Calvin And Hobbes Was Magic--and Sometimes A Little Creepy--when It Embraced Surrealism. And This Was

EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP SCIENTISTS AT THE SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE HAVE FOOTAGE OF A LIVE COLOSSAL SQUID FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑‼️🦑

you know what? I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but I am actually still very upset that we never got to see John Boyega give an impassioned speech to an army of hostile stormtroopers, and partway through the speech just one trooper lays her blaster down and takes her helmet off, and by the end Finn has won them over and they all take their helmets off as the music swells, which signifies their change of allegiance and also reminds us the audience that underneath all those indistinguishable white helmets are people with faces and personalities and hopes and dreams and connections to the Force, people who will be led by one of their own as they rise up in rebellion against the fascist empire that treated them like interchangeable cannon fodder.

we should have had that in a movie! and we didn’t! and I’m still mad about it!

Millennial Sisyphus keeps entering all the information from his resume into the web form, only for it to delete everything when he tries to move to the next page. He just goes back and types it all up again, over and over again, forever, and he never gets a job.

sooooo can yall help me determine if this is a fireable offense

So, if you’re like… wait. I know this art. Why are you reposting it, Jen? The answer is, well, it’s back after many, many hours of fixes, new cleaner lines and recolouring. :D I had plans for this art and the old version wasn’t gonna cut it. So here it is. Brothers Group Hug Redux. XDb And my many thanks to everyone. The response to that original piece was just amazing. =O <3

(Please don’t repost or use for any reason without permission! Many thanks. =) <3 )

I've never heard anyone say that the term "gypsy" is offensive before. I know it used to have a negative connotation, but it seems like it hasn't for a couple of centuries. Do people still identify as gypsies? I'm not arguing, but this is news to me and I would like to understand more.

Thanks for asking with the intention of understanding better! 

On my father’s side, my family is Romani, the ethnic group historically called gypsies by outsiders. The name came from the misperception than we originated in Egypt (we’re actually from India). Other names for us include words that literally mean unclean or untouchable (in a taboo and gross way). We have always called ourselves Roma or Romani, so it’s not that we identify as gypsies, it’s that others identify us as gypsies. This name or label was forced on us.

Like Native Americans, we are not a dead culture. We have become splintered, and many Romani have been pushed into inescapable poverty thanks to institutional racism. Many of us have assimilated into the dominant culture of the places we live (my family fits here).

But the negative connotation to the word is very much alive and well. Romani girls and women are among the most targeted by sex traffickers. In 2017, Fox “News” aired a scare-mongering “report” on Gypsy immigrants threatening the very fabric of the US.

Historically speaking, the Romani have been forcibly relocated, sterilized, and subjected to genocide. To address the “gypsy problem,” in the 1800’s, Switzerland rounded up Romani males and sent them to North America. This is how one branch of my family arrived in the US. It tends to not get mentioned in history classes, but twenty-five to fifty percent of the Romani population living in Europe in 1939 died at the hands of Nazis.

Taking a word that has been used to label and other an ethnic group, and romanticizing and using it to describe a free-spirited and mischievous nature does not erase the baggage or harm that has been done. Gypsy and its derivative gyp (to steal or swindle) are vulgar and hurtful words that need to be retired and relegated to history.

⁂

Here are some sources and articles, should they be of interest:

The Problem with the Word ‘Gypsy’ (this whole site can be helpful)

The Harmful History of ‘Gypsy’ – discusses the modern myths and the current state

Romani Genocide – Romani specific Wikipedia article on the Nazi Holocaust

Remembering the Roma victims of the Holocaust – discusses how the Romani are often excluded from historical accounts of the Holocaust, and the impact on the people – less dry than the Wikipedia article

Persecution and Politicization: Roma (Gypsies) of Eastern Europe – nice summary of the history associated with the word from Cultural Survival Quarterly magazine

The “G” Word Isn’t for You: How “Gypsy” Erases Romani Women – from the National Organization for Women (NOW) this focuses a little more on how the long-standing stereotypes and racism hurt Romany, especially the women.

Marvel movies have completely eliminated the concept of practical effects from the movie-watching public’s consciousness

Goddess Bastet in the form of a sacred cat playing with her kitten (detail of a bronze statuette; 664-332 BCE; Louvre Museum)

Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.

Grooming Can Look Like:

1. “Is that your real name? I don’t really like to call people by their usernames.”

Asking for personal information right away - It gives a false sense of intimacy and can be used later to threaten or blackmail.

2. “I see you like Band. My parents hate them. 😂 Do your parents know your music tastes?”

