Jan 14 2020
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religion

Debating on Child marriage through the suffering of Islam’s child brides

Christianity vs Islam Debate (Pt. 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYyXGcZrMQc

Throughout the debate, Ali Ataie(a Muslim) and David Wood(a Christian) mention a number of things that either defend or attack the character of Mohammad or the legitimacy of Mohammad as a true prophet. The main issues brought up were: is child marriage ever acceptable, is the trinity the truth, are the teachings of Jesus being God, crucified, or possibly tempted by Satan contradictions in the bible, are the contradictions on the earth’s age really contradictions, and is the bible anymore violent or sexual than the Quran/the Hadiths.

The Issue of Child Marriage

I’ll start with the issue of child marriage first. The reasons why it is an issue is a given to anyone with any kind of critical thinking skills, but to those who were raised in other faiths and cultures even if their cultural ways killed them they’d still preach the greatness of it.

Because of the complacency of the debater and Muslims worldwide with a 50 year old having sexual relations with a 9 year old, and because it is an important issue, this issue cannot be addressed enough.

[The prophet Mohammed] married Aisha when she was a girl six years of age and he consummated the marriage when she was nine years old. (Bukhari 63:122) Some aim to dispute this and find ways to accept the marriage by claiming she was 16, 18, or even 19 when Mohammed had sexual relations with her, but all these numbers only exist in their imaginations as the hadith clearly states that she was in fact nine when the marriage was consummated. It was also believed that the marriage was consummated after her period, which is why many claim it was permitted in Islam at the time. However, the Quran says the waiting period for those who haven’t menstruated yet is three months, so waiting 3 years or less to consummate a marriage would be permitted in Islam.

And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women – if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated. And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they give birth. And whoever fears Allah – He will make for him of his matter ease. (Quran 65:4)

While there may be a minimum age placed on marriage in Muslim countries, a religion that places no minimum age on marriage can override these laws and the minimum age laws can override the law that says you cannot consummate the marriage with a girl until they start menstruating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ffuFleMu8

Is it really ‘tradition’ that keeps child marriage alive?

In addition to these rules, some Muslims claim it is O.K. as long as the child can withstand sexual intercourse, but there is really no way of knowing which children can withstand sexual intercourse or giving birth until AFTER the damage is done. Even after it has been proven that many young girls can’t withstand sexual intercourse, pregnancy, and marriage life, it still goes on! It is hard to believe that the people in those times were too primitive or so wrapped up in their cultural practices to recognize the obvious connection between child marriage, miscarriages, psychological trauma, and premature death in children. When you continue to advocate and practice the tradition long after the tradition began, and the people of today’s culture realize the harms of the practice, it’s no longer an old cultural or religious practice that can be forgotten; it’s just carelessness. The “it was tradition” argument also won’t work because Aisha’s parents didn’t want to allow her to marry at that young age until Mohammed convinced them that Islam allows it. If it was openly accepted at that time to marry at such a young age, they wouldn’t need to be convinced.

 

The Child Marriage issue is now a global issue

Due to economic migration and increasing numbers of refugees pouring into Germany, “Some 1,475 minor refugees, mostly girls, have arrived in Germany already married, the majority of whom come from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, an official report cited by German media says. Almost one in four are reportedly less than 14 years old.”

https://www.rt.com/news/358890-germany-refugee-children-married/

Videos & Articles on the suicides, mental, and physical instability caused by child marriage:

Children have died giving birth. Even some girls who are 12 to 15 years of age can STILL be physically too young to have sex and bare children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQI0lQS2JGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPyS6bmECPg

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/01/story-yemen-child-bride

http://metro.co.uk/2010/04/09/child-bride-13-dies-of-internal-injuries-after-sexual-intercourse-231643/

http://www.news.com.au/world/survival-stories-of-life-as-a-child-bride/story-fndir2ev-1226754035887

One child marriage survivor claims: “What I would say to other young girls in your position is never get married at an early age. If you do you will have psychological problems like I do. I don’t get to live like other girls my age – and I never will.”

This is said by a girl married at the age of 10. I cannot image it would be any better for a 9 year old. Children want to experience their childhood and they are robbed of that right when they are forced to grow up too soon.

Child Marriage victims are known as survivors. Their lives are about survival, not thriving. Their lives are often hell and they suffer in silence. They are forced to fulfill their “duties” as wives yet they are too young to even know what that is. I cannot imagine the fear, confusion, and blank expressions child brides have when they are expected to fulfill the sexual desires of their husbands. Losing one’s virginity hurts like a SOB and I wouldn’t wish it on ANY child. I think the whole “it’s sacred and wonderful” crap is what they put in the movies to make you think the experience gives you more fuzzy feelings than pain, but that’s just crap. A grown man cannot have sex with a child and not know that they are really hurting them. If you continue, you just don’t care. I’m not surprised some are physically AND psychologically damaged from the act.

Child marriage or this “normal” tradition is also known to lead to poverty as women/girls who cannot contribute to the economy or household income continuing the endless cycle of generational poverty. There isn’t one good thing that comes out of child marriage. It’s a pointless tradition encouraged because of the depravity, willful ignorance, and lack of human empathy of man.

 

Why bring Mary and Joseph into this?

It’s funny Ali mentions the relationship between Mary and Joseph to show that child marriage was O.K. We don’t know for sure Mary’s age when she was pregnant with Jesus. She could’ve been anywhere from 12 to 16. Surprisingly, he chose the youngest possible age she could’ve been according to the Jewish religion’s belief of when a girl becomes a woman. Joseph was said to be in his late 30s or about 40, but there is a difference between a guy choosing a 12 year old in that time period and a guy choosing a 6 year old. What Ali does is suggest that age was just a number back then when referring to practices by Christians or Jews, but only attempts to address the methodology of it when he refers to Muslims as young as Aisha.

