Mediaboss Marketing

Its one of the most famous scenes in modern film history. In The Matrix, the 1999 phenomenon that introduced the world to bullet-time fight sequences and briefly made fiddly little sunglasses without arms the height of fashion, Laurence Fishburnes Morpheus offers Keanu Reevess Neo a simple choice. After explaining to him that he has lived his whole life in a virtual prison for [his] mind known as The Matrix and offering to show him the truth outside of that cage Morpheus presents him with a pair of colour-coded pills: You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe, he says. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes remember, all Im offering is the truth, nothing more.

That moment was invoked this week in a viral marketing campaign for The Matrix Resurrections the fourth film in the franchise which is set for release this December. The films website allowed viewers to choose between a red or blue pill, which in turn determined the teaser trailer theyd be shown. The decision to place the choice between the two pills front and centre in Resurrections marketing feels purposeful: a possible attempt by director Lana Wachowski to reclaim the contemporary narrative that surrounds the scene. It isnt hard to find evidence that she and her sister Lilly, who created The Matrix together, have become unhappy with how its meaning has been twisted and reinterpreted. In May 2020, after Elon Musk tweeted: Take the red pill and Ivanka Trump replied: Taken!, Lilly responded pithily: F*** both of you.

The red pill, of course, is the same pill that Neo chooses. In the film, his decision symbolises his rejection of received wisdom, and his brave determination to reject comforting illusions and keep seeking out the uncomfortable truth. Later, however, that symbol took on a life the Wachowskis never could have predicted.

Mens rights activists vociferously adopted it, believing that theyd seen the truth that society is unfairly structured to benefit women. They called themselves red pillers, and congregated online in deeply misogynistic groups like the subreddit r/TheRedPill, which proved so unruly even by Reddit standards that its been placed in the sites quarantine since 2018. That means its subject to tighter controls, is invisible in the sites search function and that anyone trying to visit the group is first warned that it is dedicated to shocking or highly offensive content. One of the groups core rules forbids anyone declaring in a post that they are, in fact, a woman. From that ignoble interpretation, the idea of taking the red pill became a running motif for Trump supporters, QAnon followers and anyone else who believed they were declaring their rejection of a perceived liberal consensus. If youve taken their version of the red pill, you probably havent had the Covid vaccine, either.

Needless to say, this was not the message the Wachowskis intended their film to send out into the world. When they made The Matrix in 1999, Lana and Lilly had yet to come out publicly as trans women. Lana transitioned after the sisters made Speed Racer in 2008, and then in 2016 Lilly announced she had also transitioned. Last year, in an interview with Netflix Film Club, Lilly Wachowski was asked what she thought of fans now interpreting The Matrix as an allegory for the trans experience and she pointed out that it had always been. Im glad that it has gotten out that that was the original intention, she said, before hinting at why that fact wasnt publicly discussed at the time: The world wasnt quite ready, at a corporate level the corporate world wasnt ready for it.

The trans symbolism of The Matrix is easy enough to identify. Neo is living a double life. By day, hes an office drone known as Thomas Anderson. By night, he is a hacker with a name hes chosen for himself. He is troubled by the nagging sensation that something is off about the world, something he cant quite put his finger on. In other words, he is suffering from dysphoria. Neo only becomes his true self when he breaks free from The Matrix, but not everyone is happy about it. Hugo Weavings terrifying baddie Agent Smith only ever refers to Neo by his original, socially approved name Mister Anderson, a practice known as deadnaming when done to trans people. Then theres the red pill itself, which can be seen as analogous to hormone therapy. The metaphor is a neat one: in the Nineties, prescription estrogen given to transitioning trans women did indeed come in the form of a red pill.

The Matrix Resurrections: First trailer released for sci-fi sequel

It remains to be seen whether Lana Wachowski will take the opportunity presented by her return to the world of The Matrix to make these themes more explicit. The fact that the red pill/blue pill dichotomy is so prominent in the new films advertising, though, does suggest shed like to reclaim them symbols not of right-wing nonsense, but of positive change.

Its about time. It is, after all, the red pill that allows Neo to become the hero he was always destined to be, by first allowing him to become the person he always was.

More here:
Red-pilled: Can The Matrix Resurrections reclaim Neo from the alt-right? - The Independent

Keeping women under mans thumb

Dwell on this thought:Abortions can only be performed on pregnant women. If abortions are so abhorrent to the alt-right, why is it not supporting easily accessible and free birth control to all women who determine they are not financially and emotionally prepared to bring a child into the world?

For 2,000 years, policies of the Christian church have been dominated by misogynic men obsessed with original sin and Eve as the villain. Man, although believed by the alt-right to be created in the image of God, is obviously too weak to deal with women on an equal footing. The conservative Supreme Court now wields the Bible to keep women subservient to mens control.

