My works and opinions about one thousand different things.
________________________________
The ‘Sea’ is a mf Nøkken
Have you heard Ina Wroldsen new track #SEA from the #HEX EP?
If not, well, you suck.
The song is a jem and her voice – which is also the (uncredited) one in Calvin Harris’ bop ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ – is pure pleasure: Ina is basically a mermaid that will soothe your weary soul with her charming chants.
Wear your best headphones and get the fuck out of your room: hit the road and preferably head towards the woods or, if you live near the coast, to the sea.
Sit in a quiet spot and press play on Spotify or whatever.
You’ll thank me later.
However, if you’re into visuals, then keep on reading, ’cause I have still some juicy stuff to tell.
Grab a glass of good wine and sit with your laptop in front of a wonderful view – whether it is a nice piece of ass or a fishermen’s village, it does not matter. This videoclip is an oneiric vision that taps into Norwegian folklore, and, not so surprisingly, Scandinavian aesthetics: it’s a tasty main course for the eyes and it deserves a lush side dish.
Filmed in Bodø, which is an urban area located just north of the Arctic Circle, this production is a feast for the eyes. It boasts some of Nordland’s impressive natural landscape, including its fjords and forests, as well as the hyper-Scandinavian interiors of Mount Rønvik’s Turisthytta, to create a perfect frame for its storyline.
Directed by Norwegian genius Thor Brenne, ‘SEA’ is a dark and sexy tale in the snow: it brings to life a deranged dancing Nøkken, a lethal and shape-shifting water spirit that lures humans to drown in the sea, and features some of the best vocals Ina has to offer.
With a killer hook and an hunting chorus, ‘SEA’ is indeed a spell you’d be eager to fall under.
n.b. all stills are taken from a preview video of the official videoclip for ‘SEA’.
______________________________
E-democracy is a human treasure, but beware of how you use it.
Over the past years, I’ve grown to believe that digital democracy is a human treasure. A dangerous and complicated one, but YES, a freaking H-U-M-A-N T-R-E-A-S-U-R-E.
Why? Well, I have some points.
First of all, as the past, present and future of human lives is inextricably linked, we cannot deny that everything is connected. In addition, this incredible situation is even more enhanced by nowadays’ information and communication technologies.
Secondly, HSM. Yeah, THIS High School Musical:
I’m not into all that post-apocalyptic crap that HSM was, OK?
But – and I’m writing a big, fat BUT, if there was something good about it, it was the message delivered by one of its songs:
We are all in this together.
The World is our home and it is an ever-changing one: each individual can have either a positive or a negative role in the World’s shifting, and every single role can be enhanced by our communities, which may indicate us where we should go – together. E-democracy can therefore be the instrument used by our societies to make us think and do something together.
Thirdly, we are nowadays facing an unprecedented crisis of epic proportions. Pick one huge problem and, BOOM, we have it: Climate change, Education disparity, shifting Economy, ongoing Wars and Genocides, Poverty, Pollution, Overpopulation, Mass-migration.
Basically, the World is a MESS; therefore, I mean, it is so obvious that we need to stick together.
Finally, e-democracy encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination.
Having been a Vice-President within a local JEF Section, I’ve become quite aware of the growing disconnection of people with politics. Therefore, I have started to believe that the only way to overcome this awful and widespread apathy is to push single individuals towards the Unknown through the use of clear and useful digital tools, making them easily discover by themselves the infinite possibilities democracy has for them.
However, I have to add something else.
Because there is also another thing that we cannot deny: a true democracy is one where every voice matters – EVERY VOICE.
Indeed, democracy is a form of government in which all adult citizens are presumed to be eligible to participate equally in politics and, as all forms of political pluralism, it is a freaking and dangerous mess, ’cause everybody has the right to speak, also those everyone wishes they were born mute.
E-democracy is even worse. It requires removing the barriers that persistently prevent some people from participating in the decisions that rule their lives, with the addition of eroding the digital filters of Social Media and Social Networks.
Some people just cannot stand the huge availability of information without letting in some fake-news and non-sense rants that quickly become viral.
Some people just lack the technological literacy to engage meaningfully online.
Some others cannot tell the difference between online and offline action.
Whatch ’em my very Italian Five Star Movement and League, dudes!
In addition to all of the above, in the past years we have seen that information and communication technologies have been used also for anti-democratic ends, such as the coercive control of population and the exasperation of populism and demagoguery.
Nations with heavy government censorship have also shown that e-democracy, when triggered, cannot be always utilized to its full extent and, unluckily, can be actually used as an instrument for repression.
No news when I say that modern democracies – when officially called “republics” – are generally more of a bunch of oligarchies where the people elect selected representatives who held all the power; these republics are not true democracies, where the people decide matters directly.
Those democracies are as good as gone.
More precisely, we left those babes down here:
Yup, that’s right. Just ‘few centuries’ in the past.
Back then, you would say that democracy was a MF easy thing: just few dudes discussing about a bunch of stuff in a very limited space.
However, and I’m sorry to break it to you, but they had WARS, SLAVES and GENDER INEQUALITY, so who fucking cares for easy democracy, when their society was a hot mess?