When you get closer to the double digits that’s when girls voluntarily start engaging in sexual activity. Even today, rarely 12 year olds but mainly 14-16 year olds are starting to have sex on their own. Meanwhile, if 6-9 year olds have had sex, whether they hit puberty or not, they were forced or coerced. A 9 year old does not have the mental capacity to give their consent to sex or marriage. Children rely on adults to know what is best for them, and sometimes adults fail them. When you deny the fact that children want to be children at that age and are traumatized by the idea of having to sexually satisfy their husbands, bare children, and act as much as a wife as older women in spite of all the evidence before you, there is a problem with your mindset.

 

The Islamic mindset is that when you stop playing with dolls, you’re no longer a child, but the “she was no longer playing with dolls” argument doesn’t work either because at that time kids are only allowed to play with dolls up until a certain point whereas today you can play with dolls as long as you want. That’s probably why I was playing with dolls up until I was 13 and just because I was done playing with dolls after that it doesn’t mean I was ready for marriage!

While he does shed some light on the contradictions of state laws regarding the age limit one can be for marriage, all it shows is that the few people running the state think that younger children should be allowed to marry, not that most children want to marry or that most parents in those states want their kids to get married. Our age of consent laws today are actually more accurate according to the differences in maturity in kids today although I believe the age of consent should be closer to 16 because many teens are voluntarily having sex at this age. Our culture victimizes some people for no good reason because of these laws and today’s culture even victimizes 20 year olds for being with 40-50yr olds simply because they “don’t like the way it looks”. So yea, under our crazy laws anyone can be labeled a victim or sex predator. But it’s better to be safe than sorry with 16-18yrs being the age of consent because coercion by older predators is common around the world.

 

Profiling Sexual Abuse Victims & Pedophiles

In spite of the argument Ali is trying to make, Aisha is not proof ALL or even MOST victims of sexual abuse are introverts. Many survivors are alive today and you wouldn’t know the difference between the survivors and the non-survivors. Some people are naturally introverts and some are naturally extroverts as the 11 year old in one of the videos speaking out about the horrors of child marriage. Thus, being an extrovert doesn’t mean they weren’t affected by the experience in a negative way. It could just mean they are more psychologically and socially developed than others their age. Just because they don’t speak out about it or become introverts because of it doesn’t mean its ok. I’ve never heard of a positive experience of a 9 year old child bride having sex with a much older male. Because “it’s tradition”, there is no one to listen to their complaints even if they do complain, so the extent of the problem is ignored. Thus, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the negative aspects of this cultural practice aren’t recorded in any scriptures.

Also, I’m not sure if there is any universal psychological profile of a pedophile. If there was people would be significantly better at figuring out who all of these predators are. As it is, most people have probably met at least one pedophile in their lives and don’t know it, and others are in denial that THEIR children could’ve ever been preyed on by pedophiles or THEIR “perfect” neighborhoods could ever contain such people. The fact is pedophiles come in a variety of ages and from a variety of backgrounds INCLUDING being among those of professional occupations and church leaders. Profiling pedophiles and their victims with such a narrow view never helps the situation.

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Dec 22 2019
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life

What causes ghosting in job candidates?

We used to ask why employers were heartless enough to ghost candidates, but now it’s the other way around and many people aren’t surprised.

Candidates feel disrespected by employers

https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/12731/ghosting-employers

One writer believes employees are returning the disrespect they’d received from being ghosted by employers in the past mentioning true stories of how people have quit jobs and relocated only to find that the employers who extended the job offer to them were no longer responding to their calls leaving them on the hook to live off what little savings they have left until they find their next real job.

 

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/what-is-employee-ghosting-how-companies-created-their-own-worst-nightmare.html

I’m glad some writers have mentioned that employees often feel disrespected as a whole by employers since they have the right to terminate their job at any time for any reason and they also feel disconnected from their employers in general due to the hiring process being fueled by technology more than face-to-face meetings making it less likely that they would face an employer to let them know they have turned down the job offer.

 

Younger candidates have the ‘luxury’ of not working?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/04/24/employees-are-ghosting-their-job-offers-gen-z-is-leading-the-charge.html

With many ghosters being younger, some say that they don’t have any responsibility to provide income for their families or household because they live with their parents and many of them don’t have children to provide for. But isn’t it true that in today’s society more people are staying at home longer because they couldn’t pay for living expenses with the job they had even if they don’t have kids? So, is it really a lack of responsibility or added financial responsibilities that makes choosing certain low paying jobs less desirable?

FACTS: (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/05/its-becoming-more-common-for-young-adults-to-live-at-home-and-for-longer-stretches)(https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/realestate/my-parents-my-landlords.html)

 

Are they really just getting what they deserve?

Many people believe that it’s just employers getting what they deserve after ghosting so many potential candidates over the years. But maybe employees purposely failing to be loyal to the company would make more sense if the employees actually knew the history of the company ghosting employees. After being ghosted myself, I know how upsetting it is. You may tell family or friends you have the job, tell your boss you have the job, and even prepare to leave your old job just to find out after multiple unanswered calls from the job you were told you “had” that you’d been ghosted and you have no choice but to stay at your old job and mope. It’s understandable that some people would want to get back at employers by ghosting other potential employers, but the focus on this phenomenon needs to be shifted back onto the more credible reasoning behind these trends to allow people to gain insight on the issues with the hiring process and the jobs themselves.