It is counterintuitive that while availability of birth control that reduces the number of abortions is not touted in TV ads, we are inundated with ads for Viagra and penialdysfunction to keep that perfidious snake strong and upright. It is counterintuitive that those in favor of forced birth turn their back on financial, health and housing support and in fact are trying to deny it once a child is born in poverty.

Founding Fathers said no to religious doctrine in government.

Karen Mahoney, Florence

I am the son of two educators, who fortunately are no longer alive to see a picture of a teachers taking a selfie of her and her sign no mandates (tests, masks, vaxx). Teachers in this state were vaccinated weeks before I (72) was able to. Rather than hold a grudge against them, I have volunteered more than 200 hours, 33 clinics and 11 fullweekendsto help get people vaccinated and tested.

I wonder what this teacher is teaching perhaps she believes messenger RNA is junk mail, masks make the brain hypoxic and that a COVID-19 test is mandated as part of No Child Left Behind. Considering how women have taken the brunt of COVID-19suppression recommendations in hospitals, in the sky, in restaurantsand yes in schools,she appears to be ill-suited for her job. When she meets this variant, which she will, she may not die, only get long-haul and then want the rest of us to pay for her care.

Michael S.Smith, Eugene

Vaccinations, masking and distancing are time-proven methods of slowing the spread of a virus. COVID-19 mutated to delta in 2021 by adapting, spreading more easily and becoming more virulent. In the name of freedom, some refuse to practice the methods that slow down the virus. It seems forgotten that freedom demands responsibility, and that none of our freedoms exists without cooperation. As the delta variant grows stronger, more people are falling ill and dying from this avoidable illness. The virus races forward while humanity debates its self-imposed regression. Thankfully, the solution is simple: To accept our responsibilities: vaccinate, mask and distance to return to the new normal.

Rae Lea Cousens, North Bend

Submit a letter of 200 words or fewer to rgletters@registerguard.com. Include your full name, mailing address and phone number for purposes of verification.

Original post:
Letters to the editor for Friday, Sept. 10: Women's rights, vaccine drama and the freedom conundrum - The Register-Guard

This past weekend, someone in an angry crowd threw rocks (or gravel) at Justin Trudeau at an election campaign stop in London, Ont.

Afterwards, Trudeau told reporters on his campaign plane that someone had once thrown a pumpkin seed at him. Some of the rocks might have hit his shoulder, he said. He quickly grazed his left shoulder to indicate. When asked by Global Newss Abigail Bimman (who was seeking clarity on a troubling event) if it might have or actually did hit him, he shrugged his shoulders and asked does it matter?

It was just a little gravel, he said.

It absolutely matters.

It matters because its part of a terrifying series of physical and verbal vitriol on the election campaign trail that has seen the signs of candidates defaced with swastikas and obscenities, and their team members slapped and spit at.

It matters because the incident occurred in the same city that witnessed a terrorist attack that killed a Muslim family of four just three months before the election call was made.

It matters because the first thought for every BIPOC person across the country was Imagine if it was a Black or Indigenous or Muslim person that tried to physically assault the Prime Minister.

It matters because Im about to become the mobs next online target for calling this group of protesters what they are. Theyre not anti-vaxxer mobs, as Trudeau keeps calling them. These are not all people frustrated by the lockdowns and the pandemic. They are a manifestation of white supremacist hate.

Many of the protests following Justin Trudeau have been marked by the kind of extreme rage that became familiar in the U.S. during Donald Trumps presidency. Protesters have yelled Lock him up, Traitor, and piece of st. They have called for Trudeau to be hanged. They have verbally attacked members of his team and his security detail using racist and misogynistic language, the CBC reports.

This needs to make us ever more convinced of the importance of the choice in this election, Trudeau said on Aug. 29. Do we fall into division and hatred and racism and violence, or do we say no.

But its not as simple as saying no. This didnt happen in a vacuum, or because of the pandemic. Hate, too, is a virus and it grows rapidly if left unaddressed. And its been left unaddressed in Canada for far too long.

There is a link between the anti-vaxx movement and far-right groups that we need to talk about. (Note: the movement is separate from vaccine-hesitant people who have legitimate concerns.) An upcoming study by Amarnath Amarasingam, Stephanie Carvin and Kurt Philips for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue documents the connections, finding that anti-mask, anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination movements in Canada are predominantly propagated by the far-right. Some of the most vocal critics of lockdown measures and vaccines are leaders of far-right groups or political parties, including People Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier.

