So it’s official: the Emma You Are Next web site, which was threatening to release nude pictures of Harry Potter actress Emma Watson, is a hoax. The site now redirects traffic to the home page of something called Rantic, a mysterious supposed “social media marketing enterprise” with a reputation for hoaxes.
Rantic is now claiming that the real agenda behind its website was a noble one: to expose the evils of leaked celebrity nudes – and, by painting 4channers as the evil hackers behind it all, to get 4chan itself taken down.
And somehow, to do this, they had to threaten to release nude pics of Emma Watson? It’s like fighting death threats against women – by sending death threats to women. The idea that this is a feminist “false flag” — an idea already being floated in Men’s Rightsy circles — is plainly ridiculous. Rantic’s actions are about as unfeminist as its possible to get.
Indeed, it seems pretty clear that Rantic’s new site is as much of a hoax as its last one.
Rantic’s own, er, “explanation” for the Emma Watson site is a masterpiece of concentrated bullshit:
We have been hired by celebrity publicists to bring this disgusting issue to attention. The recent 4chan celebrity nude leaks in past 2 months have been an invasion of privacy and is also clear indication that the internet NEEDS to be censored. Every Facebook like, share & Twitter mention will count as a social signature — and will be step closer to shutting down www.4chan.org.
Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever. How do you protect celebrities from threats by threatening a celebrity? How do you use the Emma You Are Next hoax to get 4chan taken down … when everyone now knows that you, not anyone on 4chan, was behind the hoax?
Add to this a call for censorship that seems calculated to enrage the internet masses, and it’s hard not to conclude that Rantic is still playing the internet like a fiddle. For what aim I don’t know. Maybe, like some Men’s Rightsers we could mention, they figure that bad publicity – scratch that, catastrophic publicity – is better than none.
That’s more or less what Business Insider has concluded. In a piece published this morning, BI’s James Cook writes
Rantic Marketing doesn’t exist. This wasn’t a marketing stunt at all, but a social experiment run by the most notorious gang of pranksters on the internet. …
Rantic Marketing is a fake company run by a gang of prolific internet spammers used to quickly capitalize on internet trends for page views. The group go by a variety of different names. Collectively, they’re known as SocialVEVO … The only known video footage of the group is a rap song about pickles that they used dubious spam techniques to make incredibly popular. The song used to have over 8 million views on YouTube.
As for that supposed plan to shut down 4chan? It’s only served to rally 4chan’s defenders.
In any case, the best way to fight celebrity leaks isn’t to shutter 4chan. It’s to find and prosecute those who’ve hacked celebrity nudes (including photos of several young women who were underage when the photos were taken) – and those who’ve knowingly spread them around the internet.
It may be hard to find the original hackers, but it’s certainly not hard to find those who distributed the nudes. Hint: Look at Reddit. Hundreds of thousands of Redditors were involved in what became known as TheFappening, and Reddit itself apparently profited handsomely from the attention and traffic.
Though the original TheFappening subreddit was belatedly shut down, leaked celebrity nudes are still being distributed openly on Reddit. This is criminal activity. Enforce the laws.
And Rantic, whatever your game is — just. fucking. stop.
I’ve seen a lot of odd allergies over time. Possibly the oddest I heard of was my friend’s father, who became allergic to… I can’t remember if it was coffee or caffeine. Unfortunately, it was a late-onset allergy, and dude fucking LOVED coffee. He was very sad. (And no, decaffeinated wasn’t clean enough.)
RE: lkeke35
what is this thing where someone tells a person something deeply personal, that didn’t necessarily need to be told, and that person assumes it’s a lie? Is is an ego thing?
Enh, sometimes it’s a “just world” idea. It’s easier to think that someone is lying or deserved a bad turn, rather than the world being arbitrary and sometimes cruel. Other times, it’s the insulated mindset of, “If I haven’t encountered it by now, it CAN’T be true!” (This is very similar to the whole “X was invented on tumblr!” horseshit.)
I had a friend in high school who was literally allergic to himself (sweating gave him hives) –and lots of other things, too. I think there was an underlying genetic disorder, but I was never clear on the details. None of the allergies were life-threatening, and I know he sometimes ate things he was allergic to because he decided it was worth it.
He ran out of math class once after playing soccer at lunch, and when the teacher was confused we all explained about the sweat allergy.
RE: BigMomma
Yeah, not gonna lie, when I hear non-allergic folks whining about how hard it is to accommodate folks with allergies, it just irritates me. It’s often a complete ignorance of what severe food allergies are actually like, and what effects they can actually have. One of my roommates was allergic to peanuts, though not to that severity, and you know what? We tried to avoid doing things like baking peanut butter cookies or leaving out open peanut butter while she was around. If we had a PB&J, we tried to do it when she wasn’t there.
