welcome

if my friend says “he’s my problematic fav ^_^” i instantly get worried because “problematic” can mean literally ANYTHING from “said something mildly insenstive about a political issue” to “voices distaste about those gosh dang horrible Latinos coming to steal American jobs” to “sexually harassed and groped his underage fans.” what did he do? who cares! it’s insignificant enough to just shove under a single bland inoffensive word and never touch it again, i guess

you’re allowed to like famous people (or like, shows or video games or whatever) that have flaws, but you can’t just hide bad things under a single tidy little word so can absolve yourself of any guilt you get over supporting a guy who’s beaten his lover or who’s whined about how there’s no more racism in America.

In which, while being aware that because they are talented and most things they make will be at least 6/10, they have to wonder about the impact of their creations and whether the narrative/art they are making will alter pop-knowledge. 

I had a moment like that when I started a novel a while ago. I wanted it to be a female modernized version of the The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (guy fawkes) and had intended to write a novel about a girl gang working together to commit a heist. However, while I was balls deep in doing research on girl gangs across the world, it occurred to me that perhaps writing a book that glamorizes gang culture at all might not be good and that I would have to take responsibility for fallout from that if my work has cultural impact. I spent about a week in serious thought and then decided not to write the book as described. I wrote a post about it here (x) There is another time in which you have a chance to derail your work’s cultural impact and that is after the work has gained an unprecedented and unexpected popularity,

 An example of this is Lolita and the nightmare Nabokov went through trying to explain to everyone what he was intending and subsequently prove that he himself was not a pedophile. and Mark Twain who is still spinning in his grave over people not getting the anti-racism in his work, spent years explaining it over and over.  

It is a herculean effort to derail the damage of your work post production, and it is much easier to do option one and stop in the first place. When you’re talented, anything you do has a decent chance of being at least okay, so when you derail things earlier you’re not losing much. 

Now with Lin Manuel Miranda, it is VERY clear to me that he understands the exact woobifying thing you’re describing. He has mentioned it a couple times in interviews or when discussing the color casting of his show.

So that means, he sat through option one, and was saddled with option two. But, despite being excessively educated on his topic and all levels of the issues with it, he’s has refused to take a strong stance on his part in pop-culture fueled historical revisionism. Or even to describe it thusly. 

This is at best is dishonorable and at worst is morally repugnant and extremely reckless and irresponsible.

This project while incredibly crafted and very high quality and definitely enjoyable, should not have ever seen the light. 

Not only were those his honest and sincere feelings, but omamori are more than mere “lucky charms”, they’re a huge part of Japanese culture, and Japanese religion, with very profound meaning, so mocking that is actually incredibly rude, and highly culturally insensitive.

Traditionally, Japanese omamori look like this

and can be bought at most shrines and temples in Japan. I’d actually say they’re closer to “prayers” than “lucky charms”, really, in their intent, though that doesn’t quite fit, either. But when you know that the most common omamori are for things like safety in traffic, doing well in school, having romantic encounters, and fertility/safely born children (used both by couples who want kids, and expecting mothers hoping for no complications with their pregnancy), you probably see what I mean.

The word omamori translates roughly to protector/protection/protective charm, and are based on the animistic Shinto world view. The ones you get at shrines are part supplication that the enshrined deity will bless and protect you, and part a… hmm, almost a signal beacon? so said deity can find you, to know that you’re someone under their protection. And also part comfort for the carrier, that they’re not alone, that they’ve got someone on their side. 

But it’s not just “official” deities that are considered to have protective powers. Your ancestors are also seen sort of as guardian spirits protecting their family line (common theme in East Asian religions - Mulan, anyone? - at least, and I think also in all animistic religions, though that’s not my area of expertise), and even such ambiguous things as strong emotions are seen to have protective and blessing properties, especially love and affection.

For this reason, a lot of people will use mementos or objects of sentimental value as omamori. Either because it reminds them of a particular person or situation or emotion, or because they see some kind of link between that particular object and whatever they seek blessings for/protection against.