N E V E R M I N D.
A shift to e-democracy would resemble a change in the form of government as much as an improvement in the existing system, but before, we need to improve the tools used by e-democracy itself, such as high quality news and efficient political debates.
To do so, we need to educate ourselves on engaging meaningfully offline and THEN online. We need to improve our intellectual and practical skills, plus social, economic and political knowledge, in order to make the difference. We need to develop our abilities and debate with one another without bad criticism, but with the curiosity that lays ‘in the eyes of a child’.
At the end, although Internet has several attributes that encourage thinking about it as a democratic medium, e-democracy is still facing challenges and has to deal with a huge variety of problems connected to its pluralistic nature.
That’s why, digital democracy is a human treasure, but we should beware of how to use it before doing anything with it.
OKRRRRR?
______________________________
Zackie Oh è stata uccisa perché lottava per i diritti LGBTQ, o forse no.
Il 20 Ottobre 2018 mi ritrovo questa notizia di Internazionale sulla Home di Facebook.
Il titolo si riassume in una parola inglese molto carina: flashy, appariscente. Ma si dà il caso che esso sia anche un poco arruffone, e forse persino lecca-culo.
Tuttavia, cerchiamo di non sviare.
Diciamo le cose come stanno.
Zak Kostopoulos è stato ucciso da alcuni media greci che ancora oggi, nonostante le prove, continuano a vendere la storia del “drogato rapinatore che ha fatto una brutta fine e se l’è andata a cercare”.
Zak Kostopoulos è stato ucciso da 8 poliziotti che lo hanno placcato come un animale a qualche respiro dalla sua morte.
Parrebbe che pure il medico legale sia rimasto interdetto alla visione del morto, tanto da aver chiesto come mai l’ambulanza e la polizia gli avessero portato per la perizia un cadavere ancora ammanettato.
Zak Kostopoulos è stato ucciso da due uomini violenti che lo hanno preso a calci davanti a molti, moltissimi testimoni.
Entrambi già rilasciati in attesa di processo, hanno espresso rimorso per le loro azioni, affermando di aver agito per paura e legittima difesa di fronte a un uomo che, a detta loro e di alcuni presenti, impugnava un coltello.
Zak Kostopoulos è stato ucciso dall’indifferenza e dalla morbosa curiosità di passanti che, visto un uomo spaventato rinchiuso dentro una gioielleria, hanno pensato bene che questo si meritasse un linciaggio seduta stante piuttosto che un arresto e un processo, e hanno ritenuto persino opportuno che l’azione venisse ripresa e condivisa come un video qualunque.
C’è da dire, comunque, che grazie a moltissimi testimoni, a telecamere di sicurezza, ma anche a questi scemi del web o codardi in carne e ossa che dir si voglia, noi oggi sappiamo la verità.
Sappiamo che Zak Kostopoulos poco prima di morire è stato pure ricoperto di insulti e minacciato.
Sappiamo che, dalla posizione in cui si trovava, ha ritenuto che rifugiarsi all’interno della gioielleria antistante fosse l’unica soluzione per evitare di essere riempito di botte.
Sappiamo che non era strafatto e armato, ma solo fottutamente impaurito.
Sappiamo che non gliene fregava niente di collanine e bracciali, ma che voleva salvarsi la pelle.
Sappiamo che ha avuto sfortuna, perché a quanto pare il gioielliere lo avrebbe intrappolato dall’esterno, rendendogli impossibile nascondersi e anzi, mettendolo alla berlina appositamente per i suoi assalitori.
Sappiamo che, dopo vani tentativi di fuga forzata, Zak è riuscito a uscire da una vetrina rotta, dove ad aspettarlo c’erano solo i calci di due violenti, uno dei quali era proprio il gioielliere.
Sappiamo che Zak, dopo essere stato pestato, ha cercato di fuggire dai suoi assalitori caracollando a destra e a manca, riuscendo ad impugnare un coltello lasciato su uno dei tavolini esterni di un bar, quello dove apparentemente tutto sarebbe incominciato.
Sappiamo del blocco della polizia e di qualche altro calcio e manganellata, giusto per rinforzare il concetto di chi detiene il potere nella relazione di forza tra chi viene arrestato e chi arresta.
Sappiamo che è morto in questo modo ridicolo per diversi motivi, e forse pure per omofobia, anche se non ci è dato sapere la caratura degli insulti da lui ricevuti prima di morire.
Perché sì, magari nessuno dei presenti sapeva che Zak fosse un omosessuale dedicato ai diritti LGBTQIA+.
Quasi sicuramente nessuno immaginava fosse sieropositivo, o che sui social e nei locali gay di Atene fosse conosciuto come la drag queen Zackie Oh.
Magari.
Ma magari invece ci sbagliamo, e questo ragionevole (seppur sin troppo benevolo) dubbio non vale un fico secco.
Magari questa notizia è veramente solo l’ennesima dimostrazione della dilagante omofobia in certe società piegate e piagate da mille e più disfunzioni.
Forse è solo un’ulteriore esposizione della fragilità di certi uomini e di certe donne arroccati ancora su una ideologia di machismo vecchia come il mondo e superata come la legge del taglione.
