The bad thing about America

Even as a Pinay I feel there are a lot of things wrong about America that I don’t think it’s good for the Philippines to adopt or imitate, especially when it’s at the expense of developing a stronger relationship with the rest of East Asia. Even South Korean influence here’s really just a distant second compared to the US, because with American culture we nearly get the full package. We get a lot of books, comics and magazines imported directly from the US, we listen to almost every US-originated genre and band, we purchase American products, we patronise American video games and stuff. Korean influence in the Philippines is mostly restricted to music, audiovisual media and food, at any point where Philippine publishing houses could’ve translated Korean books into Tagalog, this scarcely ever happened, even when you have Filipinos fluent in Korean enough to bother translating those into the Philippine vernacular.

At any point where Philippine publishers could’ve bothered to translate Korean comics into Tagalog, with some of those K-Pop fans having the potential to be the Philippine Erika Fuchs (a German woman who skillfully translated Disney comics), they’d rather reprint and republish American comics for the Philippine market. Philippine publishers also don’t do this with most Japanese comics, not even comics from the rest of Southeast Asia or for another matter, China. So whatever Korean influence that exists in the Philippines isn’t that deep and large compared to the American one, since Philippine publishers don’t bother translating Korean books and comics into Tagalog for some reason. Philippine game publishers don’t bother translating Korean games into Tagalog as well, despite Ragnarok and Maple Story having had fans back in the day.

Even odder still is how other Korean music genres like K-Rap, K-Ballad and Trot don’t have a presence in the Philippines, like at any point where K-Pop could’ve acted as a gateway drug to these genres, I guess it’s easier for the South Korean government to promote K-Pop at the expense of other genres. But almost every US genre gets a showing on Philippine radio stations and on nearly every Filipino’s playlist like Christian music, US rock, US pop, US rap, US jazz, US ragtime and US rhythm and blues, Korean influence in the Philippines obviously pales in comparison to the US influence. Likewise when it comes to television, there’s really not a lot of Korean animated productions that get dubbed into Tagalog. We have things like Dibo and Pororo in some Southeast Asian channels and possibly the Philippines at some point.

But not other things like Dooly the Dinosaur, Mashimaro (though he did appear in merchandise here before, but I’m misremembering things), Fly Superboard (which is based on the Chinese story Journey To The West) and possibly a few more, I could also be wrong about that as there was a Tagalog dub of the animated tie-in to the Ragnarok game. Meanwhile the Philippines gets exposed to a lot of US animated productions, not just Disney and Warner Bros, but also Hanna-Barbera, Nickelodeon and Filmation at some point. Whatever cultural exchange the Philippines has with South Korea pales in comparison to America, South Korea being a middle power doesn’t compare much to the US. This should be obvious by now.

Or for another matter, the rest of East Asia (including China, whether if you like it or not). Similar things can be said of how limited Japanese influence here in the Philippines, where Philippine publishers could’ve translated more Japanese comics and books into Tagalog, but this never came to pass as with dubbing Japanese programmes and films into Tagalog the way they do with their Korean counterparts. Japanese music doesn’t get much of a showing on Philippine radio stations either, not a lot of Philippine game publishers bother translating Japanese games into Tagalog. So whatever Eastern influence that exists in the Philippines is painfully limited compared to the US one, even if I wish it hadn’t been this way and shouldn’t be this way at this point.

With America being a declining superpower nowadays, it should be the right time for stronger Eastern influences to grow and deepen in the Philippines in earnest. The loss of American influence, especially when it comes to America having both the world’s largest publishing and music industries, would leave a big gap. So having other cultures and countries stepping in would do wonders, like it would be cool to have Philippine radio stations play much more Japanese music and even Chinese music in lieu of their US counterpart, or Filipinos doing the same with their playlists. Some of it’s my personal preference but the loss of American influence would necessitate substitutes in its place, however awkward and bizarre some of them appear to be at first like the Chinese influence.

But it’s pretty doable now that China is a rising superpower so there’s a chance that the Philippines could reconcile itself to it and the rest of East Asia in centuries, this is my personal preference about myself lamenting about how ridiculously westernised the Philippines is. Considering that Canada and Europe are actively revoking American influence on their soil and shores, especially consumer products at that, it remains to be seen if the Philippines is also looking to do the same thing too. But the loss of American influence would mean the demand for substitutes grows even stronger, like if American comics cease to be exported to the Philippines, then it’s wiser for Philippine publishers to translate Malaysian, Thai and Chinese comics into Tagalog by then.