 

Employers Cannot Face the Social and Economic Realities of Workers Today

Some people think it’s the number of available jobs in the job market that causes the phenomenon of ghosting, but having a strong job market doesn’t guarantee that a person will easily get another job especially another job that would be more financially beneficial than the last job.

Employers today just don’t seem to realize that you feel devalued by many of these jobs after they’re done sucking you dry from all the days they make you work for them or all the days they want you to stay available for them even when you don’t have the financial flexibility to remain a long term part-time worker or even a ‘flexible’ full-time worker, forcing you to follow all their rules so that you can look and act a certain way creating a conflict between the you you want to embrace and the you you’d be glad to abandon after work, minimum wage jobs demand you have only one form of reliable transportation when much of the amount that they’re paying you will go to the cost of that transportation, they demand that workers do the work of multiple people to save on the cost of labor which just wears you out and makes you feel inadequate when you cannot get all the work done, etc. You would think that after knowing this that maybe, just maybe you might want to keep your options open for other work opportunities especially if you were accepted for another job opportunity. Also, if you have more work experience that would be more attractive to other employers, why not look for opportunities that offer better pay, benefits, or work environments?

Nowadays, it seems like easy jobs have either been turned into harder jobs often due to the higher workloads to avoid hiring more workers to contribute to the work or the employers ask for employees with more experience or qualifications simply because it looks nicer on your resume so people are constantly running from these jobs when they find out how bad they actually are. Adding to the issue of ghosting, some jobs ARE actually physically and/or mentally challenging or don’t offer proper training in the field and some employers fail to mention this to new hires leaving them blindsided before they leave to reenter the job market hoping they won’t make the same mistake again.

Workers of big companies are protesting for better wages now, but inflation is going to diminish the significance of wage increases making it more profitable for the business to consider shipping their operations oversees and more likely that the employees would prefer to move to another company. Thus, choosing another company based on income, benefits, schedule flexibility, or other necessary gains is bound to happen anyways whether they make their decision before or after they agree to take the job.

While employers are afraid to hire the wrong employees, potential employees are afraid to accept the wrong job that is destined to take more out of their lifestyles than it adds to it. Ghosting appears to be an inevitably due to the downward spiral of HR’s practices, the carelessness for employees that help maintain the companies, and the economic issues faced by future ghosters.

 

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Dec 21 2019
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Entertainment

5 Reasons I Love Preity Zinta in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke

After watching many hindi films, I still have trouble picking my top 10 favorites, but Chori Chori Chupke Chupke(2001) is definitely somewhere at the top of the list. While the fact that it has the best actors in Bollywood doesn’t hurt the film’s success, the story line and settings itself were amazing. While I love all the actors in the film, Preity Zinta stood out the most because of her personality and her story that many women can actually identify with.

 

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She’s Glowing in all her Theme Songs

The first scene of her performing for her potential (*ehem) ‘clients’ was actually a surprisingly entertaining scene. I say surprisingly because her song Deewani Deewani is obviously a song she enthusiastically performed that’s about how she proudly ‘services’ any man who wants her for money. I’ve never seen a working girl so proud of her work, but Preity plays the part of Madhu pretty well.

 

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She has an Amazing 10 Lakh SHOCK

Many women may not admit it, but many of them want a Pretty Woman moment. That moment when they meet a man that far exceeds their expectations meeting their wants, needs, and deepest desires. Receiving the money was just the start of meeting that man that would fulfill her desires.

While she asked for 1 lakh for a year of her time, he took out 2 lakh(200,000 rupees) from his briefcase instead. The look on her face was priceless. Thus, this event initially produced the 2 LAKH SHOCK, which later turned into the 10 LAKH SHOCK after she was later offered 10 lakh for having a baby for the couple.

Now, I don’t know much about the cost of living in India in 2001, but today in the U.S. 2 lakh or 200,000 rupees is only 2,811 USD which would be enough for rent, household expenses, and other bills for the month but not much else. The fact that she could live off of the 1 lakh a year that she initially asked for by itself is a shock.

 

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Her emotions are all over the place… and it’s great

Her first emotional episode was when she completely disregards the “chori chori” thing and pours her heart out to him during his business meeting(what some may call a really bad time). Women can be a bit emotional at times and men know this, but Preity takes her emotions a bit further when she goes from crying to hold my apple I’m still gonna eat that to hold my snot rag and give the apple back because all these emotions make me stress eat. Even after such a depressing moment when she was discriminated against because of who she was she still maintained her bossy attitude when she walked into the shop a second time expecting the shopkeeper’s respect.

She transformed into a confident lady when Salman stepped in to treat her like a lady and refused to allow her to tolerate being treated like anything less regardless of her status in society. Many people have experienced being treated or viewed differently because of their race, age, gender, or social status, so any step taken against those committing social injustice is a step in the right direction!

 

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She recognizes a good man when she finds one… even if he’s someone elses

Regardless of who she was before she became pregnant, it was clear from that moment on that she had chosen to become a decent woman who wouldn’t allow anyone who wanted her to have her as she fought Salman’s friend to keep her dignity and her body as her own. Her strength was probably gained from Salman’s support for her.

Salman won her over again when he fought his best friend for her proving she was in fact “priceless” as she was carrying his child and she was a human being regardless of what line of work she was in. Again, she felt a love she had never felt before and the love and sadness over the events in those scenes were acted out exceptionally well.

