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thejusticelounge2013-06-26 08:38 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-06-26 08:38 am
Entry tags:
LEAGUE:ALL SUBJECT: POTENTIAL SOLUTION
Hopefully this message finds all you Leaguers not fighting off ignorant goons with badly-planned picket signs, but honestly considering the state of things, probably not.
The reason I’m sending this to all of you is that this game is no longer about hoping the idiots forget. Unfortunately, GGG and his minions have turned up the heat, and the League’s silence is being converted into even more fuel for the fire.
I think we all know the assholes currently bombarding the internet and our inboxes with hate mail actually represent a very small portion of the general public. But the League’s silent majority is being just that—silent. I don’t think this is because they actually buy into GGG’s bullshit. I think it’s the bystander effect—these people have spent their whole lives waiting for us to save them, and now they feel powerless to help us fight our battle.
Last night in some….interesting Watchtower conversation, an idea came up for a grassroots support campaign to show GGG just who he’s dealing with. Now, you all know I love a good ass-whooping and I don’t particularly follow a strict moral code, but it seems to me that if GGG has capitalized off hate, we should capitalize off love. If GGG’s followers want to act like animals, we will shame them as such. These messages that have been showing up on forums and in our emails don’t deserve silence. If these “right-thinkers” believe in their own words, then they shouldn’t care to have those words printed publicly, right? I mean, if you believe in freedom, you shouldn’t see a problem with someone exposing the things you send under the pretext of anonymity. Which, let’s face it, is the only reason any of these assholes say the things they do. They’d piss their pants if any of us looked at them too long while on patrol. They’re ramped up on hate and they don’t know what else to do besides be sick monsters.
And GGG is the ringleader of it all. He’s not even bothering to cover up his rhetoric. So we use his words against him. We band together and take a stand against his words. We sponsor public rallies, trending twitter tags, that sort of thing. We encourage people to tell how the League has helped them in whatever way they feel comfortable with. We invite our supporters to peacefully back our fight.
I’ve been checking some comment boards from GGG’s recent posts. On pages clearly aimed to people of his sentiment (you know the small minority of trash I’m talking about), the comments are obviously horrendous. But on websites that have no particular leaning, these comments are sparse. Why? Because the commentators there, regardless of political or social beliefs, are smart enough to figure out the innumerable problems with the “right-thinkers” arguments. Even people who consider themselves on the “Right” side of the political spectrum are shutting this hypocritical and ignorant bullshit down.
These people screaming at us are not the majority. Not by a long shot. They’re just the only people standing at the microphone.
The proposal last night includes League members attending these peaceful rallies and showing that they are not hiding from GGG comments. If we were afraid of terrible things happening or being said to us, we wouldn’t be fighting crime. When GGG’s arguments are pulled out from under his feet, when marches and rallies show him exactly who needs the “Just-Us League,” that’s when these anonymous cowards will crawl back into their basements.
The more we stay in silence and allow GGG to target a few good heroes (and we all know exactly who I’m talking about), the more we stand to lose. If all that resentment from this small majority is focused on Manhunter or whoever GGG goes after next, that makes the hate that much more intense. If the League stands together and let our supporters show their numbers, that hate is going to have to divide itself into some very small slices. It’s almost like a pizza: one little slice is much easier to swallow than a whole pie.
Like I’ve said before, the key to this initiative is love. If the few assholes want to start a physical fight, that’s on them. And then they become a problem we can actually deal with. I know most of us are way more comfortable with fighting with our fists, not our words.
Obviously this cannot be done by a single Leaguer. And that’s not what the League is for. We would need everyone’s help. And I mean everyone. I understand that recent…developments might seem to constitute a dichotomy, but I assure you it’s false. You can support the League without disowning someone. You can support the League without blasting anyone anywhere. That’s the whole point. If your ideas are completely based on hating something else, what are you when that object of your hatred is removed? Nothing.
So I propose we band together and show GGG, his goons, and our followers that we are more than hate. I can understand if some of you are hesitant, and that is okay. But the League stands for more than one hero and their fears. It stands for the fears—and hopes—of the world at large. And if we keep hiding in the shadows, we are going to implicate ourselves in every single word coming out of GGG’s filthy little mouth.
And we keep allowing him to target only a few of us.
Once again, no fighting, no mud-slinging, no attacks of any kind. Just a good intelligent counter-argument and a public denouncement of tactics based on hate. Completely public-driven, with only minor commentary and presence from us. Support from anyone: politicians, storeowners, Joe Blow from down the road, anyone will be welcome, which would already be a push away from GGG’s exclusively racist, xenophobic WASP supporters. Our opinions mean nothing to these monsters. But the millions of people who love and support us should be allowed to speak as freely as these bigots.