The important part for Yuuri, and why he bought that ring, is less that it’s a wedding ring, and more that it’s a gold ring. Yes, emphasis on both gold and ring.

The gold part is obvious, because the blessing he wants is help in getting a gold medal. It’s a resonance/like-brings-like thing.

The ring part is more obscure, but I’ll try to explain it.

One of the most basic and important parts of Japanese culture and society is the idea of 縁 (en). If you look it up in a Japanese-English dictionary, you get words like fate, destiny, chance, a relationship, a connection, a bond, an affinity, and while those are all ways to translate the word, depending on context, they don’t really explain the concept. En is the meeting of two or more things/beings that leaves a lasting connection or bond.

You might say you don’t have en with money to indicate that you can never seem to amass any wealth. It’s less you’ve got no luck with money, but more that you and money were never meant to be. You might earn it, but it still doesn’t stick around, somehow. An omamori for romance is called an enmusubi, or a “tier of en/bonds”, in this case referring to interpersonal relationships.

If you’re saying goodbye to someone you don’t know whether you’ll ever see again, you might express a wish that you’ll have en, and be able to meet again.

Now, I’ve mentioned in previous posts that the Japanese love homonyms and word associations. This is even more true for en, because it’s so important to them. Like in the example of a farewell, you might give someone a five yen coin, because five yen is go-en (五円), and when speaking of en with an honorific, that’s also go-en (ご縁). It’s a physical manifestation of your wish to have en with them. This is also why five yen coins are generally considered the best coins to give as offerings when you pray for something, despite their low value, because it indicates a hope for en with your wish.

Okay, getting to the point now: Another homonym (well, technically the same one, but different usage) for en is the word for circle or round. And because that’s basically what a ring is, rings are often used as a metaphor for, or an expression of a wish for en. So rings generally have a more profound level of meaning in Japanese.

It’s a gold ring because Yuuri wishes to have en with gold medals. He gives it to Victor because he wishes to have en with him.

[pictured is an image of text that reads: Question: if I see someone pull off a Hijab, what should I do? I know there are reasons they are worn so I want to know if i should stand in between them and who did this, should i protect them from view somehow, or something else? This has been happening a lot so I feel it’s something everyone needs to know.]

Several people have recently asked me to respond with what action you should take if you see someone’s hijab forcibly removed or if you see a hijabi/Muslim being harassed. Here are some of the basics:

If a hijabi has their hijab forcibly removed and the attackers leave, cover them. If you’re wearing a jacket or you have a scarf or some other article of clothing, you should give it to them so they can cover themselves. This is definitely the action that I would prefer before anything else. Shielding them from view if you don’t have anything that you can give them is another option, or asking “What can I do to help you?” (because I’m sure every hijabi reacts differently to this kind of thing) is also a good response. After this, if you’re willing and they want you to (again, make sure you ask), you can assist them somewhere like a bathroom, a store, their car, etc. so they can get to a safe space and fix their hijab/call a friend/etc.

If a hijabi has their hijab forcibly removed and the attackers don’t leave, there are several possibilities. Obviously you shouldn’t do nothing. A lot of the times, attackers will stop if someone else gets involved especially if you are with a group of people but also even if you’re just by yourself. This is a link to a YouTube video of a social experiment where one person forcibly removes someone’s hijab. Despite that there was no real threat, everyone who reacted did so in a way that I would suggest doing. Standing up for them from a distance that you feel safe doing so (because you obviously can’t disregard your own safety) does makes a difference. Saying something like “leave them alone” “what are you doing” “stop doing that” “don’t do that” “don’t touch them” etc. are all perfectly acceptable things to say in the moment. Again, giving them something to cover themselves with if you have something is always a good thing to do.

In situations where it has not yet escalated to someone’s hijab being forcibly removed, gauge the situation. Here is one graphic that illustrates what to do if someone is yelling islamophobic things at a hijabi/Muslim. If you are not sure if something is going to turn into harassment but you’re worried it might, simply staying with the hijabi/Muslim and making sure they aren’t along is good too (this is a link to one story in particular that is a really good example of this).

