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490 lines
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<title>12 April, 2024</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jessica Tisch, the Ex-N.Y.P.D. Official Trying to Tame New York’s Trash</strong> - The city has lived in filth for decades. Can Jessica Tisch, a scion of one of the country’s richest families, finally clean up the streets? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/15/the-ex-nypd-official-trying-to-tame-new-yorks-trash">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Maggie Rogers’s Journey from Viral Fame to Religious Studies</strong> - The singer-songwriter’s sudden celebrity made her a kind of minister without training. So she went and got some. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/15/maggie-rogers-profile">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Battling Under a Canopy of Russian and Ukrainian Drones</strong> - The commander of one of Ukraine’s most skilled units sent his men on a dangerous mission that required them to elude a swarm of aerial threats. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/15/battling-under-a-canopy-of-drones">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Park Chan-wook Gets the Picture He Wants</strong> - With “The Sympathizer,” the director of “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” comes to American television. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/15/park-chan-wook-profile">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joe Biden and U.S. Policy Toward Israel</strong> - After six months of war, has Israel’s killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers compelled the President to do more to save lives in Gaza? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/15/joe-biden-and-us-policy-toward-israel">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>College enrollment is up. The financial aid mess could bring it crashing down.</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vN2BhK3wa171EH_nVrLYsgEvS2o=/202x0:3355x2365/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73273785/GettyImages_2018145402__1_.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Students head to class on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. | John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The number of first-time filers has dropped 40 percent since the new FAFSA’s bungled rollout.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lYMSun">
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A <a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/current-term-enrollment-estimates/">report</a> released earlier this year from the National Clearinghouse Research Center found that higher education is finally experiencing a reversal in enrollment declines for the first time since the pandemic began.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w3mvl9">
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In fall 2023, there were about 176,000 more undergraduates enrolled, a 1.2 percent increase over fall 2022’s total enrollment at colleges nationwide. The trend could continue as applications <a href="https://www.commonapp.org/files/Common-App-Deadline-Updates-2024.03.01.pdf">continue to increase</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WqT3HY">
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College enrollment <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23428166/college-enrollment-population-education-crash">began retreating</a> in certain parts of the country after a peak in 2010, so the increase is a welcome change as industry watchers continue to fear “<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23428166/college-enrollment-population-education-crash">the enrollment cliff</a>” — shrinking class sizes year after year that have led to layoffs and consolidation and, ultimately, the shuttering of schools. A variety of factors have driven up enrollment this year: More older students matriculated, certificate and vocational programs at community colleges attracted more pupils, and those who had dropped out in previous years returned to complete their degrees.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lZkEsB">
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“The undergraduate enrollment increase is significant. It’s the first time that we have seen this happen in our tracking, which goes back to 2015,” said <a href="https://aascu.org/people/jeremy-cohen/">Jeremy Cohen</a>, a research associate at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NZOvAe">
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But as the annual May 1 enrollment deadline nears for many colleges, the tumultuous rollout of the new FAFSA, which has caused massive delays in the admissions schedule for families and schools, could destroy the gains.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jKjwf5">
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As of late March, 40 percent fewer first-time filers had completed the FAFSA — it stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — compared with the same time last year, according to the <a href="https://www.ncan.org/news/669477/New-Data-FAFSA-Completions-Down-40-Through-End-of-March.htm">National College Attainment Network</a>, which analyzed new <a href="https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student/application-volume/fafsa-completion-high-school">data</a> from the Department of Education. In all, an estimated half a million to 700,000 fewer high school seniors will complete the FAFSA compared to the class of 2023, the <a href="https://www.ncan.org/page/fafsatracker">NCAN</a> told <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2024/04/05/plunge-fafsa-completion-could-spark-enrollment-crisis">Inside Higher Education</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VPiRcZ">
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“It’s bad. There are a lot of words not fit to print to describe how bad the FAFSA rollout has been and the impact that’s going to have on student enrollment,” said <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/people/katharine-meyer/">Katharine Meyer</a>, a Brookings Institution fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy. “I remain cautious to see what the fall 2024 [enrollment] numbers look like, to see if [the enrollment gains] are a shift in the trend, or if [2023] just ended up being a nice year.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ye4pCa">
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The <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/9/12/9314695/college-scorecard-earnings#:~:text=At%20205%20colleges%2C%20fewer%20than,of%20them%20are%20beauty%20schools.">debate</a> over <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22573842/the-best-four-years-of-your-life">whether college</a> is worth the cost is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/your-money/college-degree-graduate-income.html">ongoing</a>, and the FAFSA processing delays further complicate it. If students can’t access grants and loans for the coming academic year, college will be out of reach, particularly for low-income students. Ultimately, the promise of financial security — <a href="https://www.theheagroup.com/blog/ensuring-a-living-wage-through-higher-education">one of the most touted benefits</a> of earning a post-secondary degree — could be elusive for many, especially students who stand to benefit the most from a college degree.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ai8Bsx">