I know this is a big endeavor, but I hope you all will consider it. I know for the non-public heroes it might seem like a big deal, but there are other ways to support a movement without taking your mask off if you don’t want to do that. Like I said, everyone can play a role.
I know GGG is eventually going to fall on his own sword in what I can only hope will be a hugely ironic twist, but until then I think we need to gather as much ground control as possible. Our silence only encourages the cowards and worries our followers. If you’re interested in this or you just think I’m being crazy, please let me know. Obviously there would need to be more meetings about this if we decide to travel down this path, but before we go anywhere we have to decide as a team if we’re going to help the people speak for their own opinions or allow the bigots to speak for everyone else.
Like I said, let me know if you’re interested and any ideas you might have. I’ll be surfing the Twitter and forum streams, and seeing what positive ideas about the League seem to be catching on. I really think if we all work together we can stop this wildfire before someone gets burned. And we can take the spotlight away from these horrible few and put it back on the righteous many.
Also, my apartment manager just called me and told me there’s a whole gaggle of reporters outside my building asking for me by name. And I’m not famous. So that’s probably not good.
Anyway, I better see what the hell is going on downstairs. Take care, Leaguers, and let me know what you think. Preferably on the most encrypted channels you can, just in case.
After she sends the encrypted email out, Mar’i leans back in her chair and folds her arms over her head. For a moment, she swears she can already hear the reporters downstairs, clamoring for a scoop. The apartment manager has several models living in this complex, so he’s used to paparazzi. But something in his voice was very different from when he calls asking her to not speak about another girl’s supposed engagement to a football player or a rumor of anorexia pacts. It would’ve scared her if she hadn’t been expecting it.
Carefully, deliberately, she slips into a short but modest dress covered in images of brightly colored houses. She chooses from among her heels one of the highest pairs. If they get the scoop, she gets the height advantage. The San Francisco sun is already burning through her windows, so she runs her fingers along her few pairs of sunglasses, wondering which ones will match her outfit best.
Nearly an hour later, she strolls casually into the lobby of the complex, politely greeting the front-desk clerk. Poor thing is only on her third day on the job and she’s already had to face a mob. Somehow the two complex guards have kept the reporter and his crew outside the glass doors. They see her exit the elevator and begin clamoring again. The desk clerk sinks down a bit. Mar’i smiles at her and leans over, patting her on the shoulder.
"Don’t be afraid of them," she comments calmly. "That’s just what they want."
By the time she exits the double doors, opting for the revolving one which she takes much more slowly than the reporters would prefer, the man who is clearly a second-string investigative anchor sniffing on a possible lead with his batch of goons sticks the microphone in her face.
Hey Mar’i Grayson! Miss Grayson! Karl Kenderson, Local 4 FOX News - can you confirm rumors than you and Justice League superzero Nightstar are the same person?
Mar’i smiles sweetly and tilts her head slightly downward to face him. X’Hal bless short reporters and their even shorter camera crews.
"Well, Mr. Kenderson, I believe the word ‘rumor’ denotes secrecy," she begins, looking past his sweaty red face straight into the camera. "I’m quite surprised you’re just now reporting on this. Also, the word is pronounced superHero," Mr. Kenderson starts to open his mouth angrily, but Mar’i cuts him off politely, “it’s okay, sir, everybody makes pronunciation mistakes. But," she motions to the two security guards nearly pressed up against the glass before he can interrupt her like he so desperately wants to, “I would request that you all please allow Mr. Carter and Mr. Hou to move freely," she finishes politely as she places emphasis on the second to last syllable. "They’re just officers of the peace, trying to do their jobs and provide for their families the old-fashioned American way."
Suddenly the cameras fix on the obviously pinned guards, and the crew nearly trips over itself offering apologies and trying to get out of the two men’s way. When finally free of the tangle of bodies and wires, the two guards nod at Mar’i, clearly confused but at least able to move again and re-enter the complex quickly, where the young desk clerk has now begun taking photos on her iPhone. Mar’i has gathered enough of her personality to know they’ll end somewhere helpful, not one of GGG’s insipid forums.
The brief confusion of the reporting crowd gives Mar’i a chance to begin walking, but she turns her head and crooks a single beckoning finger at Karl Kenderson and his news crew to follow her before they can actually begin to do so. She turns her head back in the direction she’s walking, smirking to herself as the crew struggles to catch up.