Inconvenient? Yes. But not nearly as inconvenient as you know, our roommate ending up really sick. (And she WAS a hypochondriac! Sometimes, they have a REASON to be so alert and wary about their health.)
Late onset allergies… I developed an allergy to prawns during my second pregnancy. That fucking sucks as I love shellfish. One of the great things about where we live in Oz was the fresh shellfish right out of the massive river that runs past the town. After ignoring the numb face, fingers and scratchy throat that developed after eating prawns, I finally got tested after eating a prawn free Chinese meal but I lost feeling on one side of my face and had to keep clearing my throat to breathe. I assume prawns were cooked in the same pan as my meal. Anyway, I now carry adrenalin and shit strong anti-histamine at all times with me. I miss shellfish something awful.
LBT, yup, I hear you on the ‘inconvenience’ argument.
One time, one of the kids had a bite of a chocolate bar that had peanuts on it but my daughter realised and stopped her and told us. Her dad was so terrified, he scooped her up and ran half a k to the local hospital with her in his arms.
Yeah. And young children might be AWARE of their allergies for a long time, but they lack adult understanding. Sometimes, they may not know that, say, in your peanut example, that peanut oil in stuff is bad too, or what peanut oil is in. Obviously they learn quickly, but seriously. Young kids have trouble with basic shit like, “inside voice,” I’m pretty sure that scouting peanuts, corn, or gluten is a bit beyond them.
I don’t think allergies were rare until recently.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/03/food.allergies.er.gut/
The observation that children born via caesarean are five times more likely to have allergies than those born vaginally is pretty interesting – I think more research into the gut bacteria of children would be fruitful.
That’s my worst nightmare, that someday some nasty bully will try to trick my son into eating peanut or raw egg. (Cooked egg just makes him throw up and get hives but not go anaphylactic – still pretty miserable, but less life threatening). Or that someone on the playground will innocently offer him a bite of candy bar, and he’ll go along with it.
There was a case in Virginia where a seven year old girl died because she was allergic to peanuts, and a friend offered to share food that turned out to contain nuts. The heartbreaking part was that the school had an Epipen on hand (prescribed for another student) and could have saved her life, but by law they weren’t allowed to use it. Several states now have legislation in the works to allow schools to keep a general-use Epipen on hand.
I’ve heard a few interesting hypotheses regarding the recent rise in severe allergies. One is that babies get so many vaccinations and boosters nowadays, that in some infants it overwhelms their developing immune system and makes it go haywire, so that it doesn’t recognize good guys from bad guys. By the time they’re a year old, they’ve had like fifteen different shots. Another is that there’s been a change in the way peanuts are being processed in the US in the last twenty years. It’s something to do with the roasting process altering the proteins so that they’re more likely to trigger an attack. A third hypothesis is that, with the rise in C-sections, babies aren’t getting all the good gut flora transferred to them that they normally ingest on their way down the birth canal. And then with each new generation, there’s less and less to pass along. I dunno about that one. Both my twins were C-section and Twin #1 has a cast iron stomach with no allergy issues.
After several years of correcting her, my mother-in-law has finally realized that me being celiac means I can’t have GLUTEN… not GLUCOSE. Yeah, dinners there are fun. I truly feel bad for ppl with corn allergies though – corn is in everthing! Places you’d never expect corn to be, there it is.
It bugs me when I see people complain that gluten-free is ‘trendy’ now, or that everyone ‘thinks’ they’re gluten-sensitive. Plenty of people have sensitivities to wheat gluten (you don’t have to be celiac, or even have gut issues), and it’s becoming more known and talked about… celiac is only one possible end result of gluten sensitivity (having flattened intestinal villi, antibodies to your intestinal tissue, etc). In my case it also triggered antibodies to my thyroid, plus a whole ton of other shit (depression, panic attacks, skin rashes, joint pain, I’d be here all day if I listed them all)
@Aylin
It’s probably casein – when my gut was healing I couldn’t handle casein (and a ton of other foods) and yeah, it can be really difficult to track down what has it and what doesn’t. I became very fond of coconut and almond milks, and ghee for cooking (mmmmmmm, ghee).
Ninja’d by Phoenician!
@LBT
Yesterday the twins were bickering over custody of a toy shopping basket full of plastic vegetables. When I came into the room to see what was going on, Twin #1 was running around the room (with Twin #2 in hot pursuit) shouting “NO YOU CAN’T HAVE DESE! DEY HAS EGGS IN DEM!”
@ Buttercup – That is adorable! I love when they look out for each other like that!