So logically if American prose books cease to be exported to the Philippines, then Philippine publishers would need to translate Thai, Chinese and Malaysian books instead. Among other things but these are also included, to be honest I kind of prayed to God to help others cope with Philippine publishers translating such books. Like I realise that if something affects me, it could also affect somebody else. Like if I pray to God to cope with the Philippines becoming heavily influenced by China, it could also affect other people as well so I prayed about this later on. If things affect others, then this has to be considered. I remember prophesising that American influence will be undone the world over, so it’s already coming to pass to some extent with countries like Canada and Europe.

The Philippines could be next, but it’s something we don’t expect, especially given our strong sympathy for America. But with others saying that America is Mystery Babylon, that it’s overdue for its influence to be undone, the way God sees it fit. Mystery Babylon being the nation-state said to corrupt the world with its abominations and filth, the one that makes others drink its Kool-Aid real badly. Mystery Babylon being the country that sits on multiple waters, the reigning superpower that will get judged by God real badly. Antarctica has the potential to be Mystery Babylon but it’s never inhabited by humans and still isn’t, so it’s disqualified, Africa can’t qualify because it’s not that surrounded by many waters. Similar things can be said of both Europe and Asia, but then again Europe’s really just the extension of Asia that’s just culturally different.

South America could count but it’s not the one that houses an immense hegemon, Brazil might come close but never anywhere near the scale America possesses. So we’re left with North America having the misfortune of housing Mystery Babylon, both Canada and Mexico are unfortunate enough to share the same landmass as Mystery Babylon. These two also drank from America’s wine or Kool-Aid, so they too will be judged by God. This might have happened before, might already be happening, or could be underway sooner than expected. What a pain to live with Mystery Babylon as your highly influential neighbour who’s really not a good influence to every country, culture and people around the world, one that sees itself as a hero but antagonises countries wherever it goes.

The hammer of the world that destroys anything and everything in its path, it will be destroyed and made useless. Because of what America and its allies did to other countries, they will be attacked by their enemies. Any country that remains allied to America will also be judged for following the same sins as Mystery Babylon, but most especially the Philippines for proclaiming itself to be Christian yet partaking in constant rebellion as to warrant getting captured by China. Any country that remains loyal to the United States will be judged for their wickedness and love of imitating Babylon’s vices, so God will let their enemies take over them whether if they like it or not. Just as Judah got captured by the former Babylon for its vices, so shall God let China take over the Philippines for the same reason.

Both Europe and Canada will fall to Russia and become its protectorates or vassal states as part of a renewed Russian Empire or Soviet Union, America will become a Russian colony and then disappear forever, forgotten by all peoples. Even without the religious/Biblical/apocalyptic explanation, the Philippines’s relationship with America is pretty odious problematic. Sort of like how some American comics publishers encourage Philippine cartoonists to work on its publications, but there’s really not much of a long-lasting Philippine equivalent to Indonesia’s Bumilangit. The thing with Bumilangit is that it’s an Indonesian publisher that’s around for more than a score, having consolidated characters from disparate publishers of yore to form its own shared universe and it’s doing pretty fine.

The Philippines could’ve done the same with Captain Barbell, Darna, Lastik-Man and Serpentina, there was one attempt by Philippine cartoonists to create a shared universe using original superhero characters, though unfortunately it didn’t last too long. It seems at this point Philippine cartoonists would rather work on US publications, but not supporting their own even if Indonesia has shown us this is actually feasible in the long run. It seems the Philippines doesn’t really have much faith in its own publishing industry, even if Indonesia has shown us that even if its own comics industry faced setbacks and problems before, it’s still possible for a comics publisher like Bumilangit to succeed and grow. It’s already possible that it has collaborated with restaurant chains before, something Philippine cartoonists barely do to promote their own characters and stories.