The cameraman angles himself in front of her, walking backwards at a fast pace to keep his shot, and poor Karl Kenderson looks like a puddle in the San Francisco sun.
"S-so," he begins, trying to put on his best voice without panting and clearly not sure what to do since she so openly admitted to her Nightstar identity, “why are you promoting sexual promiscuity and lasciviousness by showcasing your body?"
Mar’i looks at him and smiles again, although this new smile is just vaguely predatory. "Well, Karl, can I call you Karl? Are you a believer in God?"
The cameraman, some poor grunt who doesn’t understand the situation whips over to Karl’s sweating face looking quite shocked.
"W-well of course, ma’am!" he scoffs, puffing his chest out in pride and looking right into his camera as he says so.
Mar’i nods intently. "I thought so. You look like a good man who truly takes God’s words of love to heart, Karl."
The reporter senses some vague derision and glares intensely. "You haven’t answered my original question, ma’am."
"I’m getting there, Karl. So, according to the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were the original two humans, correct?"
Karl clearly doesn’t appreciate this biblical lesson. "God’s chosen, ma’am. And that’s fact, not fiction."
Mar’i nods her head at Karl. "So, logically, Adam and Eve were, before the apple, of course, perfect beings whose lack of sin should be an aspiration for all of us. Their fall has put humanity on its path to sin, but if we re-trace our path back to them, surely we can find the answers to life without sin?"
Karl’s eyes narrow as he attempts to process this information. Finally, he turns back to the camera, nodding fiercely at his audience in agreement. "Yes, ma’am."
Mari’s mouth turns up ever so inconspicuously and she places a hand on Karl’s tweed shoulder. She can feel the sweat pouring off of him.
"Well, Karl, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but Adam and Eve were naked. And before they came to sin, they were proud of the beautiful bodies God had given them. After all, we are all made in the image of our Lord, aren’t we?"
Mar’i can hear the newsroom in Karl’s earpiece screaming at him to stop talking to her. Karl himself looks not unlike a jellyfish caught on a rock. She squeezes his shoulder lightly and turns to pose at the camera as the cameraman zooms in on the two of them, looking awfully chummy in the San Fran morning air.
"Say, Karl," she smiles warmly at him, allowing the live camera to soak up her last words before some bumbling intern at the station manages to finally cut the feed, “what would you say to an exclusive?"
The reason I’m sending this to all of you is that this game is no longer about hoping the idiots forget. Unfortunately, GGG and his minions have turned up the heat, and the League’s silence is being converted into even more fuel for the fire.
I think we all know the assholes currently bombarding the internet and our inboxes with hate mail actually represent a very small portion of the general public. But the League’s silent majority is being just that—silent. I don’t think this is because they actually buy into GGG’s bullshit. I think it’s the bystander effect—these people have spent their whole lives waiting for us to save them, and now they feel powerless to help us fight our battle.
Last night in some….interesting Watchtower conversation, an idea came up for a grassroots support campaign to show GGG just who he’s dealing with. Now, you all know I love a good ass-whooping and I don’t particularly follow a strict moral code, but it seems to me that if GGG has capitalized off hate, we should capitalize off love. If GGG’s followers want to act like animals, we will shame them as such. These messages that have been showing up on forums and in our emails don’t deserve silence. If these “right-thinkers” believe in their own words, then they shouldn’t care to have those words printed publicly, right? I mean, if you believe in freedom, you shouldn’t see a problem with someone exposing the things you send under the pretext of anonymity. Which, let’s face it, is the only reason any of these assholes say the things they do. They’d piss their pants if any of us looked at them too long while on patrol. They’re ramped up on hate and they don’t know what else to do besides be sick monsters.
And GGG is the ringleader of it all. He’s not even bothering to cover up his rhetoric. So we use his words against him. We band together and take a stand against his words. We sponsor public rallies, trending twitter tags, that sort of thing. We encourage people to tell how the League has helped them in whatever way they feel comfortable with. We invite our supporters to peacefully back our fight.
I’ve been checking some comment boards from GGG’s recent posts. On pages clearly aimed to people of his sentiment (you know the small minority of trash I’m talking about), the comments are obviously horrendous. But on websites that have no particular leaning, these comments are sparse. Why? Because the commentators there, regardless of political or social beliefs, are smart enough to figure out the innumerable problems with the “right-thinkers” arguments. Even people who consider themselves on the “Right” side of the political spectrum are shutting this hypocritical and ignorant bullshit down.