 

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She turns from sweet to bossy to sweet again all in the name of love

After spending months putting out her cigarettes, sharing their family with her, showering her with love and affection, Raj and Priya were left blindsided when she suddenly took off in the middle of the night in a desperate attempt to keep the baby for herself because she knew the baby would keep Raj around. Well what do you expect after you perform rituals with her where you shower her and her baby with blessings, tell her the strength of her mehndi is due to Raj’s love for her, and sing songs to her about the mehndi on her hands when she’s in love with the child’s father whom she can’t rightfully have? After being forced to release the flood of emotions overcoming her as the child’s due date approaches, she regains her senses after Priya chooses the life of the mother over the life of the baby she was so desperate for.

The film surprisingly ended happily with Preity growing and developing through each emotional bond and heartbreak eventually vowing to leave the prostitution business. Hopefully, she doesn’t leave the carefree, sassy, emotional person behind that helped make this movie so successful.

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Dec 12 2019
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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S10E8 Gabriel kills Dante

Gabriel struggles to come to terms with the fact that although Dante was screened (apparently from the video they have of him talking about his life before they had found him), the screening just showed how convincing he was. They didn’t even know if the guy even had a family before the apocalypse or not like he said he did. One thing is clear though, Alpha’s programming is definitely effective because even after he participated in keeping their community going, the obvious reality that a community like theirs could last without being needlessly self-destructive or merciless should have sunk in enough to make him understand that Alpha’s ways are unnecessary to thrive in a world after an apocalypse. Unfortunately, after he was caught he said he only killed Siddiq because he found out who he was and that he actually liked him yet he still wanted to reinforce his belief that their establishment of a ‘good’ community would not last because it makes people weaker. Well… it seems this guy hasn’t learned anything in the months he has spent with the community because he still maintains his flawed mindset.

Maybe that’s why in a fit of rage Gabriel stabbed Dante to death in his cell. It seems as if Gabriel is tired of everyone’s bull. He appeared to be the one who was driven to do things the “right way” when it came to the way they dealt with outsiders, treating them with compassion instead of encouraging harsh judgment regardless of the circumstances. However, in this episode we see a change in him. After trying to understand him and still failing to understand how he was tricked into trusting him, how he could still follow Alpha, and how they could’ve allowed a murderer to live amongst them, he snapped. This reminds me of when Gabriel lost it and cursed out Negan in his cell after his little incident with Rosita. I’m starting to like these spontaneous outbursts and fist of rage in Gabriel. It keeps him interesting.

On the other hand, the ending of the mid season finale really made me question the fate of the rest of the season. We all know how desperate Carol was to catch Alpha, but running off after her just to run into a zombie filled pit in the end seemed a bit unrealistic. I would’ve thought Daryl had talked some sense into her just before she almost stepped into a bear trap in the woods after she showed more interest in killing Alpha than looking out for herself. Maybe Carol really did change for good after Henry died. She only seems interested in catching Alpha as if Alpha is going to make it easy for her. Even after they were stuck in the pit in the ending all I could think about is how easy it would be for them to kill one of the walkers and slather themselves in their blood in order to find another way out. If there was a way in, then there has to be a way out.

Meanwhile, Daryl did say he wanted to go find Lydia. Where would she have gone?

Did Gamma eventually go back to Alpha even after she found out she had been betrayed?

Now that Alpha has the group right where she wants them in the pit, will she go after the other members of their community now that they have less people to help protect them?

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Dec 12 2019
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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S10E7 Siddiq opens his eyes

Season 10 Episode 7 Open Your Eyes

This is the episode I had been waiting for since it was first made clear that the guardians had been lied to about Alpha killing Lydia with only Beta being the other guardian knowing the truth.

After Lydia explains that exposing Alpha’s lies that a community like the one Lydia was accepted into couldn’t exist would be dangerous to her mother’s community, we see two things: the whisperers either reinforce their programming with teachings they’ve learned from Alpha or they don’t open up enough out of loyalty to Alpha. Gamma and the male captive chanting about walking in darkness and being free showed just how deep her programming is engraved in the minds of her followers. Although Lydia knows how deep their programming is, will she ever be prepared to fight for the mental freedom of the whisperers?

Carol set out to show the whisperers that Lydia was still alive to undo Alpha’s programming so that she could get more information about Alpha and the location of the hoard, and while she wasn’t able to accomplish this goal before the whisperer they held captive died, she was finally successful when she and Lydia showed up when Alpha’s programming forced Gamma to put her knife to Aaron’s throat to force information out of him. Gamma’s loyalty, respect, and dedication to Alpha unraveled as she saw that while Alpha required her followers to make the ultimate sacrifice by committing to their beliefs on maintaining emotional detachment to people and certain ways of life, Alpha wasn’t ready to make that sacrifice herself as Lydia was still alive. She had evolved from an individual who was opening up to Aaron about her life before she became a whisperer to someone Alpha had to reeducate about the dangers of being tested by outsiders to someone who realized that she caused the death of her sister over a leader that led her toward a cause she couldn’t commit to herself. The emotional burden forced her to run into the woods and release the conflicting emotions she had to deal with after being led astray for so long.

So why did Lydia switch teams after Carol used her to free the whisperers from Alpha’s control? She did claim to choose “her people” over Carol’s, but “her people” honor Alpha for giving Lydia up as a sacrifice for their cause. And where is she going to go if she leaves anyways? In the woods? It’s not like she can show her face to the whisperers without some of them turning against Alpha.

