So, hear me out... or should I say read me thoroughly?
So, about a week ago, I was very much getting back into DeviantART (since March due to being away from it for a few years) and I was very much getting into the "groups" which is newer to me, even tho' it's not technically new... but, I'm an old timer on there, and I've been on DevArt for over 12 years... many of my peers were on longer because back in my 20s I was (admittedly a bit uppity with them since their servers crashed way too much, and took forever to load a single photo, which back then DevART was more for art students from college, looking for artsy jobs in art media industry, and a few fan art crowds long before 'fandom" was even a word yet) .
And, I was submitting my work to dozens of groups since about 2-3 weeks back. And, yes, SOME groups will just reject you, so end of story... some groups are actually more of a clique, or a private thing, but its still listed publicly.. I don't know why...
And, sure, I did get all kinds of things rejected... so what? it happens... so, you move along... right? They usually write a comment as to WHY also. It's the courteous, mature, and POLITE thing to do.
Some groups reject some things, but approve others, and some groups let you do ANYTHING.
I actually GO TO THE GROUPS and actually LOOK AT THE GALLERY. I also READ RULES and DESCRIPTIONS. I'm a STICKLER.
SOOOOOO many groups have pet peeves about people that don;t read rules and mindlessly submit any ol' thing. In fact, I even had a very civil, and pleasant conversation with a mod/leader of a fantasy group. I wouldn't say the person chewed me out, but they were semi curt in pointing out that they wanted me to separate anthro from fantasy, and since I was on medications at the time, i felt SO BAD ABOUT IT.
This person actually WROTE ME A COMMENT explaining to me WHY they rejected it, and I replied, apologizing, and we actually had a conversation and developed a rapport. I also screwed up again a few days later, and I, wrote a message APOLOGIZING for my errors.
I'm NOT arrogant or "TOO PROUD" to admit wrong doing, NOR do I have a blind contempt for authority based on nothing. I know what it's like to be in charge, and have responsibility. This leader/mod was so nice and was very good at dealing with me maturely.
I do all kinds of creative works... including drawing, video editing, photography, research, and many many other things. I'm a multiple time entrepreneur, and i just got accepted at the UMASS BOSTON for philosophy to continue my education. I also have a degree in Computer Animations, am trained in analog & digital graphic art, and have a diploma in environmental Sciences, plus 2 medals from NASA. I was also trained by the state of New Jersey as a Peer Mediator which I have awards for. But, I am also an activist, and I have some serious skills in what is called rhetoric.. but the real academic kind. Not the nonsense punditry 2-bit reactionary barely ever sophistry on mainstream news.
I'm VERY politically active, and participate in my civic duties. I am actually well read in many styles of writing and use of language, both written, and spoken, and have done many kinds of public speaking.
I also speak Mandarin Chinese, I understand Pekingese/Beijing dialect, and some Northern Chinese dialects, and still speak some pretty broken German (but I actually still speak it, and still use it on FB & YouTube often despite how crappy it is). I've lived in Asia MANY MANY TIMES, I have family in China and lived there for long periods of time, I've done business in Asia, and I've been to Japan TWICE.
So, when I found that there was a Mori Girls group, I was surprised because I recall searching for some just a few years ago and not finding ANY.
Well, I found THIS ONE called "MoriGilrs" by missuruin
Her art Tumblr
I read the descriptions, checked for rules, checked out the gallery. It was affiliated with a Mori page I followed on Tumblr for a number of years now: OhYeahMori
So, everything seemed great, right?
In fact, I even wrote a comment when I joined, because I was really psyched when I was looking through the group galleries. Most people don't bother to write a comment, but I do.
So, why did I write this comment?
Well, if you actually go to the gallery and look at everything, it kinda looks rather diverse. they have a variety of things, including artwork, nature photography, and their accepted "mori" submissions often didn't even look like moris, they were Goth, or Boho, or whimsical, or earthy, or hipsters... just eveerything.
So, I thought: Great! I'll fit right in!
But, that was the WRONG ASSUMPTION.
So, lets be CLEAR about what Mori is... which actually IS NOT CLEAR, it's rather nebulous and ambiguous.
Mori is basically a Japanese term (and yes I know I've blogged about this before) that means the woods or the forest, and the "mori girl" refers to the idea of a strange girls that wanders around the woods. That's pretty muchit.