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Enrollment-dependent institutions will suffer, too. It’s why higher education experts are putting pressure on the Department of Education to fix these errors quickly.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L5rLvr">
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“We are urging the department to take immediate steps to address these issues. In the meantime, we are encouraging colleges and universities to be flexible with their enrollment deadlines, so we don’t inadvertently lose students in this process,” said <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/Pages/Bio/Hironao-Okahana.aspx">Hironao Okahana</a>, the assistant vice president and executive director of the Education Futures Lab at the American Council on Education, which tracks higher education trends. “We still believe that there is learning that happens at the post-secondary level that develops critical thinking and other aspects that are really important in democratic society, writ large.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xYS54J">
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“That value proposition itself is still there, and we have work to do as a sector to make sure that those opportunities are provided equitably,” he added.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LqUawM">
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Here’s what we know about enrollment trends and why the FAFSA complications might completely erase any gains this fall.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dWeWk9">
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With some colleges set to charge students <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/your-money/paying-for-college/100k-college-cost-vanderbilt.html">$100,000 for room, board, and other expenses each year</a>, there’s already a perception, among students and families, that higher education is unaffordable — a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/09/29/new-study-explores-why-people-drop-out-or-dont-enroll">reality forcing</a> some students to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/have-a-nice-future-podcast-22/">not attend</a> altogether. Now, the chaotic rollout of the FAFSA has become a new major roadblock.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I30oFb">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> directed the Department of Education to revamp the historically complicated FAFSA form to make it simpler for families to file and get financial aid awards. But the rollout grew disastrous beginning in January after thousands of students reported technical glitches that prevented them from completing the new form. While 40 percent fewer students completed the form this year, <a href="https://www.ncan.org/page/fafsatracker">27 percent fewer students</a> submitted the form, according to data released by the Department of Education this week. The submission rate includes forms that still need to be corrected due to a variety of processing errors.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3wSMFX">
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After weeks of technical challenges that prevented families from completing the new form, the Department of Education announced that it would begin to transmit tax information to schools. Colleges are supposed to use this information to create financial aid packages for students, but even this step has presented new difficulties.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ooNlu3">
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School leaders have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/29/fafsa-errors-college-financial-aid-records/">reported</a> receiving inaccurate tax information for thousands of applicants. The Department of Education recently announced that 200,000 of the 1.5 million applications that it had sent to schools before March 21 had miscalculation errors. The latest hiccups could delay the admissions process further, well past the typical May 1 enrollment deadline that many schools have already extended.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pIN6qk">
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“I expect to see this have a really stark impact on enrollment that will likely be concentrated among community college students, who tend to be lower income, and lower-income students in general,” Meyer said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RTRXmD">
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Community colleges saw the biggest enrollment increases last fall, adding 118,000 students — a 2.6 percent gain over the prior year, according to the National Clearinghouse report. Older students, those ages 21 and above who enrolled as first-year students, drove the enrollment increase. Community colleges that offered vocational training and dual-enrollment programs attracted more students, reversing pandemic declines.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vLuFga">
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But the FAFSA complications could shift where students choose to go to school as they think through what they can afford, Meyer said. This means more students could opt for affordable options that might not meet their academic needs. Other students may choose to forgo college entirely.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r1A5kK">
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Students who plan to enroll as first-year students aren’t the only group who stand to be affected. “While much attention has focused on how this will impact first-time students and enrollment of new college classes, which it undoubtedly will, the effects on current students should not be overlooked,” said Cohen. “Because students who rely on financial aid need to fill out the FAFSA every year, delays or uncertainty in aid packages could lead to students who might otherwise continue their education stopping out instead.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1YTujR">
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Enrollment-dependent institutions are also vulnerable. “There are institutions where the difference of 100 students is actually the difference between staying open and closing,” said Meyer. “There are students who are already enrolled in these precarious institutions that could only end up closing in the next year or two because of this.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vAviKD">
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Wisconsin’s Northland College, which enrolls around 526 students, recently <a href="https://www.wpr.org/education/higher-education/declaring-financial-emergency-northland-college-delays-decision-on-whether-to-close">declared financial exigency</a> due to declining enrollment and rising costs and is deciding whether to close. The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, <a href="https://www.strose.edu/2023/12/01/the-college-of-saint-rose-announces-it-will-close/">announced</a> it would close at the end of the 2023–24 academic year due to enrollment “caused by both a shrinking pool of high school graduates and the prolonged negative impact of COVID-19,” which made it struggle to manage operating expenses.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RQ3pUf">
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“In the long run, I think there’s every hope and expectation that this FAFSA simplification will deliver on its promise to get more low-income students into college,” said Meyer. “But the class of 2024 is being rocked really hard.”