Segueing quickly into private life, sometimes asking invasive questions about home, friends, family, etc - It tells them whether or not a person is isolated, unhappy, self-destructive, unsupervised, etc. The more vulnerable a person is, the more successful grooming can be.

3. “I like your fan art. Do you do nsfw? Nothing crazy, just flirty…”

Bringing up sexuality or other adult subjects in a general way - It pushes the person’s boundaries gently, getting them to talk about nsfw things in a way that feels nonthreatening.

4. “That post made a good point. I would never guess you’re 14. You’re really mature and well-spoken.”

Describing the person as mature, smart, wise, resourceful, street-smart, etc - It’s flattering, and it gives the illusion of equality and respect in their interactions.

5. “People hate what they don’t understand. You’re just so unique. I get it.”

Reinforcing that the person is unique, misunderstood, above others, etc - It increases isolation and forms a sense of dependance on the groomer.

6. “Omg look at this guy’s outfit! It’s so hot! You know, you could totally rock something like this!”

Sexualizing the person in flattering ways - It feels like a compliment and edges farther past typical boundaries, normalizing more and more sexual interactions.

7. “That guy was out of line. 😤 I couldn’t help it, I messaged him and told him if he doesn’t leave you alone I’ll doxx him. He won’t be back. He knows I’ll do it. Please don’t be mad, I just hate when people mess with my friends… ”

Defending the person, often inappropriately - It’s a show of devotion to the person, a display of the potential for aggression that serves to nudge boundaries, and can be used to threaten or coerce later.

8. “I’m totally with you on Ship X. It’s so bigoted to break up Ship Y like that. We ought to try to get those freaks banned.”

Creating an other to unify against, often inappropriately - It creates a sense of intimacy and serves as a way to push boundaries by encouraging inappropriate behavior.

9. “Idk why you let her waste ur time. U don’t need phoneys like that. You have me!!! 😂”

Discouraging competing relationships - It increases isolation, vulnerability and dependence.

10. “Listen, don’t worry about your phone bill. I got it. Sent it thru your Kofi, plus a little extra. You deserve it.”

Giving gifts, money, or paying bills - It creates a sense of intimacy, and possibly financial dependence. And it can be used as a source of guilt.

11. “Where are you??? Tell whoever you’re with that I miss my bff!!!!!”

Checking in, keeping tabs, tracking or asking for updates - It diverts the person’s attention onto the groomer, interrupts their social life to further isolate, and creates a pattern of guilt and responsibility for the groomer’s feelings.

12. “I can’t believe you’d abandon me like this. You know I have depression. Are you trying to make me suicidal? The least you could do is give me a couple weeks to find a new therapist. I’m gonna need one now.”

Threatening to harm themselves, or implying that they might if contact ends - It plays on that sense of guilt and responsibility and can be used long after abuse has happened, to prevent disclosure.

Grooming doesn’t happen by accident. By definition, it’s deliberate. When someone begins grooming, they have already decided to abuse. From that point on, interaction has one goal. It creates a situation where the person being targeted has conflicting emotions about what’s happening, no one they trust to give advice, and no way to break out without being the bad guy.

The setup - the grooming behaviors themselves - vary. One abuser might use many approaches, and might even change methods if a target isn’t receptive. I think we can all agree that guilt-tripping and displays of aggression aren’t healthy under any circumstances, but many common behaviors are things that can happen outside of grooming, in other contexts, and be ok. (An old friend might give generous gifts purely out of friendship, but someone who’s practically a stranger, giving generous gifts, acting like an old friend, is potentially predatory.) That’s why it can be so hard to see. We can’t simply ban their tools or latch onto keywords. There are no elements that are always present. There’s no set pattern. There are few flags that are always red. It’s not that simple.

The only reliable and realistic way to keep vulnerable ppl safe is to teach them to recognize potential grooming by looking at the entirety of the situation, to trust their feelings, and to speak up.

I ramble a lot when trying to explain the eerie and striking energy I get from Hartnell/Troughton Who’s visuals and atmosphere, and what I’m trying to get at is, like… 

Hartnell’s Gallifrey would be Susan’s beautiful description in The Sensorites, and then just purely 1936′s Things to Come…

and 1946′s A Matter of Life and Death (kino)…

… a world of humming mists that had become little more than a museum to history, the Big Bang to Earth to the end, in which one of their number could grumpily sit on massive steps and continue researching his favorite period in un-rewritable, inarguable history… The French Revolution.  

(And then with just a dash, just a DASH, of Maurice Noble.)

And then meanwhile, Troughton’s Gallifrey would be the glimpses we see in The War Games but expanded to the scale of 1966′s The Time Tunnel, in stark black and white.