Fighting Fyre with Fire
Back in 2019
Written in 2019 and re-released with an edit or two but hardly anything has changed, really š
Ā
I watched a documentary on the Fyre Festival some time ago and this post is the result of that eye-opening evening.
I sat there with my mouth hanging āOāpen in shock, for the good majority of it, and with a good majority of shock and dismay for the remainder of it. It's so worth watching to observe the behaviour of the main organisers alone.
The proverbial rock ān roll lifestyle and the coming into money too fast and too young, dumb and full o' cum.
Their treatment of the models, that they hired for the promo, and the general lack of concern for the numerous human beings they fucked over during this travesty is mind blowing.
Party like a rock star?
Looks like there were copious amounts of a variety of things being consumed and there was much partying like rock stars going on for the majority of the time. They look like they had a total blast until they sobered up and realised that they werenāt actually going to pull off the event.
I guess nobody remembered to answer emails or make reservations.
Or to organise an event.
Talk about a come down.
I have tons to say about the modelling industry. of course
Iām not very keen on it to say the least. The fact that a someone can be famous, wealthy and successful merely because they're prettyā¦
or how about the fact that the industry generally promotes consumerism, false idols, dishonesty and greed. I was a model for a bit when I was around 12 years old. I even did a cover but, I hate cameras, being in the spotlight and a photographer felt me up.
I have more to say⦠still⦠about the āinfluencersā on social media using their status to sell fraudulent packages for the event while getting kickbacks.
About the bordering on genius, but completely dishonest marketing campaign that these guys pulled off by playing into peoplesā insecurities and dissatisfaction with the humdrum of their daily existence.
About social media ā the pros and the cons again ā because the public that was initially duped and fleeced turned on both the organisers and the āinfluencersā in the end. Angry peasants. Let us eat cake, but⦠Power to the People when we get ourselves together.
There's a scene where the caterer hired for the non-event explains that, although the people who lived in that particular area of the Bahamas were a bit taken aback by what the organisers were offering and promising to do for them and the area, they figured said organisers, āCould do anything that they wanted to because they had enough money.ā
That pretty much says it all.
If you have enough money you can do wtf you like?
Apparently so.
Because look.
The same caterer is seen sharing about how the failure of the festival affected her personally a bit further on.
She lost her life savings because she was decent enough to personally cover some of her employees, regardless of her never being paid for the job.
I actually wept a bit at that point.
I'd love to have enough money to never have to think about the stuff again.
I've spent most of my adult life putting my dreams on hold to provide stability for my kids. I've always put myself last. It was my duty as a parent, as I saw it. That's my mistake.
I should've had more confidence in my childrenās resilience and given less of a toss about societyās supposed norms and expectations, or enabling less responsible parents - another post entirely because gender-bias and we need to talk about this, please.
Iām anti establishment, non-binary, gender fluid, donāt buy into gender stereo-types (or any stereo-types for that matter), half a conspiracy theorist (because anything is possible, really) and somewhat revolutionary by nature.
And Iām highly sensitive and struggle with the injustice and cruelty of the world which makes me really, really anxious and really, really sad some times.
I forget to eat.
I refuse to eat.
Often I canāt sleep.
I used to take substances to hide from my feelings and think that this would help. I chose abusive relationships over gentle, intimate ones because I confused adrenalin fuelled toxic drama and lust with love.
Iām terrified people wonāt approve of me a lot of the time and that they wonāt believe me the rest of the time.
I hurt myself in various ways ā from simple, bad for me, everyday health choices to actually sabotaging and fucking up any chance of success and happiness a lot of the time.
I'm awful at communicating ā often ā and I have a terrifying temper when I finally do lose my shit.
In short⦠I have a lot to learn and, hopefully, always will. Come the day I think that I know everything, please just lay me down.
But the worst of it is that I have wasted good years of my life taking other peopleās opinions and judgment of me as truth and this has held me back, in so very many ways, and it has made me bitter and resentful in others.
Suspicious and jaded continually and, ultimately⦠it has made me so fearful of change that it has resulted in me discarding both myself and my dreams.
No more of that.
Money.
It isnāt that I donāt like money.
