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Watch: Brazil vs Argentina gets suspended by authorities during match

Sep 6 2021 Share

One of football’s most iconic matches was set to occur last night when Argentina’s team travelled to Brazil to face their old rivals. Unfortunately, spectators weren’t able to see the match as Brazilian health authorities abruptly entered the pitch in the 7th minute. This caused the game to end early.

 

The Brazilian health authorities entered the match in search of 4 Argentinian players, who ply their trade in the United Kingdom. All these players play for English clubs. The players are Christian Romero, Emi Martinez, Emi Buendía and Giovanni Lo Celso. The problem was that all these players came from England without quarantining before.

Most South American countries are on the UK’s red list, so most English teams didn’t let some of their South American players to go play for their national team. Brazil was most notably hit the heaviest from this decision as they couldn’t pick 9 of their usual star players, including goalkeepers Ederson and Allison and captain Thiago Silva. Last night rumours that the Brazilian authorities felt their team were at a disadvantage were spread, with some fans even thinking that that was why the game ended.

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Are payments for on-street parking the future for Malta?

Are payments for on-street parking the future for Malta?
Sep 6 2021 Share

Like many things, towns and villages have changed in landscape, leading to parking becoming more and more of an issue. The Maltese have grown accustomed to free parking places as the norm, despite many cities across the world introducing charges on cars to occupy public land. According to the director for the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development Maria Attard, ‘there is a very high cost associated with free, unmanaged parking, primarily because like any free thing it gets abused.’ 

Malta has created infrastructure which ‘priorities cars over people’, even though the vehicles spend around 80% of their time parked. Attard pointed out that paid parking is not a radical transport management measure as it has become well established in many parts of the world. Introducing paid parking could help implement a shift in mentality for the public, especially considering that the lack of management allows households to buy more cars than they can actually house with their property or even beyond the capacity of their local area.  

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Photo Source: Rent a Car in Malta

Financial aid to Mellieha’s musical organisations in tourism pilot project

Financial aid to Mellieha’s musical organisations in tourism pilot project
Sep 6 2021 Share

Speaking at a press conference, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced a pilot project which will give financial aid to the cultural organisations of Mellieha. This pilot project will be aimed at boosting the culturally iconic band clubs (kazini) and musical organisations following the pandemic’s massive negative impact. The Minister says that this project will not only impact the Maltese and their families but also the tourists who visit the islands and appreciate our buildings and culture. 

Bartolo described Mellieha as a cultural cradle and a tourist Mecca. The pandemic made the Maltese population refrain from cultural aspects which we deemed as normal, but this had its toll on the musical organisations and local and foreign tourists as well. The members of the musical organisations and band clubs kept these traditions alive through hard work and thus this financial aid will help them continue their essential efforts. 

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Photo Source: Clayton Bartolo FB

Incels and the manosphere | by Għajjejt u Xbajt

Incels and the manosphere | by Għajjejt u Xbajt
Sep 6 2021 Share

Let’s talk about incels.

 

This specific online world is vast and complex, but certain context needs to be provided in order to fully grasp the picture that these people paint around the internet – because only then will one be able to grasp the danger that they pose, and how – for a long time now – these internet hubs have seeped very dangerously into reality. If one is not so familiar with the internet at certain levels, the language and systems incels use online may seem strange or incomprehensible – but allowing oneself to recognise certain red flags when existing around the web equips one with the knowledge to be able to spot problematic behaviour before it sucks them or someone they know too far in.

 

Before we talk about incels we must establish a few things. To start off, what is an ‘incel’?

 

The word itself is a shortened term derived from the phrase ‘involuntary celibate’. These people are inexperienced when it comes to sexual intimacy, but not by choice, and generally place all their blame for being so on other people – primarily women (who they call STACYs) and men they have deemed too conventionally attractive to the point of being unfairly at the top of the social hierarchy (who they call CHADs). Incels quite often meet very specific demographic criteria, generally being cis-gendered young men who are technologically proficient and very visible in online spaces finely tailored to their supposed plight, and those who are active within the extended manosphere.

 

Another odd term. What is the ‘manosphere’?

 

The manosphere is a group of online spaces that promote hyper-masculinity and are often the sources of extreme opposition to feminism, choosing instead to focus on patriarchal values and misogynistic ideals. Amongst others, the manosphere includes hubs surrounding pick-up artistry, MGTOW (men going their own way), men’s rights ‘activists’ and – on the most extreme end of the spectrum – none other than incels themselves. Whilst the manosphere could be talked about in tomes, it is incels that we shall be focusing on here – and the manners in which this specific group of people operates, and how it affects people in the real world – sometimes even fatally.

 

Incels group themselves online according to a ‘pill system’. There are the blue pilled, the red pilled and the black pilled. ‘Normies’, or people who are not part of the manosphere, are considered to be blue pilled – meaning that they have not yet been able to see the full truth of society yet. Being considered blue pilled often entails following mainstream feminism, aiming towards equality and an intersectional society – to incels this is considered the most ignorant place to be. The next step is becoming ‘red pilled’, which is considered to be a person who is opening up to the truth about society. At this stage they are beginning to realise that women are not oppressed, and that it is actually men who are the most oppressed group in society – and feminism is a warped ploy to endanger all men. Being ‘red pilled’ to incels means you are ‘waking up’.

 

Finally, there is being ‘black pilled’ – this is where incels truly have the potential to become violent and dangerous. At this stage people are considered to have fully woken up to the truth of society – this ultimate truth being that conventionally attractive people will always win in life, and incels are doomed to suffer at the hands of them and those who reject them. This is the stage in which incels encourage each other to turn to violence and ‘stand up for themselves’ – generally through targeting women and even men who they feel are the source of all their pain.

 

Incels and the radicalised alt-right merge very often. Within these online hubs, one may find racism, homophobia and intolerance everywhere. They are the antithesis of equality and acceptance, which is what makes their ideologies so dangerous – and which is why their primary target is generally feminists, and those who believe in liberation for all people. This extremist line of thinking stems from various issues within these young men – and are in actuality issues that are mostly caused by the patriarchy itself. Loneliness and misunderstanding of boys, disallowing them from processing and sharing emotions in healthy manners; young boys being met with derision if they ever do express their emotions or their mental health issues with adults; pressure on boys and young men to be hyper-sexual and heteronormative; a lack of resources for mental health issues and personality disorders.

 

As a result of these societal issues and pressures, the world view of these young men has been shaped by warped images – particularly when it comes to their views on women. Whether it is viewing their relationships with women as transactional, considering gender-based violence as normal or being desensitised to it, or thinking they are entitled to sex and intimacy simply because they are men – their minds do not have a healthy way of forming relationships with others, nor are they equipped in any way for dealing with rejection. Any ounce of loneliness is instead internalised and funnelled into all we have gone over so far – anger, bitterness, hatred, and sometimes even violence.

 

Needless to say, once groups of incels have been radicalised to the extent that they are willing to consider said violence, it is important for society to take these threats seriously – particularly when incels and groups within the manosphere have led to the deaths of people before. Only recently, the murderer in Plymouth, UK who went on a shooting spree, which ended with six people being murdered – including himself,  held to the ideology of being ‘black pilled’.

Elliot Rodger. Chris Harper-Mercer. Sheldon Bentley. William Atchison. Nikolas Cruz. These are just a few names of self-proclaimed incels who went on killing sprees, only to go on to reference their being ‘involuntary celibates’ as reasons for murdering. The more society ignores the fact that these groups pose a real threat to others, the more the violence that results from them is going to grow. Knowledge is power, and we must equip ourselves with it – and being aware of who these people are and what these people can do, is the first step.

 

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