Surprisingly, Siddiq finds out the source of the sudden spread of illness throughout the community: the water. Of course he finds this out AFTER Rosita saves his life proving his life to be worth more than he actually knew besides the fact that he was the only genuine doctor they had in their community. Who would want to die over the deaths of those they either didn’t intentionally kill or just simply “felt” that they had failed in some way anyways? Accidentally putting hemlock in the bag of herbal treatments isn’t something that would be that unlikely for someone whose PTSD symptoms are still presenting themselves through surreal hallucinations and noises throughout the day possibly making it increasingly difficult to see the difference between fiction and reality. Still, just believing you’re the cause of someone’s death can be hard on a genuinely nice person who tries his best to help people in anyway he can even if Dante may have been the real perpetrator.

Even though Siddiq was saved by Rosita who had showed him that he would be making a mistake if he took his own life just to be killed later on in the day by Dante, his death occurred after he made the surprising discovery that they had a whisperer that had been living amongst them the entire time. Either Dante made those noises to taunt Siddiq who had been hearing them inside his head since the border incident with Alpha or he honestly didn’t realize Siddiq would remember the last time he had heard those noises. Anyways, it’s a shame that he didn’t get away in time after Dante gave himself away.

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Nov 11 2019
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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S10E6 Negan’s a Guardian?

Bonds: Season 10 Episode 6

At least now we know that what condition you have when you accidentally ingest blood of the dead from a contaminated water supply: a stomach bug. Ha! Who would’ve thought? As more and more sick Alexandrians head to the community infirmary, the two doctors scramble to try to ease their symptoms as they try to find out the source of the problem. Again, Siddiq is forced to hold himself together while continuing to suffer from the effects of PTSD.

 

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Negan’s Ascension continues

Negan tries to ease his way into the whisperer’s group by purposely allowing himself to get captured offering information he has on Alexandria. However, they may have gotten all the information they needed from their spies because they immediately began putting Negan to work having him follow a series of tasks they perform to test his ability to become one of them. The tasks were difficult, but not impossible as Negan tackled them all. It shouldn’t have been a surprise though that he actually seemed to enjoy his time as a guardian even when Beta proved he was superior in strength and overall ability, but it WAS. He smirked his way through every trial.

These scenes are when we learn that Negan has the best lines in this episode. Sure, it starts to get annoying to Beta and funny to viewers when he starts to irritate the crap out of Beta with his constant babbling, but it was a good idea to have Negan act as a cocky recaptured fugitive after he is caught by the guardians. Funny thing is he was probably only alive long enough to joke and smile because Alpha had convinced Beta that he could be useful to them. Beta even went as far as kneeling to Alpha to show his respect for her decision and his loyalty towards her as a leader.

In the end, Negan finally proved himself after Beta left him to die surrounded with walkers in the middle of the woods: his final test. He went back to the guardians’ campsite alive, well, cocky, and full of the ego Beta despised. After Alpha saw that he passed the test Beta assumed that he would fail, Alpha appears to have made him a guardian. But how long will he last if the co-leader of the group hates his guts? Or how long will it be until his ego forces him to have to take over the group?

More Survivors?

In other news, Eugene came in contact with a survivor over the radio. She seems sincere and normal. Are there still good people out there who haven’t turned in order to find a way to survive in their new environment or could it be another trick to lure them in? Hopefully, Eugene tells someone else about the survivor(against her wishes) before disclosing their location.

 

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Since when are Daryl & Carol not enough…

When most of their flock were killed off due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances leaving only a few good fighters left. Carol has decided to go off and find the guardians on her own only allowing Daryl to tag along because he insisted. Daryl doesn’t trust Carol going out alone and rightfully so. Carol seems ready and willing to take on the guardian situation alone while Daryl is a lot more cautious as he knows there are a million ways their decision could go horribly wrong. While the two of them are good fighters and more skilled than most in battles against rival groups, they don’t have the numbers to fight their enemy alone, but will they be able to get an upper hand with a good plan before a fight begins?

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Nov 11 2019
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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S10E5 Negan obsession

What it always is: Season 10 Episode 5

It took me a while to review this episode. I’m honestly still trying to figure out the point of it all since it was lacking in some way…

 

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The episode focused on Negan’s official departure from Alexandria and his journey through the woods as a free man with Brandon, an enthusiastic Negan fan whom you’d never mistaken as a companion. I’m still unsure whether or not Negan’s freedom was a good thing. He escaped just to find himself entangled in a web of annoyance and attachment to a man who seems to honestly believe that Negan is ready to reign as the leader of another group like the saviors he had lost in battle. I can’t figure out what’s worse: having a guy that wants “THE” Negan back or having the guy murdered by Negan for annoying the hell out of him. Either way, Negan’s response to the guy’s persistence showed viewers that Negan WAS back even if that part of him had been kept buried somewhere deep inside of himself for years after he was caught and stripped of his pride.

Probably the creepiest part of these scenes is how realistic they become if you picture them playing out in different situations. Maybe you’ve heard of stories where a determined admirer, ex-boyfriend, or ex-girlfriend thought that all they had to do was be persistent and SHOW that they were worthy of the other person’s attention and then that person would want them. Right! Horror stories! These situations often never turn out well and do sometimes result in someone being harmed in some way. Why they would choose to give one of their characters such annoying characteristics that only seem useful for the purpose of showing that the other side of Negan has returned, I don’t know.

One of the hardest things to watch during this episode is one of the guardians poisoning the water supply. Aaron follows one of the guardians in the woods and watches from behind as they cut open a walker and allow blood to spill into the water… just to offer a bandage to them when they accidentally cut themselves??? Fighting evil with kindness? The effects of this decision are unknown, especially when many of the guardians seem to be operating out of fear of Alpha and Gamma seems to be buckling under the psychological stress as she has flashbacks of past events before her sister died while out on a mission. It seems possible that Aaron’s generosity may be beneficial if he could revert just one of Alpha’s followers. It doesn’t seem as if Alpha has gotten over the border crossing and/or the loss of her daughter even after they had accepted the loss of more hunting grounds in exchange for their unauthorized entry into Alpha’s land.