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>“Civil War” has little to say about America — but a lot to say about war</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Spaeny and Moura wear “press” vests and helmets as then come fact-to-face with a gun while turning a corner." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0L2e_BEm-yr5R2bc-8hORlfa34Y=/334x0:5667x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73273769/CW_15385.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Cailee Spaeny (left) and Wagner Moura as journalists in Alex Garland’s Civil War. | Murray Close/A24
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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You might think a movie about a second American civil war would be a thinly veiled Trump story. It’s not — and it’s better for it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="es6j6o">
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You might think the new movie <em>Civil War</em> is a warning about America’s deepening political divide. The film’s trailer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDyQxtg0V2w">certainly suggests so</a>, and director Alex Garland seemingly confirmed that was his intent in a recent interview with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2024/04/civil-war-alex-garland-interview/677984/?taid=661453d3fb89dc0001c97cb3&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=true-anthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter">the Atlantic</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BZbWBd">
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For me, a writer who has written <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Reactionary-Spirit-Insidious-Political-Tradition-ebook/dp/B0CMQB8S94">a book on democratic decline</a>, this marketing set off major alarm bells.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I4SbSv">
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While the United States faces <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22814025/democracy-trump-january-6-capitol-riot-election-violence">very real threats from extreme polarization and rising political violence</a>, a modern repeat of the Civil War is basically out of the question (especially the <a href="https://twitter.com/zackbeauchamp/status/1736748407627129223">film’s version</a>, in which a rebel alliance led by Texas and California confront the federal government). Trying to use such a war to examine how American polarization could collapse our democracy would almost certainly be a doomed enterprise.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pBHPX7">
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Thankfully, <em>Civil War</em> is not the film I was led to believe. The movie begins near the end of the conflict, providing little context about how things got so bad in fictional America. There are stray hints — the president (Nick Offerman) is in his third term and has disbanded the FBI — but nothing that could help the viewer understand why the United States collapsed into bloodshed. Contrary to marketing, and perhaps even the director’s intent, <em>Civil War </em>has virtually nothing to say about real-world American politics.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bbs34Z">
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But this doesn’t mean the film is a failure — far from it. Once you understand that <em>Civil War</em> isn’t about what you think, you can appreciate it for what it actually is: a searing meditation on what happens when political orders collapse and violence takes on a sinister logic of its own.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OXucm2">
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In doing so, it channels some of the best modern academic research on violence in civil wars.
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</p>
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<h3 id="G4fVI7">
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This is your brain on violence
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwS871">
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<em>Civil War</em> tracks a group of four reporters as they race from the (relative) safety of New York City to Washington, DC, to cover the fall of the president: The combined forces of California and Texas are knocking at the Capitol’s doorstep.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qy2Q8S">
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Yet there’s no real sense of place or specificity in this narrative. With the exception of a rebel base outside Charlottesville, the towns and cities they pass through have no names. The violence the reporters witness on the road is horrific — we’re talking mass graves, suicide bombings, and torture — but it generally has no clear political motivation or higher purpose.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Dunst, in orange light, with a camera hanging off her shoulder." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_Hy_lXz1Kk6CqK7Pz1zJf5EiWgI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25387438/Civil_War___First_Image.jpg"/> <cite>A24</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Kirsten Dunst as photojournalist Lee in <em>Civil War</em>.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xjunal">
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In one scene, a sniper opens fire on the reporters’ car, forcing them to take shelter beside two soldiers he’s also attacked. When the reporters ask the soldiers which side everyone is on, they scoff — explaining that he’s trying to kill them, and that’s all that matters.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DJR2MK">
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That scene clarifies what the movie is really about: not how political order collapses into civil war, but what happens to a society after it does.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fYhd5B">
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<em>Civil War</em> presents a narrative where war takes on a logic of its own. For some, the need to survive pushes them to act in ways they never would have contemplated otherwise. For others, the collapse in order creates opportunities to act on their very worst impulses — best dramatized in an unforgettable scene in which a bigoted soldier (Jesse Plemons) cruelly interrogates the main characters at gunpoint.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bbBv7I">
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Under such conditions, social trust collapses altogether; faith in both institutions and other people can’t survive.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mgmMl8">
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<em>Civil War</em>’s treatment of journalism basically fits this theme. The movie’s reporters, led by steely photojournalist Lee (a fabulous Kirsten Dunst), are generally decent people and stellar professionals. But in a world where no one trusts anyone, a truly neutral institution like journalism has no place. Without any legal system or supreme power to appeal to, they’re at the mercy of whatever armed faction they come across — most of whom don’t trust journalists any more than anyone else.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5x3NYu">
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In conditions of social breakdown, violence consumes all of what makes a society work.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mlEVOv">
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What a fake civil war tells us about real ones
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h1aBg6">
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<em>Civil War</em>’s grim vision reminded me, more than anything else, of an academic book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Violence-Cambridge-Studies-Comparative-Politics/dp/0521670047"><em>The Logic of Violence in Civil Wars</em></a> by Oxford professor Stathis Kalyvas.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mHDEB9">
|
||
The book, a modern classic in the literature on civil conflict, argues that most people overestimate the degree to which patterns of violence in civil wars are driven by ideology or emotions run amok. Instead, Kalyvas argues, individual decisions are often made based on calculations of rational self-interest — starting with survival.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="wBuOS8">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S0jl8A">
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Kalyvas’s treatment of the relationship between violence and civilian behavior is particularly noteworthy.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LoE9SK">
|
||
As we know from American experiences in Iraq and <a href="https://www.vox.com/afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, winning the support of the local civilian population is critically important in determining who wins a civil war. Drawing on data from <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/greek-civil-war-1944-1949">the 1940s Greek Civil War</a>, Kalyvas argues that civilians make decisions about cooperation based primarily on perceptions of who is in control of the territory in which they live. Basically, they’re most likely to cooperate if they think that side will have the power to keep them safe and advance their other interests.
