E.T phone-homo

Today we briefly discussed the readings, which explored the issues on internet connection in Australia and the National Broadband Network. It was interesting the hear the views of my classmates. Everyone beraded Telstra for their stronghold on the copper wire connection we have now. So strong that our current connection speed lags behind countries like Iceland. Gotta download some Bjork somehow though.
I have been a Testra mobile customer for 7 years and I am more than ready to change. Not only did they filibuster our chance for the NBN, but recently they revoked their stance on gay marriage to provide internet and connection services for the Church. The monetisation of Mardi Gras and gay rights by corporations is disturbing enough, but only more when apathy of big businesses is revealed.

I remember taking a Making Networked Media class in my first year at La Trobe and discussing the military ties that the internet has. How the internet was invented to be used as a communication service between military bases in the chance of a nuclear war. This led me on a wikipedia trawl about the dark net, transhumanism, BioArt, the Orion Project interstellar generational voyages which I won’t blog about because I am too scared.

tw: rape mention, food, misogyny, violence, abuse

A content or trigger warning “is a very simple statement at the beginning of an article, film, or comic that lets the audience know that something potentially distressing will appear in the content they’re about to consume.” Amy McCarthy, Bustle Magazine.

It may seem silly seeing an article pop up on Facebook and a commenter asking for someone to place a content warning for Food. Or a classmate leaving a lecture because a documentary on alcoholism is about to play.  It may even seem ‘oppressive’ to you, for a 3 second message, address or mention before a class watches violently jarring footage of a women being racially targeted and choked to the point of suffocation. How inconvenient.

A recovering sufferer of an eating disorder, who may have purged the very meal shown on screen may not be able to focus in class after seeing the image. A rape victim might struggle listening to the hopeless pleas of a character on Game of Thrones as they are sexually abused, a soundtrack of the night that ruined their lives. From chastising trauma victims for preventing a breakdown, you are ultimately saying “I don’t care about your pain”.

Yes the world has no padding or protection, but the world is hard enough for survivors of trauma. If you have not suffered trauma, take it from me, someone who can get ‘triggered’.  When I enter a classroom, I don’t expect to see violent misogyny. I would hope I am entering a safe space, where I can put my trauma away for an hour and discuss something else. I expect a place where I won’t suffer a panic attack, become restless and lose sleep at night. I would like the option to excuse myself before I fall into a bout of insomnia.
Honestly, the lack of support from my classmates, who are young progressive people, is isolating.

Yet, would this conversation exist around ex-servicemen? Would their trauma be considered petty, frivolous or an inconvenience? Maybe we should consider rewriting the image of PTSD from the returned soldier to maybe a woman? In the US alone, 1 in 8 women are likely to develop PTSD, making it twice as likely for a woman to develop the disorder than a man.The most likely victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are sufferers of child abuse, rape victims, and sexual assault. Perhaps the face of PTSD should be the children who have watched their families perish, or have been abused under the arms of returned soldiers.

Give people who suffer every day the option to sleep at night. Trigger warnings aren’t a joke. The fact that they have had to change their title to content warnings due to ignorant naysayers speaks enough. Let people keep their self preservation and their sanity, even if it costs you 3 seconds of your life every time .

This comic anonymously published on The Nib summarises trigger warnings for better understanding:

continue reading at https://thenib.com/trigger-warning-breakfast-c6cdeec070e6#.gk25nrsz2

screm-de-la screm I haven’t posted for a while.

We are progressing well in our PB4. In class I discussed the meanings of Fandoms as an example of audience control over media. Some of the topics I will investigate are the fanbases power over television programmes, and the political alignments of the fans who are now linked into the writing and plotlessness of the stories. You can assess shows like Orphan Black or The 1OO or even movies such as The Danish Girl and Stonewall as being manipulated by the viewership. Some of these examples have suffered tremendously in the box office due to the public boycotting the film for historical inaccuracy which is offensive to the minorities the film is aimed towards.

Many of the articles I researched showed fandom turning to activism. How fans who have similarities beyond the show put their thought to activism, social justice and progressive thought. However this is a double edged sword. Different media results in different political alignments and not all are progressive (Duck Dynasty)
A case study I found were the American activists who protested the Russian LGBT propaganda laws were fans of Lady Gaga, and her history of advocating for LGBT rights saw her banned from performing in Russia, and subsequently being investigated for tax evasion by the Russian government. Her audience and fandom then began campaigning for freedom for the Russian Queer community. However, many of the studies show that Audiences have an extent to their effectiveness on a political scale, one that does not match the influence they have within the politics of media making. There we draw the line between effectiveness and effort.