=^_^=

The history of corporate propaganda.

'Nobody wants to work' fails to mention the poverty wages and horrible workplaces.

... with Rin's appearance, I have some idea of Eiden's existence now. Some. Eiden mentions a feeling of emptiness, and a part of me feels like this is truth. Eiden and Rin possibly being two halves of the same whole that is Huey, maybe?

Rin clearly has a fragment of the same gemstone Eiden carries around. Which does make why Morvay and Aster running off to what is likely him make a lot of sense. He holds a bit of Huey's essence much like Eiden does, but not to the large amounts that Eiden carries in him.

Rin also actively trying to drain Eiden. Trying to become whole again maybe? They look like each other which makes sense.

Alternatively its a clone situation where Huey tried to make clones of himself to inherit his power and Rin had been an attempt that failed.

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They will not only make it harder if not impossible to have an abortion. They will also ban schools from teaching sex ed (not that they are doing a good job right now) unless it is sex ed based on abstinence. 

And if you think this is only America, think again. There are places here in Italy where you can’t get an abortion because doctors can “object” and refuse to carry out abortions in public hospitals. There’s a region in Italy where there is no OB in the public system who will perform an abortion. You have to go to a different region or pay privately.

Think about Poland.

A right isn’t something you automatically get to keep forever just because of a court ruling or a law. Laws can be changed, precedents overturned. We have all grown complacent, we all stopped fighting. We all in some small part opposed some right be extended to a different subcategory of people because we thought, due perhaps to inherent bias, that it eroded ours.

We are complicit every time we do not exercise our right to vote because “all the candidates suck”. It’s an excuse, and boy are we so full of excuses. 

What happened in Poland, what’s possibly going to happen in the USA, what’s been subtly, insidiously happening in Italy for decades can happen in your country too.

i know this probably means like 'let me tell you the scientific names of these plants' but i like to think he legit names them.

like imagine

'this is rosealia the rosebush' or 'this is willow the lavender sprig' there's also galena the gardenia, zak the cypress tree, and sam the moss patch

a while back i hc that vyn talks to his plants (and himself) bc he's lonely in that bigass victorian home of his and what's better than having named all your plant friends?

here's an exchange i 100% heard vyn richter have with his daises. trust me i have a phD in bullshit:

vyn: hello owen how was your day today?

owen the daisy: *sways bc of the wind*

vyn: well that is excellent to hear. are you perhaps thirsty?

owen the daisy: *still not sentient but will let dr. richter know if that changes*

vyn: splendid, i have some water for you.

as of May 11, 2022, 8:57 PM

The following post was initially written in Discord as a long string of messages for my overseas/international/foreign internet friends.

The original messages have been kept intact with some grammatical corrections as well as formatting modifications and minor additions for better emphasis.

Indented texts are the ones which were originally Discord messages while non-indented texts are new additions.

With that aside, the content remains the same as it was initially sent to my friends.

Now, without further ado, let me begin.

hi it has been two days since May 9 it has been two days since my country's national elections right now we're in massive chaos because the son (Bongbong Marcos) of a past dictator (Ferdinand E. Marcos) is threatening to become our next president // as well as the daughter (Sara Duterte) of our last president (Rodrigo Duterte) becoming vice president policital dynasties, yall. fucking hell anyway you might be wondering, "is Isa ok? how is she faring?" I'm still fairly okay, but with the way I've been vocal about the bullshit going on I might not be able to be online any longer this country has a history of its own people being silenced by those in power international media will tell you that we voted the dictator's son into presidency and that we are fools. do not let them convince you. we fought so hard. we fought so hard for the only woman running for presidency and we accumulated so many supporters and yet we failed. wait, no. we were cheated. how? because of the shit we call corruption and greed corruption and greed and power and MANIPULATION OUR MASSES WERE MANIPULATED INTO VOTING THE DICTATOR'S SON. lucky are the ones who are born in the middle class, and yet luckier are those who were born rich. unfortunate are those who were born so poor that their main priority is living day by day. votes were bought. machines were rigged. servers were hacked. just for the dictator's son to be called president. just to enable a new abuser and give him power. please do not let the media convince you that we were fools. we fought so hard for the right presidential candidate not to be thought like this.

compilation thread of election inconveniences, offenses, and violations

thread of movies and documentaries about the Marcoses and the era of Martial Law under Ferdinand E. Marcos

watch The Kingmaker for free [available Philippines only as per Lauren Greenfield's intentions]

here’s why you shouldn’t do that.