|
||
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CslX9t">
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||
Civilian cooperation then shapes how combatants use force, as informers tell them where their enemies are hiding or who in the civilian population supports the opposing side. How combatants act on this information in turn shapes civilians’ views, affecting their future decisions to cooperate or not. Violence is, in Kalyvas’s language, a “joint process”: Who lives and who dies is determined by the interplay of civilian and combatant actions, all rooted in perceptions of rational self-interest.
|
||
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E9hhot">
|
||
This is basically how the world in <em>Civil War</em> works. Characters make choices not about ideology or partisanship, but about how best to advance their interests in a country defined by who’s trying to kill them and who isn’t. I can’t recall a single scene where anyone makes an ideological statement about the nature of the American civil war and why they’re fighting it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FebZko">
|
||
Such a film has little to say about contemporary American politics. But the imagery and places may help American audiences connect more easily to the subtler story it’s actually telling: about how people in real-life civil wars make life into hell for the people caught up in them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0BpDLj">
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||
It is less a film about political polarization, or even the headline-dominating wars in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080046/gaza-palestine-israel">Gaza</a> and Ukraine, than one about the long and bloody counterinsurgency wars that defined the war on terror era.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Wtrl5">
|
||
In that respect, <em>Civil War</em> should make Americans think less about our own contemporary problems and more about the suffering <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8703059/bush-isis-middle-east">we so recently inflicted on others</a>.
|
||
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HbERur">
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||
<em>This story appeared originally in </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em><strong>Today, Explained</strong></em></a><em>, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here for future editions</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qksmxs">
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</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The Chinese backlash over Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, explained</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="People watching an outdoor stage performance." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QkxNy5y9kj2zB__gbXNZmiuHDQA=/200x0:3400x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73273701/3BP_101_Unit_05865RC.jpg_3BP_101_Unit_05865RC.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A pivotal scene from Netflix’s <em>3 Body Problem</em> shows the violence of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. | Ed Miller/Netflix
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||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
It says more about Netflix than it does about China.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YWLII3">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a> is banned in <a href="https://www.vox.com/china">China</a> — part of the government’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/17/15982534/winnie-the-pooh-ban-censorship-social-media-xi-jinping-president-communist-party">ongoing efforts</a> to limit both foreign influence and Chinese citizens’ access to information about their own country. But that hasn’t stopped Chinese viewers, as well as Chinese state media, from <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3257378/chinese-state-media-accuse-netflix-series-3-body-problem-pushing-american-cultural-hegemony">weighing in on</a> its highly anticipated adaptation of the Hugo Award-winning 2008 Chinese sci-fi novel <em>The Three-Body Problem</em>. Many people aren’t happy, yet there’s more to this particular backlash than just fan disgruntlement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QxwU2I">
|
||
The first of an esteemed trilogy sometimes known as <em>Remembrance of Earth’s Past</em>, the novel <em>The Three-Body Problem</em> is a high-concept fictionalization of a longstanding scientific enigma known as “the three-body problem.” It’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/24108638/3-body-problem-science-physics-theory-explained-how-real-is-it">heavy on the science</a>, and author Liu Cixin, a native of mainland China, takes a long view of existential problems that mirror those we’re currently grappling with today, most notably the ethics surrounding our response to advanced <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">artificial intelligence</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LPd13M">
|
||
One of the novel’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24114757/3-body-problem-netflix-aliens-human-extinction-transhumanism-religion">central themes</a> is the question of who gets to decide the future for the rest of humanity. It takes an anti-authoritarian approach that’s bolstered by the author’s experience of authoritarianism in China. One of its central characters functions as a strong critique of the Communist Revolution, and the whole novel arguably critiques the modern-day Communist Party. This critique takes center stage, quite literally, in a controversial opening scene from the book that references a violent period of China’s history rarely shown in China itself.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ToJ9eA">
|
||
Despite this, the novel <em>The Three-Body Problem</em> not only cleared China’s <a href="https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/new-book-censorship-regulations-take-effect-in-china">broad book ban</a> on anti-government messaging (although before<a href="https://www.vox.com/videos/2023/11/28/23979410/xi-jinping-mao-china-power"> Xi Jinping</a>’s subsequent <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/2/16019562/china-russia-internet-propaganda-media">tightening</a> of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/27/17058074/china-banned-words-jinping">censorship</a> across the cultural front) but has become beloved in its home nation. It won multiple awards and gets held up by many as an example of China’s literary excellence and as a <a href="https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2017/0313/c404079-29141813.html">major influence</a> in the development of Chinese science fiction. In 2023, another acclaimed and lavish series adapting the book, <em>Three Body</em>, was released by Chinese streaming service Tencent (the show is also currently <a href="https://www.viki.com/tv/39255c-three-body">streaming with English subtitles on Viki</a>; the first two eps are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-UO8jbrIoM&list=PLvRL-QkqpSYg3hgOK08KcLi4v6pB2nOip&index=1&pp=iAQB">also on YouTube</a>). <em>Three Body</em> has won praise from viewers at home and abroad for staying faithful to the book and its themes; on the popular review forum MyDramaList, for example, the Tencent series <a href="https://mydramalist.com/63487-the-three-body-problem">has a viewer rating</a> of 8.3/10.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X1VRyP">