Whatever you do: do not just walk away. Do not just assume that someone else will stop or that the hijabi/Muslim can handle it on their own. Walking away in this situation makes you complicit in islamophobia and islamophobic hate crimes. Your reaction says just as much about you as it does about the person forcibly removing someone’s hijab or harassing them.

Another thing: I would not recommend calling the police unless the situation is particularly violent (if the hijabi/Muslim is physically harmed, bleeding, not responding, etc. then don’t hesitate to call, of course) and/or if it’s absolutely and completely dangerous for you to do anything else. Most of the time the police are just as islamophobic as our attackers and will not do anything to help us or will make it particularly difficult for us after they do.

“Remember that men gave women the right to vote!”

Warren and Tyagi demonstrated that buying common luxury items wasn’t the issue for most Americans. The problem was the fixed costs, the things that are difficult to cut back on. Housing, health care, and education cost the average family 75 percent of their discretionary income in the 2000s. The comparable figure in 1973: 50 percent. Indeed, studies demonstrate that the quickest way to land in bankruptcy court was not by buying the latest Apple computer but through medical expenses, job loss, foreclosure, and divorce.

He was in a college course for learning financial stuff, like how to invest wisely and shit like that because he was working for the local library system in their accounting department and had to be able to advise employees on how best to use the new investment options the library was offering.

So, the professor tells the class that they should ALWAYS be saving at least $25 per paycheck into a savings account even when it’s hard because that is the only way to get into the habit of saving and also the quickest way to having emergency cash, but it was better to do at least $50.

Not terrible advice, certainly, but… My friend said there was no way he could do that. The professor scoffed at him about high dollar luxuries like coffee shop drinks or name brand food or clothes or a computer or using the bus instead of a car.

Now, my friend did not own a car; he bike rode everywhere. His wife used the bus. Both he and his wife worked. He did not buy name brand food; he got cheap store brand food in bulk and only bought what he already knew would be used in his meal calendar planned for two months at a time. He brewed his own coffee at home. He kept his electricity usage to a minimum and taught his wife and children to do the same. His kids weren’t indulged with sweets or many toys. They didn’t buy candy or hobby items. They got the free local TV channels which they honestly only used to track weather on a salvaged TV they got from a friend. They only got new clothing when their kids grew out of the old or something of theirs was too worn to patch or repair and always from thrift shops. All their furniture was secondhand and usually picked cheap from garage sales. They made the agonizing decision to purchase a home instead of renting because the net savings over all were justifiable because the house payments were cheaper than renting. They budgeted for a total of ten dollars to be put in the savings account per month, not per paycheck.

My friend and his wife planned their expenditures down to the cent at least two months in advance to make sure they could make it. They constantly researched to find the absolute best value of every item they bought. Thankfully, my friend had the analytical mind for that kind of planning. No purchase ever went unremarked upon or without heavy consideration, no matter how small. They spent wisely and stretched every dollar as far as it could go.

My friend brought in a hand written copy of his budget (because he didn’t have a computer or printer and paper was an expense he built into the budget so he could do the planning) and showed it to the professor the next day in front of the class and asked, “Where do I squeeze out $25 per paycheck?”

The professor hemmed and hawed as he went through the budget. He kept starting to say something on one line or another and then would stop himself and go to the next. Sometimes he would say shit things like “where is your gas column?” “We don’t own a car.” He spent about twenty minutes staring at my friend’s carefully planned and managed budget and could not see a single place where it could be improved.

“I guess you can’t,” the professor said and was apparently so bitter about being wrong that my friend had to keep from laughing at him even though the entire experience had soured him something awful.

don’t tell me it doesn’t matter to make such jokes when “there’s no one around to get offended”. don’t tell me to let it fucking slide.

i know why a man makes a misogynist joke when trying to blend into a company of other men. i know why white people make racist jokes about their coworker who is a PoC, and how it’s going to affect their work.