Exposure to the dark web, 4chan and sex, violence, and gore

My ability to tolerate other people and their shitness is amazing. Actually, my ability to tolerate the stupidity and ignorance of worldwide society is amazing. If you've actually read my previous posts, you'll know I've had a lifetime of training for this. And not just because I've had to deal with atavistic adults in my personal and professional realm, but because I used to be an avid commenter on contentious news articles and intrepid explorer of the dark web. You might laugh but the latter is mostly represented by 4chan (being the springboard to even darker material), which I used to check up on a lot to smirk at politically incorrect jokes, many of which would have broken provisions in the Racial Discrimination Act/your souls. But I also go on to analyse the fascinating psyche, attitudes, opinions and beliefs of this much derided and hormonally imbalanced community.

The reason why 4chan is interesting to me is because it is a no-holds barred communication platform. Under anonymity, people say what they really think and feel. And they can be as ragey as they want. Obviously, there's a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia etc. that's prevalent on the threads, but being aware of how ingrained these attitudes are among certain 'lowlifes' of our communities, and how secretly they hold onto these attitudes, is in itself a highly valuable sociological insight. If you can handle the porn and shitposting, sometimes you do come across some very serious and personal stories about family, romance, academia... usually, these are really sad stories from lonely and depressed people who have nobody else to talk to. Being able to look through this window into another person's most deeply held fears, insecurities, or experiences, is something that I think most of us would find interesting to read. And it does make you a little bit wiser when interacting with other people. You never know what sort of pain others are going through, and if you go into 4chan with full awareness of its nature, you (ironically) become more attuned to the effects of bullying, family violence, and depression.

Secondly, 4chan is the birthplace of many of the internet's greatest urban legends, catchphrases, memes and global online movements, including the now infamous hacktvisit group, Anonymous. I mean, how can you resist? Even if I weren't a journalist and an intensely curious/voyeuristic person, I'd still be like 'whoaaa, this is so cool, I'm actually watching people talk about how they're going to take down Sony'. And then days later, millions of Sony accounts get hacked, causing a worldwide shitstorm. The Sony hacks were stupid, but what was exhilarating was watching the progression of individual hackers and self-proclaimed shitlords come together online for the first time and hatch a global-scale rebellion, against a powerful corporation, a politician, or just some celebrity they don't like (e.g. Justin Bieber/Taylor Swift). It's not something you get to see every day within the peeling confines of your staid, quotidian lecture theatres - teenagers and college students manipulating big agendas. 

Apart from 4chan, I frequently browse LiveLeak, which is a video-hosting website for uncensored content that wouldn't be available to find anywhere else. LiveLeak is the sort of place you go to find the latest uncensored videos of police brutality against black people, the immediate aftermath of an airstrike hitting and maiming Syrian children, the wanton bashing of a woman to death inside a McDonald's located in a bad part of China, gang fights between members of different Colombian drug syndicates, scenes of people being shot during the Paris Attacks, a couple of cruel adolescents in Scotland pissing on a classmate in the schoolyard... It's where you go if you want to stare the cold hard truth of humanity in the face. And accept human nature as it is.

It would sound very sad and very pathetic if I were to just go up to a stranger, or even a friend, and be like 'yeah, I grew up surfing 4chan, LiveLeak, Encyclopedia Dramatica...'. 4chan in particular, obviously has a reputation for being 'the asshole of the internet' and a place where pubescent idiots congregate. But personally, and almost hilariously, I'm a better person for it. I know exactly how fucked up people can be. I know exactly the sort of suffering humans willingly inflict upon each other. And in knowing, seeing, and virtually sensing the full brunt of bigotry, pain and physical or sexual violence around the world, I know that I analyse things more clear-sightedly, and more pragmatically or realistically than other people. 

I see beyond the surface of mainstream media. I learn to question what I'm reading and not simply accept versions of the 'truth' espoused by outlets like The New York Times or The Guardian, which can be ridiculously leftist; CNN, which is journalism's sobriquet for 'international tabloid'; NowThis, whose popular Facebook videos are edited in ways that are often grossly and actively manipulative (please for the love of god treat NowThis as an editorial, not a news source); New Statesman and many other British news publications, (at least in the past) that are dominated by Eton and Harrow educated male editorialists; and well, every media publication because every writer comes with their own bias. Including me, though I try to be as balanced and self-aware as possible. 

