GG Allin: Violent, Barbaric, and Disgusting

(Warning: Gross material ahead)

 

            This is probably the grossest piece I've ever written. While being invested to rock music in general, the punk section is barely touched by me during the most of my life, aside from bands like My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, Blink 182, you know, those 2000s Pop Punk bands. Recently, I started to listen some of the heavier punk bands, those like The Misfits who mainly touched by their more metal influenced sound. From what I've read and researched, punk rockers have a certain knack for controversy, And the subject of this story inevitably raised the bar so high, no punk rockers since have duplicated that level of infamy.

 

            What we are looking at here is probably the most infamous punk/shock rocker ever lived, and his name was GG Allin. His real name was Kevin Michael Allin, but thanks to his ultra-religious, abusive monster of a father, he was born named Jesus Christ Allin, believing that young Allin was the child of prophecy after claiming that Jesus visited him in his dream. He was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, USA on the 29th of August 1956. And as predicted, his parents Merle Allin Sr. and Arleta Gunther, along with his younger brother Merle Jr. lived in a log cabin with no running water and electricity, and to top it all off, Merle Sr. was the type of man that was known to be "unstable" to put it mildly. This trait inevitably passed on to young GG, who was put into a special education class and severely bullied due to his nonconformity stance. Only after their parents' divorce, Allin's legal name was changed by his mother to Kevin Michael Allin, but his other name, "Jeje" as his brother pronounced, was kept as his nickname, ultimately evolved to GG.

 

            And this effectively turned Allin into the man that he was, but I'll save that for later. Allin had always had fascination for rock music, especially due to his musical influences being mostly British Invasion bands from the 1960s. He also idolized the country music star Hank Williams, but not until one Alice Cooper arrived and cemented his influence on Allin's overall sound. Surprisingly enough, Allin didn't start as a vocalist, rather as a drummer. He did this while forming his first band with his brother Merle no less named Little Sister's Date, but that band only lasted a little over a year. From then on, Allin went on to join (and founded) several bands, like The Jabbers, Scumfucs, and the last one at the time of his death, The Murder Junkies. At this point, his main instrument was his vocals. He was not interested in breaking out to the mainstream, as he became the household name in the underground hardcore punk scene.

 

            Perhaps his prime era was also considered as his most violent era, as during the mid 1980s, he practically abused anything and everything everyone threw at him. On top of that, he held a strong misanthropist, anti-authoritarian, non-conformist, and anarchist stance. On one occasion, he proclaimed himself as "the last true rock n' roller", as per his stance that rock music in general is a personification or rebellious attitude. Let's do a breakdown about a typical GG Allin live show. Allin's choice of attire (or lack thereof) is a white jockstrap, a leather jacket, and sometimes accompanied with a pair of sunglasses. Hell, most of the time he would show up buck naked. It started normally for one or two songs, once the show reached the third or fourth song, all hell would break loose, partly because of Allin's tendency to go out of control and start punching his own fans and in some extend, himself (he hit his head repeatedly with a microphone until he bleeds out of his head), but mostly for his drunken state and his nasty habit of SHITTING HIMSELF IN FRONT OF HIS OWN AUDIENCE. Not only that, but the sick bastard also went as far as either (don't read this while eating) eating his own discharge, or threw them to the concertgoers, with all of those INCREDIBELY NASTY SMELL. The way he did this is to ingest a copious amount of laxative before he entered the stage. Other crazy antics he did also including shoving things (mostly his microphone) up his ass and causing millions of US Dollars in damages.

 

            Allin was also have a knack with suicide threats. It all started somewhere in 1989, where Allin stated that he would commit suicide during one of his shows at Halloween, but the plan never came to fruition, as he would end up arrested instead. Hell, one of those arrests even landed him in prison in late 1989 for "assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder" of a female acquaintance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but later reduced to a felony assault charge after a plea deal. He was imprisoned from Christmas Day of 1989 to 26 March 1991. But instead of reporting to parole, he went straight back to touring. And during his imprisonment, he wrote his essay titled The GG Allin Manifesto.

 

            This punk rocker arrived with a bang, and he departed with a bang. The day was 27th June 1993. The place where it all happened was a small club called The Gas Station at 194 East 2nd Street in Manhattan, New York. It was a typical GG Allin and the Murder Junkies show, with all of those chaotic antics by the shock rocker. After just three songs, the show ended in a chaotic fashion when a brawl broke out, and a totally intoxicated Allin then went out leading his fans into the neighborhood. He then crashed into his friend Johnny Puke's apartment and continued to party along with everyone else. During that time, Allin ingested a heavy dose of heroin. It was too much that he overdosed on it and fell unconscious. On 28 June, when morning came, and Puke noticed Allin's body still in his apartment, already dead due to his overdose the night prior. He was 36 years of age. His funeral became something of a low-level party, as mourners gather around with alcohol and various audio devices, blasting his songs while Allin's bloating corpse was lying in a casket, unwashed and still reeking of human turd. GG Allin was finally laid to rest on 3rd July 1993, in Littleton, New Hampshire. Even still, Allin's gravesite had become something of a pilgrimage site of all hardcore punk aficionados, with his gravestone desecrated on a daily basis as an act of "respect" like GG himself would have wanted it.