But, from that, there's MANY MANY MANY varieties. There's fashion, street fasion, urban, mori fusion, the harajuku mori fusion, gothic mori fusion, mori rock, mori country, mori boho, bohemian mori... the urban kinds often dress in granny clothes, and there's many clothing lines of all types of these and other moris. they incorpotae ALL KINDS OF COLORS, patchwork, lace, knitting, silk, hand made, machine made. I've seen Tibetan, and I've even seen whole magazine photoshoots with a Hippie fusion of Mori with braided leather headbands, or bell bottom pants with paisley fabric. There's boots, sandals, nurses shoes, flip-flops, barefoot. there's long skrt, short skirt.
Moris often love photography and nature, even tho' the urban version is all street stuff. And, then there's the nymph or sprite kind, often with antlers, or some kind of fairy-creature being that's often animal like, or plant-like. And there's kinds with "clean face beauty" makeup or dark eyeshadow, but I've known moris whom wore bright spring colors on their eyelids and funky colored lipstick.
Here's a very well known Mori:
Not only does THIS mori have VERY ORANGE LIPSTICK, but this PHOTO SHOOT is SO BOHO CHIC FUSION! Pay attention! It even has some slight psychedelic editing in it. wait for it.
I have also known some moris a few years ago that made feather earrings (more than one) that often tried to sell me them on Etsy. OFTEN.
So, I DO actually KNOW what mori is.
It can be a lot of things.
In this group you could submit up to 3 submissions "globally" meaning not to multiple folders/galleries like other groups allow.
So, the VERY FIRST stuff I submitted was THESE:
These are actually almost 2 hours worth of work and effort easily on each one. Just shooting these in IMVU was a challenge.
Here's the originals:
The avatars on IMVU actually move all the time, depending on which avatar you have/bought/customized, and you need to think about lighting, mood, composition, use of negative space in the frame, etc. The room I shot in was my own Sakura Tea Room, and she has antlers. She's wearing a mori shrug, and the antlers she is wearing was a special programmed one for moris. It even says 茶"Cha" on one of the lanterns which means "tea" which is basically pronounced mostly, if not almost exactly the same in virtually all east Asian languages or slightly different in India as "chai" depending on the dialect, or a slight variation in Arabic dialects.
Many kinds of tea moris are used in mori, whether its English style, Chinese style, Japanese, or I've even seen Turkish coffee. Lanters, candles, sakura (cherry blossoms); all of that stuff is very common motifs in mori... and YES, even evening gowns. I've seen seen all kinds from Edwardian, to boho, to layers of sheer fabrics, layers of fishnets, and all kinds of things.
So, make no mistake, this was INTENTIONALLY MORI GIRL MOTIFS. She even has a wolf!
And, they had a WHOLE section of DIGITAL STUFF Mori art, including digital "paper dolls" that look like screenshots from an online doll maker.
But, my stuff ALL GOT REJECTED...
I thought that was strange... was I confused? Did I mix up this group with some other group?
No...
Were these somehow to colorful? Too whimsical?
No... there's definitely colorful stuff in there, and whimsical, and antlers....
So, I thought maybe I ought to submit my photography.... those looked really lax... but, I figured, maybe I'd go more toned down....
So, I submitted some of my my BEST STUFF like this kinds of stuff:
I thought that was really strange!
So, I submitted even some of my "Nature Photography" to the right folder, like this:
She rejected EVEN THIS. -and other photography.
This here was LITERALLY MORI CLOTHES from KOREA that was specially given to me as a gift, in layers, but DECLINED and "NO COMMENTS GIVEN"
This one was also rejected and it is literally a Mori cardigan I'm wearing. I often wear this.And, there's definitely Moris with dark or gothic eye makeup... including in her gallery.
And, every day, ALL 3 of my submissions would be: DECLINED - NO COMMENT GIVEN
Meanwhile other submissions would get fast-tracked in.
WHAT????
WHY????
I'm a philosopher and a pragmatist. So, I always want to know and understand WHY...
But, as I look through the gallery and see pretty much everything I'm doing approved, and MINE rejected... I start to really ponder about what the reason really is... so, about a week goes by, and its the SAME THING EACH DAY.
So, it's like I'm being singled out!
What's the reason?
What's the motive????
After I'd submitted THIS ONE HERE which CLEARLY FITS THE CATEGORIES OVER ALL, HANDS DOWN, I began to suspect something was up:
This one is SO MORI. It's a girl character, wandering in the woods, the long pieces of fabric sewn together for the skirt. Long hair. nearly bear feet. I actually shot this just a few weeks before Hurricane Sandy tore up the East Coast in 2012.
I was floored. I couldn't believe THIS got DECLINED - NO COMMENT GIVEN
So, I went though the ENTIRE GALLERY AGAIN. I've been through it several times!
Was it my shoes? NO.
Too much skin? NO.
Too colorful? NO.