Least we forget, They’ve killed countless zombies in various bodies of water that they drank from in previous episodes and they’re still fine. Still, let’s just pretend for a minute that they are carrying out Alpha’s plan to poison them and it should produce the desired result. With more of their own sickened and their land taken due to the border crossing, what would prevent Alexandrians from planning an attack on the guardians? They’d have nothing to loose.

 

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We later learn that Ezekiel has been hiding a very personal hereditary secret: he has been secretly suffering from the effects of thyroid cancer. After spending years fighting for his life due to external situations he was forced to deal with, he now has to accept the internal situation that will eventually claim the life he fought so hard to sustain. How will the group accept another great loss?

As the guardians/whisperers find Negan in the woods, Negan gets an unexpected “hello” when one of them pushes him to the ground when they arrive. When he looks up at Beta in his black leather jacket with Lucille in his hand, he appears to want to take him on, but why? What could Negan be planning next and why?

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Oct 31 2019
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Entertainment

Reviewing the greatness of the Halloween franchise

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As usual, I recently watched Halloween once again and it was amazing as always, and since it’s Halloween I wanted to review some of the movies from the franchise that started with just one independent film that became such a hit and led to a cult following of slasher films that later included Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s crazy how one 1978 film that required around $300,000 to produce started a horror film obsession that produced a series of films that went on to gross $620 worldwide.

The movie became known for it’s chilling theme song, it’s abnormally calm yet calculating masked serial killer, and it’s rebellious young cast.

Halloween begins when a young boy dressed in a clown costume brutally murders his sister on Halloween night. After being committed to a mental institution because of the incident, he escapes just before he is scheduled to be transferred to an institution that has minimum security which resulted in the deaths of countless victims.

 

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The film established Psycho actresses’ Janet Leigh’s daughter Jamie Lee Curtis as a successful actress who would continue to star in a number of successful films throughout her acting career. She was the likable, resourceful, smart character in the group with two other teens whose promiscuity seems to have made them easy targets for the serial killer. She did however have her flaws. Her unwillingness to see the seriousness of a masked grown man watching her outside of her classroom window, behind the bushes as she walked home from school, or in the yard of her home was a bit… odd.

Her friend Lynda brushing off the incidents was understandable though, but even after Lorrie found out how much of a threat he was she always had a tendency to turn her back to Myers after she had thought he was dead giving him too many opportunities to attack her from behind. Least we forget, Lynda was attacked from behind after he slipped into her car and waited for her in the backseat and Annie was attacked from behind while she was on the phone with Lorrie thinking that the white sheet was covering her boyfriend who was playing a joke on her instead of a psychopath who was planning to kill her.

It soon became obvious that Michael’s ability to slip in and out of places unnoticed, stalk victims outside and inside their homes unnoticed, and repeatedly evade capture or death even after being noticed and shot at turned him into somewhat of a supernatural force led entirely by the sadistic plans of his troubled mind.

 

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The motivation of Michael Myers

It isn’t until Halloween II that Dr. Loomis(Donald Pleasence) discovers that his patient Michael Myers is on a mission to kill all of his sisters as well as his sister’s children on Halloween night.

Dr. Loomis says in Halloween II: 

Samhain, the Lord of the dead, the end of summer the festival of the Samhain, October 31.

In order to appease the Gods the druid priests burned people and animals alive. They believed that by observing the way they died they could see omans of the future. 2,000 years later people have come no further. Samhain isn’t goblins, ghosts, or witches, it’s the unconscious mind.

He reveals that the real purpose of Halloween is for samhain worshippers(or satan worshippers) to offer human sacrifices to their gods(demon gods) in exchange for great knowledge from these gods. The costumes of ghosts(the dead) or witches(members of the occult) are just loose representations of Halloween that miss the central point of it.

He is also mentioning the possibility that Michael Myers was connecting with the unconscious mind, which is why he killed for the Lord of the Dead without a consciousness of the consequences of taking a life or the feelings of the lives he is taking. 

After finding out what drove Michael Myers’ to kill and realizing what he was capable of, he felt a personal responsibility as his doctor to make it his mission in life to save as many people as possible from the psychopath beneath the mask.

 

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In spite of his efforts, Michael Myers seems to have become more brutal and sadistic in his murders in Halloween II. As he still carries his signature weapon, he now chooses to use syringes, a hammer, scalding hot water, and also his bare hands to end the lives of his victims. The movie seems to focus more on his insatiable need for more victims regardless of the means of obtaining his goals adding to Dr. Loomis’ desperate need to kill him in the explosion in the end even though he knew it might cost him his own life.

Great characters introduced years after Michael burned in Halloween II

After saving Lorrie in Halloween I and II, he manages to help save her daughter Jamie with the help of her step sister Rachel in Halloween 4 and Rachel’s friend Tina in Halloween 5.

After the brutal murders of the paramedics transporting Michael’s burned body, Halloween 4‘s suspense was driven mostly by the risks people took to avoid Myers than the gore of the murders committed as Jamie and Rachel spent the whole evening trying to get away from the determined serial killer. They had also built a connection between Myers and Jamie when she holds his hand possibly because of Jamie’s need to fill the emptiness she feels as the adopted child in her family. This spiritual connection led her to murder her step mother on Halloween night possibly transferring the will of his unconscious mind to hers. After Dr. Loomis is frustrated by authorities who fail to recognize the dangers of not handling Michael Myers more carefully, he becomes horrified by the creation of another Michael Myers being born inside of a little girl and he almost seems tempted to shoot her out of anger and despair.