The only ones that gets this treatment is Pugad Baboy towards Denicio’s, and Pupung with an eponymous restaurant in SM, though the latter may have closed by now. But it’s easier for Philippine cartoonists to cozy up to US publishers for a paycheck, instead of the Philippine government to actually and actively support the nation’s comics industry. Indonesia’s Bumilangit has shown us that it’s possible for a local nonwestern publisher to be successful and its own shared universe to come to fruition for a long time since the 2000s, but given the nature of US neocolonialism in the Philippines it’s far more common for Philippine cartoonists to aspire to working for US publishers and succeed there instead. Even I myself flirted with workin for US publishers, but I feel the more I realise it, the more neocolonial it gets.

When you have prophecies of further dedollarisation due to America experiencing a serious economic crash much sooner than expected, then it would be insensible to continue working for US publishers when they might go into serious administration due to the failing US economy. It would be really impractical to continue working for US publishers when the US economy declines for good, that it would essentially amount to working for Lebanese publishers by then. As countries like China, Brazil, South Africa and Russia continue to rise, there’s increasingly no point in working for US companies in the future. Especially when the US is in decline that what the Philippines is in is really a sunk cost fallacy, there’s increasingly no point in working for US publishers when it will no longer be a fashionable thing to do.

Like I said if the US economy were to decline significantly in the very near future, working for US publishers by then would like working for Lebanese publishers. In the sense that the US economy wouldn’t be strong enough to support many US industries, including US publishing houses at that, wherein it would be really horrifying to think that this is where the United States becomes a poor country by then. Whilst it’s true that Chinese, South Africa, Indian, Brazilian and Russian publishers aren’t that well-known to people overseas, but it’s also true that the US economy would be weakened so much that it’s unable to support the US publishing industry anymore. The US music industry will also go down in flames, recalling the Biblical passage where Mystery Babylon’s musicians will no longer play music anymore.

American music will no longer be played often in many radio stations around the world, though it’s already happening to some extent in Canada and Europe due to Donald Trump’s mishaps, not to mention he’s really going to die and there’s nothing people can do about it. If God is jealous, then he’s never going to tolerate Trump hogging his limelight, which is something I kind of struggle with. Donald Trump wouldn’t just die but also have the US go down in flames as well, this time this would be where the US economy declines real badly. American companies will go down with it as well, their best chances of survival would be in Chinese and Russian hands instead. This has happened to disparate brands like Livejournal, Riot Studios and Forever 21 before.

This would become the norm in the future, should the US economy continue declining real badly. America will not be powerful for long, but its end will come much sooner. It will even be halved by an earthquake and fall into another civil war, as said by many people (including somebody with the surname Howlett*). America is a doubleminded nation that’s on the verge of civil instability, not helped by that it has practically two different political factions vying for control over it. On one hand, you have the right wing and on the other hand, you have the left wing. The former is politically conservative, the latter is politically progressive. The latter is everything that the former isn’t (big on multiculturalism, diversity, so on and so forth), and vice versa that gives American culture a very peculiar character.

American culture swings from piety to reprobation, as evidenced by how it houses both prominent Christian revivals and a substantial porn industry, many influential Christian ministries and many influential worldly companies like Disney and Warner Bros, both whose founders may have deals with the Devil. Unfortunately, this is an aspect of American culture that the Philippines adopted and turned into its vey own, where we had porn magazines and a porn film industry where such things were called ‘bold movies’, despite how and why you have priests and pastors telling Filipinos to turn away from things that make them lust. We even have Freemasons like there is in the US, which means the US has thoroughly corrupted the Philippines from top to bottom, from the inside out.

Another thing about America is that it is the capitalist country per excellence, even if others like Britain, Sweden, Denmark and Brazil have done some of the same things as it did before in the past, but when America never had a history of aristocracy and feudalism on its soil, the transition to modern capitalism would be easy in hindsight. America’s the country behind many well-known multinational conglomerates, some of which may have deals with the Devil and partook in certain rituals. Disney is one of them but it’s far from the only one that does this, since others like Universal and Paramount may not be any better either. In American culture, somebody who’s old money is rich for like a few generations (by European standards), whereas old money in Europe meant that somebody’s titled and their family owned land for centuries.

Which goes to show you how young America is as a nation-state, especially in the way we recognise it to be, compared to the other western countries barring Oceania and the rest of the Americas. That’s not to say America lacks culture per say but that as a superpower, it happened almost overnight compared to the likes of Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal. These countries or at least what would become of them were mentioned in Roman literature and most of them were Roman colonies themselves, so these developments have been happening for a long time and far longer than what America experienced. There’s been some talk about America being a settler-colonial country, in which the original peoples of America got (deliberately) displaced by colonists over time, so they’re currently very marginalised.