|
||
This is important context to understand the conversations that have taken place on Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms since the Netflix adaptation’s release on March 21. As the show <a href="https://deadline.com/2024/04/netflix-3-body-problem-viewership-damsel-most-popular-film-list-1235879757/">continues to dominate Netflix ratings</a> globally, many English-language media outlets have begun <a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-three-body-problem-04062024122236.html">covering</a> the “<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3257378/chinese-state-media-accuse-netflix-series-3-body-problem-pushing-american-cultural-hegemony">polarised</a>” discussion on Chinese social media around the show — perhaps painting the situation as more complicated than it is. On Weibo, the state-run media account Global Times <a href="https://weibo.com/1974576991/O6FrC3XQF">accused</a> foreign media of inflating the negative reactions to the show in order to foment political drama and make Chinese viewers appear unreasonably nationalist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xp52mU">
|
||
It could be easy for an audience unfamiliar with Chinese media to assume that the Netflix adaptation is breaking through Chinese government censorship with a brave, controversial stance on the country’s past — but that’s not entirely true. While the government under Xi Jinping has drastically ramped up <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/hong-kong-democracy-activist-describes-how-chinese-government-targets-critics-in-exile">its</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/03/asia/tiananmen-june-4-china-censorship-intl/index.html">restrictions</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1165504942/winnie-the-pooh-xi-jinping-china-film">on</a> <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-aftermath-of-chinas-comedy-crackdown">speech</a>, this doesn’t paint a fully accurate picture of how everyday people in China interact with those restrictions. What’s fascinating about this <em>3 Body </em>debate is how much it reveals about how Chinese viewers metabolize culture and cultivate their historical awareness.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="TiQqTc">
|
||
Depictions of nationalistic outrage on Chinese social media are probably being exaggerated
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5u4iJk">
|
||
The New York Times recently published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/business/3-body-problem-china-reaction.html">a news column</a> about it:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hD9elU">
|
||
“Instead of pride and celebration, the Netflix series has been met with anger, sneer and suspicion in China. The reactions show how years of censorship and indoctrination have shaped the public perspectives of China’s relations with the outside world. They don’t take pride where it’s due and take offense too easily. They also take entertainment too seriously and history and politics too lightly.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z1vhoT">
|
||
This is certainly a strong argument, and the author, who has spent years reporting from China, including covering its censorship system before, cites examples of criticisms. But a quick Weibo search for “<a href="https://s.weibo.com/realtime?q=%E4%B8%89%E4%BD%93%E7%BD%91%E9%A3%9E&rd=realtime&tw=realtime">3 body Netflix</a>” shows that it’s not the whole picture; it’s also easy to find Chinese viewers praising the show and criticizing it in equal parts. For example, one recent <a href="https://weibo.com/1409102914/O95Fs6EYp?refer_flag=1001030103_">post</a> celebrates the way the Netflix version has popularized Liu Cixin’s work and Chinese sci-fi to fans around the world. <a href="https://weibo.com/7782884695/O81bHFypu">Another post</a> embeds a British vlogger’s commentary on the flaws with the Netflix adaptation, underscoring that criticism of the show is universal.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZtWZ3L">
|
||
Most of those criticisms would occur to anyone with a passing understanding of the book. Netflix’s changes make the storyline blander and more inexplicably British, deliberately erasing most of the Chinese characters and relocating the main action to London. The exception to this rule is the subplot surrounding Ye Wenjie, a traumatized scientist who grows up in the shadow of China’s brutal Cultural Revolution. Ye Wenjie is arguably a villain who serves as our primary reference point for understanding China. It’s unsurprising, then, that many Chinese people aren’t happy that an adaptation of a beloved work of Chinese science fiction has erased most of the book’s portrayal of Chinese scientific prowess, relocated the plot to another country, and turned the storyline into something primarily critical of the Chinese government.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QzJWwN">
|
||
The Times piece goes on to suggest that Chinese viewers have a dim grasp of what the Cultural Revolution — the violent decade of Mao Zedong’s rule between 1966 and 1976 — did to the country, but an example from the same column of a widely circulated article critical of the era complicates that point. Information about the Cultural Revolution sometimes does circulate — only to then be restricted:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7xsdX7">
|
||
Someone on social media recently reposted an old article about Ye Qisong, one of the founders of the study of physics in modern China. In 1967, around the time that the struggle session of the series took place, Mr. Ye, who shared the same family name of the physicist in the opening scene, was detained, beaten and forced to confess crimes he didn’t commit. He went crazy and wandered the streets in Beijing, begging for food and money. The article was circulated widely online before it was censored.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UIv49o">