 

            In short, Kevin Michael "GG" Allin was a punk rocker like no other. Musicians of his caliber might not be famous for his sound quality, or his poetic lyrics, but one thing is for sure, that he shaped the landscape of hardcore rock n' roll to be the thing that it is today, even though all it took to get to this point was someone flinging shit onto each other while at the same time punching others in the face. GG Allin was a wild man, and he demanded us to remember him that way.

Ricers: The Black sheep of Petrol heads

 Car culture, just another thing that I follow alongside motorsport in general. Me being a car fan in the first place actually stems from motorsport. When you talk motorsports, you talk about the cars or bikes that race each other at speeds of over 320kph (200mph). You might talk about advanced engineering, technology, aerodynamics, safety, handling, and the sheer brutality of those machineries. It's the adrenaline that hooked me up with this culture. The sensation of driving as fast as humanly possible, while still have to maintain a level head going at those speeds. 

 

            Consequently, as a result of a thriving car culture, car owners resorted to modify their cars to a specific purpose, depending on its usage on the road. And these modifications are done with three things in mind: practicality, usage, and purpose. Take a look at the differences when building either an off-road car or a drag racing car. For the former, you want high ground clearance, four-wheel drive, good set of suspension kits, and precise handling. For the latter however, all you need is raw power and fast accelerations down the line. Every build is tailor-made and none of those builds are one and the same. Each and every car is meticulously tuned and adjusted to the preferences of its driver.

 

            But there are some of them who are also part of the culture who don't modify their cars to suit all of the above, instead focusing only on exterior appearances of their cars, and those guys are called "ricers". The term "RICE" in relation to the car modification culture is actually an acronym for "Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements". As the name suggests, these guys are modifying their cars for the purpose of making that car to look like a race car, but in reality, it's more like anything but one. The polar opposite of this particular build is the one called a "sleeper". These cars are high performance cars with unassuming looks. It is possible that a sleeper could take its form of a sedan, or even an estate car or a minivan of some sort. Those who are labeled as a 'ricer' is that one guy who puts so much aftermarket parts to the point of rendering his own car unrecognizable. Think about a Honda Civic EK9 fitted with a massive exhaust and cheap aftermarket body kit made of plastic.

 

            It's fairly easy to spot a ricer in a crowd of car enthusiasts. They are mostly drive Japanese cars, mostly either a Honda, a Mitsubishi, a Toyota, and a Nissan, with most of the vehicles being either a front-wheel drive, a car with automatic transmission, or the combination of both. But these days, even European or American manufacturers are not spared from a ricer's treatment. As per what I said, it's easy to find a ricer by looking out for a car that has flashy paint job, stickers plastered all over the place, big aftermarket body kits, hood scoop bigger than it should be, lots or fake air vents which mostly done with chicken wires, big spoilers or rear wings that serves no purpose at all, a pair of Lamborghini-esque scissor doors, big and loud "fart can" exhausts, lowered suspension kits to the point of the actual body kit to touch the ground, and an extreme amount of negative cambers, not to mention other cosmetics like a full sound system designed to put everyone within the radius of a kilometer on permanent deafness. Seems like these guys got their influence by watching The Fast and The Furious movies too many times than they can recall. These cars are designed as the "all show, no go" cars with emphasis of flashy exteriors.

 

            Ricers have a nasty habit of overestimating their own ricemobile's performance capabilities. And this is reflected by their tendencies to boast about all of their sense of styling (or lack thereof) and claiming that their cars would actually beat a top of the range supercar. And they sure love the attention they get, even in the expense of their own unrecognizable turd box of a car, or their severe ignorance on how to properly modify a car in the first place. The reality of the matter is these "ricers" are nothing more than a disgrace of the car community.

 

            To put things into perspective, tuners modify their cars to enhance the performance, and usually prefer little to no exterior modification, aside for aerodynamic purposes. Most tuners would maximize the horsepower, handling capabilities, and safety features to suit their purposes of creating a high-performance vehicle. Ricers on the other hand, are deluded to thinking that by slapping some stickers and some aftermarket logos would make their mule-powered rickshaw faster with only standard engine and parts. Tuners also take weight-saving seriously, as excessive weight inside a car can only lead to reduced performance. Ricers don't see this as a problem, by putting massive subwoofers and audio systems, which in turn, slow their cars even more. Hell, a mere sticker when being put on a car could cause the car to gain even a milligram of weight. If you watch any car meet videos or have been to one yourself, there are some demonstrations of some stunts like burnouts, drifts, quarter mile drag race, and the like. These are done by specially trained drivers on closed roads. While ricers, due to their attention complex, always down to do those dangerous stunts on open parking spaces, even open roads. And the results are sometimes either comedic or catastrophic. Doing an excessive burnout on a front-wheel drive car with its nose on the wall? Congratulations, you have blown your engine. You want to test your luck on a drag strip? that soapbox must have been so slow, a snail would beat you to the line. You want to test your drifting skill with that stock wheels with excessive weight? You'll just turning around in circles. 