In Halloween 5, new characters were introduced to give the movie the light humor it needed to keep it interesting. The two cops that were more comical than useful couldn’t even be expected to do a thorough search of Rachel’s home before allowing her to go back inside just to be killed by the murderer she had barely escaped from in Halloween 4. Tina was destined to be the life of the party since she crawled in the window of Jamie’s psychiatric clinic with Max. She was fun when the good times were rolling, but she didn’t get serious until she realized the threat of Michael Myers claiming the lives of more victims was a reality. Like Annie in Halloween, she thought Myers was her boyfriend driving his car due to his Halloween mask switch that came conveniently before he went to pick her up. His constant struggle to contain his anger around her showed as he gripped the stirring wheel harder, but his reasoning for refusing to kill her right away isn’t clear unless we consider the possibility of just another psychopath wanting to keep the impersonation scheme going for as long as he could until he was able to choose the ‘right time’ to do his deed.

 

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Her friend Sam may have been almost as fun as she was, but I’m hoping that her idea of a good time wasn’t sharing her first time with such a goofy boyfriend in a dark scary barn on the hard floor with hay in her butt… Myers sure put a pick fork through those plans though.

It was still the child actress that stole the show with her great acting skills and passion in the film. Jamie calling Myers her uncle and recognizing him as a part of her natural family ignoring the more prominent sadistic side of him evoked an emotional response, possibly forcing him out of his unconscious state and into the state of awareness most people share. This wasn’t enough to stop him from forgetting about his original plan to carry out the murder as he continues to chase her until he is captured by Dr. Loomis just to be released by… a stranger. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was the last Halloween movie Dr. Loomis played in before passing away in 1995 from heart failure. His dedication to his character and his passion for his role is what the film needed to create a passion for the chase for Michael Myers.

Halloween’s story line and cast begin to go downhill

In Halloween: H20, Michael Myers finds Lorrie living a new life with her son 20 years later, but she appeared to be even more prepared to face him and finally end is life after his presence in her life had left her with PTSD and in constant fear of him coming back. The way the events unfolded weren’t nearly as good as the previous Halloweens with the typical rebellious young cast being killed off pretty quickly, Lorrie having a romantic evening with a guy before she feels forced to tell him about her past as Lorrie Strode, and a few comical scenes of LL Cool J striving to become an erotic novel writer until he is almost shot, but it’s always good to see Lorrie’s character come back for another Halloween movie. The trailers of the movie that indicate it will be where there is a fight to the finish is probably what drove so many people to the theaters because it was the most anticipated end to a Halloween movie after all these years. The last scene with Michael and Lorrie was iconic, but the movie as a whole… not so much.

Even after severing the head of a masked man who she believed to be Myers, Halloween: H20 would not be the end of the successful franchise as Michael Myers had been revived to continue to horrify his fans with more gory scenes with the deaths of the new cast in Halloween: Resurrection.

Eventually in Halloween: Resurrection, he is able to break into a psychiatric hospital where Lorrie is being held and end her life after years of her living in constant fear of him coming back for her and narrowly escaping death after each encounter with him. Unfortunately & fortunately, Halloween: Resurrection was different from the other Halloween films in that it focused more on comedy and nonsense than anything else, which was fortunate because some of the intentionally funny scenes were actually entertaining, but unfortunate because the other scenes were only funny because the bad acting and scripts were laughable. But as with any slasher film, the young cast members are probably made to be unlikable so that you could enjoy seeing them die, so I guess it’s not all that bad. Its ratings were almost as bad as Halloween III though it was more successful, grossing 37 million. 

After years went by with no Halloween films being released after the failure of Halloween: Resurrection, people probably thought that was the end of the franchise, but they were wrong. In 2007, Rob Zombie released his own version of Halloween after expressing his disinterest in the way the latest versions of the series turned out. And yet again, we see that the series changes and is overdramatized for the shock value.

It was after this film was released that I had realized that what I really loved about John Carpenter’s original Halloween was its simplicity. Sure, they had a much smaller budget to work with, but the advantage of that was that they had to focus on developing ways to naturally capture the attention of audiences without relying on expensive theatrics or unnecissarily enhancing the look/persona of “the shape.” Michael Myers was feared because of his ability to go unnoticed for long periods of time when he searched for his victims, hiding in the shadows at night and appearing in plain sight in the day while stalking them, displaying superhuman strength when he was the average size of an adult male, walking slowly as if he were psychologically unconscious yet conscious of his ability to find his victims no matter where they run, and he was unpredictable. These attributes of his character cannot be replaced with artificial attributes of what someone wants Myers to be unless you are creating an entirely different character that is appealing to another audience for different reasons. 

My favorite Halloweens 1, 2, 4, & 5 will be remembered as some of the best slasher classics regardless of what comes next.

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Oct 29 2019
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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead S10E4 Negan Escapes

Season 10 Episode 4: Silence the Whisperers 

The episode begins with brief moments of the character’s lives, complete with Daryl’s fun, caring side, Carol’s solitary side, and unfortunately, a surprise lesbian love scene to ruin the mood set by the passionate opening song. I guess after they killed off the other two gay characters, one with an unexpected arrow that went through her head while she was in the middle of saying something and the other from a wound sustained during a fight with the saviors, they felt the insatiable need to bring in two more to start the whole thing all over again. Honestly, their need to form new relationships between characters in the show has gradually been devaluing its content. What was once a powerful story about the value of love, trust, and forgiveness as well as the resilience and determination of man has been turned into a less entertaining story of drama filled love triangles, never ending heartbreaks, and multiple scenes of characters making out instead of a more entertaining scene where they fight more walkers. I know that after a while producers may want to change the direction of the show, but good change is always better than bad change.

