Calls to boycott Stranger Things

Apparently two of Stranger Things actors are shamelessly openly Zionist and there's online calls to boycott the show. Those actors should be called out however boycotting the whole show is hard. It's one of the most popular shows and, but it's also shamelessly anti Russian. And so many beloved American stuff is anti Russian, I mean, that shitty Despicable Me movies, the lame Russian accent. Hating Russians and eastern Europeans is as American as pie. So much of Hollywood is problematic , reflecting American politics and rebel culture too: racism, anti Communism, zombie genre as anti capitalism, etc. Even now its films are so laced with imperialism. Even Santa Claus is a CIA agent or American President (check out Red One). Every other film celebrates American soldiers and their trauma over slaughtering brown, black peoples. Boycotting Stranger Things is going to be more performative than anything else. I'm going to go and watch it just to see how they end it. It is otherwise a really great show.

White female privilege in extractive tourism and Pakistani desire to be close to whiteness at the expense of self respect

I foolishly joined a Dutch - Pakistani tour operator/company for a visit to Attock going through the Seven Sisters tunnels. I was screamed at and had fingers wagged at me by the Dutch woman because I was slower than others due to a twisted foot. This happened twice during the day and was never resolved. The woman never apologised and blamed me for being slow. To date this group is blaming me for being slow by 11 minutes when I expressed indignation. No other Pakistanis came to my rescue , not even words of solidarity during or after the day. When I complained and pointed problematic behaviour, it was silence. Instead the Pakistanis fawned over the white Dutch woman, how much she loved Pakistan, stating how she had traveled more than any Pakistani, how she sacrificed to be here, etc. I got my refund but am sharing this experience. Moreover the Dutch woman was taking photos of locals without consent. She was taking photos with security personnel who shamelessly agreed to, something she could never do in Europe. She shoved off local passengers in the train to make space for the group and, when stopped, said “they are nice people”. Foreigners, UN international staff, in the group took photos of working class folks serving food without consent. There was no real history provided of the tunnels or railway station. I have experienced enough white woman phenomenon /tears/fragility/racism/imperialism/superiority/saviour complex too many times to count but to experience it again in extractive tourism is something. I am more disgusted with Pakistanis who chose to fawn over her and, ignore the problematic behaviour.

My YT channel was blocked

My harmless YouTube channel with home videos and Kavita's guitar sessions and really boring stuff was blocked because I reposted a video about the genocide in Gaza. Tech Bros the whole arsenal of American technofeudalism is in aid of the American Empire. I had to take a stupid YT course on violence (I have a masters in Violence Conflict and Development from SOAS which honestly in hindsight really never taught us much about how civil wars are fueled by the West in great detail and it was more anthropological, paid out of my own pocket the masters, enriching the Western Academia). There are brave journalists and voices who are constantly being removed from YT and, other platforms for simply speaking against slaughter of children and the powers that are supporting Israel.

Punctuality and efficiency are not cultural values but capitalist values

I have been thinking a lot about punctuality and public decency for some time. We have internalised ideas about time, public norms , punctuality, efficiency as if they are Western cultural values and somehow we have to learn them. But after giving it a lot of thought, I realised these are not cultural values but modern capitalist values. A well oiled capitalist machine cannot function without it. Punctuality is capitalist value because time is literally money. Time is a value , a capitalist value violently imposed on working class folks to ensure production and profits. It is enforced on middle class management too. Efficiency and punctuality are necessary, critical for a well oiled capitalist machine. Politeness in the public space , understood public norms and public decency, too, ensure more stability and order. Europeans and Westerners project these as national cultural values but this is highly misleading. A good capitalist society values time, efficiency and public order. There is nothing cultural about being anal about time. Next time a European patronises you about time, I have been patronised far too many times to count as if I were some savage in my professional career, remember it is a capitalist value. Of course, we in Pakistan could do better time management, have better public order, be better at public decency but not because it is a culture but only to run things better.

Dharmendra has passed.

Dharmendra has passed. End of an era. The passing of actors whose careers have spanned that long , were born in the 30s and were part of so many iconic films and music hints at our own mortality too. We have marked our lives with certain cultural eras. Dharmendra was stunning and his black and white films were especially amazing. And, his manner of talking was very gracious. Look up his videos, interviews.

voices from X