 

            In short, ricers are nothing but deluded individuals who think that by putting on excessive stickers, cheap aftermarket body parts, a larger-than-life exhaust, and big audio system would actually enhance their car's performance features, when in reality, they are turning their daily drives into a big pile of brick wall with the pace of an old snail. It's not going to go any faster, nor it would be the safest vessel of transportation. In the end, these ricers instead built a deathtrap with excessive weight on it. 

A Complicated Story about Police Officers Killing Each Other

 (Warning: References of violence ahead)

 

            Police brutality. Quite frankly, this topic is already a common discussion among the people who are at least quite aware of the problems plaguing the law enforcement institution. But most of the time, especially in recent times, every instance of police brutality always involving police-on-civilians violence. This sentiment, in several countries like the United States, are amplified as part of the progressive movement demanding that the police institution should be abolished altogether. But what I'm about to tell you in this piece will turn your perspectives about this matter upside down.

 

            Many of you, until this very day are quite unfamiliar with police-on-police violence when it comes to cases of this caliber. But believe it or not, the Indonesian Police Force were shocked to its core when this case was unearthed. It all starts on the 8th of July 2022, at Duren Tiga, South Jakarta, when the public was shocked by the death of Police Brigadier Noviansyah Joshua Hutabarat, where his cause death at the time was gunshot wounds due to a shootout. Brigadier Hutabarat was the aide/bodyguard for the then Head of Internal Affairs of The Indonesian Police Force, Inspector General Ferdy Sambo. The address in question was Sambo's work residence. The suspects, by the time of the revelation, were Second Patrolman Richard Eliezer Pudihang Lumiu, and Brigadier Ricky Rizal, both of which were also aide of Sambo's. 

 

            The story at the time, at least by Sambo's perspective, was triggered by an alleged sexual harassment done by the late Brigadier Joshua towards Sambo's wife. That incident caught the attention of Second Patrolman Eliezer. By the time the suspect reached the source of the incident, Joshua allegedly opened fire, triggering a shootout. It has been said that Joshua was killed during said shootout. At first, this story was amplified as part of the narration that Sambo was forced to kill his own aide for self-defense and to preserve his family honor. But there are some irregularities in those statements, particularly those said by people inside Sambo's circle, like his personal driver Kuat Ma'aruf, his own wife Putri Candrawathi, and Brigadier Rizal. Suspicions arose when Patrolman Eliezer, said to have several wounds of his own, came to public bearing no wounds at all. The family of the late Brigadier Joshua also notice some irregularities, particularly towards the deceased's body, full of several wounds, both gunshot and some knife and defensive wounds. The family then, with the aid of Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, their lawyer filed a report alleging that the case was in fact a premeditated murder. This then prompted The Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo to form an investigation team due to these irregularities. 

 

            By this point, Eliezer was the sole suspect for the murder. But when you look inside the hierarchy of the Police Force itself, there are several discrepancies when it comes to rankings within the force. First of all, Sambo, being the Inspector General, is considered to be one of several high-ranking officers with substantial amount of power of influence. Brigadiers like the late Joshua and Rizal sits somewhere at the middle, both obtained their rankings via regional police schools. Eliezer, on the other hand, sits at the lowest ranking possible, being Second Patrolman. As a result, whenever someone of higher ranking needs him to do whatever, he has to oblige, no questions asked. 

 

            It seems like Private Eliezer was going to be the scapegoat for the case, as several of the statements placed him as the one who fired the fatal blow to his higher-ranked senior. But with the help of his legal team, as well as the cooperation with the Investigation Team, Eliezer singlehandedly turned the tables on its head, revealing key evidences that not only would be proven beneficial come the trial stages, but also sealed Sambo, and his circle's fates down the line. What he did was putting out statements completely opposite to that of Sambo's by saying that instead of a shootout, late Brigadier Joshua was executed by Sambo and his entourage. With this fact unearthed, Sambo and his team scrambled to change the narrative, by again playing the sexual harassment card, saying that Putri was molested by the late brigadier, which triggered Sambo's anger and then placed the burden of executing him to Eliezer. All statements by Sambo were proven false after a lengthy investigation, as Eliezer's recounts are proven to be the most accurate. As a result, he was stripped of his position and was ordered a dishonorable discharge by the Internal Affairs Court. At that point, Ferdy Sambo, Putri Candrawathi, and Kuat Ma'aruf were all pronounced as suspects for the murder, along with Eliezer and Rizal.

 

            What really happened was all aides are ordered to be present at Duren Tiga. The plot to kill Joshua was prepared by Sambo and his team since even before that day, with Sambo promising several rewards like money, new smartphones, and legal immunity. Initially, Sambo gave the kill order to Eliezer, who proceeded to fire several shots towards Joshua after being tortured first. Noticing his faint movement, Sambo then took it upon himself to administer the killing blow to the back of Joshua's head. Then they would cook up the story of a fake shootout to amass sympathy to the public. This involved Sambo firing at random locations to perceive the crime scene as the place where a shootout took place. The case itself was not revealed until three days later, giving them a window to produce such narratives. The oddities didn't stop there, in fact, the CCTVs inside Sambo's residence were all damaged, suggesting that there is an attempt of tampering/damaging the evidence. Lastly, everybody's statements conflict with each other.