 

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Anyways, there were some brief entertaining moments in the episode. My immaturity came pouring out when the three brats that hated Lydia teased her about being one of the walker skin mask wearing guardians. While it was quite amusing at first, it was a reminder of how cruel people can be in an already cruel world, which eventually ended in the former abuse victim’s request to be kept in a cell just to get away from the untrusting eyes and unwelcoming attitudes of those in the community.

 

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And once again, Negan brings the entertainment to the episode… with his kindness and generosity for others? As more people are showing their disapproval in the group’s decision to let Lydia stay in their community, more people begin to show their distrust in Negan after he accidentally kills one of her attackers while he was saving Lydia from being abused by another member of their community. Surprisingly, after not trusting Lydia alone with him, Daryl is the first to jump on Negan’s team and defend his actions while the others weren’t so sure about him.

Somehow, Negan managed to slip away while the other group members were still deciding what his fate should be, but is he really gone this time? Will they find him soon after he left and bring him back again or will he enjoy living on his own the second time around?

 

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And really? After years of Rick being gone, people still want to see Rick again and you have Ezekiel kissing Michoone? I’m guessing this solidifies Carol and Ezekiel’s unofficial divorce… Instead of these forced relationships, why not have scenes switching back and forth from the events occurring in their community to Rick’s life elsewhere, so we can see why he’s been gone for so long and what he’s up to? Just a thought.

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Oct 24 2019
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life

The Dark Side of the Plastic Surgery Boom

Is getting plastic surgery really even a big deal?

I wouldn’t really think so, but I guess you don’t really think about it until you’ve heard all the horror stories about it. While I believe these instances only account for the results of a small percentage of all plastic surgeries, many peoples’ testimonies on their negative experiences going under the knife should make some people think twice about it or at least try to verify the legitimacy of their doctors and/or clinics before they get a procedure done.

 

Plastic surgeon fails

(https://youtu.be/vGdR3CfcFFo)

In a video about why a Korean woman didn’t get plastic surgery, she talks about ‘ghost’ plastic surgeons that are less experienced than the surgeons that had the initial consultation with the patient who performs the surgery without the patient’s knowledge, botched surgeries where increased swelling or other issues ruined the work that was done, increased facial sagging after face lifts possibly leading to a cycle of either future face lifting surgeries or a life with a thick layer of expensive skin care cream on your face at all times, etc.

Unfortunately, she lives in Korea where the standard of beauty is extremely high as you could loose a number of job opportunities if you don’t fit their ideal beauty standards even if you don’t want a job in the entertainment industry. Since they are bombarded with plastic surgery advertisements in their country, I’m really surprised when I hear of a Korean woman that doesn’t want plastic surgery. She is a strong woman for not caving under the pressure to get some work done even after some idiots told her that she wasn’t attractive.

 

Plastic surgery nightmares

(https://youtu.be/wp4YZdSz2aA)

In yet another video of the negative experiences of those receiving plastic surgery, they share the stories of people who hate to look in the mirror or go outside after a procedure they had went wrong. Some say they wish they had never attempted to change their appearance after realizing that while their previous appearance was less than ideal, their look was much more acceptable than the look they were forced to live with after the botched plastic surgery.

And with the plastic surgery industry becoming a booming business there came an increase in doctors wanting to become plastic surgeons, along with some nurses and other individuals not authorized to perform plastic surgeries in backdoor/yet to be raided clinics that often offer multiple procedures at lower costs. Such clinics are seen in various nations where unlicensed staff administer experimental alternative procedures to more effective expensive surgeries or attempt to perform surgical procedures they aren’t knowledgeable enough to perform.

Even after performing a number of botched jobs without a legal right to practice, some individuals resorted to fleeing the clinic never to be heard from again when faced with complaints from patients or shameless continue to operate their business until they are caught by authorities. This leaves their victims to suffer from the emotional burden of living their lives with the permanent damage and physical pain of the surgeries sometimes not knowing if the additional cost of surgeries would correct the problem before it leaves them further in debt.

 

Plastic surgery addictions

(https://youtu.be/2dwAqNStM3Q)

Additionally, while it is argued that plastic surgery is generally a harmless procedure that is a personal choice that should be left up to the individual, it must be noted that plastic surgery as with many other things can be abused. Sometimes giving a person the ability to play God and create a human being within another human being goes horribly horribly wrong, but why?

Even after seeing evidence of a plastic surgery addiction during the consultation process, many plastic surgeons will STILL accept the patient’s money and perform even more procedures on them! Not being satisfied with the results of a previous procedure is bound to happen sometimes, but an event where an addict is STILL unsatisfied with their looks after multiple surgeries have drastically altered their looks will happen ALL THE TIME. In this case, it is no longer just vanity it’s a mental illness and the doctors need to say NO.

Some have suffered from nerve damage, collapsed noses, skin damage, permanent disfigurement, etc from repeated surgeries especially multiple surgeries on the same body part, so doctors who know the risks of performing these surgeries can be just as bad as the patients.

 

Before & After plastic surgery 

(https://youtu.be/8yDpdvOEUCw)

I still believe that because of the positive results people can gain from these surgeries that they will continue to get many more surgeries in spite of the negative results of others, especially if the massive amounts of positive reviews continue to drown out the negative ones.

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