Posts tagged amen
Just A Fangirl
The Art and Random Musings of Louvette Solidum-Escuadro
"It's just the Internet, right?"
I found this article by Christopher Gibson and simply had to share it, because it speaks directly to my beliefs about interaction on the internet.
There is no such thing as “it’s just the internet”. It’s an utter nothing concept perpetuated by cowards who want an excuse for the actions they are caught out for.
Behind the modems and screens we’re all real people, and it makes me sad to see the number of people who will be deliberately cruel to others purely because they’re given some form of false courage by that ever so thin veil of apparent anonymity the internet provides. I know for a fact 99% of those people wouldn’t say anything of the sort were they face to face with their victim - and they certainly wouldn’t so much as squeak if they thought other people would see their true colours as a result.
And yet people constantly make that excuse. Or my other favourite - “you can’t judge someone by how they behave on the internet in real life.”
What is this nonsense? OF COURSE you can. If you’re prepared to be cruel and spiteful over the internet, then those qualities must be a part of your inherent nature. The internet isn’t sentient - it won’t turn you inot something you’re not. It’s just yet another excuse some very self-entitled individuals make for their own bullying behaviour and the behaviour of others.
Treat other people how you’d like to be treated - we’re all taught that as we’re growing up. I fail to understand why that concept disappears for some once they’re behind a keyboard and a modem.
(bolding mine)
Good manners cost nothing.
This photograph is 40 years old.
Let that sink in for a moment.
It’s called “The Blue Marble”, and it was taken by the crew of Apollo 17 as they looked back on their home on their way to the Moon, exactly 40 years and three days ago.
You’ve probably seen this photo a few times. It’s inspired many modern replicates, from this year’s “Blue Marble 2012” to the just-released view of Earth at night, the “Black Marble”. It’s understandably hard to pick a favorite. Look at how wonderful they all are:
For me, it’s not a tough decision. Blue Marble 1972 was the first, and it is the finest in my heart. It may not have the detailed resolution, or the rich color, or the exotic shading that comes from a modern digital composite image drawn from the whole electromagnetic spectrum. But it marks a pivotal moment in mankind’s history.
Apollo 17 wasn’t the first mission to the Moon, of course. It was the last. That’s what makes this photo so special. These pioneers, these explorers, they turned their Hasselblads back toward home and snapped this shot. These interplanetary adventurers (the Moon likely used to be a dwarf planet, so they’ve earned the title) put our existence in perspective with one click.
A human being hasn’t seen this sight with the naked eye since 1972. The International Space Station doesn’t orbit far enough from Earth to see anything but curved edges. Same with the shuttle. Perhaps Curiosity, had its eye been somehow deployed in mid-flight, could have turned back to see where it came from. But alas, no.
I’m happy with the images of Earth that our satellites send back. Not one, but two of them grace my iPhone’s wallpapers (“Aqua” and “Black” marbles, if you’re interested), that phone that has more computing power than the entire spacecraft this photo was taken from. But I want another human being to see our Earth from this vantage point.
When this image came back to Earth, people stopped for a moment, however brief, in the midst of wars Cold and hot, to realize this is our home. Our home. Maybe a military officer somewhere thought twice about dropping bombs that day. Maybe a parent showed it to their kids before bed instead of sitting silently in front of the TV. Maybe someone who was alive when the Wright brothers flew for the first time smiled at how far we’d come.
I don’t want this to be the last time we feel those things. Let’s go take another picture.
needed this today! Thank you, Marlo!!
(Source: marlomeekins, via missl0nelyhearts)
The ‘Fake Geek Girl’ has got to go
And by that I mean the whole stupid, foolhardy concept. I’ve said before that if you really believe there’s a horde of attractive women faking interest in nerdy things just to get your attention, you have a massive case of unwarranted self-importance, and I still believe that. I also believe you’re incredible insecure, and threatened by some ‘enemy’ who is no such thing.
The world of comic books, sci-fi, videogames, all these things, is no longer a boy’s club with a “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” banner hanging on the door, and it never should have been (indeed, I suspect it never really WAS but for this very idea - girls aren’t REAL nerds, especially attractive ones! And then the internet came up and holy shit look, women came out in droves to discuss their interest in these things, going back to the 1980s and earlier like the rest of us). If you insist somehow that it should be, that you should act as some kind of gatekeeper - he is a real nerd, she is not - then quite frankly you are just one of the saddest specimens we have to offer. Many of us grew up being picked on for having a non-mainstream interest, and now that this interest is spreading you attack and snarl and demean and exclude instead of actually being happy that you have new people to share these wonderful interests with.
You complain about games being rehashes, comic book reboots that are just retreads, but actively keep out the new blood and perspectives that could actually offer something you haven’t seen or considered before.