 

            With the evidence finally complete, the case proceeded to the trial stages. While Eliezer kept his composure as he explained the recount of the incident word-by word, Sambo, Putri, Rizal and Kuat Ma'aruf gave conflicting, blabbering and nonsensical statements. More twists and turns unearthed, and finally, Eliezer's fate was sealed as his plea deal to be included as a justice collaborator was granted by the court. In the end, 5 people had their lives changed forever, one of them for the worst. Eliezer was given a 1 year and 6 months jail sentence, lighter than the prosecutor's charge of 12 years. Brigadier Ricky Rizal was given a 13-year incarceration, while Kuat Ma'aruf and Putri Candrawathi got 15 years and 20 years respectively. All of which is heavier than the prosecutor's charge. But in the end, Ferdy Sambo took the heaviest punishment of all. Initially being charged with a life imprisonment, he was instead given the death sentence, owning to the fact that all 5 parties involved participated in a conspiracy to commit a premeditated murder, with Sambo also found guilty of obstruction of justice by tampering the evidence and alleged cover up of the murder, not to mention their attempted defaming of the late Brigadier by producing the sexual harassment claim, which only to be found false due to the lack of evidence.

 

            Since the 2004 Munir case and the Kanjuruhan Stadium Stampede, this is the latest high-profile case that gripped the entire nation, as well as a sour reminder that since the fall of Soeharto and the New Order, the Indonesian police force is still a bit untrustworthy at times. This case not only served as a reminder that humans can go as low as they can be to achieve power and influence, but also sobering fact that even fellow police officers are not safe from their own peers. 

Scambaiting: Online Vigilantism Done Right

                 I have to admit, almost all of my true crime stories posted in this blog are about some of the grisliest cases the humanity has ever seen. Some are real tearjerkers; others make the readers go seething mad. But what makes those stories common are it focuses on particular individuals doing what the others describe as the most depraved behavior a human being can commit. And in this one, for the first time ever, I am not focusing on a certain case or an individual, but a country and a series of organized criminal activity that is so common it became an industry in and on itself.

 

            First of all, what are the first thing that come across your mind when I mention the country of India? For movie maniacs, Bollywood sprung up to mind, as this industry is basically India's pride and joy. Many actors, actresses, and celebrities we all came to know, and love came from this Indian equivalent of Hollywood, California. Some might say their cuisine, which is perhaps the most rich and vibrant cuisine in the world. I can't resist a good plate of curry when I see one. In fact, I recently came across an Indian restaurant here in Jakarta, and they serve the best butter chicken in town. 

 

            Unfortunately, those two are not what this piece is about. This one is about an underground industry, probably the biggest one in India, which specialize themselves as online call center scams. Yes. For the first time ever, I'm writing a true crime story about a fraud case of some sort. This one is about taking advantage of others posing as a tech support officer for major companies. But why online scams are heavily connected to India? Other countries could be on the same shady industry as this one, right? The reality is most of these scams involving someone with an Indian accent, and thanks to India's outsourcing boom during the early 2000s, most of us associate Indian workforce, or at least most of them, as those who are typically employed at some call centers for major companies, mostly for tech support. When the outsourcing market began to shift outside India, some who still in the business began setting up several call centers, real or fake as the means of extension for their companies. And this is where the online scam industry began to prosper in places such as Gurgaon, Calcutta, Bangalore, or even the country's capital of New Delhi. 

 

            These call center scammers have their own modus of operandi, but they basically have the same premises, by posing as tech support officers in order to scam as many people as they can. And their victimology (sorry for the Criminal Minds reference there) is what makes my blood boil. They typically target overseas victims, mostly in either United States, Great Britain, or Australia, and predominately targets either senior citizen (age 65 and up. Sometimes, the scammer would hit a jackpot if the victim in question is suffering from a debilitating condition like dementia) or those who are technologically gullible. The way the scam is run is by posting fake ads, fake notifications or send bogus emails to the target, posing it as an official email from either Microsoft, Amazon, Norton, or other similar companies. The victim is required to call a tech support contact number inside those emails (which turns out to be the scammers'), and once connected, they are required by the scammers to install a remote sharing software (like AnyDesk or TeamViewer). This is one way for the scammers to gain access to their victim's computer and all the data stored inside it. 

 

            And from here, the story varies depending on the scammer's mode. It can be for a refund request, subscription cancellation, tech support, or purchases. Many of which involves the scammers promising refunds to the victims and gaining their trust, only for the victims to give all of their sensitive information, like credit card numbers, social security numbers, or even their bank access. From here, the scammers would guide their victims for their "refund" only to discover that the victim had put the wrong amount (in fact, it was the scammers who did this by taking control of their computers in the first place) and had to transfer the excess back to the scammers. The truth is, there is no such thing as excess refund, and the victims are tricked to believe it. And for the magnum opus, the victims are offered to pay the scammers using three ways: Ask them (read: force them) to withdraw cash from the nearest ATM and send the money to a specific address, wire online transfer or gift cards. For cash deliveries, those address the scammer claimed as the "support offices" is actually an address to a money mule planted somewhere around the country, be it US or UK. When the money mule receives the money, they took 20% off the scam money and ship the rest back to India.

