Losers Club As Albums 3/7

American Psycho Cutscene Idea

Based on a convo with me and my moot @annabellelee1849 so enjoy I guess

So I was listening to O’ Superman, Mitskis why didn’t you stop me? and Melanies Sippy cup I couldn’t help but think this might’ve been a scene in the book but also a cut scene from a movie that might’ve been in the directors cut.

It starts with Patrick killing and dismembering a prostitute and after he’s done he’s on barbiturates and soon he tries to stay awake but he accidentally falls asleep

And he soon wakes up in his childhood living room and he’s now 8-10 years old again. He finds himself wondering why he’s here when his mom comes in and asks how her baby boys doing. He asks his mom what he’s doing here but she just doesn’t hear him and gives him a sweet treat and asks how his day has been and soon she just looks at him while still smiling eyes wide. But it’s not her smile he remembers. It’s uncanny and lifeless at best but he just asks what she’s doing. It’s then she asks why he murdered that girl. It’s then Patrick soon cries and tells his mom he didn’t mean to but his mom keeps asking and it’s when he screams I don’t know he wakes up.

But he can’t move. And no matter how hard he tries he can’t move. It’s then he sees a shadow in the corner of his room and he threatens the intruder but he soon hears a voice come out of him. Saying it missed him. Patrick recognizes it as his mothers.

But it sounds distorted and way too broken to be hers. Like a broken vinyl.

But he still tries to call out to her.

And when his mom walks towards him Patrick sees that she’s not looking alive anymore.

She looks dead. But not like a rotting body that he’s used to seeing. It’s more like a fresh corpse at a morgue. And no matter what she comes and cradles his head closer and calls him her baby boy no matter what. And it’s there Patrick begins silently crying while this corpse of his mom wipes them away and says it knows he didn’t mean to kill that poor girl

And it’s then Patrick wakes up.

He looks around breathing heavily and soon can’t sleep now so he goes to his living room to watch the slasher films he’s rented but

He still wonders

If that was his mom. Or was it just his hallucinations

For all the people in my last post about Percy Jackson saying “oh wick wiordan a white man is twying!!!!!!😫😫😫😫😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺🥺

As a Muslim girl, I feel obligated to let people know what I think about Rick Riordan’s post about Samirah. Don’t add on unless you’re a Muslim or Iraqi, because if you aren’t you don’t get to decide how Muslims should be represented.

Like many of my characters, Samirah was inspired by former students of mine. Over the course of my middle school teaching career, I worked with dozens of Muslim students and their families, representing the expanse of the Muslim world and both Shia and Sunni traditions. One of my most poignant memories about the September 11, 2001, attack of the World Trade Center was when a Muslima student burst into tears when she heard the news – not just because it was horrific, but also because she knew what it meant for her, her family, her faith. She had unwillingly become an ambassador to everyone she knew who, would have questions about how this attack happened and why the perpetrators called themselves “Muslim.” Her life had just become exponentially more difficult because of factors completely beyond her control. It was not right. It was not fair. And I wasn’t sure how to comfort or support her.

You’re saying that you based Samirah off middle school students. Students who are scrutinized by others because of their religion and desperate to fit in. When I was in seventh grade, I did my best to act like everyone else and not be alienated. Middle school students are not a reliable source. Also, why would you bring up 9/11 in the first paragraph? You literally said that you associate that traumatic event with Muslims.

During the following years, I tried to be especially attuned to the needs of my Muslim students. I dealt with 9/11 the same way I deal with most things: by reading and learning more. When I taught world religions in social studies, I would talk to my Muslim students about Islam to make sure I was representing their experience correctly. They taught me quite a bit, which eventually contributed to my depiction of Samirah al-Abbas. As always, though, where I have made mistakes in my understanding, those mistakes are wholly on me.

One again, these are middle school students. They aren’t the most reliable source, especially since I’m pretty sure at that age most of them don’t know as much about Islam as adults. I used to go to my mom a lot with questions about Islam.

What did I read for research? I have read five different English interpretations of the Qur’an. (I understand the message is inseparable from the original Arabic, so it cannot be considered ‘translated’). I have read the entirety of the Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim hadith collections. I’ve read three biographies of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) and well over a dozen books about the history of Islam and modern Islam. I took a six-week course in Arabic. (I was not very good at it, but I found it fascinating). I fasted the month of Ramadan in solidarity with my students. I even memorized some of the surahs in Arabic because I found the poetry beautiful. (They’re a little rusty now, I’ll admit, but I can still recite al-Fātihah from memory.) I also read some anti-Islamic screeds written in the aftermath of 9/11 so I would understand what those commenters were saying about the religion, and indirectly, about my students. I get mad when people attack my students.