These people screaming at us are not the majority. Not by a long shot. They’re just the only people standing at the microphone.
The proposal last night includes League members attending these peaceful rallies and showing that they are not hiding from GGG comments. If we were afraid of terrible things happening or being said to us, we wouldn’t be fighting crime. When GGG’s arguments are pulled out from under his feet, when marches and rallies show him exactly who needs the “Just-Us League,” that’s when these anonymous cowards will crawl back into their basements.
The more we stay in silence and allow GGG to target a few good heroes (and we all know exactly who I’m talking about), the more we stand to lose. If all that resentment from this small majority is focused on Manhunter or whoever GGG goes after next, that makes the hate that much more intense. If the League stands together and let our supporters show their numbers, that hate is going to have to divide itself into some very small slices. It’s almost like a pizza: one little slice is much easier to swallow than a whole pie.
Like I’ve said before, the key to this initiative is love. If the few assholes want to start a physical fight, that’s on them. And then they become a problem we can actually deal with. I know most of us are way more comfortable with fighting with our fists, not our words.
Obviously this cannot be done by a single Leaguer. And that’s not what the League is for. We would need everyone’s help. And I mean everyone. I understand that recent…developments might seem to constitute a dichotomy, but I assure you it’s false. You can support the League without disowning someone. You can support the League without blasting anyone anywhere. That’s the whole point. If your ideas are completely based on hating something else, what are you when that object of your hatred is removed? Nothing.
So I propose we band together and show GGG, his goons, and our followers that we are more than hate. I can understand if some of you are hesitant, and that is okay. But the League stands for more than one hero and their fears. It stands for the fears—and hopes—of the world at large. And if we keep hiding in the shadows, we are going to implicate ourselves in every single word coming out of GGG’s filthy little mouth.
And we keep allowing him to target only a few of us.
Once again, no fighting, no mud-slinging, no attacks of any kind. Just a good intelligent counter-argument and a public denouncement of tactics based on hate. Completely public-driven, with only minor commentary and presence from us. Support from anyone: politicians, storeowners, Joe Blow from down the road, anyone will be welcome, which would already be a push away from GGG’s exclusively racist, xenophobic WASP supporters. Our opinions mean nothing to these monsters. But the millions of people who love and support us should be allowed to speak as freely as these bigots.
I know this is a big endeavor, but I hope you all will consider it. I know for the non-public heroes it might seem like a big deal, but there are other ways to support a movement without taking your mask off if you don’t want to do that. Like I said, everyone can play a role.
I know GGG is eventually going to fall on his own sword in what I can only hope will be a hugely ironic twist, but until then I think we need to gather as much ground control as possible. Our silence only encourages the cowards and worries our followers. If you’re interested in this or you just think I’m being crazy, please let me know. Obviously there would need to be more meetings about this if we decide to travel down this path, but before we go anywhere we have to decide as a team if we’re going to help the people speak for their own opinions or allow the bigots to speak for everyone else.
Like I said, let me know if you’re interested and any ideas you might have. I’ll be surfing the Twitter and forum streams, and seeing what positive ideas about the League seem to be catching on. I really think if we all work together we can stop this wildfire before someone gets burned. And we can take the spotlight away from these horrible few and put it back on the righteous many.
Also, my apartment manager just called me and told me there’s a whole gaggle of reporters outside my building asking for me by name. And I’m not famous. So that’s probably not good.
Anyway, I better see what the hell is going on downstairs. Take care, Leaguers, and let me know what you think. Preferably on the most encrypted channels you can, just in case.
After she sends the encrypted email out, Mar’i leans back in her chair and folds her arms over her head. For a moment, she swears she can already hear the reporters downstairs, clamoring for a scoop. The apartment manager has several models living in this complex, so he’s used to paparazzi. But something in his voice was very different from when he calls asking her to not speak about another girl’s supposed engagement to a football player or a rumor of anorexia pacts. It would’ve scared her if she hadn’t been expecting it.
Carefully, deliberately, she slips into a short but modest dress covered in images of brightly colored houses. She chooses from among her heels one of the highest pairs. If they get the scoop, she gets the height advantage. The San Francisco sun is already burning through her windows, so she runs her fingers along her few pairs of sunglasses, wondering which ones will match her outfit best.
Nearly an hour later, she strolls casually into the lobby of the complex, politely greeting the front-desk clerk. Poor thing is only on her third day on the job and she’s already had to face a mob. Somehow the two complex guards have kept the reporter and his crew outside the glass doors. They see her exit the elevator and begin clamoring again. The desk clerk sinks down a bit. Mar’i smiles at her and leans over, patting her on the shoulder.