 

            It is estimated that this industry averages around US$ 1.000.000 to a whopping 18.000.000 a year. And all of this is achieved by draining unsuspecting victims' bank account, sometimes in the long run. The data extracted from the victims can be used by scammers to illegally purchase things that would benefit themselves and costing the victims more as it goes on. And by the time the victims realized that they are being scammed, it was all a second too late. And believe it or not, there are hierarchies to this business too. For starters, inside a call center scams, the call is received by an initiator, who by themselves alone, could make as big as US$ 7.000 a day. Once trust had been established, then the call is transferred to the "closer" who will "guide" the victims through the process of actually draining their savings without them noticing one bit. If the money is being transferred via a money mule, the mule would take 20% off the money that they fraudulently acquired and send the rest to their boss in India. 

 

            Despite the efforts to shut down these illegal activities, scam call centers continue to prosper due to corruption and the subsequent neglect by the Indian authorities, which is why, there is a phenomenon on the Internet, about some people who dedicated themselves to stop scammers with the art of scambaiting. As the name suggests, these people posed themselves as a potential victim, and proceed to wreak havoc on the scammers themselves. A lot of these scam baiters uses softwares like spoof bank accounts, virtual computers, voice changers, as well as the scammers' own techniques to deceive the scammers. Often times, making them susceptible to embarrassing information. Other scam baiters used their connection to the scammers to hack into the system and proceeded to expose them online by streaming their activities. This is typically accompanied with the deletion of the scammer's files, and in some extreme cases, planted the scammer's computer, and sometimes the entire server system with computer viruses or malwares, practically destroyed their system. If the scammer in question has a money mule, they would go and intercept the packages with the help of the freight couriers and law enforcements and confront the money mule face to face. 

 

            But this is not the limitations when it comes to scam baiters roaming around online. By tapping into the scammer's database, as shown on several YouTube channels like Scammer Payback or Trilogy Media, the baiters are able to intercept the calls from the victims to the scammers and redirected them to the baiters instead. Once the connection is established, the baiters then explain the situation to the victim and warn them for the potential scam should they go ahead with the scammer. Others, like a Northern Irishman who goes by the name of "Jim Browning" went as far as hacking into some scam call centers' security systems and spying on them, while doing what he does best, exposing and shutting down scam calls after scam calls. One of such instances, while collaborating with fellow YouTube personality, India-based Kiwi Karl Rock, with the aid of BBC's documentary program Panorama, resulted in a police raid and multiple arrests of one of the call centers Browning was spying on. Their channels, aside from providing us with quality content, could also serve as an education on online safety and how to recognize a potential online fraud. 

 

            In the end, no one wished that they would get scammed. I don't want to wish it to my worst enemies either. But what these people have done is robbing the victims of their savings, and consequently, their will to live. These scam baiters are doing everything they can to put a stop to this fraud, although temporarily. But as time goes on, the scammers might shut down for good. And for that reason and that reason only, scambaiting is the online vigilantism that I endorse wholeheartedly. 

What's Wrong with J. K. Rowling?

 (Warning: Rants ahead)

 

            Alright, I'm writing this as an OG Harry Potter fan, a Gryffindor, and as a someone who desperately wants to relive his own childhood reading the books and watching those movies. For the most of my life, Harry Potter took me into a magical world of magic and miracles and witnessed the struggle of The Boy Who Lived as he navigated his life as a student at Hogwarts. Hell, I might have been fantasizing myself waiting for that letter to come, as well as me being the all-powerful wizard and some. All thanks to one woman known as Joanne Rowling, or J. K. Rowling. The woman is a trailblazer, capable of captivating readers young and old, and as such, manages to pull them into this fantasy world we all come to know and love. 

 

            From the moment she put her pen down to draft the initial story until present day, the Harry Potter series remains as Rowling's magnum opus when it comes to popular culture. From what appears to be a fantasy story about a boy who discovered his magical talents quickly evolved into one if not the biggest franchises the world has ever seen. Hell, The Wizarding World (then known as Pottermore), the in-universe site created by Rowling herself, is still active to this day. I can still vividly recall every moment in either the books or the movies that can still resonate with me years later. I can name almost every character, friend or foe, and the facts surrounding them (note: Dolores Jane Umbridge remains as the most hated character in the franchise, not even Voldemort can surpass her). Everyone is invested in this franchise, even A-List celebrities. And this didn't come easy for her either. She had to endure domestic abuse from her ex-husband, even went so far as to file for a restraining order. Since then, she juggled her life writing the books and being a single parent to her daughter. Luckily, she now lives a happy life remarried and blessed with two more kids. And with that, I have nothing but respect and admiration for her. 