You demean women who cosplay as attention seekers in skimpy outfits, ignoring that they didn’t create those outfits, WE did.
Who cares if someone’s exposure and love for The Avengers came from the movie, and not the comics first?
Who cares if someone plays Angry Birds more than Dark Souls? What, you never fucking played Tetris? Don’t give me that non-game crap.
Oh no, she watches Thor because he’s tall blonde and built like a brick shithouse and isn’t afraid to comment that the guy’s a stud and so’s his brother? Yeah, because you read Tarot: Witch of the Rose for the riveting storytelling and characterization, right?
Oh no, someone’s writing fanfic about Tony Stark and Steve Rogers buttfucking! What a demeaning thing to do to the characters, you say as browsing the pictures I’ve been hired to draw of the women of X-Men having a lesbian orgy.
At the core of it all, for some insane reason, you are so threatened by the presence of women in your interests that you insult, you cajole, you harrass, and you embarrass the rest of us who are just happy to share. You slam women who are attractive and cosplay as NOT REAL NERDS, THEY’RE PREYING ON US POOR WIDDLE MENZ! And when they’re not as attractive as you’d like, you slam them for not meeting your standards. Or you slam them for daring not to give you the time of day when you grope and harass and hit on them. And if you look like me while doing it, that’s even more hilariously hypocritical and out of touch with reality. She’s not there for YOU, bro.
She’s not there for you.
She’s not there for you.
Let that sink in, guys.
She’s not there for you.
She’s not dressing up for you.
She’s not interested in comics for you.
She’s not playing games for you.
She’s. Not. There. For. You.
You are not the center of the universe, you never were and you never SHOULD be. It’s time to share your toys, guys. It’s time to be more mature. It’s time to drop the entitled attitude that insists our standards and our standards alone should be met. You do not hold the keys to the kingdom, for the kingdom has no lock.
My friend Kat - a geek with a cool job making awesome videogames like NFS The Run and mad cosplay skills - said something on Twitter earlier that summed the whole Fake Geek Girl BS up perfectly;
“That’s just it- “fake geek girls” DO NOT EXIST. There are only WOMEN WITH VARYING LEVELS OF INTEREST IN DIFFERENT HOBBIES.”
Many of the women cosplaying at these conventions probably know more about the current state of comics than I do, but I’ll never be asked to prove my nerd cred if I roll up in a Superman tee - and I haven’t bought an issue since the New 52 launched.
Fucking afford them the same courtesy. Don’t be a douchebag.
(via soiscrewedmycompanions)
(Source: whisker-diaries, via mariahgem)
This is not my problem alone. I wouldn’t make a huge public fuss about this if it was my singular problem. There are a great deal of content creators who have their work hosted on imgur without any way of claiming it.
Maybe I took some silly pictures with my dog and you don’t feel that is worth anything. But their are people who spend hours, days, weeks creating amazing art, beautiful photography, or hilarious web comics. Imgur has no attribution system. Even 9GAG has an attribution system. No one uses it, but at least they have it. Canvas has a google image search feature built into their system so you can try to track down the creator. But with imgur, content creators can either have the image deleted and look like an asshole… or they can just accept it. They can’t contact imgur and say, “Hey, I don’t mind you sharing my image, but could you attribute that to me?”
As an experiment I posted my work on imgur and reddit. It reached the number 1 spot on the front page.
Here is the view count on imgur.
Here are the visits my imgur/reddit post generated for my site.
Content creators want their work to be shared. Not because we are greedy money grubbing bastards, but because we want to entertain, inspire, or move you. The money aspect is to keep us in business. It does not buy us sports cars. It pays for food and rent. In my case, quite a few dog toys.
Our work does not cost our audience anything. We freely give it to the gods of the internet. All we ask is that if you know we made it, put a link at the bottom that leads to our website.
Simple attribution. That’s all.
“Curious Night” - Illustration by Sam Spratt
Two tributes with one piece. Usually I don’t like paragraphs paired with my work, but after little sleep working on this, I’m leaving this excerpt from Discover Magazine which says it better than I ever could:
“The news these days is filled with polarization, with hate, with fear, with ignorance. But while these feelings are a part of us, and always will be, they neither dominate nor define us. Not if we don’t let them. When we reach, when we explore, when we’re curious – that’s when we’re at our best. We can learn about the world around us, the Universe around us. It doesn’t divide us, or separate us, or create artificial and wholly made-up barriers between us. As we saw on Twitter, at New York Times Square where hundreds of people watched the landing live, and all over the world: science and exploration bind us together. Science makes the world a better place, and it makes us better people.It’s what we can do, and what we must do.”
(via sammei)