the change of administration has next to no impact on a global scale. we are a tiny archipelago in the pacific, and we have nowhere near the kind of clout other asian countries like china and india have.

so what does this mean? in essence: there is literally no reason for anyone to stop commissioning filipino creators. the only thing that will happen when you do that is that you are hurting the creator. life is hard here. in a third world country like the Philippines, USD $1 is enough to purchase an entire meal. depriving a creator of even a single commission can be a significant blow to their income.

and it only gets worse. if you haven’t heard the news, the newly elected president is ferdinand “bongbong” marcos, jr., the son of the dictator that we ousted from power in 1986 through the EDSA people power revolutions that ended fourteen years of martial law. the newly elected vice president is sara duterte, the daughter of our incumbent president rodrigo duterte, known for his so-called “war on drugs”, which has in reality served as a permit for the police to slaughter filipinos wholesale under the guise of their being drug addicts or pushers.

now, you might be wondering how we got to this moment.

the answer is that there has been a massive effort at rewriting history in the Philippines ever since marcos was ousted.

pictured above: President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson and President and Mrs. Ferdinand Marcos at the White House

children are taught in school that martial law was the golden age of the country; that our economy and international relations were at their zenith; that art and culture thrived. today, social media has only served to perpetuate these lies. tiktokers and media influencers support the marcos family and their return to power and encourage people to do the same. many people have fallen victim to historical revisionism. i have family members who have been sending me marcos propaganda for weeks, trying to get me to vote for marcos. [dear reader, i would rather die.]

what people are not taught is that under martial law, blatant human rights atrocities were committed on an unimaginable scale.

let me tell you about a few of them:

archimedes trajano, who was then a college student, pissed off marcos’s eldest daughter at an open forum, and was dragged out, beaten, and subsequently killed.

extrajudicial killings were routine. [this was known as “salvaging”, from the filipino “salbahe”, or cruel, from the spanish “salvaje”, or savage.] if families were lucky, they’d find their desaparecidos loved one’s body in the river after a few weeks [hence, “salvaging”]. but many families never did. below are just a few of the people who have never been found.

red-tagging was also routine—this refers to the malicious blacklisting of individuals or organizations critical of the government. it basically serves as an excuse for them to pick you up and kill you if they decide they want you out of the picture.

and this is only the tip of the iceberg. it has been proven in three separate court cases that the marcoses robbed the country’s coffers of a staggering USD 685 million, or PHP 38 trillion. lord almighty. can you even try and picture that amount of money? i sure fucking can’t. and almost none of this money has ever been recovered. they are sitting in offshore accounts in switzerland and in imelda marcos’s extensive walk-in closet. [marcos’s widow owned 3,000 pairs of shoes. delusions of grandeur whomstve.]

so what does all this have to do with commissioning filipino artists?

what i’m trying to tell you is that filipinos are facing the very real possibility of history repeating itself. life is already hard now. it will only grow exponentially more terrible once the new administration is in the seat of power. we are living in a time of great unrest, and the last thing you need to do is to deprive an artist or a creator of their income at a time when they might need it the most.

i’m not an artist. you’re probably wondering why i’m even talking about this at all.

it’s because i am tired. i am terrified beyond words. i have been grieving for days, and i can barely wrap my head around the horror of it all. i am looking at an immediate future where martial law is completely wiped from the collective memory, where filipinos and internationals alike forget that these atrocities ever happened. that these atrocities are happening, even as i type this.

what can you do to help?

continue supporting filipino artists [thread here and here]. political art was one of the most effective ways we had to fight against martial law during the dictatorship.

download these documents about martial law and the marcos era, and read as much as you can. save them before they are erased. we don’t know how long it will take before they are gone—please don’t let them be lost.

a thread of movies and documentaries about the marcoses and the martial law that you can watch.

i don’t know what else to say. above all, this is an impassioned plea not to forget. we’re a tiny archipelago in the middle of the pacific. none of this will affect anyone but us. nobody fucking cares what happens to us, but i do. i care so much i can’t bear to leave, even though practically everyone around me is contemplating departing en masse.

if i am lucky, i will be proven wrong. i desperately want to be proven wrong. maybe this administration will turn out to be for the better. but history tells me that won’t be the case. this might be the only time i will be able to write anything like this—i’ve lived in fear of being red-tagged for two years now, and the chances of my getting red-tagged only continue to grow. i don’t know how much time i still have left to be able to talk about this openly, but i’m watching the sand running through the hourglass as we speak.

