for

Read the original post:

Where Do the Cowboys Go Next? Probably Right Back Where They Have Been - D Magazine

from the reclaiming-the-future dept

Register now for our online event featuring Rep. Zoe Lofgren

Amid fears that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) could be the first nail in the coffin of an open internet, our collective defeat of the legislation was a win for an emerging digital world that puts the interests of people first.

A decade later, many of our fears have come to reality, even without SOPA to speed them along. Worse yet: the optimistic, values-driven resistance of the SOPA era has transitioned to bitter conflict (or worse, nihilism) around digital life, rights, and restrictions. We now stand at a new inflection point that SOPA resistors are facing or ignoring in turnsdespite the potential for a positive vision that might unite us all again.

The SOPA Internet Blackout was a moment where digital citizens united with one voice to support the continuation of the internets innovation of permissionless publishing or sharing an infinitude of digital printing presses. The internet accelerated speech and connection, it brought together global communities of mutual interest, enabling organizing and activism on a scale never before seen. This has been a powerful tool.

And yet, it was not accessible for many.

Platforms like Facebook filled some of the gaps, marketing ease of connection in exchange for data it could exploit. The internet granted anyone who could log on permission to publish and share in a way that newspapers in the 80s could never imagine.

But the technology of the time could not take the next step and allow everyday people to maintain the database tools necessary to ensure the integrity and function of social media networks. You could share, but you could not curate or control the related data with anything nearing the utility of sharing itself.

Neoliberal capitalism did what it does amid this half-baked promise of internet freedomlocking in centralized players and championing monopoly. Monopolies are quite simply easier for entrenched gatekeepers to collude with. Powerful corporations recognized the momentum of protests like SOPAs, the utility of an unfettered communications medium, as an existential threat to their profits and bad practices.

And so, they used the centralized databases that the people could not yet control to obscure their mechanisms of oppression, bringing about the era of algorithmic trade secrets, performative legislation, censorship, and conspiracy theories we live in now. The threats to our digital lives are compounding in darkness, even as our human lives become more digital.

Regardless of ideology, everyone recognizes that something is fundamentally wrong. But, we dont trust each other because of the pervasive cloud of darkness that intermediates our interactions. This distrust was seeded via the centralized, opaque databases of Facebooks and Amazons, and amplified by the very same. Our every social action online is leveraged to manipulate the internet out of its power and promise.

Even digital rights activists who recognize and resist these harms find themselves in conflict because they have uncovered another fundamental shortcoming of our current system: any vision of a digital future, a digital life that is one-size-fits-all, will always be exclusionary.

These toxic database-powered social platforms are vivid proof that billions of dollars and extensive global legislative and social pressure, even when combined with the best thinkers and moderation that money can buy, will still miserably fail many different communities in ways as diverse as communities themselves are: by amplifying hate, by promoting harm, by expanding censorship, by profiting from mass surveillance, by capitulating to shareholders and governments at the expense of democracy, and more.

We have found the outer limits of centralized database platforms as tools of liberation. Along the way, we have lost the optimism that characterized the dawn of the web and the anti-SOPA movement. Optimism is now frequently mocked as privilege, as white mens myopiaand with all the compounding harms that would not have been possible without the internet, it is no wonder that those who speak well of the web are met with hostility.

But just as the blunt rock eventually became a knife, the tool of the internet will continue to evolve. In the long shadow of SOPA, and at a time when new technologies are once again disrupting our digital lives, the question we must ask is who will hold that knife, and how will it be used?

This question is pressingas it appears the database limitations Facebook, Amazon, and Google exploited could mark them as the next newspapers in the 80s. New technologies like blockchain have the ability to make databases permissionless in the same way that the internet made publishing permissionless. This innovation could unlock a new digital future that, while still filled with human problems, may enable far better, community-owned tools to address themas well as something we have not had for many years: a new, inclusive vision for the internet.

Today, we could begin to fight for a future of many interoperable, decentralized webs, tools, and technologies. Community owned and governed databases as diverse as the world itself. A vision that brings organizers and technologists out of conflict over censorship and control by working together for the rights, education, and tools for each person and community to equitably build and own their digital experience. This is work that cannot succeed unless the marginalized people who have been traditionally excluded from technology and the policies that govern it lead in a central role.

To ensure this just transition, we must also support new generations in gaining greater competency and higher expectations for their digital lives, and invest now in a collective vision of sharing open, transparent, and transformative tools that will render the legacy entities that have failed us obsolete. If we do not, others will invest in perverting these technologies all over again.

There isnt one answer for what the future of the internet should be. Lets reclaim the hope that defeated SOPA and work together toward a world where everyone can equitably build, own, moderate, control, and access their own digital lives and communities.

Lia Holland is Campaigns & Communications Director at digital rights organization Fight for the Future, where she focuses on web3 and copyleft issues.

This Techdirt Greenhouse special edition is all about the 10 year anniversary of the fight that stopped SOPA. On January 26th at 1pm PT, we'll be hosting a live discussion with Rep. Zoe Lofgren and some open roundtable discussions about the legacy of that fight. Pleaseregister to attend.

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Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

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Filed Under: collective power, competition, consolidation, open internet, sopa

Continued here:

SOPA To The Future: Reclaiming Collective Internet Power - Techdirt

Answering the call for voting rights

My wife and I observed the King birthday holiday this week by zooming in to the Whose Dream Is It? event provided by the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice and co-sponsored by Living the DreamInc. and The Brown V. Board National Historic Site. We extend our appreciation to all of those who worked together to make this fine presentation for our community as an opportunity to remember the legacy of Dr. King.

There were numerous highlights to the almost 2-hour program, but one that stood out to us was the offering from the man named as Kansas Citian of the Year in 2019, Alvin Brooks. Brooks has been a civil rights advocate for years in the Kansas City area. I noted a sense of deep frustration as he spoke Monday evening.

He noted that the U.S. Senate was preparing to vote on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that would restore and strengthen parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, certain parts of which were struck down by two U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.

Our nation faces a wave of voting restrictions that often target communities of color. We need a full-strength Voting Rights Act to prevent this suppression from happening and root it out quickly where it is already happening. The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act as I write this letter. (Every Republican voted against moving the bill to the Senate floor for a final vote.)

It would have required states with histories of voter discrimination to receive approval from the Department of Justice or a federal courtbefore enacting voting changes.

Alvin Brooks asked listeners,What would you do? I will tell you what I am doing. I am calling my legislators today. I am asking them to reconsider their opposition. I am asking them to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. I am asking them to affirm democracy. To vote for free and fair elections for all people.

Rev. Jim McCollough, Topeka

NicholasSandmann and Kyle Rittenhouse are two American teenagers who fate propelled into circumstances beyond their years,yet both acted with a maturity and restraint under intense pressure that highly trained adults have often mishandled.

A culture that can produce two young men with this combination of innate courage and instinctive moral clarity has got to be doing something right.

In a contest between good and evil these ordinary teenagers overcame the forces of chaos, in Rittenhouse's case the specter of death at the hands of a craven mob only to be persecuted by a corrupt political/media elite that has come to represent the nihilism of the neo-American left.

A left whose ethical void has been filled by Jacobins like representatives Ilhan Omar, Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff and to the shame of the nation President Joe Biden.

In a world where deception is transformed into truth by masquerading in a swirl of media-manufactured disinformation,these two innocent young men overcame a pack of frothing jackals with an unpretentious courage that resides at the core of all American greatness.

Gregory Bontrager,Hutchinson

Link:

One reader challenges Kansas leaders for not backing voter rights; another lionizes Kyle Rittenhouse - The Topeka Capital-Journal