Doomscroller #1: this week— MILF Iraqi War Vet, Chai or Tea?, HP fanfic roundup, NK military chorus performs Rage against the Machine.

My opinions on shit I found online. This week: MILF Iraqi War Vet, Chinese Loan Words for Tea, HP fanfic roundup, North Korean military chorus performs Rage against the Machine.

Jun 18, 2024

Editor’s Note: Bear with me for a bit as I figure out posting frequency on the different kinds of content I want to send out. Ideally, Roughly every 2 weeks, you will get all of the following:

Doomscroller (collecting my opinions on stuff I see online) and/or a Guest Post
Essays, Fictions
Maybe a surprise (if there’s something I really want to post, I will do it)

For now though, I am sending out stuff faster than normal. And whilst my policy would normally be to post on my personal website first, and then mirror on substack, this is currently suspended as I work through the kinks. You’re all my guinea pigs. My lab mice. My submissive and bree— ahem.

Anyway, read on.

Valkyrie Brynn, Psyop or Criticism? Quick review of the dark comedy thirst trap Iraqi War Vet (commentary)

Is a youtube black comedy skit of a kid handing a US soldier a grenade pin funny or horrifying? Well I think it’s fucking hilarious, but uh, PTSD trigger warning for any Iraq War Vets and also trigger warning for any Iraqi Civilians that survived being massacred by the American Empire.

It’s interesting though, that some folks think she’s doing American Imperialist psyop with her videos. One commenter pointed out that her equipment wasn’t Iraq issued and she’s lying about a being a Vet, but another commenter (and vet) pointed out that their stuff was confiscated, so it wouldn’t have been possible for her to be sporting accurate gear.

Other folks think she’s criticizing American Imperialism as a Iraqi War vet with PTSD. That’s an interesting divide amongst her fans.

For the record, I don’t think she’s a psyop. A proper psyop so obvious mock the war. Unless the Pentagon’s meme department is super advanced, I’d like to think that I am still ahead of the meme war as a meme-content creator veteran of the Trump years.

What she’s definitely doing though, is being a thirst trap with guns. In the immortal words of Sera Victoria (from Team Four Star’s Hellsing Abridged): “Bitches love cannons”. Valkyrie Brynn here embodies this concept.

Chinese Loan Words: Chai, Tea, Ketchup (mini-essay)

Cha, Chai, and Tea are loan words, and ultimately originate from Chinese languages.

Very broadly speaking, if a culture says Cha or Chai, they derive their word from Northern Chinese languages, or Mandarin specifically (though Mandarin was not widespread until relatively recent in history).

If however a culture says Tea, they derive that word from Southern Chinese or Minnan (Hokkien) languages (or Middle Chinese, ie, the lingua franca of Tang Dynasty China, which basically hold the height of Chinese influence on all neighbouring powers).

Some articles online have simplified this to “if spread by land, it’s cha, and if it’s spread by sea, it’s tea”, but it’s not really about the trade routes, and more about which Chinese languages dominated in the geographic areas and time periods most associated with those trade routes.

Fun Fact: Ketchup is also a Chinese Hokkien loan word. You’re welcome English speakers.

Source: I am fluent in both Mandarin and Hokkien. You can verify with God though.

Harry Potter Fanfic Roundup

HP Fanfics have surpassed canon by a LOOOOOONG shot. So here’s 2 of our favourite reads.

Blindness by Angela StarCat
Harry was blinded as an infant, banned from Hogwarts, and attends school in the Muggle world, with Hermione who dropped out in first year after the Troll. One of the best written works in the fandom imo.
Cadmean Victory Series by Darkness Enthroned
Harry gets mentored by a portrait of Slytherin himself, and fights back against the political forces arrayed against him, but is he going too far?

North Korean Military Chorus performs Rage Against the Machine (video rec)

This is fucking satire of course. But damn is it a good one: North Korean Military Chorus sings Killing in The Name by Rage Against the Machine.