 

            But nowadays, Jo Rowling is mostly known for her rather controversial (read: sensible) comments around several topics, and most of them are quite sensitive. But the most notable one is her views on gender and the LGBT issues. Just to deviate from the main focus for a bit, I was quite shellshocked about Rowling's revelation that the Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore was a gay man, that aspect further explored in the two prequel movies from the Fantastic Beasts series, titled The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore. Although I am mostly neutral, but to silently inserting this character aspect into a literature aimed mostly to children is uncalled for. But on recent times, Rowling found herself against the LGBT progressive agenda. It all began in 2018, just because of a tweet she liked that said, "transgender women are men in dresses." Instead of apologizing and bend the knee for the woke mob, this badass woman doubled down on her remarks. One time, she mercilessly mocked an article by Devex called Opinion: Creating a More Equal Post-COVID-19 World for People Who Menstruate by tweeting this gem which says: "‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?" And this is coming from a self-identified feminist too.

 

            This then opened the storm of hate towards Rowling, even some of the actors who played in the movie came forward to criticize her. As of now, the woke mob branded her as the head of TERF, an acronym for "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists" and has since shunned from the elite. Several names then came for her support, like fellow Potter alumni Ralph Fiennes, a. k. a. Lord Voldemort himself, to legendary comedian Dave Chappelle, who briefly discussed this on his comedy special The Closer. During the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Special, she was excluded from the main feature, and only replaced by archival footages, supposedly to disassociate the franchise from the woman who created it. As the time of writing, a new controversy rises in the form of Hogwarts Legacy, which is a role-playing video game for next-gen consoles and PC which takes place during the 1890s, during the reign of Phineas Nigellus Black as headmaster. For crying out loud, the game has not even released yet, but the woke "activists" (I just call them inconsequential hacks with too much free time) have already started a smear campaign by various boycotts and false user-tagging. If it's up to her, she could kill off the franchise herself singlehandedly by writing a new story in which the ending features Harry's death in gruesome fashion and the destruction of Hogwarts (I hope this never happens). 

 

            But here is the rebuttal: The woke agenda is basically the only thing that runs the world these days. Science are being disproven in favor of someone's personal feelings, languages being massacred all because of someone's boneheaded insistences to use plural pronouns to refer an individual who feels beyond the gender binary, and big corporations benefiting themselves by pandering to these privileged groups. Statements like what Jo Rowling said over the past year or two used to be the norm, the mutual understanding of the masses. Now, it's nothing but hateful, transphobic, homophobic, and racist remarks that a TERF would spew, and must be cancelled. What she did is only stating the basic, scientifically proven fact that those who are capable of bringing a life to the world by the form of childbirth is not to be called "a pregnant person" or "people who menstruate". Let's just call them as it is: women. Yes. Transgenders do exist, and they deserve a better life, but let's look at the most fundamental differences: Trans women are not capable of childbirth, and trans men are significantly weaker physically than biological men. 

            And to close this piece, let's answer Matt Walsh's legendary question: What is a woman? A woman in my few is someone who has the capability of childbirth, known for her empath, tender, love and care. A woman is someone who carries two X chromosomes inside her DNA. A woman is a female human being known for her femininity traits. And lastly, a woman is the creature of God who are willing to put her life in danger to raise us, nurture us, and guide us in this world. For all women out there, your voices matter. Don't let the woke mob silence you. They are only using real women's voice for their own benefit. And for that reason, I consider Joanne Kathleen Rowling to be the most badass woman the world has ever seen.

The Christmas Truce: A Day when Humanity Won

"We are all, we are all, we are all

We are all friends!

 

And today we are brothers, tonight we are friends

A moment of peace in a war that never ends

Today we are brothers, we drink and unite

Now Christmas has arrived, and the snow turns the ground white"

 

-"Christmas Truce" performed by Sabaton, 2021

 

            In this momentous time, two weeks away from Christmas as per time of writing, I am following up on the story about moments in world wars where humanity is deemed intact in the midst of hell created by the fighting and violence. In the previous instalment, I talked about two pilots from the opposite sides who ended up befriended each other after the war was over. This time around, I'm going to explore a bigger event, one that is still celebrated as part of the memorials to the lives lost during the first world war, and it actually happened during Christmas.

            By this point, we all know in what war this event took place in. The first world war erupted as a result of many diplomatic tensions after an assassination job that cost the Austro-Hungarian Empire their heir to the throne. After months of repeated diplomatic events to defuse the situation, war is eventually inevitable, and countries soon mobilize their forces across all fronts. The war itself was fought mainly at the Western Front and the Eastern Front.

            But towards the end of 1914, stalemates had occurred all because of the trench warfare, a fairly new system at the time. Soldiers would dig up pits that can stretch up to several kilometers, and that was their place to sleep and eat. Soldiers come and go, those who fought the initial battles over the summer were mostly dead, heavily, or moderately wounded, or imprisoned, and at this point, countries rely on conscripted men in order to keep up with ever changing condition. These young boys practically knew nothing about the situation that they signed up for, as they must deal with hostile condition, enemy fire, and diseases and pandemics (the Spanish flu pandemic took place around the time of the first world war). 