I love having money, on the few odd days I have it before the debit orders come off. Who wouldnāt?
No, it's not that I donāt like money.
It's more that I donāt like what it does to people.
I donāt like the way that it seems to buy respect and validation, or how it seems to define āsuccessā and how people aspire to live some kind of rock star lifestyle and achieve āthe dreamā without considering the impact that this thinking is having on the youth and the planet.
And mostly, how too much money enables anti-social and downright destructive behaviour.
To truly evolve, at this point, I think we need to entirely redefine success.
You may say Iām a dreamer⦠but Iām not the only one.
Ā
"You may say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one."
-āJohn Lennon
This post is a slightly edited part of the blog I was writing, back in 2019, when I launched "The Perfect Campaign"... a.k.a UR already Perfect.
Huh...
At least I'm consistent! š
I took the website down, back then, because time and costs. And also the unfolding chaos that made it unsafe to keep sharing openly online. Ah... there was also that email from the court to say "Take the blog down". Outrageous! #freespeech
I didn't right then because... Outrageous! #freespeech
But I did take the more social awareness based posts down when I decided not to pursue UR already Perfect any longer. I was plumb tuckered out by humanity eventually, you see. But I seem to keep returning to it somehow.
And here's the thing...
I no longer suffer from all those things listed up above there after standing my ground and continuing to share my truth over these last years.
Isn't that interesting?
Hardened Dreamer
Mother
Peaceful Warrior
Determined Dancer
and Stargazer
still...
Beyond fear is freedom
And there is nothing to be afraid of.
To Life, with Love... and always for Truth!
Nicky Dee
Photo editing done with GIMP.
Ā
No one can tell you here to close your blog... it's already a breakthrough.
Money ... everyone likes it but they don't know how to relate to it.
I agree with many things you say and I also identify with what you have lived, saving the distances, of course.
I am free. No one can put brakes on me because I decided it a long time ago, however, I always try to do good.
Sometimes it is impossible not to judge, but there is a lot of peace in it.
I think the best way we can make this a better world is to create our own world and expand it as much as we can.
š
(Terrible things happened with this scam, sold and fake idea, and yet they are still exploiting this fact, making a documentary. We are caught in a spiral. Impossible to get out, although sometimes you find ways to do it.)
Good lords and ladies.
Yes! š What you said. The end!
What a marvelous mind you have! Just wonderful. I would love to sit with you and hear about your journey for some hours or more!
š«”š„
This comment could be a post on its own. Thank you for the time and wonderful thoughts :D ā¤ļø
Really? hahaha... š It's not that big a deal, nickydee. Let's see what time it is in South Africa... Oh, Oh, yeah, you got a nice morning high. š
š
I woke up before dawn today so yes I did!
Naughty me. I should be meditating š But I wanted coffee.
And I beg to differ.
Experience and understanding is a very big deal, these days. When most of us are only choosing an online experience and curating it to avoid real experience and understanding ;)
I guess a photojournalist wouldn't have the comfort of doing that
#respect where it's due šš¼
Ha, I see you're digging deep...a photojournalist lives the way she can...haha...I'm not complaining too much. I have me and that is enough. š
That's probably the best person to have, hold and trust :)
Just past midnight over there! You should be blowing that midnight candle out and getting you're already beautiful sleep š
I'm headed off into the world and other worlds of the internet of amazing things now. Also... more coffee! And the frogs have begun to sing their morning duet outside here.
I wanted to be a photo journalist when I was a lass, you know. I'd love to hear how and where and what about your experience of this. It must be really tough to stay detached and on the job at times
I think that's what scared me off. I'd drop my camera and head into battle to defend and rescue the innocent. Not much journalism then š
I can tell you about this, yes. I'm not very good at detachment. I've seen people lose everything and cry and I can't take a single photo.
And I'm supposed to be there to tell it.
Do you know what the conclusion is? Some are more human than others.
If you think about it more deeply, I have stopped helping someone by not taking that photo, which would make their situation visible so that help can arrive faster.
Complicated subject.
That's an interesting conversation! Thank you.
I did read about the journalist who took the famous pic of the starving child with a vulture sitting near them.