The fact that you can recite Surah Al-Fatihah doesn’t change the fact that you are still an outsider. You’re a white man, and you can’t claim to understand the Quran and Islam without consulting other Muslims or scholars.

When preparing to write Samirah’s background, I drew on all of this, but also read many stories on Iraqi traditions and customs in particular and the experiences of immigrant families who came to the U.S. I figured out how Samirah’s history would intertwine with the Norse world through the medieval writer Ahmad ibn Fadhlan, her distant ancestor and one of the first outsiders to describe the Vikings in writing.  I knew Samirah would be a ferocious brave fighter who always stood for what was right. She would be an excellent student who had dreams of being an aviator. She would have a complicated personal situation to wrestle with, in that she’s a practicing Muslim who finds out Valhalla is a real place. Odin and Thor and Loki are still around. How do you reconcile that with your faith? Not only that, but her mom had a romance with Loki, who is her dad. Yikes.

You - a white man - don’t have the right to try and convey a Muslim’s struggle without even getting a Muslim to read over it and give you feedback. You have no way of knowing if it’s accurate or not.

(Side note: in your Piper article, you admitted you didn’t use sensitivity readers when writing her. You even tried to justify is by saying you hadn’t even heard of the term in 2009, but the Magnus Chase books were started in 2015. Couldn’t you have used sensitivity readers then?)

Thankfully, the feedback from Muslim readers over the years to Samirah al-Abbas has been overwhelmingly positive. I have gotten so many letters and messages online from young fans, talking about how much it meant to them to see a hijabi character portrayed in a positive light in a ‘mainstream’ novel.

You’ve gotten positive feedback because we’re desperate for representation. I was 11 when I first read about Sam and I was so happy to finally see a Muslim character! And now when I reread it, I can’t believe how badly you represented us.

Some readers had questions, sure! The big mistake I will totally own, and which I have apologized for many times, was my statement that during the fasting hours of Ramadan, bathing (i.e. total immersion in water) was to be avoided. This was advice I had read on a Shia website when I myself was preparing to fast Ramadan. It is advice I followed for the entire month. Whoops! The intent behind that advice, as I understood it, was that if you totally immersed yourself during daylight hours, you might inadvertently get some water between your lips and invalidate your fast. But, as I have since learned, that was simply one teacher’s personal opinion, not a widespread practice. We have corrected this detail (which involved the deletion of one line) in future editions, but as I mentioned in my last post, you will still find it in copies since the vast majority of books are from the first printing.

Okay so I’m not a Shia Muslim so I don’t think I have enough knowledge on this subject but I would recommend reading this

Another question was about Samirah’s wearing of the hijab. To some readers, she seemed cavalier about when she would take it off and how she would wear it. It’s not my place to be prescriptive about proper hijab-wearing. As any Muslim knows, the custom and practice varies greatly from one country to another, and from one individual to another. I can, however, describe what I have seen in the U.S., and Samirah’s wearing of the hijab reflects the practice of some of my own students, so it seemed to be within the realm of reason for a third-generation Iraqi-American Muslima. Samirah would wear hijab most of the time — in public, at school, at mosque. She would probably but not always wear it in Valhalla, as she views this as her home, and the fallen warriors as her own kin. This is described in the Magnus Chase books. I also admit I just loved the idea of a Muslima whose hijab is a magic item that can camouflage her in times of need.

Once again, your students are in middle school. Stop justifying what you wrote by saying you based Sam off students who are still in middle school.

Another thing - There’s no reasoning behind who Sam shows her hair to. One day she’ll cover it up around others and the next she’ll show her hair to the same people. Yes, people do this, my cousin, for example, but you need to explain it. You can’t just stick it in there and not expand on her reasoning.

By saying that she wears her hijab most of the time, you’re portraying Sam as a hijabi, but then you say that she doesn’t wear it in Valhalla because she views it as her home, and the fallen warriors (aka her best friends, some acquaintances/co-workers, and a bunch of strangers) as her kin just because they’re fallen warriors. That’s not how it works. If you’re a hijabi, you wear your hijab around everyone except for a certain group of people. Is it really so necessary to show what her hair looks like to the audience? Why can’t you just leave her hair alone?

Also, @kazbrekkerrs​ made a good point about how the purpose of the hijab is to hide her hair, which you take away from her, but then you conveniently use it to hide her from the eyes of other’s for plot…okay. Sure. No irony there at all.