Additionally, because I was exposed to a lot of violent imagery when I was young (e.g. my parents making me watch a film on The Nanking Massacre when I was 15 so I got to see dead babies on the street and women being raped by sticks and other foreign objects) is an absolutely pivotal reason why I feel so passionately about human rights and just generally, stories of injustice, and why I chose to pursue journalism and law. When you're so young, and you see a dead boy who was bashed so violently by KKK sympathisers that his entire front face had caved in (Emmett Till), or the puny hunched figure of an emaciated Sudanese baby crawling inches away from a lingering vulture (Kevin Carter's 1994 Pulitzer winning photo), you. Fucking. Change. There was no way I could fathom a future career in finance, banking, or some other blood-sucking industry that won't somehow allow me to address the wrongness I saw in society. Just by the way, I think the finance/banking industry is one giant corrupt as fuck dickhead that needs to be castrated or at least sterilised by some hard-hitting laws. I seriously wouldn't mind going all Saw 1 on some of Wall Street. And I can't help feeling physical disgust towards all my peers who worship Big Banks and Investment Bankers. 

Anyway, the last thing I have to say is that going on all these sites and witnessing or partaking in these brutally honest online exchanges - I've learnt to listen and be empathetic, and soft when I need to be, but savage as fuck when the time beckons. Or perhaps I don't need to be 'savage as fuck', but I've learnt a lot about how to approach people, to stand up for myself tactfully, to learn when to hold back from spraying somebody with expletives or vocabulary they don't understand, to embrace machiavellian social strategy (hitherto only in work life) like winning over the loyalties of your enemies' friends and subsequently overturning power dynamics (lawl), and just in general, being a more realistic and socially attuned person. Also, thanks to that one friend I have who, purely by me observing her, taught me how to be much more 'life smart'/street-smart. 

Having said that, this was just my personal experience, and more likely, those who surfed 4chan as adolescents turn out more immature than mature. But yes, it is certainly a fascinating world. 

Harvard professors teach you how to remember the Chinese Dynasties with song

This is me.  At dinner.  With my mum.
Not even joking.

This article is another example of how charity groups are bashed for overhead:

Here Are the Most Overpaid Charity CEOs in America

COMMENTS:

quixotic226UHamilton Nolan

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You know, there's this misconception that people who work at nonprofits should essentially accept being paid less than market value for their skillset. I couldn't say which of these I do think are overpaid; however, this is one of the serious issues facing nonprofits today: that the majority of the public thinks that they should spend every dollar directly on services, and not on things defined as "overhead" - which might include staff salary, or basic expenses that allow the business to operate.

In order to make an impact, nonprofits need highly skilled management. Over $1 million may be high, but without looking at the salary within the context of impact, overall budget, etc., it's really difficult to just flatly state they're overpaid.

And it really is worth noting how much less these salaries are than for-profit counterparts. Is it better for them to have ridiculous salaries because they aren't accepting public money, even as they treat their workers poorly? What about the nonprofits who primarily receive individual contributions - do they deserve the same scrutiny? What about nonprofits who earn a large percentage of their revenue?

I typically like your posts, Hamilton, but I'm kind of tired of the oversimplified nonprofit criticism. Yesterday 2:04pm

kateperegrinateUquixotic226

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I've worked at a non-profit for 14 years, and in my experience, a lot of public expect the majority of work to be done by volunteers, not paid staff.

I just don't understand that mentality — I have to pay my bills just like everyone else, so why shouldn't I expect to have salary and benefits similar to someone doing the same work in the for-profit sector? Yesterday 2:14pm

pmarbleUquixotic226

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There was a pretty popular Ted talk this year that made many of the same points. By a guy who had been hugely successful at organizing AIDS rides and then saw it all fall apart because of this narrow thinking. You may have seen it, but if not, I highly recommend it.Yesterday 2:28pm

Asian actors in Hollywood; Misogyny in the gaming community

"A Leading Man" Depicts The Asian Male Actors Struggle In Hollywood - Destroy to Rebuild, 28/12/2012

More Asians actors and actresses in Hollywood pls.