In qualunque modo la si metta, il risultato è solo uno: Zak è morto per ignoranza abissale, indifferenza scioccante, e violenza gratuita.
Che poi lo abbiano chiamato “frocio” prima di spaccargli la testa importerà ben a pochi, questo io lo so.
A me però importa, e questo (per ora) mi basta: un’amara consapevolezza, non c’è che dire.
____________________________
An Unpopular Opinion About Modern Feminism.
2018, Women’s March in New York City.
Halsey, singer-songwriter and all-round inspirational human being, delivered a powerful poem about her own experiences with sexual assault and rape.
To me, she was simply the best out of all the Speakers for any Women’s March initiative ever done: I mean, what’s better than a young artist with a story that is as real as it gets?
She was not someone who blandly demonized men just cause, argh, they have dicks.
Hers was not an artificial account of victimization, but a picture of what it’s (sometimes) like being a woman. Better: what it’s like to be “shattered but not broken”.
Lost, but not gone.
I mean, I see a bigger picture in this poem. Definitely, I want to see a bigger picture: I need one. I crave it.
Yeah, that means that I do believe it’s more than just your biological sex that defines the kind of struggles you meet in your life, especially when referring to peeps living in the First World.
#sorrynotsorry
Let me explain my thoughts.
I’ll admit it’s not easy, to be a woman.
You are not getting a winning ticket to fucking Napa when you are born on this planet with a vagina between your legs.
I know. You know. We all know.
There’s a pattern, it’s systemic and we partially, as a social group, fed it to become a major problem. Men, but also women. Indeed, as some women in the past tried to fight against it, there were some others who literally demolished each attempt to make a change. Girls praising the patriarchy, living a life to be someone’s wife rather than being on their own. Women who talked shit of friends who had sex, who got pregnant, who then got an abortion or chose adoption. Moms that told their girls they were ugly, fat or sluts and that meant that no one would have ever loved them unless they were ready to change and fit the fuck in.
And I could go on for lines and lines to fill all your feed with women’s historically accurate commitment to destroy one another.
Am I a bad feminist when I say that some women have basked in men’s existence and complied to men’s visions out of laziness, rather than fear?
You can say that I would probably be a bad feminist, if only I were a feminist.
That brings me to the point where I have to explain where I stand.
As Margaret Atwood (yup, that Margaret Atwood) penned in her recent article “Am I a bad feminist?”,
my fundamental position is that women are human beings, with the full range of saintly and demonic behaviors this entails, including criminal ones.
As Men rape Women and Men rape Men, Women rape Men, too. And, you know, Women rape also other Women. And even if statistics prove that rape affects women disproportionately, I believe that the broadening of research and reports on actual cases show us that a big chunk of information is still missing and that we can’t keep on repeating the same narrative of holding all living men accountable for some fuckheads who deserve to rot in the trash while believing all women to be incapable of agency: it’s just insulting to women and to all those who can’t report their story.
Look at the full picture.
How can we possibly deny that we are becoming less of a social uplifting movement and more of a lynch-mob habit within our culture? We have no rule, except the one of barking louder and louder, until someone will hear us and understand us. We have no law, so we make one ourselves to fit our needs and reclaim our spot in the society. We don’t give a fuck of our broken legal system: we just throw it away and replace it with something that we made for ourselves and we claim it will probably fit to others, too, even if we are not really sure of it. We write tweets saying “Homeboy is canceled”, “insert-a-famous-name-in-Hollywood is canceled”, and we fucking believe that by “canceling” them, fuckers will just disappear.
We think,
Why should we heal and repair, when we can just flip the fuck out of this coin and have a new world?,
am I right?
This is ridiculous. Ridiculous.
To me, it’s a self-entitled vision that totally lacks perspective. That erases completely the fact that, in order to change the society, you have to educate, challenge and push first and foremost the morally ambiguous individuals that actually form it.
Without this work “on” the people, you can’t force or enforce a system “for” the people.
You can’t create a universal movement when you miss to include everybody in the dialogue.
For example, you can’t “cancel” rapists: the only thing that you can do is to outnumber them by becoming a “woke society” where sex is not demonized or instrumental for power and boys and girls, all of them, get to choose what they want and how they want it and get to speak their mind.
And again, about inclusion.
Jeez, how can we, White Western Women, complain of not having a voice at all, when there are Women of color, transgender and transsexuals, but also sex workers and all other kinds and colors of the crayon box of gender, identity and ethnicity, who actually live in the shadow of our modern, non-intersectional and hyper-Caucasian feminism?
How can we praise Hollywood for taking a stand after years of it living off sex and work exploitation, silence and denial?
How can we be proud of ourselves when, instead of using the power we are gaining either to educate ourselves or create an inclusive space for everybody to share, we are just pushing an hate-agenda towards a huge chunk of our society and missing some vital people in our very movement?
Can we push for a society where everyone is held accountable? Not just creepy dudes, but also nice, artsy and “sexy” ones; not just violent women, but also gentle humanitarians or lovely mothers; not just boys, but also girls.
Finally, how can we create something good when we are only able to believe in obliteration?
alexis from da blog 