That’s not that indigenous Americans don’t live in cities and suburbs, but when a chunk of them live in reservations whilst their white European counterparts live anywhere and everywhere (countryside, suburbs, cities) without being marginalised, this should give you an idea of what’s happening to the former. Or for another matter, how Israel has a habit of marginalising Palestinians (who may be the direct descendants of the Israelites, if you believe others), a bit controversial to say and admit but some have stated that feels a lot like how Native Americans are displaced from their territories. It would be even more controversial to insinuate that the Ashkenazim (who constitute a substantial portion of the world’s Jewry) may not even be the the direct descendants of the original Jews.

But given the suspicion of a profound Zionist lobby in the US government and economy, especially in Arabophone circles, that it feels like the US and its allies cave into these people to avoid walking on eggshells or something. Like it’s pretty taboo to point out that Ashkenazim may not be the direct descendants of the Israelites, but are the descendants of Gentile folks who converted to Judaism instead. Be it Slavs, East Asians, Greeks, Iranians, Turks and nearly anybody else living across the Eurasian Steppes, far removed from the olive trees that characterise the world of the ancient Israelities (and their presumed direct descendants, the Palestinians). It’s really taboo to point out the problems with Zionism and Israel, even if some of them are legitimate.

It’s so taboo to criticise the nation-state that calls itself Israel, despite what it’s been doing to Palestinian Christians behind closed doors, that it rarely registers as the nations that persecutes Christians. Ironically some of the nations that are on the blacklist for persecuting Christians like India, China, Vietnam and Indonesia not only have thriving Christian ministries, but also three of them have social media affiliated with those and even Indonesian newspapers have room for Bible readings. China’s even home to at least three Catholic Bible reading websites, from my experience, I say three because Hong Kong’s part of China in a way. China also has a rising Christian population, so that’s something to consider at this point.

Because America and its allies have a lot of Zionists in their ranks, the fact that America’s a very close ally of Israel, means it’s going to be hard being honest about the problems with those without getting flack for it. Another is that other than Israel, America has a very substantial Jewish population. Historically this belonged to Eastern Europe, including Russia at some point. The Russian Empire housed a lot of Jews until they defected those places in favour of the United States, since Paul Wexler said that Yiddish (a language the Ashkenazim used to speak often) is really a Slavic language, given how Ashkenazim used to live in Eastern Europe that predictably and consequentially, this would have a big bearing on the way they speak and live.

Yiddish sounds rather Slavic and even has a number of words with clear Slavic counterparts, oddly enough many Ashkenazim lived in a number of places that historically belonged to the Khazars, a Turkic tribe that some speculate may have originated the Ashkenazim. As the Khazars lived in parts of what’s now present day Ukraine and Russia, so predictably after converting to Judaism, the Khazars would’ve spread out to other parts of Eastern Europe and subsequently, other parts of the Russian Empire. This may not always be there as there are some Ashkenazim with German surnames, but since Germany’s close to Poland so there ought to be some overlap between the two. Some Ashkenazim could have relatives in German or Poland.

But when many of them left Eastern Europe for America, this kind of fuelled suspicions of a Zionist lobby, not helped by that Zionism’s big in America. It’s obvious because of how sympathetic America is to Israel and vice versa, that to find more media critical of this is to seek media that’s not in the English language or languages of any culture and country sympathetic to the Zionist cause. The fact that it’s the Americans who introduced their brand of Protestantism to the Philippines to the extent that Philippine folks follow American trends very closely, even if this is also found in African countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. But even then among Africans, they do permit women to preach. Though there are female pastors in America, you’ll find more of them from African countries from my experience.

Some churches predating the American brand of Christianity, but most especially Catholicism do permit women a degree of preaching, wherein they read Biblical passages out loud. The homilies are always helmed by men, but even then it’s kind of weird how the Americans succeeded in not only importing their brand of Christianity to the Philippines, but also the political baggage associated with it. Like in American Christian circles, feminism’s treated as an opposing ideology. So is socialism that to be socialist (or sympathetic to socialism to an extent) is to be anti-Christian, even though Biblical politics is much closer to African American Christianity. In the sense of being conservative on certain stances (particularly homosexuality) but progressive in others (combatting racism).