As for her betrothal to Amir Fadhlan, only recently have I gotten any questions about this. My understanding from my readings, and from what I have been told by Muslims I know, is that arranged marriages are still quite common in many Muslim countries (not just Muslim countries, of course) and that these matches are sometimes negotiated by the families when the bride-to-be and groom-to-be are quite young. Prior to writing Magnus Chase, one of the complaints I often heard or read from Muslims is how Westerners tend to judge this custom and look down on it because it does not accord with Western ideas. Of course, arranged marriages carry the potential for abuse, especially if there is an age differential or the woman is not consulted. Child marriages are a huge problem. The arrangement of betrothals years in advance of the marriage, however, is an ancient custom in many cultures, and those people I know who were married in this way have shared with me how glad they were to have done it and how they believe the practice is unfairly villainized.

Okay, first of all - Sam was betrothed when she was 12, which as completely wrong religiously. It doesn’t matter what country you come from, that’s not how it works. A marriage in Islam can not happen unless both people consent, and 12 is not a good age for that. Even if you didn’t want to be married you’d say yes because you don’t want to displease anyone and because you probably think the adults know more about this than you.

My idea with Samirah was to flip the stereotype of the terrible abusive arranged match on its head, and show how it was possible that two people who actually love each other dearly might find happiness through this traditional custom when they have families that listen to their concerns and honor their wishes, and want them to be happy. Amir and Samirah are very distant cousins, yes. This, too, is hardly unusual in many cultures. They will not actually marry until they are both adults. But they have been betrothed since childhood, and respect and love each other. If that were not the case, my sense is that Samirah would only have to say something to her grandparents, and the match would be cancelled. Again, most of the comments I have received from Muslim readers have been to thank me for presenting traditional customs in a positive rather than a negative light, not judging them by Western standards. In no way do I condone child marriage, and that (to my mind) is not anywhere implied in the Magnus Chase books.

Stop. Stop. As a white man you have no right to try and “flip” the stereotype. You have no idea what that situation is like and more than that, you just contributed to the stereotype that all Muslims have arranged marriages.

And also - “they’ll only be married when they turn 18″. Nobody gets married that young anymore. It’s literally unheard of by now, except in places where they literally marry off toddlers. People usually get betrothed when they’re in their twenties.

“They’ve been betrothed since childhood” - exactly. They were both too young to really consent, and the fact that a white man - who, no matter how much research he’s done, remains an outsider to my religion - is trying to tell me that that’s okay is terrible.

Finally, recently someone on Twitter decided to screenshot a passage out-of-context from Ship of the Deadwhere Magnus hears Samirah use the phrase “Allahu Akbar,” and the only context he has ever heard it in before was in news reports when some Western reporter would be talking about a terrorist attack. Here is the passage in full:

Samirah: “My dad may have power over me because he’s my dad. But he’s not the biggest power. Allahu akbar.”

I knew that term, but I’d never heard Sam use it before. I’ll admit it gave me an instinctive jolt in the gut. The news media loved to talk about how terrorists would say that right before they did something horrible and blew people up. I wasn’t going to mention that to Sam. I imagined she was painfully aware.

She couldn’t walk the streets of Boston in her hijab most days without somebody screaming at her to go home, and (if she was in a bad mood) she’d scream back, “I’m from Dorchester!”

“Yeah,” I said. “That means God is great, right?”

Sam shook her head. “That’s a slightly inaccurate translation. It means God is greater.”

“Than what?”

“Everything. The whole point of saying it is to remind yourself that God is greater than whatever you are facing—your fears, your problems, your thirst, your hunger, your anger.

337-338

To me, this is Samirah educating Magnus, and through him the readers, about what this phrase actually means and the religious significance it carries. I think the expression is beautiful and profound. However, like a lot of Americans, Magnus has grown up only hearing about it in a negative context from the news. For him to think: “I had never heard that phrase, and it carried absolutely no negative connotations!” would be silly and unrealistic. This is a teachable moment between two characters, two friends who respect each other despite how different they are. Magnus learns something beautiful and true about Samirah’s religion, and hopefully so do the readers. If that strikes you as Islamophobic in its full context, or if Samirah seems like a hurtful stereotype … all I can say is I strongly disagree.

I actually don’t have a problem with this. The reasoning behind it, in my opinion, is fine, and I liked this moment in the books a lot (then again, I might be wrong, so feel free to correct me, but only if you’re also a Muslim). That last line, though…you shouldn’t have written that. You don’t get to decide if something is Islamophobic or not, Rick.

Anyways, this is messy and and probably doesn’t make sense but I’m tired and can’t be bothered to add more or elaborate on any of these points. Obviously, I don’t speak for every single Muslim, but these are my opinions. Once again, feel free to add on or correct me, but only if you’re a Muslim as well.

mother can we keep him

Too many people are forgetting these things too quickly:

-SESTA/FOSTA passed. Despite the many, many warnings of sex workers.

-A bunch of apps started their censorship policies because Apple directly threatened their revenue if they didn't promise to cut down on the amount of porn on their sites

-MasterCard and VISA tried to outright stop processing OnlyFans work SPECIFICALLY because of the association with sex work, and no other feasible financial reason.