The above link goes to an old post but one that touches on an ongoing issue that doesn't seem to be getting much attention from the mainstream press.  'A Leading Man' is a movie about a good looking Asian American guy named GQ (yes, we all thought of the magazine) who is an actor trying to make it big in Hollywood but struggling to break through the 'bamboo ceiling', a barrier that is described by Lucy Liu as being rejected by Hollywood for not being Asian enough or not being American enough.  And thus, with no strong independent leading roles given to Asians, they are typecast all the time.  You're always playing the 'funny chink' or some martial arts expert.  Those who don't make it into film get by in LA doing advertisements, as GQ seems to be doing in one shot as he takes a huge bite out from a six inch subway.  But this constant struggle with Hollywood's 'quiet racism' takes a toll on GQ, who starts to get really pissed off at the lack of dignity he is given in his roles, as well as the lack of recognition he gets as a real actor.

So in conclusion, it's a movie about how Asian American actors are stuck in an awkward third space that nobody else recognises as a problem in the film industry.

Even now, most Asian American actors and actresses end up playing supporting roles or are eschewed completely for an all-white main cast.  Actors end up playing the stereotypical Kung Fu/Karate guy (Jet Li, Lee Byung-hu), a villainous bastard (Will Yun Lee in Red Dawn) or a comical sidekick (Jay Chow in The Green Hornet, Aaron Yoo in Disturbia).  Actresses get typecast as an exotic love interest (Katie Leung as Cho Chang in HP Jamie Chung in The Hangover II), a kickass karate/kung fu girl (Rinko Kikuchi in Pacific Rim, Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels, Maggie Q in Nikita, Rila Fukushima in The Wolverine - NEED I SAY MORE?) or a prudish college room-mate who is conservative and likes to stick with her 'Asian sisters' (Pitch Perfect).

Even Justin Chon, who was supposed to be the central character of '21 and Over' became conspicuously sidelined by Skylar Astin and Miles Teller, whom the movie was really focused on.  I was disappointed but hey - at least he got cast?  Even if he were cast as that small funny Asian guy with the stereotypical 'YOU MUST BE A DOCTOR OR GET OUT OF MY HOUSE' sort of dad...

This is why I'm really looking forward to seeing Jamie Chung in her new movie Eden.  It's based on a true story about a Korean-American girl who gets kidnapped and forced into becoming a sex slave, so yeah, there really was no choice but to cast an Asian actress.  But I'm still really excited to see Jamie Chung get more screen time and being able to play a strong leading role in a Hollywood film.  It's still quite a novelty and I really hope I can see more Asians being given non-typecast roles.  Go Jamie.

Every Misogynistic Argument You've Ever Heard About Video Games - Jezebel, 12/7/13

Summary   

An opinion piece posted by UBERTROUT on feminist website/forum Jezebel that seeks to own every elitist male gamer who has argued the following:

"Games aren't marketed to women because women don't play games.""Women aren't REAL gamers, they're just casuals.""Anyone who came to video games late isn't a REAL gamer.""Publishers don't make games with female protagonists because they wouldn't sell. Men don't want to play a female character because then they might kiss a dude and that'd be gay."

The piece's conclusion:

So to anyone who has ever made one of these arguments: you too can be saved from being an asshat. Just, y'know, stop making these arguments. Have a tiny bit of empathy for people who aren't you, and ask yourself — REALLY ask yourself — if the problem isn't women playing games, but the men who are too scared to share their toys with the scary, unknowable ladypersons.

Movie: 'Finding Mr. Right' - teaching Chinese women that love matters more than money

Finding Mr. Right is an unfortunate C-grade appellation for a good movie with legitimate feels and a very important message for young Chinese women in today's age: money can't buy you happiness.

Context.

As much of a platitude as that is, anyone who knows anything about contemporary China will recognise how notoriously materialistic and superficial women have become in dating and courtship.  "I would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle" is an infamous quote uttered by 22 year old Ma Nuo on China's top TV dating show after a suitor asked her if she would ride on a bicycle with him on a date.  These words have since become emblematic of the shallowness of modern Chinese women and a sad reflection of the society they live in.  