|
||
This anecdote highlights the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23404571/china-vs-fandom-danmei-censorship-qinglang-social-media">complicated relationship</a> between Chinese audiences and their government, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/11/30/23484801/china-protests-covid-lockdown-xi-jinping">frequently turns thorny</a> despite the best efforts of the CCP to <a href="https://www.vox.com/23005295/china-russia-ukraine-war-media-censorship">control and censor</a> what media and information citizens have access to.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="btQL9g">
|
||
This goes double when it comes to Chinese historical events. Chinese social media <a href="https://www.vox.com/influencers">influencers</a> regularly <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/abs/chinese-celebrities-political-signalling-on-sina-weibo/3E4D8552C66F355B0FD1E6B50D998F01">amplify and encourage</a> celebration and commemoration of various historical events, but only as they relate to a vision of a unified China, supporting the social and military goals of the CCP.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MMF6fA">
|
||
Yet this performed patriotism in no way means that Chinese citizens are unaware of the darker parts of their history; witness one Weibo user who <a href="https://weibo.com/2215020142/O96SE5lx2">described</a> being stunned and impressed by the opening of the Netflix series, with its historically accurate, unflinching depiction of the Cultural Revolution. Such reactions undercut US-centric media’s tendency to pigeonhole Chinese citizens as brainwashed or unquestioning of CCP dogma.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="C6G8Vi">
|
||
The conflict at the heart of this is arguably China versus its history
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p6qfjX">
|
||
In all three versions of the story, the brutality of the Cultural Revolution directly impacts the future of humanity through Ye Wenjie. As a child, Ye Wenjie watches her father, a leading physicist, become a victim of the early Communist Party’s anti-science movement. Because of her association with her father, she’s forced to do years of hard labor, then recruited into a top-secret scientific program. She’s betrayed repeatedly by other people, all of whom are acting under the auspices of the government to entrap and/or spy on her. Over time, her disillusionment with humanity grows to a breaking point that leads her to make a fatal decision on behalf of all mankind.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GCK5lo">
|
||
In other words, the novel and each of its adaptations are clear about the way the Cultural Revolution persecuted the innocent and spawned decades of generational trauma. But each of them portrays the actual violence slightly differently. The English translation of Cixin’s novel opens with an unforgettable scene in which Ye Wenjie’s father is dragged onto a stage before an incensed crowd of communist supporters, pressured by his wife to renounce basic theories of physics, and then beaten to death for his refusal by a group of overzealous teenage party members — all while a horrified Ye Wenjie watches from the audience.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4e0ThZ">
|
||
In the original Chinese version of<em> </em>Cixin’s novel, the scene remains entirely the same, but his editor, fearing censorship, asked him to move this section to the middle of the novel rather than the beginning, perhaps hoping that relocating the passage would ameliorate the sting of its criticism. This apparently worked, but when fellow sci-fi writer Ken Liu translated <em>Three-Body</em> into English, Cixin gave him permission to put the passage back at the beginning of the book — which is how millions of readers around the globe experienced it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AGwYS3">
|
||
The Netflix adaptation follows the English version of the novel: Ye Wenjie’s father is violently murdered before our eyes, and this underpins everything else that happens in the drama.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xvz9Zb">
|
||
The earlier 2023 adaptation from the Chinese streaming service Tencent, however, is an almost page-for-page literal adaptation of the English-language version of the novel in every respect except this one. Instead of showing the public execution of Wenjie’s dad, in the Tencent version, he’s arrested and betrayed by members of his own family, and he still loses his esteemed career as a physicist — but he’s ultimately never executed, and it’s implied instead that he died in ignominy with only Ye Wenjie at his side. This is a stark change that arguably waters down the impact of the book, but we still fully understand that the Cultural Revolution victimized Ye Wenjie and her father; decades later, when other characters learn what she went through, they’re appalled. Both the Tencent and Netflix versions faithfully adapt Ye Wenjie’s later harsh life in the labor camp and the subsequent betrayals she experiences.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ozEEO0">
|
||
While the more violent aspects of the regime are often erased, depictions of the bleakness and misguided aims of the Cultural Revolution have become acceptable in Chinese pop culture. For example, last year’s widely acclaimed drama <a href="https://mydramalist.com/716777-where-dreams-begin"><em>The Youth Memories</em></a> dealt with the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution on China’s “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/24/world/asia/china-lost-generation/index.html">lost generation</a>,” who were deprived of access to education after the communist takeover. The show takes a lightly but overtly critical stance toward the Revolution’s ban on higher education and treats the lifting of the ban as a major social leap forward.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lx7HoF">
|
||