Too whimsical? NO.
Too dark? NO.
Too boho. NO.
Too tribal? NO.
Too Earthy? Not soft enough? Too soft? Too soft colored? Not soft colored enough? Not earthy enough?
There's even photography that isn't even the grade mine is. I'm using an SLR.
So, WHAT IS IT?????
And, THEN IT HIT ME!
OH! I SEE! YOU JUDGE ME TO BE TO FAT!
The one thing you pretty much DO NOT SEE is thick, round, or voluptuous ladies...
It REALLY bugged me, because it was SO OVERTLY CLEAR.
Not only was she constantly dismissively rejecting ANYTHING, and EVERYTHING I submitted, and NO FEED BACK WHATSOEVER, but it also didn't matter WHAT I submitted.
She didn't even like THIS: And, unlike some alleged mori submissions that might actually be by a photographer and not the model, I actually SHOW MY FACE, AND MY BODY SHAPE.
So, I preemptively called her out, using strong rhetorical language, while ALSO submitted more submissions which she ALSO rejected.
It was ENTIRELY CALCULATED, thought out, and planned.
She came off as a dismissive, and lazy person, whom probably just enjoys the idea of the status of being in charge of something, like a leader, but not actually responsible at all...
WHY did I speculate this?
Well, based on the fact that she DID NOT EVEN BOTHER to leave a comment while going out of her way to DECLINE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING actually shows a poor ethic of responsibility...
Now, I could've been wrong...
If I WERE wrong in this speculation, then what would she have done?
Well, since she was being lazy or negligent in the comments/feedback department, if she DID actually have a more honorable personality, she would've taken the strongly worded comment and delt with it in a calm, respectful way.
Perhaps like:
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it could be taken that way. I'm truly sorry, would you care to discuss it?
or, lets give her the benefit of the doubt... maybe she was just lazy, and thoughtless, and negligent... and she could've responded like:
Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't really considering what I was doing, or perhaps I should've given it more thought. I didn't realize it could be taken that way, and I'm truly sorry.
or even:
Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking. Ya got me. Want to try again?
So, here's the strongly worded comment I wrote calling her out on rejecting me, and others, by discriminating and judging me and others as being TOO FAT. You know, Fat Shaming?
Did she behave diplomatically like a public figure or responsible leader ought?
Did she try to deal with it correctly?
Well let's see, shall we???
First of all just slapping the word "sorry" on there and then jamming it with the line "your outfits are too boho" is SUCH a slap in the face. Coupled with the fact that SHE sets the comment to HIDDEN! Yeah, HIDE THE EVIDENCE! WE DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO FIND OUT YA SCREWED UP RIGHT?
"Too boho".
What does TOO BOHO mean????
No... just ignore the fat stuff and change the subject: TOO BOHO...
So, let's have a look at other Mori submissions that GOT APPROVED, SHALL WE?:
Oh, WOW! Would you look at that! There's Flapper Post WWI mori fusion, there's DARK gothic stuff, that's not really even mori at all, and there's GW Bush Era Boho...
There's strait-up HIPSTERS IN THERE! That's NOT EVEN MORI! HIPSTERS!!!!
There's a chick in a meadow, NOT A FOREST!
There's a chick with a tree branch on he head that's NOT EVEN A MORI!
THIS IS YOUR STANDARDS???? HYPOCRITE MUCH????
So.... since those ones are ALSO "too boho" if not overtly boho, or even overtly Goth, you're gonna go delete those all... right?
Oh... no, you wouldn't because.... you know... that might take TIME, and effort, and work, and you'd have to be PRINCIPLED, and ETHICAL, and ADMIT YOU WERE WRONG, because the proof is RIGHT THERE... but, why do that, when you could do SHADY COVERUPS and act like it never happened, and double down, like a power play?
Oh, but it's OK, because those ones ARE NOT FAT... so, it's OK if they're "boho" because they're not "too boho". ;) Oh... I see...
"Too boho" is like a code word term for "too fat".
As you can CLEARLY SEE there's NO large people in there.
I'm not too keen on her dismissive reply to blow me off... so, I went further.... and as you can see, she deserves it, and I even make the case for it. And, I came down with stronger rhetorical language styles.
And, she STILL won;t own up to ANYTHING.
It gets real clear the brazen cognitive dissonance she's aflicted with.
Look, lady, YOU ARE BUSTED.
And, you not only dodged the issue, but THEN you double down PLUS CHANGE YOUR STORY. You have selective memory now?
So, then she changes the story. Oh, it's all about Japanese fashion...
HELLO? DO YOU NOT ACTUALLY LOOK AT YOUR OWN GALLERY?