There is not a sudden regressive movement among individual people. Free The Nipple didn't fade into obscurity because people didn't care. It was stopped. By policies. By laws. By arrests. By censorship. These things have been purposefully put in place by companies and politicians. They saw the work we were trying to do wrt bodily autonomy, sexual liberation, and sexual freedom, and they forcibly put a stop to it.

um no I'm built different???

My hypotheses

Call Scripts for Calling your Members of Congress:

📞 202-224-3121 (You should call today!!!)

Script can be used to fax (you can send a fax for free with this link) and email as well. Don’t wait. Do this today!!!

Find your 2 senators numbers here (You can use this link to find senators to reach out to & if you’re not local to the US maybe reach out to the senators that need the most pressure.) If they are Democrats, use this call script. If they are Republicans, call Senate leader Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542

BE POLITE. Call every day you can.

You do not have to be a resident of their district to call. (You can do this even if you don’t live in this area so anyone anywhere can do it.) If you are short on time, only call the (202) area codes, which is the DC office. You can call after hours as well and leave voicemails at any time. If you have the time, please call the other numbers under their names as well. You can also click on their names and tweet at them and reply under their posts. It’s very effective.

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (Senate Majority Leader), (Call script for him specifically)

(202) 224-6542

(212) 486-4430

(607) 772-6792

AOC

(202)-225-3965

(718)-662-5970

Maxwell Frost

(202) 225-2176

(321) 388-9808

Ayanna Pressley

(202) 225-5111

(617) 850-0040

Ilhan Omar

(202) 225-4755

(202) 225-4755

Jamaal Bowman

(202) 225-2464

(718) 530-7710

Cori Bush

(202) 225-2406

(314) 955-9980

DEMOCRATIC VERSION:

Hi, I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, s.1409. Nearly 200 human rights and LGBT organizations total came out in an open letter opposing it in 2022 and 2023 because of how dangerous it is. The new language does NOT meet any concerns brought up, in fact many organizations were ignored. Major news have reported that this bill actively harms kids. When you look online through social media, you will find thousands of posts by Gen Z who are opposed to this bill. We do not want this.

The rewritten bill would still allow any state attorney general, and now the FTC, to sue any website for “harmful” content. When you have Republicans calling anything LGBT “sexual exploitation” or anything about race “CRT” to successfully ban books and teachers, then they will use any justification to censor the internet. The Missouri attorney general used “mental health” successfully to ban gender-affirming care with backed up research. Suicide rates will skyrocket for marginalized youth with this bill restricting content.

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies. Furthermore, updated language threatens encryption the same way the Earn It Act does. How is this protecting children’s privacy?

KOSA actively harms kids by taking away educational resources they need right now. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

REPUBLICAN VERSION:

I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, s.1409. This is a dangerous bill that will harm children. Many news organizations have reported that this bill actively harms kids by exposing their private data to strangers under the guise of protecting them. We need to hold Big Tech accountable, but KOSA is not the solution.

The rewritten bill would still allow any state attorney general, and even thr FTC, to sue any website for “harmful” content. Do we really want blue state lawyers deciding what can and can’t be allowed online and continue to censor people? This is massive government overreach. We need a bill that actually protects people by creating better security measures instead of bringing about more censorship.

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies, which would put them in further danger. How is this protecting children’s privacy? What parent would want their child’s private data in the hands of strangers like this? KOSA is actively putting kids in danger. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

I’ve said it repeatedly that you don’t need to live in the US to reach out. There’s a website provided to find senators & their contact info so please use it and make the call. You can also use the link to send faxes. You can send it for free using this site.

KOSA will make things possible. Your social justice aims will mean nothing when the companies that own the websites that we use will be urged and pressured to censor what we post and what we see.

Seriousandclean is black, he isn’t racist. He’s also a system and is allowed to draw himself however he pleases. The art you constantly hate on is of two grown ass adults. He is a fictive, not his source. I’m the Billy in that art I am literally 20, please leave him alone.

Am I harassing him? No. Then why are his besties harassing me when he’s a proshipper and no you’re not the Billy in the art you’re just either delusional and need serious fucking help or you’re really that stupid to kiss ass to your friend who can’t do anything but be a proshipper

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Things are really tough on me,I can’t afford. Please donate🖤

KOSA update 7/25/24:

Well, unsurprisingly, KOSA passed the Senate procedural vote 86-1.

Proof:

Again, they still have to vote on the final passage & the House still has to vote on it as well.

So, focus on your House Representative now; Continue to call them & tell them to vote ‘No’ to KOSA. Remember: There is more opposition to KOSA in the House.

Spread this around. Don’t panic!

Keep calm & keep fighting!!