High Water

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:08:19 GMT

In happier news, my results for the Swedish course I took last term:

Spoken & listening comprehension: A
Grammar: B
Written & reading comprehension: B
Realia (= Swedish history and culture mostly): pass (no grade given for this bit, just pass/fail, but he wrote several + symbols after "pass" on my final paper, so I'll take that as a hell yes.)

I am especially shocked and amazed about the A, since they spent all term telling us that People Don't Get As On This Course, since it is judged more or less as though one were a college-level (err, that is to say, something like age 15-19) Swedish person.

Basically I am awesome? :D

One term left and then I can study regular Swedish courses as much as I want! :D

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Have you got your kicking boots on?

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:58:02 GMT

Hi everyone, I know I never write. I am pretty terrible at this whole journal thing just now apparently. But I just wanted to drop you some important links.

BASICALLY, that forced sterilisation law that I talked so much about all last year? Not going anywhere, apparently, despite the fact that basically everyone except for the Christian Democrats has said it needs to be gone. Because you know, we can't upset the Christian Democrats! We are apparently cool with continuing to sterilise people against their will before we will let them change their legal gender in order to not upset the Christian Democrats!

Here is a petition you can sign.

Here is info about a demonstration that will be taking place on wednesday (info in Swedish) and here is an english translation of that information.

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Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:45:26 GMT

If it seems like I've been really quiet that's because I've been really quiet. I've been really quiet because it's been November and the darkness has sapped my will to do anything at all. I'm going to have to wake up now because I have final exams, but uh, I'm not sure about energy for proper posts.

OTOH this lack of energy & refusal to get out of bed has given me the opportunity to read as much of Swan as is available in English. Err. We'll take that as an acheivement, OK?

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Uh... right, sure. That sounds... convincing.

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:55:52 GMT

”Kampen för rättvisa har också historiskt varit en stark drivkraft för rösträtt, mot apartheid, för jämställdhet, mot diskriminering och för rättsstat. För Moderaterna är rättviseperspektivet ständigt närvarande.”

Oh god, I have to go either cry or laugh until I cry now. Either way this merits tears.

Tr:

"The fight for justice has also from a historical perspective been a strong driving force for the right to vote, against apartheid, for equality against discrimination and for the constitutional state. For the Moderate party the perspective of justice is a constant presence."

OK, that's a horrible translation, but the original quote is also pretty horrible. *eyes it* I.. no really, that's just badly constructed. I refuse to take the time to do a nice translation of something so crap. Anyway, uh... guys? Remember how you voted against universal suffrage? And against sanctions when Sweden was considering its stance on apartheid? And against basically everything except lowered taxes, actually?

OH RIGHT, details like that are just the Social Democrats coming with silly, irrelevant questions about history! Like we should care about history! Haha!

(Whole article @ DN)

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[Svenska] Är det inte helgen än.

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:37:49 GMT

- Ulf Lundell var på Babel igår. HUR kan han vara så tråkig och samtidigt så provocerande? -_- Och nästa vecka blir det fler tråkgubbar - Franzen och Umberto Eco. Jösses. NÄSTA TORSDAG ÄR INSTÄLLD P.G.A. GUBBÖVERSKOTT.

- Kulturgrammatik börjar småirritera mig. Författaren ska vara så jävla förstående och förklara precis allt om kulturella skillnader men verkar ändå har visa... döda vinklar, så att säga... som han är helt omedveten om. Han skriver t.o.m. om en kvinna som på en av hans föreläsningar försökte påpeka en sådan. Han tyckte ju att hon var lite dum. Sorry to say, gubbe, men det ÄR möjligt att kvinnor kan ha lite bättre kol på könsdiskriminering än vad du gör.

- Nu vill jag sjunga dig milda sånger verka i alla fall vara en bättre bok än grabben i graven bredvid, MEN. Det känns ganska underredigerad. Jag vill ta en röd penna till det och kryssa ut typ minst ett stycke onödig beskrivning i varje kort kapitel, och det upprepar sig själv ganska mycket, och människor pratar på något jävla konstigt sätt som ibland känns helt orealistisk. Alltså... människor i böcker pratar inte som människor i verkligheten, och det är helt OK, men det ska vara en stiliserad avbildning som känns i alla fall trovärdigt, va, eller som funkar på något annat sätt som del av bokens stil. Ehh... ja, det som jag ville säga var att det är sällan ett bra tecken när man känner att man redigerar en bok som man läser.