            Granted, the morale among the soldiers were at all-time low, as they realize the severity of the situation that they must deal with on a day-to-day basis. During this time, death doesn't even come in the form of an enemy barrage, but it can also come from cold temperatures, lice infestations, and other diseases. It was also noted that minor truces began to form all over no man's land. The so called "gentlemen's code" is basically a live and let live scenario, or nowadays called the "rules of engagement", which implicitly states that you must not engage unless you are being engaged upon. Such agreement was used by troops on either side to repair their equipment and bury their fallen comrade. This can also expand to codes that would alert the other side of an upcoming bombardment. Shots and grenades were deliberately fired off to the sides, and sometime, several troops would emerge out of the trenches unarmed with their hands above their head.

            The date was 24th of December 1914, it was a relatively busy day at the Western Front, where the German army, as part of the Central powers squared off against the allied forces, which consists of mostly French and British soldier. At the same time, Christmas presents started to arrive, mostly letters from home and some sweets, beverages, and cigars. But it was the event on Christmas Eve that would kickstart the truce itself. During the day, some troops were reportedly passing each other with no intention to harm, but instead involved in short conversations. Some high-ranking officers on either side even discussed a possible Christmas day ceasefire. The readers of the Christian faith must be familiar with some Christmas songs like O Holy Night or Silent Night. The latter was actually sung by the Germans in their native tongue, Stille Nacht (Side note, Stille Nacht is actually originated from Germany). This prompted the curious Allied Soldiers to inspect the other side of no man's land. Soon after, a friendly sing-off erupted between two sides, with each trench dressed to the occasion with small Christmas trees. 

            Then as dawn broke on the 25th of December, instead of barrage of bullets, it was silence, a deafening silence. Some brave souls eventually started to emerge from the trenches, some of them unarmed, some still carrying weapons. Furthermore, they were banned from activities that would insinuate a clear intention of harm, like erecting barbed wires, repair their trenches, or even worse, calling out a strike. At first, small talks were occurred, but it soon evolved to full blown Christmas parties and sing-offs, involving soldiers exchanging gifts, sweets, cigarettes, and even booze. And don't forget the Christmas masses and funeral processions for their fallen friends.

            You might be wondering, why this event is etched as the most memorable humane moments during the first world war, and the answer is the Christmas Truce Football Match. Some accounts detailed a football match of some sort breaking out along the lines, with most of them stated that the Brits initiated those games with a normal kickabout. Soon, stretchers normally used to carry wounded men were transformed into goalposts, and a football match began between England against Germany, played in No man's land Arena. One account stated that in that game, they lost to the Germans by 3 goals to 2.

            Of course, in the midst of the joy, there are some detractors that refused to take part in the truce and chose to remain inside their trenches. Some officers, like a certain future dictator reported this event to the higher-ups, claiming that fraternization between enemies is considered as an act of treason. And as the news traveled through the chain of command, Commanders on both sides quickly establish a new law that would discourage soldiers from forming future truces. And from then on, from gas warfare, America's eventual involvement in the war, all the way to the treaty of Versailles, there was only one Christmas Truce, and it was happened on the Western Front on 24 to 25 December 1914. And let me tell you, even as the news outlets at the time moved as fast as they could to censor the news, the story of the Christmas Truce remains as one of those moments in history, where humanity prevails, even just for one day in the midst of extreme inhumanity. 

            When I first wrote about Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler, this is the other story that I was referring when I said that I would keep the other story until the appropriate time arrived. I am not a Christian, but irrespective of religion, there must be unity and no division, peace instead of war, and harmony instead of chaos. We remember those who fought for their countries, especially those who participated in this truce.

            

"A Christmas on the frontline, we walk among our friends

We don't think about tomorrow, the battle will commence

When we celebrated Christmas, we thought about our friends

Those who never made it home when the battle had commenced"

 

-"Christmas Truce" performed by Sabaton, 2021

BreadTube: The Cesspool of Woke Propaganda

 (Warning: Strong languages and rants ahead)

 

            Goodness gracious, forgive me for I have sinned, My Good Lord above. This piece is about as cringeworthy as it is nauseating. I can easily say that everyone who engages in far-left, ultra-socialism, borderline communism deserves to be tossed off a cliff into a shark-infested ocean. There, I fucking said it. As someone whose country was almost hijacked by the communist ideology, I can safely say that this ideology, with everything surrounding it, is demented.