It is likely that many (if not most) far-right movements have latched on to COVID-19 conspiracy movements to lure anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists to their cause. This includes adapting their propaganda and attending anti-lockdown protests and events, the study says. Emboldened by this cause, the study wonders if the movement could return with previous far-right preoccupations with more vigour: the promotion of anti-immigration, Islamophobic and antisemitic views and policies.

The purple signs of the PPC, for instance, have been a common sight at the protests. This is a party that wants to force future Canadian immigrants to answer questions about Canadian values and societal norms in a face-to-face interview, repeal a non-binding motion condemning Islamophobia, and restrict the definition of hate speech in the Criminal Code. The party was founded in 2019 and in its submission to Elections Canada of 250 signatories, included a former leader of a U.S. neo-Nazi group and other far-right extremists. The same year, it ousted a candidate who was critical of the partys refusal to denounce far-right groups.

The party holds a shocking 8 per cent support in the race, according to one poll. It has recruited an almost full slate of candidates (312 out of 338 ridings). Bernier (who was also egged on the campaign trail and has condemned physical violence) won 12 rounds of the 2017 Conservative leadership race, losing by a hair in the 13th round to Andrew Scheer. Hes calling for a revolution to defend freedom.

So, yeah, it matters. It matters so much, and Canadian leaders need to stop being so cavalier and rote in dismissing it by suggesting that this is a minority that we shouldnt bow to.

These largely white groups of protestors that have followed Trudeau have an unfair privilege that has been afforded to them by all aspects of society: they largely get away with their hateful rhetoric and actions, and dont get called out or punished for it.

Condemnations are not a cure for what were seeing unfold on the election campaign trail. (Ive personally seen enough condemnations of hate to last a lifetime.) Erin OToole, condemned the disgusting act and called it political violence in a statement. That doesnt address the fact that race or racism dont appear once in the Conservative Party platform, or the fact that Conservative MPs have been stoking hate by refusing to even condemn it for the longest time. (Like that time they all voted against a non-binding motion against Islamophobia.)

The Liberals arent absolved either. Theyve been in power for six years and hate has grown under their watch. They couldve done more after the 2017 Quebec mosquethe first terrifying manifestation of white supremacist hate in the country. Instead, they chose to table online hate legislation, the one big thing communities targeted by hate have been demanding, the day parliament adjourned this summer. The government just held its first-ever anti-hate summits in July, after parliament was already over, so any pledges made there wont come to light for some time.

In the days since the rock-throwing incident happened, Trudeau has changed his tune and called it unacceptable. Perhaps this was a political calculation for sympathy votes or a realization that this was a way to differentiate his party from the Conservatives. Either way, it was, once again, a condemnation with no follow-up.

We need to see action, anger and arrests. (The London police say they are investigating the rock throwing.) Our leaders are quick to remind us that Canada isnt the U.S., but the same alt-right, extreme rhetoric is loudly echoing here today and has done so for years.

Unfortunately, even under the strictest of societal lockdowns, the spread of hate has continued.

According to Statistics Canada, there were an estimated 223,000 hate crimes in Canada in 2019, and the police only laid 1,951 charges, less than one per cent. This means that in Canada, youre more likely to be the victim of a hate crime in Canada than be hurt in a car crash (152,847 injuries in 2018).

We had a year of anti-racism protests by the Black community. The Asian community was targeted throughout the pandemic. There seems to be a surge in incidents against Muslim communities. And just this week, Prabhjot Singh Katri, a 23-year-old Sikh international student, was murdered in an apparent hate crime in Truro, N.S.

Racism and hate are serious problems in Canada and the leaders are encountering both on the campaign trail. A plan to address racism and hateand eradicate themshould be on the ballot. They should have been debate topics.

The absence of racism and hate in the 2021 election conversation is absolutely terrifying for a country that still refuses to look itself the mirror.

CORRECTION, Sept. 9, 2021:An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the word hate does not appear in the Conservative Party platform.

Go here to see the original:
Protesters threw rocks at the PM. It should matter more. - Maclean's

Brooklyn-based Utopia has picked up worldwide sales rights to Hayley Garrigus You Cant Kill Meme, a documentary feature which drills down on the political meme warfare enshrined by Donald Trumps presidential victory in 2016.

The acquisition comes just ahead of the films world premiere at Montreals Fantasia Film Festival this month. An on demand release in North America is planned for this fall, Utopia announced Monday.

You Cant Kill Meme explores the rise of political meme instrumentation, anticipated by a 2004 visionary non-fiction book by R. Kirk Packwood called Memetic Magic: Manipulation of the Root Social Matrix and the Fabric of Reality.

The film sees Garrigus interview Packwood and other figures in the meme magic world to trace the emergence of figures such as Pepe the Frog, originally a comic book slacker, and Kek, an Egyptian deity of darkness before dawn, in order to understand their centrality for alt-right advocacy. You Cant Kill Meme argues that these memes delivers an inside joke, triggers an emotional reaction and creates a sense of belonging.