- Alliansen jag hatar er. Ja jag vet, vilken överraskning. Men! liksom! Alliansen smygavskaffade mål om delad föräldraledighet. -__________________- Visst kan man bli trött på hela grejen med föräldraledighet som Enda Stora Jämställdhets Mål, men inte för att det är en dålig grej i sig - snarare för att fler saker behövs utöver detta, och för att jämställdhetsdebatten som det ser ut i riksdagen är så jävla hetero. (Fast det är tillsyntes inte längre någon pågående debatt överhuvudtaget.)

I alla fall. Man får inte bestämma hur folk ska leva sina liv, eftersom man är liberal, säger jämställdhetsministern. Det vill säga, man får inte FÖRUTOM NÄR MAN FÅR, alltså, när det är en grej som vi tycker om går det jättebra! :D Liksom, det är helt OK att bestämma hur transpersoner och invandrare ska leva, men man får inte ens ha åsikter om att det kanske vore bra om kvinnan i ett heteroförhållande inte förväntades ta hand om barnen ensam. Nej. Det vore att ingripa i folks liv och inskränka dem. MAN FÅR HA FRITT VAL! JA! MAN BEHÖVER VÄL INTE JOBBA MED FOLKS ÅSIKTER ELLER STIFTA LAGAR FÖR ATT NÅ ETT JÄMSTÄLLT SAMHÄLLE, DET KOMMER UTAN ATT MAN GÖR NÅGOT ALLS. DET ÄR TYP TROLLERI VET DU VÄL. :D

Alliansens liberal"feminism", what the hell.

- Ja förlåt mitt svenska är säkert helt obegripligt idag, jag känner mig fortfarande ganska förkyld och jättetrött och jag sitter här och skriva inlägg istället för att läsa Kulturgrammatik. Suck. XD

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Some things.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:49:34 GMT

1. Nobel peace prize, OH YEAH.

2. My kommun (district, local governmental area) wants to know my opinion of their general everything! *sweet smile* I have just filled in the v. long form and dutifully crossed all the relevant boxes but really, I could just as well have written YOU SUCK. YOU ALL SUCK AND I HATE YOU. in gigantic letters. But that would of course not have been, uhm, productive.

It would, however, have been theraputic.

I considered writing them a little personal note telling them exactly what I think of their fucking obsession with The Road over and above all the actual terrible problems this kommun has, and also "the kommun's provision for environmentally friendly living choices" HAHAHAHAHA. But it's Norrtälje kommun. Can I really be bothered? :(

O kommun politicians, how I hate you all. ♥

3. Writing a report based on an interview I did over the weekend for university. It will be 5 or 6 pages long with photos and... stuff. It's basically the big final project for the term, so we're going to be working on it for the next couple of months and also presenting it in the spoken Swedish course when we're done. WHY IS MY SWEDISH STILL SO CLUNKY. WHY OH WHY. I know what beautiful Swedish looks like but cannot reproduce it. Oh well, we get to do a lot of rounds of discussion and revision. I'm sure it'll be fine.

(This course. I'm having really a lot of fun with it, but that comes with a whole pile of nerves and second-guessing. Am I doing OK/do people like me/do I talk too much/oh man I have to stand up and talk and my hands won't stop shaking/etc etc. It's a nuisance. I can feel pretty confident in some respects and then just crash and have absolutely no belief in my abilities suddenly, for no apparent reason. Fun times! I have what one would call in Swedish a "duktighetskomplex". Basically I MUST BE GOOD AT THINGS MY WORTH DEPENDS ON MY BEING GOOD AT THINGS. Be A Good Girl & all that. Oh so much bullshit.)

4. A volunteering possibility that I want has come up. Must write letter in Swedish. Aaaaaaah.

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nobel prize for literature

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:41:20 GMT

Tranströmer! :D

If I may paraphrase Valborg, one would generally be annoyed at this stage that yet another white European heterodude has won a big prize. But otoh, Tranströmer is genuinely awesome. He can keep it. Some of the others need a good talking to.

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Lesbians!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:26:56 GMT

Reading Charlie by Margareta Suber. It's early 20th century Swedish lesbian fiction. It's pretty short, so I'll probably finish it today or tomorrow. Anyway, just have to say - o Charlie, be my drinking buddy?

Also, all the ladies plz to be having sex now? No wait, early 20th century. Longing looks and hands touching in suggestive ways it is then, I guess! (But rly, all the ladies.)

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Ahahahahaha no.