The problems of Netflix’s <em>3 Body Problem</em> have more to do with the Netflixian tendency to make every production feel colorless, flat, and forgettable than with Chinese viewers. A look at Tencent’s version, or at shows like <em>The Youth Memories</em>, can give a much more nuanced idea of how Chinese audiences understand their past.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mary Kom steps down as Paris Olympics Chef-de-Mission, cites personal reason</strong> - Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President P.T. Usha announced that Mary Kom had asked to be relieved from her position in a letter to addressed to her.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rohit Sharma sets his eyes on playing in upcoming 50-over World Cup, World Test Championship final</strong> - The 36-year-old Rohit Sharma was part of India’s 2007 T20 World Cup victory, but he counts the 50-over showpiece as the real stuff.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ishan Kishan 2.0: Finding better self than worrying about Twenty20 World Cup place</strong> - The 25-year-old was not considered for any of the subsequent national assignments, and India head coach Rahul Dravid had underscored the need for Kishan to play domestic cricket to make his comeback.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL-17: PBKS vs RR | Rajasthan Royals need better execution of plans against Punjab Kings</strong> - Rajasthan Royals will be looking for an improvement in the strategising and execution part against the Punjab Kings.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Candidates Chess: Gukesh loses to Alireza; Praggnanandhaa holds Caruana</strong> - Following the loss, the 17-year-old Gukesh was down to the joint second spot on four points along with Caruana and Praggnanandhaa.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Mandya, Kolar on April 17</strong> - The Janata Dal (S), which has entered into an alliance with the BJP, has fielded candidates in both constituencies</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NITPY students launch app to report poll code violations</strong> - The app, which can track real-time responses to complaints, allows residents of Karaikal to report instances of misconduct with photographic evidence</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Smriti Irani accuses Rahul Gandhi of neglecting development of Amethi for 15 years</strong> - Continuing her attack against Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader said when a minister from Karnataka asked him why he was contesting elections from Wayanad, he replied that the people of Wayanad are more loyal.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>YouTuber Maridhas ordered to pay costs of ₹5,000 to TV18 Broadcast Ltd</strong> - Madras High Court, however, sets aside an order passed by it in 2022 setting him ex-parte in a 2020 suit seeking damages of ₹1.5 crore for his allegedly defamatory videos</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>District Central Library to hold TNSPC-Group IV model test</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Belgium probes Russian interference in EU elections</strong> - Two months before Europeans vote in 27 countries, Moscow is accused of trying to influence the vote.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia floods leave houses almost submerged</strong> - Water levels in Orenburg are 2m above critical levels, as the mayor urges mass evacuations.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>First European citizen jailed under HK security law</strong> - The man was convicted of secession after he posted anti-China content on social media.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>David Cameron heads to Brussels for Gibraltar talks</strong> - Following Brexit, the British overseas territory has been operating under temporary rules.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Polish MPs debate liberalising right to abortion</strong> - Abortion in Poland is heavily restricted, but the new prime minster has pledged to liberalise the law.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A supernova caused the BOAT gamma ray burst, JWST data confirms</strong> - But astronomers puzzled by the lack of signatures of expected heavy elements. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2016267">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Space Force is planning what could be the first military exercise in orbit</strong> - “The vendors will exercise a realistic threat response scenario.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2016629">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Researchers find a new organelle evolving</strong> - A “nitroplast” converts nitrogen from the air to a chemically useful form. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2016827">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three episodes in, the Fallout TV series absolutely nails it</strong> - Hyperviolence, strong characters, cool visuals, and some humor make a good show. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2016786">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sketchy Botox shots spark multistate outbreak of botulism-like condition</strong> - So far at least six people in two states have fallen ill; four of them were hospitalized. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2016788">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Guy : Doctor, my Girlfriend is pregnant but we always use protection and the rubber never broke. How is it possible?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doctor : Let me tell you a story: "There was once a Hunter who always carried a gun wherever he went.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
One day he took out his Umbrella instead of his Gun and went out. A Lion suddenly jumped in front of him, in order to stare the lion, hunter took out his umbrella and shot the lion and he died
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy : what nonsense! It’s not possible, someone else must have shot the lion
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doctor : Good ! You understood the story, next patient please.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/KaruGuddiLaal"> /u/KaruGuddiLaal </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c23oj3/guy_doctor_my_girlfriend_is_pregnant_but_we/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c23oj3/guy_doctor_my_girlfriend_is_pregnant_but_we/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>3 army generals bet who has the bravest soldiers</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