What was learned in 2016 has now become standard practice, director-cinematographer Garrigus says in voiceover.

Alternating interviews with personal details about Garrigus research, the doc also studies a moment of meme magic when alt-right assertions about Hilary Clintons health condition transformed into a dominant political narrative. The assertion helped move the dial on voters intentions and meme Trump into power, according to the doc.

Packwood explains the emotional origins of meme culture in a sense of social inadequacy. You want to introduce some form of chaos to break down social hierarchy, he argues. Other interviewers are Billy el Brujo, a white-paint faced internet meme magic worker, and Las Vegas lightworker Carole Michaella.

Through conspiracy and confrontation, You Cant Kill Meme offers nuance in our cultural assumptions about meme culture, said Danielle DiGiacomo, head of content at Utopia. Utopia is ecstatic to transfix viewers with the films unraveling of modern-day internet communication, whose real-world implications are often oversimplified.

You Cant Kill Meme is produced by Samuel Gursky, Kerry Mack and Michael Beuttler, and edited by Beuttler and Garrigus, who spent three years working on the film. Its original music is composed by Tom Moore and Michael Beuttler.

Co-founded byRobert Schwartzman, Utopia is a sales and distribution company known for feature films includingEmma SeligmansToronto 2020 standout Shiva Baby, and Annabelle Attanasios 2019 SXSW hit Mickey and the Bear.

Upcoming Utopia releases include Sundance and New Directors/New Films 2021 selections El Planeta and Were All Going To The Worlds Fair; Dasha Nekrasovas Berlinale premiere The Scary of Sixty-First, in partnership with Shudder; and the Dash Snow documentary Moments Like This Never Last from Cheryl Dunn and Vice Studios.

See the rest here:
Alt-Right Meme Culture Documentary You Cant Kill Meme Swooped on by Utopia (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety

As we view and read unending news stories about the devastation wrought by climate change (wildfires, historic flooding, super-heated waters killing fish, record heat waves all over the world), its worth noting that the State of Illinois recently missed an historic opportunity to cut pollution that is a major cause of this problem.

Climate scientists the world over are saying that we must reduce carbon pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels that power our heating, cooling and transportation sectors. Renewable sources of energy are available right now that would reduce pollution and improve public health, but clean energy legislation that would have helped us reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels recently failed to pass the Illinois State legislature. How could we have missed this opportunity to clean our environment?

SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be approximately 350 words or less.

Supporters of dirty fossil fuels say we need a balanced approach to energy policy. The truth is that the Illinois power grid is out of balance now. Clean renewable energy only accounts for 8 to 10% of Illinois energy production. This percentage is woefully inadequate and shows that we are failing to live up to our responsibility to give future generations healthy air to breath. If we are to be responsible stewards of our environment, we must pass legislation that insures we use more clean, renewable energy (solar and wind) to power our state. Failure to do so is to make a future clean up much more difficult for our children and grandchildren.

The Illinois state legislature must act as soon as possible to pass clean energy legislation that will create good jobs and clean our air and water.

Mark Kraemer, Wilmette

As a frequent reporter of incidents to the Chicago Police Departments TipSubmit website (new.tipsubmit.com), Im frequently disappointed because nothing seems to get done. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Supt. David Brown seem to agree with what Brown said earlier this week, that the police cant solve crimes alone and need the public to work with us.

Yes, as reported on June 18 in the Sun-Times, the city for years sought security fixes at home where eight people recently were shot, ut nothing was done.

I can assure you this was not the only time a house was reported to the police for criminal activity and nothing was done. Though the narrative from City Hall is that residents dont report problem locations, thats certainly not the case in all situations. The four murders at that house might have been avoided had reports to the police actually been acted upon.

Michael Pearson, Englewood

All public schools require multiple vaccinations when registering children for classes. This is for the sake of protecting all children. If you dont feel your child should have to comply, send them to a private school. Its that simple.

Edwina Jackson, Washington Heights

Why does the media describe the ultra-right or alt-right as conservatives? What do they conserve? They certainly arent interested in conserving civil rights, human rights or our planet.

When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joked about hitting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel, he was not being conservative; he was pandering to his base, the Republican Partys motley crew of far-rightists, white supremacists, white nationalists, neo-fascists and advocates of violence. All those people whom the previous occupant of the White House helped his party solidify.

They should be described as far-right, ultra-right, or alt-right definitely not as conservatives.

Muriel Balla, Hyde Park

Read the original post:
Pass legislation that insures we use more wind and solar energy to power Illinois | Letters - Chicago Sun-Times