For a movie which so effectively attacks that culture, the title 'Finding Mr. Right' is like taking a massive stinkin' shit and then pissing all over the movie's credibility.  It makes the movie sound generic and dumb and shallow when it's much more sophisticated than all other Chinese rom-coms.  Admittedly, some characters were cartoonish and the ending was corny as but it's better to think of it as a fable - strong for its moral lesson and likeable simplicity.

I liked it because it sounds like such an innocuous, forgettable rom-com when really, it makes such a damning criticism of the superficial attitudes which permeate the social scene of metropolitan China: the growing obsession with money 钱, social status 社会地位and connections - 关系.

There are no shallow love triangles; no drop dead gorgeous hunks running around with roses and chocolates; none of that nauseating Katherine Heigl desperation being channelled by the protagonist as so often seen in rom-coms.

Instead, it focuses more on family interaction than dating, while striking a great balance between funny and serious social commentary.  It seems hard but director Xialu Xue manages to do it with sufficient skill, ringing the alarm bell loud and clear:  you may choose a man because he can afford you Chanel and Hermes, but is it worth it if your life ends up devoid of true love and happiness?  

Choosing a man for his financial assets rather than true love is something most Chinese women know is not right but they do it anyway, predominantly because of pressure from their family which is worsened by long-standing socio-economic conditions - soaring prices of real estate in China, discrimination against women in the workplace, the tradition of the man being the breadwinner etc.  It has come to the point where some young women don't believe that love is a concomitant factor in marriage.  What is marriage but just another of life's stepping stones?

Story.

The story is mainly centred around a beautiful young woman named Wen Jiajia, played by TANG WEI.  You may remember her from Ang Lee's much lauded espionage thriller Lust, Caution.  You may also remember loads of explicit sex in that movie and that Tang Wei alone was freaking blacklisted and effectively banished from the industry for two years by Chinese authorities.  This was despite the fact that it garnered rave reviews internationally and had people talking about her as potential Oscar material.  I haven't actually seen the whole thing but I was pissed off that she, the brilliant newcomer, was banned while Tony Leung, the main guy, got away scot free.  JEZUZ.

Wen, who speaks really shitty no English, first appears in the movie as a glamorous, spoilt, obnoxious, bossy, demanding, massive freaking bitch. She's a mistress.  And she's pregnant.  Like in reality, so many Chinese mistresses who get knocked up by their sugar daddies (干爹) end up jetting off to America to give birth.  Reasons:

1. Hide the child from authorities cos one child policy
2. Hide secret family from wife
3. Allow the child to get a green card to foreign citizenship

So she ends up in a suburban house for pregnant Chinese women, driven there by a reticent ex-doctor named Frank who has resorted partly to chauffeuring these women as a livelihood.  At first, Wen bullies Frank for being an incompetent chauffeur and tries to buy off the best room in the house as well as pay the lady who runs it to wash her clothes and cook ewwww seafood.  To Wen, whom has been spoilt by her lover with a continuous supply of shiny designer bags and an unlimited credit card, anything can be solved with cash.

Also keep in mind that such houses do exist in America and are considered illegal because the women they profit off are not actually travelling to America for 'pleasure'.  Yes, they lied.  They're just there to do all their shady stuff and get an American citizenship for their kid.

Meanwhile, we discover that the adorably timid Frank is actually a very kind-hearted father whose wife, a hugely successful businesswoman who now lives in a giannnnnnnnnnnnt colonial style mansion with wtf a Rolls Royce (??) in the front yard, had left him.  It is strongly suggested that she did so because her career had taken off and his has not.  She wanted someone better.  Someone who could match her.  Frank, despite being a well respected surgeon back in China who even Wen's father once desperately sought treatment from, could not practice in America until he passed the board, something he put off so he could look after his daughter while his wife went to work.

The contrast between these two main characters is something my dad really noticed and enjoyed about this movie because it highlighted the cultural differences between east and west, demonstrating the way women were not socially repressed in America and able to turn the tables on their husbands.  In China, the man is generally perceived to be the breadwinner and the wife.... a dutiful wife, lul, a supporting domestic figure.   And it's always the man who leaves his partner to find someone younger and prettier.  Suddenly, the film is like  HOMG LOOK AT THIS SHIT.  Here's a guy who volunteered to be a stay at home father and then was flung aside by his wife for someone richer and higher up the social ladder because he's not good enough.  And the notion of the wife as the breadwinner?