DO YOU REALIZE WHAT A HYPOCRITE YOU ARE????
Oh, I think you DO realize how guilty you are.
THAT IS WHY YOU HIDE THE EVIDENCE. I called you out! I made the case!
It's called logic, reason, cross examining.
You didn't hold up to logic, because it's BUNK.
YOU SINGLED ME OUT AND YOU KNOW IT.
Well, I'm truth telling.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
And, you're hiding! THAT IS WHAT GUILTY PEOPLE DO!
YOU ARE SO BUSTED.
WHY? Because you know that whole thing about INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY THING? Yeah, THAT thing! Well, SHE'S PROVEN GUILTY! Got the smoking gun evidence!
What? Did you actually think she was a responsible, mature person that can handle the situation with tact? Well, SHE FAILED MISERABLY THERE. FROM THE BEGINNING!
Oh, WHERE was your maturity, and principles when you REJECTED EVERYTHING I SUBMITTED ALL WEEK? DECLINED -NO COMMENTS GIVEN
WHere was YOUR responisible maturity THEN?
WEIRD that when you GET CAUGHT, and CALLED OUT ON IT, then ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU're SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE! WEIRD! huh! Weird how that is! Oh, I SEE! AFTER THE FACT, all of a sudden you're ALL ABOUT MATURITY...
Oh... right????
Sure... totally believable.... NOT.
Is ANYONE ACTUALLY BUYING THIS bunk?
See, she thought by HIDING IT it would just MAKE IT ALL GO AWAY... well... there's been an uptick in the stats on the hits... PEOPLE ARE WATCHING.
And, HIDING IT didn't make it GO AWAY. IN FACT, NOW more people THAN EVER KNOW ABOUT WHAT YOU DID!
I bet you thought this would all just GO AWAY, huh?
Well, now it's PERMANENT. FOREVER. WORLD WIDE WEB.
This is what happens when people aren't actually true responsible, ethical leaders, and sjut want a status and position of authority but don't actually care about what goes along with it... they don;t care about the principles, or the ethics, accountability, transparency... just THIS IS WHAT I SAY AND THAT IS IT. Don't challenge me.
Because inside their actual motive is POWER... and that's what this is, it's a power play move. i have some power over you to reject you... The power to discriminate.
She wasn't ACTUALLY sorry, remorseful, or rueful at all... she just slapped the word "sorry" on there, and made up an excuse.
DO you know what "rude" means? It means impolite, the oposite of polite.
So, when you kept rejecting ANYTHING I submitted, PLUS couldn't be bothered to write a comment... wasn't that, you know... impolite?
Yes, actually it was.
Impolite, discourteous... ergo RUDE.
Oh, what's the excuse for that?
Too busy? Then, what are you doing being in charge of something, with responsibilities, that requires integrity and accountability in a PUBLIC FORUM, as a PUBLIC FIGURE??? Do you really have any business doing that? Should you? because it looks like you don;t even have what it takes. Like you just want people to "look up to you" like a totalitarian and look down at people, and keep people in a position where you have control over it all...
Because if you can't be bothered with that, then why should you be bothered with being in charge of anything?
You have CLEARLY demonstrated a LACKING there as a person, as a leader, as someone in charge...
I'm guessing you never thought you'd ever cross paths with a philosopher that's also an artist...
Does your Frontal lobe even function? Or empathy?
Are you degrading or devolving into psychopathy now?
Its a legitimate question.
A person whom actually had/has what it takes to be in charge of something i.e. a leader would actually leave the comments up, and show how they handled the situation, not try to blow it off, be dismissive, and HIDE IT.
You hide it because YOU ARE EMBARRASSED, and because you ARE SHALLOW.
AND, NOW, EVERYONE KNOWS, and EVERYONE KNOWS WHY.
And, you want to spin it like I'm rude, need to get off MYSELF, or petty?
You better go CHECK YOURSELF.
Take a REAL GOOD LOOK IN THE MIRROR, lady.
What do YOU stand for?
if you don't like people telling the stories of the book of YOUR life that you write by living it the way you do, and by the actions of what you do, then WHY DO YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE THAT WAY?
That is CAUSALITY.
For every action there is an equal or opposite reaction.
YOU MADE THIS.
And, yeah, I'm speaking up, and I'm calling you out.
Did you think I was gonna just shut up and take it? How many OTHER people do you do dirty like this? HOW MANY?
Why? Because probably NO ONE EVER SPEAKS UP.
Well, I'm SPEAKING UP! And, I'm TELLING!
And, you've just been debunked!
YOU ARE GUILTY.