what’s redtagging? wikipedia describes it as “the malicious blacklisting of individuals or organizations critical or not fully supportive of the actions of a sitting government administration in the country.” redtagging is used to mark down names of activists or, honestly, anyone opposing the government’s beliefs for potential arrests, or in worst case scenarios, extrajudicial killings. 

this has been happening in the philippines for a long time, but it’s only recently reemerged during the reign of duterte. while i can’t compile all redtagging cases, here’s an example thread i made last year that highlighted some cases from april-may. it can give you the gist of how it works. and with the suppression of press freedom (google maria ressa, ceo of rappler, a filipino news site, who got arrested. she was eventually awarded the nobel peace prize for speaking out), there are many redtagging cases that are not spoken about. a friend from a certain university has talked to me about many of their classmates immediately being targeted. many filipinos are in danger

and i’m already hearing that the gov is trying to redtag more people who are just VOCAL about this elections. i was not even gonna post this because i was scared something’ll happen, but i think people deserve to know what’s going on before i stop posting about stuff completely.

freedom of speech is a privilege in the philippines. now that sara duterte, daughter of the current president, is going to head the department of education, it’s important to continue uplifting, supporting, and sharing news and posts by filipinos. bbm is a son of a dictator tyrant who murdered and tortured tens of thousands, and they will revise our history books despite years of fighting against them.

again, we are risking our lives trying to post about this, so if you see any post about the elections, it’s important to stay informed. it’s important to get mad at our government on our behalf because at some point, we won’t be able to. here’s some good posts i’ve found that summarize the elections/the marcos family’s wrongdoings pretty well (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5). and if you have the audacity to go “why the hell are filipinos so stupid to vote for this man?” please read this.

for the first reason, nothing will happen to you, a foreigner, for supporting filipinos. theres nothing to be afraid of, youre not in this country and wont suffer any consequences. many of us, however? we’re afraid. especially artists and creators who rely on commissions to support themselves and their families

for the second reason, you are not hurting our oppressors at all. you are hurting filipinos, majority of which did not want this to happen and are actively speaking out against the looming dictatorship. dropping filipino creators does nothing but hurt us. our inflation rates are predicted to rise because other countries are giving up on us, and money is fast becoming an even bigger issue for so so many

so if youre looking for art, dont give up on us. commission filipino artists and/or boost commission posts! 1 USD is literally enough to buy a meal here, it really helps. here is a link to a thread of filipino artists posting their commission rates. and here is another thread of filipino commission rates. tips and donations outside of comms to these artists help even more.

It could have easily been anyone. It could have easily been their mother, father, brother, sister, relatives, or friends.

thread of Martial Law books published and being sold locally by the Ateneo Press

thread of links to ebooks on Martial Law

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL THREAD. Please spread.

(link one, two, three)

more under the cut

To anyone who's wondering, "What's happening in the Philippines?" here it is:

We in the Philippines held our elections yesterday, and they are being rigged.

We are at risk of the son of a dictator taking the presidency seat, which endangers our economy, livelihoods, education, safety, and privacy. Every dirty trick in the book happened this election/campaign season - from fake news to broken voting machines and so much more.

The reason why he's in the lead is the result of years upon years of mis- and disinformation and deceit. We cannot afford the Marcoses to take presidency again, not after all the taxpayer money they squandered and the people they had imprisoned, tortured, and killed.

We are fighting against the return of dictatorship in the country. We are fighting against the continuation of corruption and injustice. We are fighting for a better future. We are fighting, so that we may finally know peace.

Today, multiple issues regarding the elections have come up. Vote-Counting Machines (VCMs) “malfunctioning”, SD cards missing, people getting PAID for voting for the dictator’s son and his party, and more. Even the commission in charge of ENSURING FAIR ELECTIONS is failing to fully understand the grasp said issues, wasting people’s time and votes.

If you do find this post and read it, all I ask is that you share the news about the Philippines. Anything about today (May 9, 2022), about Halalan 2022/PH Elections 2022, about BBM and the Marcos Family, about Leni Robredo, Kiko Pangilinan, Chel Diokno and the rest of Robredo’s senatorial slate (+ Neri Colmenares),

and if this inspires you to learn everything else, then please do.

We are asking for your help, not in votes, but in sharing what is happening here to the rest of the world. Whatever happens, whatever the results are, we want the whole world to see what is going on. (But thank you to the foreign news outlets who have been speaking on this).

All the Filipinos are asking for is a fair government, where lives are recognized and uplifted. We cannot be kept in the dark again, we have had enough.