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:33:50 GMT

Oh god. A brand of sweets is changing its packaging because it had one of those blatantly offensive asian stereotype things going on. NOW A DEBATE PROGRAMME ON SVT IS HAVING A THING ABOUT IT. WHY. HOW IS THIS EVEN A THING. THEY HAVE ASKED THE SWEDISH PUBLIC WHAT THEY THINK. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR WHAT THE SWEDISH PUBLIC THINK BECAUSE I HAVE A HORRIBLE SUSPICION I KNOW AND IT WILL MAKE ME SCREAM. ALSO SINCE WHEN WAS DECIDING WHAT IS AND ISN'T RACIST A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS FOR THE MOSTLY WHITE POPULACE TO HAVE AT.

Wow sorry that was a lot of caps.

But I have... feelings.

(Also in news on a completely different axis of fuckery one of the resource books we're using for both the written and spoken parts of the course & which mostly contains articles and vocabulary practice and things like that, contains an article about LGBT - ok, no, I'm being too generous, they were only talking about the L and the G - parents and their families. Because you know, equal adoption rights, ability to build a family in a variety of different ways, still limitations, it's a thing. The article was fine as far as it went, mostly an interview with a lesbian couple with small kids. But! It came with a debate question! Those are always so much fun. I love it when people debate my rights! Just LOVE it! Especially when the question is phrased like, IS SOCIETY READY FOR THESE KINDS OF FAMILIES? DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE BAD FOR THE CHILDREN? ....hey kristdemokraterna is it you sneaking around back there?

We didn't get around to the discussion in the lesson it was scheduled for, but I will be wearing my most homosexual t-shirts until further notice.)

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Today I am Getting Stuff Done.

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:36:05 GMT

Today I have:

- made a rough version of a mind map about Sweden, which I must make beautiful for next week. Yeah, really. That was the entire instruction. I wonder how many other people's will include extensive sub-clouds on romantic nationalism... -_-;;

- edited a singularly vague and unstructured group project on idealism and materialism (as in philosophical concepts) until it actually made sense. IN SWEDISH. Because I am badass.

- glared at grammar.

- been to the shops like an ADULT.

- made minor adjustments to a story about the Mona Lisa, though it was passed on first draft because, again, badass.

I must now:

- eat lunch.

- prepare for the final discussion of Grabben i graven bredvid (and then I will be FREE OF THIS BOOK OH YES)

- prepare a word list from anything I've read this week, with example sentences

- glare at grammar some more.

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Materialism

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:55:19 GMT

OH MY GOD SO MANY AMAZING BOOTS. Damn.

That's all. Long day today, super-tired. News is full of depressing, not talking about it. You guys have it covered for now, right? ;;

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In classic manga news...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:51:51 GMT

Fantagraphics are releasing Heart of Thomas next year! You guys I am excited.

Valborg points out that Matt Thorn is totally a fanboy for that manga, so no-one should really be surprised. But yay!

That's all I had to say.

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[Svenska] Plugga plugga plugga

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:12:21 GMT

[Note: This entry is in Swedish! As you, uh, may have noticed. It's about school and reading. Basically: we are reading a romance novel for school and I do not like it. But I can bitch about it in class so it doesn't matter! :D And I'm still reading that biography of Bang/Barbro Alving that I mentioned. And a new Liv Strömquist book is on its way.]

Då så. Nu har jag gjort alla mina läxor. Så fint.

Skolläsning:

- Grabben i graven bredvid av Katarina Mazetti. Jag ogillar den. Men har man saker att säga om boken så är den nog en lyckad val i alla fall. Den handlar om kulturchock! På ett väldigt övertydligt sätt! Dessutom är den romans. Jättejättehetero romans. Och ibland skojar huvudkvinnan med sin kompis att det skulle vara så praktiskt om de kunde vara lesbiska eftersom män är ju så jobbiga! HÖHÖ. Tyst med er. (Alltså, det handlar om en beige kulturtant och en bondkille. De förstår ingenting om varandra och allting är jättetraumatisk för alla förutom när de har otroligt bra sex. Gäsp.)

- Kulturgrammatik av Gillis Herlitz

- Idéhistoriens huvudlinjer av Gunnar Eriksson och Tore Frängsmyr

och artiklar osv osv. Den har veckan en om Nobel och en om Diana. Diana! Fy fan, har man verkligen flyttat från Storbritannien bara för att läsa om Diana? Nåja.