3 army generals bet who has the bravest soldiers. The first general calls one of his men and commands him: “You see that tall flag pole? Climb to the top of it and jump down.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The soldier is hesitant at first, but then begins to climb the pole. When he reaches the top, he jumps… but breaks a leg.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The other two generals salute the man for his bravery. The second general calls a soldier and tells him: "See that flag pole? Climb it and do a front-flip onto the ground. The man climbs the pole and performs a flip, as the general wished. Unfortunately, upon impact, the soldier tragically breaks his spine.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The generals, again, salute the soldier for his bravery. And finally, it’s the third generals turn. He calls a soldier and commands: “Soldier! Take this backpack full of bricks, climb that flag pole and perform a double back-flip onto the ground.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The soldier laughs and replies:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Haha, boss. Fuck you and your commands!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The general proudly crosses his arms and exclaims:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Guys, THIS is what I call bravery!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Botosup"> /u/Botosup </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c23lvq/3_army_generals_bet_who_has_the_bravest_soldiers/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c23lvq/3_army_generals_bet_who_has_the_bravest_soldiers/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pete meets Ted</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
So, there’s this guy, Pete, who got into troubles with the local gang. So, the gang members took him and brought him to a 7 feet, 300lbs giant named Ted.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They told Ted: “To this guy, you will fuck him in the ass so he’ll learn not to fuck with us.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Ted replied: “Alright, leave it to me.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The poor Pete asked for mercy: “Please Mr. Ted, don’t fuck me in the ass.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Ted replied: “Shut up or I’ll break your jaw.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The gang members brought another guy and told Ted: “To this guy, cut his hands off so he won’t steal from us again.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Ted replied: “Alright, leave it to me.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Then, they brought another guy and told Ted: “To this one, cut his testicles off so he won’t sleep with our women again.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Ted replied: “Alright, leave it to me.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Finally, they brought a last guy and told Ted: “To this one, cut him in pieces and send it to his relatives.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After the gang members left, Pete said to Ted: “Don’t forget Ted so there isn’t any confusion, I’m the one you have to fuck in the ass.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/shiviam"> /u/shiviam </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c2325v/pete_meets_ted/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c2325v/pete_meets_ted/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a genealogist and a gynecologist?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
One looks up the family tree, the other looks up the family bush.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bravosarah"> /u/bravosarah </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c1ufpy/whats_the_difference_between_a_genealogist_and_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c1ufpy/whats_the_difference_between_a_genealogist_and_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A zoo starts having trouble with their prized gorilla</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Normally a gentle and kind beast, Coco the gorilla started acting out violently, throwing objects at visitors and scaring the children, breaking things in her enclosure and not eating. The zookeepers were puzzled at what had gotten into Coco, and after the vet did a round of tests it was determined that Coco was in heat and sexually frustrated.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The zoo staff called all the other zoos in the area to try and find Coco a mate, but were unsuccessful. Visitors were avoiding her enclosure, and park attendance was dropping fast, so they were desperate for a solution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The zookeepers all met up at the restaurant in the park to brainstorm ideas, and they eventually came to the conclusion that one of them was going to have to be a hero and pleasure Coco themselves. Understandably, not wanting to have their units mangled or ripped clean off by a 400 pound horny gorilla, volunteers were hard to come by. Just as they were about to scrap the idea, Joe the janitor came around the corner, polishing the floors.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Joe was a hulking giant of a man, and hairy to boot. What he gained in size though, he lost in brains. Joe was incredibly stupid.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Seeing their potential hero, the zookeepers quickly pooled any cash they had on them and the manager got up from the bar and approached Joe.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Hey Joe, you’ve heard about Coco right? Well we were wondering if for $250, you would be willing to make love to her”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Joe hesitated for a moment and then said
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Well, love life has been a bit slow these few years but I’ll hava to go home a tink about it I figure”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The manager shakes his hand and dismisses him for the night.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The next morning everyone is anxiously waiting for Joe’s arrival, and they all crowd around him as he enters the staff room
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Well I thunked about it long and hard, and I will do it on three conditions”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Everyone let’s out a sigh of relief and impatiently ask Joe for his conditions
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“First, I don’t want to have ta kiss er, I never dun seen her brush her teeth”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They all agree, and tell him to continue
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Second, if I git er pregnunt I don’t want to have to pay child support. I already got three that I gotta do that for”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They all once again agree, trying not to make Joe feel dumb, and press him for his final condition
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Well, you’re gonna have to give me a few more days to come up with the $250”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkoEnterprises"> /u/DarkoEnterprises </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c1npmr/a_zoo_starts_having_trouble_with_their_prized/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1c1npmr/a_zoo_starts_having_trouble_with_their_prized/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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