 

            But fuck me dead, the Internet has plethora of far-left discourses, opinions, even ideologies circulating in every corner, and this is also the case with YouTube. Granted, videos came and went in this platform, and for most of the time, everyone can speak up their mind, but there is one dark corner of the very far-left side of YouTube, where content creators gather up in a party of far-left propaganda enhanced by the algorithm to bring forth their communist-infused rules and at the same time, positioning themselves as the "thought police". This corner of YouTube is known as "BreadTube". I don't know about you who are reading this, but I think that is a pretty lame word to be used as a name. But there is a reason why this lame movement is named as such. The name derived itself from a book by Peter Kropotkin titled The Conquest of Bread, a book described by Kropotkin himself as an "anarcho-socialist book", since he himself is a self-described anarchist. There is a dispute of the origins of this movement, but there is arguably a starting point where the left-wing creators started their channels in opposition to anti-SJW ones that gained traction in mid-2010s. It is often used as a comedic alternative to the less-known term "LeftTube". Content creators under the banner of BreadTube usually posts video essays or vlogs talking about the hottest issues and discourses, but presented them through the far-left lenses, from liberalism, socialism, and even anarchism. There is a bit of a competition between the left-wing YouTube and the right-wing ones, both are extremely political, both are said to be complete opposite of each other, and both sides are equally influential. If the conservative side have The Daily Wire, then the liberal side have Natalie Wynn, also known as ContraPoints. 

 

            These types of contents, as you would expect, are skewed according to their political compass, some of them to the extreme. Take Ian Kochinski, or Vaush, as people know him online. He's one of the more prominent BreadTuber who holds many controversial stances, including stances on sexual relationships. Here's what grinds my gears about this neckbearded cocksucker: He holds the stance that sexual relationships towards minors should be legalized, even the circulation of child pornography should also be allowed, with the basis of today's society are using hardware devices or clothes manufactured by child workers. He is not above throwing insults and baseless allegations to get his point across either. During his feud with Isaac Butterfield (my favorite Australian comedian. Check out his channel if you have some spare time), Vaush implied that "Australianism is a disease", supposedly a backhanded joke about Butterfield's national identity as a proud Aussie. He also insinuated that by looking at the way Isaac presented himself in front of the camera, the comedian is also (allegedly) a child groomer. And then there is Noah Samsen, who also called out Butterfield's "fatphobic" tendencies, which not only falls on deaf ears, the bearded legend proceeded to tear him a new one while also affirming the stance that modern body positivity movement is nothing more than a glorification of morbid obesity, despite the efforts put forth by these alleged Kim Jong-un's ass sniffers. More recent shithousery by the leftist jackasses on this platform was by Ethan Klein, on his podcast H3H3 Productions, who mocked and attacked the recently Muslim-revert Andrew Tate (Thank Almighty God for that). In response, the man known as either the Top G or the most censored man in the world fires back at Klein's form who, compared to Tate, being a champion kickboxer, is more like a bag full of fat.

 

            I don't really understand anymore at this point. They claimed themselves to be anti-racism and anti-xenophobic, but based on those two above, I sense nothing but hypocrisy. Others are expert in manipulating words to make them sound like they are the smartest people in the room. Mr. Beard used this tactic while supposedly "destroyed" Butterfield while also calling out his "apparent" misogyny. There is no shortage of insults either; his video title outright attacks Butterfield by calling him "Australia's dumbest comedian." And low and behold, the man Isaac referred to as Ralph Wiggum (from The Simpsons) proceeded to mock him by poorly copying (or should I say appropriating) his Australian accent. Other times involving cutting out some parts of their target's content in order to manipulate the audience that what their targets are saying is inflammatory and racist, and not giving enough time to explain in what context those statements are made for. And thanks to these types of videos, I am enlightened on how shit the woke movement is, on how demented those people who claimed to be tolerant, and those who claimed to be against the establishment, but in reality, that same group of people are turned out to be corporate ass lickers. 

 

            BreadTubers, as it turns out, are heavily involved in the modern progressive movements, it means, in every progressive echo chamber, BreadTubers exists inside every single one of them. people like Vaush, Samsen, Mr Beard, and even Xanderhal are basing everything according to the US political dichotomy. Just recently, the backlash in the back of the new The Little Mermaid trailer posted by Disney by both fans and critics alike, for the reinterpretation of Ariel the Little Mermaid, who instead being played by an actress of color. Although never specified, the past interpretations of this character have always been white girl with a red hair. BreadTubers argued that the backlash in question is amplified by "racist trolls" and "conservative influencers". These are their go to trigger words in order to pull the Internet mob to side with them. Ironically, consider today's discourse climate, it's them along with others with similar views are actually racists themselves, exhibited by them favoring more about Persons of Color and LGBT movement. Hell, nowadays people are judged by their skin color, sexual orientation, and their body size (don't forget the fatties here). Those who are born either black, a woman (according to them, obviously), trans, nonbinary, have larger than life bodies or the combination of all those things are celebrated just because of their treats alone, not for academic, sporting, or other achievements. Those who were born white, a man, cisgender, and fit or slim are vilified because, again, according to these guys, they were born privileged. They wanted to be presented as an ally to the political left with a seriously twisted ulterior motives. Let's look at Vaush again, who confessed himself to align with the feminist movement so he can sleep with as many women as he wants. 

 

            In the end, BreadTube is nothing more than acid pool of woke moralism, with the extra sprinkle of Marxism, Socialism, Anarchism and all the things associated with far-left liberalism. They are ready to attack anyone who isn't in line with their demented opinions by bullying them systematically to the corner until their targets caved in and join their side. What used to be a healthy discussion between differing opinions has now turned into a hellscape of censorship and pseudo-moralism. Seriously, go jump off a cliff.