I fritiden håller jag fortfarande på med biografin om Bang. ♥ Så badass! Fast också skruttig. Så kan det ju gå. I alla fall, nu är hon vuxen och journalist och hon resa tåg för att träffa Elin Wägner och tycker det är JÄTTESPÄNNANDE. ELIN WÄGNER. Awww.

Och snart kommer det en ny bok av Liv Strömquist! Babel ska ha en grej om den ikväll tror jag, som gör nånting att balansera faktum att Jan Guillou ska också vara med. Bläääää, Jan Guillou. Men JAAAAAAAAAAA, Liv Strömquist!

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Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:12:59 GMT

Hi! I'm working like a really hard working thing on my current Swedish course, and really enjoying it, except for the 5:30 am start yesterday to get to the university for 8 to have a two hour introduction to grammar, woe and sadness. Generally I'm only in at the university three days a week, sometimes four, but there's a lot of reading and a lot of tasks. Soon I will be getting started on the term's big project, as well, which involves interviewing someone, writing a report and giving a spoken presentation.

I suspect I should be doing some more blogging in Swedish, actually, because I don't tend to write much in Swedish over and above the minimum otherwise, which is no good, because that's where the standards are strictest and one of the things I need to work most on. Hum. On the other hand, it would probably be difficult for me to blog in two languages at once, and most of you don't speak Swedish.

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I know, I am kind of sickening sometimes

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:32:45 GMT

I'm a student again! I'm a student again! Back into the exciting world of second language lessons, which you may fondly(??) remember from last autumn. Just to clarify: I'm at the institute for Nordic languages this term and next term to get my requirements for general university study sorted out, IE to get my Swedish up from conversational fluency to academic standard.

A notable difference from last time is that since these classes are at Stockholm University there is actually structure, and clear goals. I am so excited by this after the local course in all its complete randomness, I can't even tell you.

There's also a lot of work! Right now I have enthusiasm about this too, since I spent a lot of the last Swedish course I took helping everyone else because I'd run out of work, but give it time - I'll soon settle into wailing about the number of assignments, I'm sure.

Another wide scattering of nationalities and native languages, and also another group made up almost entirely of women.

Off to do some more of my assigned reading!

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You showed me a book...

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:13:22 GMT

While I am trying to get my brain back, I give you:

Since it has popped up on youtube in a good quality version since I last looked for it!

*sparkles*

(I FEEL LIKE THIS SOMETIMES. I mean I hate upper class prats and English ones are especially pratty but I still want their tailors, yanno? Also I have seen this book of which she speaks and yeah, there were some pretty hot suits in there. Many of them would have been made even hotter by being worn by Frida Hyvönen, SO.)

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Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:35:55 GMT

(By the way, my routines have all fallen out the window over the last couple of weeks, including regular taking of essential pills, so I am in a haze of brainfog right now, which is why I've been a bit scarce. Sorry for being even less comment-y than usual, especially wrt actually answering other people's comments. I am getting myself back in line! I will make LISTS! Until I am ORGANISED!)

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One has all these lovely theoretical frameworks which just don't manage to override all the crap.

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:47:08 GMT

So I've been reading Beata Arnborg's biography of Barbro Alving, AKA Bang, who was a famous Swedish journalist (amongst other things a war correspondant). My favourite feminist magazine is named after her. That's how awesome she was. Anyway, right now Bang is a teenager and this is not going to be really about her but we're starting from the bit where ( Warning for eating disorder & gender identity stuff )

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Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:21:05 GMT

Re: London - oh seriously. You never saw it coming? You are just so surprised that there's all this stuff that's been lying there waiting to explode? Please. Also, social and political context. Fucking pay some attention to it already. If people are doing OK they generally don't feel the need to set fire to things en mass. Seriously. Yeah, it's terrible that this is happening, but on balance I'm most angry at the government. What the hell are you guys doing, pushing the country to a place where this seems like a good idea to so many people?

(& as ever when Stuff Happens, facebook generates a terrible grumpy headache just for me! And I wonder yet again why I keep checking it.)

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Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:37:18 GMT

I'm home. Here are my parade photos, since I have no idea if/when I'll have the energy to post them properly. It was good. I'm tired.

I have a couple of weeks of downtime and then I go in and get started at Stockholm university.

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Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:31:05 GMT

Pride week has been great, and chaotic, and I got to hang out with more people than I have in ages. It is almost as though I have a social life, for serious! I think I've also doubled the muscle mass on my legs, albeit from a starting point of v. pathetic. Unni is leaving late-ish tomorrow, so we're doing a little more non pride related tourist stuff through the day. (Vasa museum, aka the failboat.)