And that he committed suicide or something a while later because he took the photo and didn't help. What an ethical conundrum. Shoooo...
I couldn't do it! I had a friend who used to tease me about picking up strays. And he was talking about people and not dogs! I've saved more than a few stray dogs in my time though... š
South African, that photographer, btw.
Look, you remember what I said about judging... I think there's a lot more to this story than just one story, and the world (let's say most people) tend to see things in a reductionist and biased way. So... I'm left with the idea that this man did a lot of good through his work. No one who has not lived through it can imagine how hard life is for these photographers who do their work in war zones or disasters.
I just think of the many dissatisfactions that plague me in my daily life, things that if I think about them in depth are nothing compared to attending such events where life breaks down in the most horrible ways, and you can't do anything but tell about it. Because you are simply not a supernatural being, saviour of the world.
Carter committed suicide because he was broken. He couldn't cope with so much. It wasn't because of the criticism after that photo, he had a life where the courage to live it is not a concept, it's not anything... it's not even an approximation of what we think courage is.
He was broken... that's all.
Now isn't that the problem, right there!
I didn't follow up on the story, so thanks for sharing that.
I did imagine that he saw too much. That is all.
And I do know that broken people tend to try and fix the world. Yet, mostly, we aren't ready to until we've healed ourselves and we can, thus, die trying. I'm sad he did. That was a hella shot. And it must have haunted him until the end.
I'd have taken the shot and saved the child. Or done the best I could to do that.
That's if I found myself in such circumstances. And me... these days I do know I'm not cut out for that kind of thing. It'd kill me too.
It's a brutal world, at times. But this is life as it is.
The girl (who was a boy, they say, actually) lived after that for 13 or 14 years and died of a disease that I don't remember, I would have to look it up. Malaria, maybe.
Have you seen the work of this photographer?
I have, because we were told a lot about him and this case at college, when we were talking about ethics in journalism.
With a brief Google search you can see what this man saw on a daily basis. No one survives that in good mental health. And it seems that the criticism that followed with the issue of that photo overwhelmed him.
I haven't looked deeper than that one bit of info and it was also related to ethics in journalism.
God.People.
And that's why those who feel deeply sometimes should perhaps be more cautious in dealings with group dynamics. One on one we tend to be more human but there's a ferociousness that appears when "the pack" is together.
Of course it would. For many and probably most people. I almost killed myself, at one point, because of exactly that, you know. But I felt it was irresponsible to abandon my kids in the thick of it. Cowardly.
When you've endured enough of the pack judgement for long enough, however, you become more philosophical about it. And then it even becomes kinda silly when you observe it. Animal. And unconscious. And if you can't respect people being cruel, outright stupid and unconscious then it becomes easier to not respect the opinion.
This took some years of being very hurt though :)
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Happy Friday šā¤ļø
The older you get, the better it is. Life still has it's fucketys - perhaps even more - but you sweat the image stuff far less.
Yep.
I love that doco. Just watched Bitconned which was good too. The cheek of it!
Ooooh... goody. Thank you. Bitconned, huh? i bet that's fascinating, hilarous and outrageous all at once.
Now I have two to see this weekend. But fuck I have tons of stuff I wanna make now!
Yeah - the doccie sent me over the edge tbh. The original post was very ranty. And then I toned it down because it was kinda judgy too and I thought the organisers must've been through quite a shit storm after the fact and I didn't need to pile onto youth and hard life learning... so.
The older you get the more freedom definitely. If you're able to go along with it gracefully and with some ease. I think having an intelligent partner who is "woke" or being single and having purpose and drive makes it quite a fun ride, actually.
Very liberating *flips grey ponytail over a shoulder
p.s. I think I need a facelift after these last years. That's some accelerated aging right there. I shrank under the stress and officially have enough skin for two people! š š
Eh
What does it actually mean/say when we express the love for money? What's to love about a piece of paper or metal? :smirk: Beware: rhetorical question :smirkAgain:
You smirky bastard š Love you!
Freedom, my friend. It most certainly gives a person more options in this very consumer driven world!
And safety.