"Unthinkable," my dad said., "very embarrassing for men in China, even today."

SIXTY per cent of Chinese officials who come under investigation for corruption are also keeping full-time mistresses, according to a study by the Renmin University of China.

          - The Australian 

Moreover, my dad used to work for the Chinese government and when he went off to play tennis with his mates, there would always be one or two guys who'd show up with a pretty young girl - their mistress.  These men drank.  They smoked.  They gambled.  They were openly sexist. It would be unsurprising if some of them had engaged in corrupt practices.  My dad was the only one who steered away from these 'conventions'.  He and my aunt said a rich and powerful Chinese man who doesn't have a mistress is a social anomaly.

Most Critics who reviewed this movie and don't understand its contextual background are obviously perplexed at why a 'generic' rom com has been such a massive hit at the Chinese box office.  What they don't know is how institutionalised cheating is among wealthy and even middle class Chinese and the growing frustrations of Chinese women who feel like they must accept the status quo because they have no ability to change the power imbalance between men and women. It's a highly contentious issue and by attacking it head on from the perspective of the mistress, whom everyone is automatically positioned to hate, the director really struck a chord with Chinese audiences.

Significantly, Frank represents a reversal of these roles in a democratic western environment - he represents change:  it is possible to find a man who will sacrifice his career for family - it is possible to find a man who will respect you and truly love you, while women can also achieve great things and earn the recognition and respect they deserve.  And yet! women can also exhibit gross avarice for wealth and social status, taking love for granted and neglecting their partner.  It's not just misogynistic Chinese men who are capable of such selfishness.  And so the key principle to take away is that neither women nor men, who are equals, should ever treat their partners like an unimportant piece of shit.  Pretty much.

As the movie progresses, the predictable happens.  By interacting with Frank and his daughter, Wen begins to realise what having a family and true love really means.  An enjoyable and what my dad called a "nuanced" performance from Tang Wei sees Wen transform from the materialistic fobby brat to a humble woman who realises how meaningless money really is in her life, especially when her credit card suddenly stops working because her lover is being investigated for corruption - another veiled criticism of Chinese society.   Pregnant in America, knowing little English and without any money, Wen has to start working.  And Frank is always there to support her.

In comparison, I loved how we never saw Wen's lover appear on screen but were only able to hear his voice when she talks to him through the phone - a virtual lover.  He would console her, promise her he'd visit but these promises were always broken and inadequately compensated by another LV bag sent via mail.  His physical absence, especially during the penultimate scenes where she flies back to China for one last crack at a life with her original lover are a devastating reality for those women who think that being a mistress of a rich man is a satisfying expedition to happiness.

In those scenes, Wen walks around an apartment where the huge rooms are literally gold and filled with ostentatiously expensive Louis XIV furniture.  The camera pans across the rooms and shows us how utterly magnificent the apartment is... and yet, it's an airy, empty place - a home completely devoid of love and warmth.  We knew that she was reluctant to fly back but now she has truly recognised how pathetic her life has become.

With tears streaming down her face, Wen leaves a life of LV bags and Mercs and carves out a happier life in America as a single mother, starting her own cooking blog and learning how to fix her own broken taps (literally).  Of course, you get your happy ending with Frank, which is what audiences want but which I actually disliked because it ultimately perpetuates the idea that a woman needs a man to be happy.  Wow I sound like a feminist.

The great thing about this movie is that it doesn't demonise Wen because she is a mistress and thus doesn't exacerbate the current rifts among Chinese women.  It demonises Chinese society for encouraging spoilt, selfish and superficial behaviour, with Wen symbolising this perfectly at the beginning with her obnoxious tantrums and money-solves-all attitude.  Because she is able to improve, the movie shows that China too can change.

Overall, Finding Mr. Right is a deeper movie than its rom-com genre paints it as and would mean much more to a Chinese audience than audiences elsewhere.  Not quite an award winning masterpiece but an effective and simple caveat for Chinese women to look beyond the ¥¥¥ and perhaps more implicitly, strive to break the social conventions that have suppressed them for so long by empowering themselves through their own achievements.