Then I'll go home. And sleep. And maybe give you guys some photos.

Other developments: my counter for 'people who think I speak some slightly unplaceable Swedish dialect' continues to go up, and is joined by a smaller but quite convinced group who believe I am specifically a Finland swede. I choose to take this as a good sign. If a slightly odd one.

Goodnight!

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Programming for next week

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 11:45:12 GMT

Huh, time - it has been doing weird shit again! Where did it go? Also, I feel extremely hungover today, despite yesterday evening having been one of the few this week to not involve alcohol at all. Ugh.

Anyway - Gabriella, Unni!

We'll be in Stockholm from Tuesday morning to Sunday afternoon. I'll probably be sleeping there all week, and Val will be doing a bit more travelling back and forth to fetch J for the days he'll be with us (probably Friday and Saturday). But basically, we're around.

Here's a completely pick-and-mix list of activities! It is not an inflexible timetable, because I don't believe in those and neither does my rather dysfunctional body.

Tuesday

Lectures! For example:

Islamofobins historia och uttryck, Pride Sergel, kl 11 - 12:15

Hierarkier, makt och ideal i hbt-världen - diskussionen om dom Andra, Pride Sergel, kl 14 - 15:45

Vad är kön och varför är vi så besatta av det?, Pride Sergel, kl 16 - 17:45

Also lunch somewhere in the middle of all this - I suggest Vetekatten! Because I can get a sandwich there which is gluten free and good! And it's relatively central. But am open to other ideas. Obv. it's not the place for warm food, but maybe in the middle of summer that's fine.

If one has a burst of wanting to do something in the evening, there's a theatre thing on:

Man - en utredning, kl 19 - 20:30

Wednesday

Possibly museums? Definitely an Unni! Probably wandering around in Kungsträdgården!

We have pride packs, which amongst other things give us free entry to Fotografiska, which currently has an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's photos - Unni, would you be interested in going to that, or should we go on Wednesday morning before you arrive?

Queer vid sekelskiftet, Hallwylska museet, kl 13 - 14

Meet Unni! Hang out! Explore the pride areas generally.

There are some theatre/performance things on in the evening on wednesday too, again according to energy levels & interest:

En normal föreställning, kl 19 - 19:45

Lip Shit Queers, kl 21 - 21:45

Thursday:

Transhistoria, Pride Kungsan, kl 11 - 11:45

Cowgirls for everyone!, Pride Kungsan, kl 13 - 13:45

Jag är inte rasist, men..., Pride Sergel, kl 15 - 16:45

Dinner! We thought Lao Wai, but they're closed for the summer, and then we thought sushi, but then we thought Unni would hurt us, so any suggestions? Type of food or a specific place if you know stockholm. Our fallback is Wagamama, because we know they're good at catering to different requirements. They're over by Centralstationen.

Friday:

Pinkwashing, Pride Sergel, kl 13 - 13:45

& otherwise otherwise we'll be exploring town! Gamla stan is on the list for Friday, Unni - do take this as a measure of our love for you. & We're probably going to take you to the sf bookshop just for laughs. Well, also J is getting really into manga and is tentatively interested in comics generally, so we figured we could let him loose in there and see if he finds anything.

Optionally, if the weather is good and no-one is feeling completely boat-phobic: Outsiders: queer stockholm från sjön

Saturday:

Watching the parade! (Not going in it this year because I'm not feeling up to it physically.)

Evening expedition to see the last Harry Potter film.

Sunday:

Chill. Whatever one feels like.

THEN WE WILL SLEEP FOR THE NEXT WEEK. Or not. But we will want to.

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Yeah I am not done yet

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:55:34 GMT

[image: a crowd fills Sergels torg, central Stockholm, and sits on & against the walls and railings surrounding it.]

We spent today in Stockholm, running errands. In the evening there was a manifestation (I have no idea what to call this in English, watch my grasp of the language drain away) in the city centre to both remember the victims of the terror attack in Norway and to promote political openness. We didn't stay the whole course, because J was with us and super-tired, but we were there a while. The atmosphere was good. See above.

I'm glad we went.

Then Valborg went online. Oh no. Now people On The Internets, I gather, are saying it was TOO POLITICAL OMG.

It was organised by the social democrats' youth group, that is to say, the partner organisation to the one targeted in Norway.