Because it most certainly can buy you an army. #warwhatisitgoodfor #fuckall
And health. If you need decent medical care. Which I didn't see included on your list, btw. Nor education ;)
Yeah. We are living in a world where paper has more value than values. So we gotta learn to use it wisely, I guess. That's "woke". #truth
It's not "right" necessarily. But it is as it is.
Now show me the fuckin' money :D I have plans!
One of, arguably, the best scenes he's done! š
Fake Freedom. Egocentric compromises in order to feel the daily rape as bliss and to have an excuse for refusing to change. That would be working on oneself... hehehe
Well there's that! š¤£
I just need a preventative medical thing for a future don't want it to end up being cancer thing.
Government doesn't cover prevention and protection, y'know! Too many serfs, too little funds.
#capitalismcausescancer
And I got hustled on the car. It needs fixing so I can do that travel blog I've been threatening.
And my son needs his own room now. Bit much. Sharing a room with his 52 year old mom and rotating sleeping on a mattress on the floor when he's here.
Weird thing. Folks still seem to believe this situation is "normal" somehow. So yep. You need money because you can't rely on people, angel. We are all too flaky and all too easily scared.
Well... most of us anyhoo ;)
Health wise in a third world country? You need money, angel. It is as it is. And I'm not scared of death or anything. But my son would prefer me to stick around a bit longer. I owe him that. It's a tough world and he has some learning to do. And some support to do it well!
No explanation needed Love... I hear you! Personally i can observe the fact of life, that we are/become what we think we are!
Joy, Light & Healthiness dear Nicky!
Well all of those things. I do hope!
Have the Joy and Lightness. Now. Working out that health but hey... we are gettin' older so :)
Don't forget to dance today! Hugs.
DJ here... always dancing. hehehe
Sending you all the heart energy you may need.
Big Hug Back at Ya
Hah. Just about to clean the kitchen so dance about to happen here too.
Enjoy! :D <3
Hey... you're not 'sposed to fly drones in residential areas, Dude!
How rude.
I shoulda closed the curtains
Yep, i've seen that too... hehehe
Geesh. I wish you'd seen that! š
I'm the granny in the right window in her pajamas, Dude!
Happy Monday ā¤ļø
Oh boy š
š
Skawy!
It's only paper, Dude. No need to take it too seriously.
#businessbusiness #ugh
š
Love you
And there are three good humans I wanna pay back for believing in me now. Past due!
Money Game On Time.
hive.blog/hive-163772/@boyana.petkova/i-made
See. .even Blocktrades has taste..
No need to write..
8
I can't post the link! It's illigglalala...
Aw... that's a dead link? What was that?
And I happen to like writing, thank you very much! :)
It keeps my soul alive!
I just have so many ways of expressing myself that, sometimes, words fall short and I need to make things with other mediums. (to follow...)
What is this Blocktrades you speak of? Please resend?
I also watched that documentary and I followed for a while the shenanigans of that project on YouTube. It was a fascinating probe into the epic shallowness of some contemporary stuff.
I also can relate to taking substances to be able to live with thoughts and feelings without jumping out of my own skin from the pressure. That's behind me but I definitely can relate.
Hey? It kinda blew my mind and then enraged me.
But... I too was a part of a "scene" that was similar and I too was a bit of an idiot when I was partying like a rock star :)
Thanks for connecting and sharing more of your world. You are a quiet one. But a very interesting human!
Happy, present days to you.
And yes. Walking barefoot in nature is key. (Still one of my favourite posts!)
Dang, there was such a festival? Tsk tsk. Nobody can be trusted these days. This is why reputation is important and also looking up the values of the people organizing events and such.
The modeling industry can really get dirty indeed. But this is a new kind of low. Organizers should've known better because they invited models. They should've known the social media will rip them up for such behavior. And yet people still continue to do such things and never learn from others. Tsk tsk.
Pop Culture and the "American Dream", isn't it?
Hmmmm... no tsk tsk from me anymore. I mean... if we were brave and strong enough to not buy into this stuff, this never would have happened :|
It's consumerism. Not even at its worst. Just really, really gross :(
Have you seen the series on that gal who pretended she was super rich and got into the "upper" circles in the art world in New York and got herself into trouble?
Not even much reputation. Just fuck tons of other people's money and contacts. Astounding!