RE: Buttercup Q. Skullpants
When I came into the room to see what was going on, Twin #1 was running around the room (with Twin #2 in hot pursuit) shouting “NO YOU CAN’T HAVE DESE! DEY HAS EGGS IN DEM!”
OH NO! *laughs* Poor twin!
RE: Tracy
It bugs me when I see people complain that gluten-free is ‘trendy’ now, or that everyone ‘thinks’ they’re gluten-sensitive.
Yeah. I’m not sure why on earth anyone would go gluten-free for funsies, that diet be EXPENSIVE!
I know a few people who are going gluten-free for funzies and totally admit to it. But, I also know people who are very much gluten sensitive.
I still don’t get the whining about it.
Whining peoples: It’s not your body, it’s not your money, it really isn’t your problem unless you are inviting them over for diner, in which case, be polite and drop the gluten for one night. Or, suggest that they have you over and feed you dinner, so you don’t risk harming them with the gluten all over your kitchen.
Unless someone outright tells you “I’m going gluten free because we want to try going without gluten for a bit” you have no way of telling if they’re gluten-sensitive or not.
Other peoples diets are nonya bizness, unless you’re trying to feed them, in which case opt for the not murdering people (or making them really uncomfortable) via allergy-sensitivity-death-cookies.
Why is this even an issue for people?
I realise that you meant the question rhetorically, but Imma answer it anyway. Because a lot of people are selfish, self absorbed, self righteous asshats who sincerely believe in their own innate superiority and can’t help but get a little of it on you if you accidentally get too close to them.
::takes off grumpy old misanthrope hat and goes on about her other business::
The issue with gluten free diets being trendy is that it’s becoming common for restaurants to say (whether they’re lying or mistakenly believing ) something is gluten free when there’s really a little bit of gluten in it. From what I understand even traces of gluten causes hell for people with celiac. If people want to eat a trendy diet that’s their business but it looks like there needs to be regulation over what you can call gluten free.
WWTH: Aha! I get you.
Yeah, gluten can kill some folks. I’m down with regulating what can be called gluten-free, just like things having to be labeled as having phenylketonurics or processed with peanuts (two other things that don’t harm most people, but can kill some folks).
Good point!
Yeah. I’m not sure why on earth anyone would go gluten-free for funsies, that diet be EXPENSIVE!
Because food anxieties are a secular substitute for religious guilt about sin.
Death of Marat as told by Kate Beaton
Frenchmen and bread … Louis makes the best bread, it’s sort of like sourdough. ::drool::
I’ve had smokers tell me tobacco smoke could not possibly cause me to have an asthma attack.
I am now allergic to NSAIDS. No ibuprofens.:(
Regarding this ” marketing firm?” The idea that it’s a 4-chan false flag seems to be the least wacky explanation…though even that’s pretty surreal.
blahlistic, feckin’ aye. I’ve never had that shit thrown at me, but damn I do feel like butting out their cigarettes on their shoes, or something. The stench when a smoker gets on a train (o hai, it’s illegal to smoke at rail stations and tram stops AT ALL) goes all the way through the carriage and I have to breathe through a scarf or something so my lungs won’t seize up. Even in the non-harmful category, I really resent having my hair stink, or my clothes, or having dry stinging eyes, because someone else thinks they get to inflict their drug addiction on everyone around them. I’ll be so glad when Victoria catches up with other states and bans smoking at outdoor eating places. First, be nice to have a choice of seats again; second, be nice to be able to walk past without going through clouds of smoke.
That totally sucks about being allergic to NSAIDS. That’s really going to limit what painkillers you can take. 🙁
I’m late, as usual, and see everyone’s talking about health and I’ve got no idea of what happened…
Anyway, about that whole “female/woman” issue, it’s far easier than it seems: “male” and “female” are adjectives, “women” and “men” are subjects. Really simple.
Someone mentioned that whole “#EndFathersDay” hoax on social networks, does someone else remember “Operation Lollipop” (I think that’s how they called it)? They were 4chan trolls generally posing as women of colour saying the most ridiculous things.
I believe Rantic (in all of its variants over time) is the same thing, plus they’ll turn it against feminists by impersonating them and fueling conspiracy theories.
Sad.
I am also forbidden to use ibuprofen — kidney disease. Sucks — I always thought of ibuprofen as one of the great miracles.
My son used to have a sign in his dorm room that basically said: You like cigarettes, which causes you to emit smoke; I like beer, which causes me to emit urine. I’ll breathe your smoke as long as you agree that I can piss on your head. Deal?
Grumpy Old Man–I hear ya. Ibuprofen is really the only thing that helps with hellcramps, and I haven’t been able to take for a decade. *Grumbles about tylenol not being good enough.*
It is really grossly unfair to have an effective painkiller — then not be able to take it. And people wonder why I’m grumpy …