This was an explicitly political attack. The majority of the victims were explicitly interested in politics. How the hell is it inappropriate to bring in politics? It seems deeply appropriate to me to keep talking about the things that these kids were interested in and working for. The alternative would seem far less appropriate.

By the way, Jonas Gardell said something that we've been thinking: that the thing to do in this situation is to be political. Support groups that help immigrants. Support groups that protect human rights. Support religious freedom and gender equality and queer movements and what the hell ever else makes the world a better place; examples in question picked because of arsehole responsible for the terrorist attacks' particular dislike for them.

Also, the "He Did It Because Of Computer Games" brigade have now deemed it safe to come out of the woodwork. Ugh.

I am so ready for Pride, by the way. We are going to have a party. And also go to seminars about racism and islamophobia. Take that, you fucking bastard.

(On which note, revised schedule to come tomorrow. Along with questions about food preferences etc.)

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Distraction technique!

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 18:59:45 GMT

I've started re-watching Utena. I was just going to take some screencaps to use for a Robots post! But then I heard the opening credits and I was basically hooked in straight away. And then I realised there's a bunch of stuff I don't remember! And it was all so exciting! So I guess that's what I'm doing now.

And then I'm going to write a post elaborating on exactly how much of a giant homage to and reimagining of 70s queer shojo it really is.

I'm actually also getting this urge to do a thing about Utena and Sailor Moon, because I think there's some Stuff going on there, although I haven't pinned down exactly how to put it yet. All the more reason to keep watching...

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Norge

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:15:34 GMT

O Norway. :( I am thinking of you guys. Much love.

By the way, for those of you I've been wailing to about the entire series of horrible assumptions about the culprit of the crimes, Swedish media is finally getting its act together and moving away from treating this as some kind of lunatic who came from nowhere and examining context. We're also admitting that this was explicitly political. (It is admittedly pretty impossible to deny at this stage.)

For example:

In SvD Tötte Löfström writes,

Risken är nämligen stor att vi i våra huvuden avfärdar det hela som en galen människas verk och därmed möjliggör fler, liknande dåd i framtiden.

Tr:

There is a great risk of writing the whole thing off as the work of a madman in our minds and so making possible more crimes of the same kind in the future.

In Expressen Ann-Charlotte Marteus writes,

Kent Ekeroth är inte heller ensam om att överge politiskt och kollektivistiskt språkbruk och övergå till individuellt och psykologiskt, när han får veta att gärningsmannen är norrman. "Galning", "vansinnesdåd", "ensamvarg" och "tragedi" var mycket vanligare ord i går, än "terrorist", "terrordåd" och "extremism".
Om Anders Behring Breivik visar sig vara skyldig, och utan medhjälpare, kommer det bli frestande att börja kalla honom ensamvarg, en särling, och ge honom en psykiatrisk diagnos. Han kan bli en sorts norsk motsvarighet till den misstänkte svenske seriemördaren Peter Mangs.
Den strategin har sina fördelar. Genom att använda medikalisering kan samhället slå sig till ro med slutsatsen att "ensamvargen" är en sjuk ö i en frisk kultur, inte ett symptom på problematiska drag i själva kulturen.

tr:

Kent Ekeroth* isn't alone in abandoning political and collective language and going over to individual and psychological when he realises that the culprit is Norwegian. "Madman," "act of lunacy," "lone wolf" and "tragedy" were much more common words yesterday than "terrorist" "act of terrorism" and "extremism."
If Anders Behring Breivik turns out to be guilty and without helpers it will be tempting to call him a lone wolf, a nutter, and give him a psychiatric diagnosis. He can become a kind of Norwegian equivalent to the suspected Swedish serial killer Peter Mangs.
This strategy has its advantages. Through use of medicalisation society can comfort itself with the conclusion that "the lone wolf" is a sick island in a healthy society, not a symptom of a problematic movement in the culture itself.

Uh-huh.

* Kent Ekeroth is a member of Sverigedemokraterna who spent Friday night talking with particular glee on twitter about who he thought was behind the whole thing and sending HAHAHA TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE to muslims. Class act, truly.

SVT has also broadcast some good interviews from Norwegian TV, but since it was on TV I can't quote you.

In DN someone writes that we win by talking and looking honestly at what's going on in our society and by being politically active. We don't win by saying it was pure madness with no explanation and allowing ourselves to dismiss it.

But I'm done for today. I have a horrible cold. I've mostly been sleeping. Time to go find some easy reading.

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