"Don’t be afraid of them," she comments calmly. "That’s just what they want."
By the time she exits the double doors, opting for the revolving one which she takes much more slowly than the reporters would prefer, the man who is clearly a second-string investigative anchor sniffing on a possible lead with his batch of goons sticks the microphone in her face.
Hey Mar’i Grayson! Miss Grayson! Karl Kenderson, Local 4 FOX News - can you confirm rumors than you and Justice League superzero Nightstar are the same person?
Mar’i smiles sweetly and tilts her head slightly downward to face him. X’Hal bless short reporters and their even shorter camera crews.
"Well, Mr. Kenderson, I believe the word ‘rumor’ denotes secrecy," she begins, looking past his sweaty red face straight into the camera. "I’m quite surprised you’re just now reporting on this. Also, the word is pronounced superHero," Mr. Kenderson starts to open his mouth angrily, but Mar’i cuts him off politely, “it’s okay, sir, everybody makes pronunciation mistakes. But," she motions to the two security guards nearly pressed up against the glass before he can interrupt her like he so desperately wants to, “I would request that you all please allow Mr. Carter and Mr. Hou to move freely," she finishes politely as she places emphasis on the second to last syllable. "They’re just officers of the peace, trying to do their jobs and provide for their families the old-fashioned American way."
Suddenly the cameras fix on the obviously pinned guards, and the crew nearly trips over itself offering apologies and trying to get out of the two men’s way. When finally free of the tangle of bodies and wires, the two guards nod at Mar’i, clearly confused but at least able to move again and re-enter the complex quickly, where the young desk clerk has now begun taking photos on her iPhone. Mar’i has gathered enough of her personality to know they’ll end somewhere helpful, not one of GGG’s insipid forums.
The brief confusion of the reporting crowd gives Mar’i a chance to begin walking, but she turns her head and crooks a single beckoning finger at Karl Kenderson and his news crew to follow her before they can actually begin to do so. She turns her head back in the direction she’s walking, smirking to herself as the crew struggles to catch up.
The cameraman angles himself in front of her, walking backwards at a fast pace to keep his shot, and poor Karl Kenderson looks like a puddle in the San Francisco sun.
"S-so," he begins, trying to put on his best voice without panting and clearly not sure what to do since she so openly admitted to her Nightstar identity, “why are you promoting sexual promiscuity and lasciviousness by showcasing your body?"
Mar’i looks at him and smiles again, although this new smile is just vaguely predatory. "Well, Karl, can I call you Karl? Are you a believer in God?"
The cameraman, some poor grunt who doesn’t understand the situation whips over to Karl’s sweating face looking quite shocked.
"W-well of course, ma’am!" he scoffs, puffing his chest out in pride and looking right into his camera as he says so.
Mar’i nods intently. "I thought so. You look like a good man who truly takes God’s words of love to heart, Karl."
The reporter senses some vague derision and glares intensely. "You haven’t answered my original question, ma’am."
"I’m getting there, Karl. So, according to the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were the original two humans, correct?"
Karl clearly doesn’t appreciate this biblical lesson. "God’s chosen, ma’am. And that’s fact, not fiction."
Mar’i nods her head at Karl. "So, logically, Adam and Eve were, before the apple, of course, perfect beings whose lack of sin should be an aspiration for all of us. Their fall has put humanity on its path to sin, but if we re-trace our path back to them, surely we can find the answers to life without sin?"
Karl’s eyes narrow as he attempts to process this information. Finally, he turns back to the camera, nodding fiercely at his audience in agreement. "Yes, ma’am."
Mari’s mouth turns up ever so inconspicuously and she places a hand on Karl’s tweed shoulder. She can feel the sweat pouring off of him.
"Well, Karl, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but Adam and Eve were naked. And before they came to sin, they were proud of the beautiful bodies God had given them. After all, we are all made in the image of our Lord, aren’t we?"
Mar’i can hear the newsroom in Karl’s earpiece screaming at him to stop talking to her. Karl himself looks not unlike a jellyfish caught on a rock. She squeezes his shoulder lightly and turns to pose at the camera as the cameraman zooms in on the two of them, looking awfully chummy in the San Fran morning air.
"Say, Karl," she smiles warmly at him, allowing the live camera to soak up her last words before some bumbling intern at the station manages to finally cut the feed, “what would you say to an exclusive?"