Biblical writers didn’t have a high opinion of homosexuality, but they also had a low opinion of materialism and those who held the unfortunate with contempt. In the sense that even if not all African Americans are practising Christians, but what African Americans experience is similar to how Biblical characters faced. The lives of most white American Christians seems cushier than those of their African American counterparts, where they wouldn’t really understand what’s like to have a God who’s willing to punish those who go against them. Their Christianity is consistently right wing through and through, their view of America is very high, despite the existence of prophets who say that America is Mystery Babylon. Even then, American Christianity is pretty strange in some regards.

One that’s more of a subculture than something that’s either the faith of a faithful few (Vietnam, China, Indonesia, many European countries at this point in a way) or something that’s actually integrated in the national culture (Ghana, Nigeria, the Philippines), speaking as somebody who’s not in the United States, having visited devotionals found in otherwise secular newsources, closely follows Catholic social media accounts and the like. It does make sense that at this point American Christianity’s this closely entwined with the political right, in fact far moreso than it is in European countries but I’m possibly wrong about it. Even then American Christiantiy is also strange because of how worldly it is, as somebody else said it’s very much anything goes.

Maybe not exactly but it seems in some Christian circles, secular media needs to have a spiritual counterpart. Not that there’s anything wrong with using media like rap, comics and novels to communicate Godly lessons and messages to people, but if Christians are told not to be of this world, compounded by how some people even find certain secular things demonic to begin with, then they shouldn’t even be playing with fire at all, playing with sin and risking consequences. Kind of does make you wonder why Christian musicians like somebody from the Newsboys sexually harrassing people, whilst it’s true Christians do sin and risk consequences for it, but on the other hand it does make one wonder how worldly the Christian subculture and the Christian music industry really are.

Like almost everything and anything needs to have a Christian counterpart, even when there shouldn’t be if you believe David Wilkerson, a man with a particular distaste for rock music. He’s also a well-known preacher and prophet who said many things that came to fruition, if you’ve read something like the Vision. Even if David Wilkerson may not have been a saint (in the colloquial sense of the word), he was a man used by God to forewarn people of what’s to come and also to tell others about what seems holy but is ultimately unholy, pertaining to Christian rock music in his day. The American Christian subculture is really worldly in that despite having reasonable issues with certain media, its adherents routinely let in others that ruin them.

It’s not hard to see how and why a lot of Christians have issues with Harry Potter, but very little with something like X-Men even if these concerns could be just as legitimate. That and Marvel having a superhero called Daredevil who resembles what you’d expect the Devil to look like, or DC having a superhero called Blue Devil, two characters that most Christians don’t really seem alarmed about, even when the Bible mentions about the Devil masquerading as something he’s not. Even then regardless of how nice it seems to be, if it’s evil on the inside then it’s not worth having it around. Perhaps this speaks to a wider doublemindedness in both Christian circles and overall American culture, in the sense of wanting to be seen as good but doing a lot to the contrary and barely repenting.

The fact that some Christian circles, not just the Catholic ones, are really worldly makes one wonder why they’re so spiritually and ethically unstable. In the sense of proclaiming to do right, but doing wrong (this is something I’ve done before). I feel the more Philippine Christianity follows American trends (though this may not even be unique to it), the more it risks getting contamined by the same false teachers and prophets that lurk in some American ministries and churches. Whether if it’s Hillsong facing scandals or how strangely worldly the American Christian music industry is, it’s probably not a good idea to put profit above prophecy. What good does it profit for somebody to gain the world and lose their soul or Godly conscience?

This may not be unique to the American Christian music industry since there was a Nigerian gospel singer infamous for dressing skimpily, that’s not to say that contemporary Christian music doesn’t do good for people. But there’s a fine line between using music to actually preach to the unsaved and doing what’s right after being convicted, however tough the struggle with sin is, and people acting like paragons but be something contrary to that like JY Park. Or in the case with people like Larry Norman and Michael Tait, though it’s good to use such music to preach the word of God with, the fact that they continue to lead lives similar to their secular counterparts behind closed doors, makes one wonder if they’re much better off not using secular music to begin with.

So David Wilkerson was justified in his distrust of rock music and the secular rock music industry, since there’s really no point in American Christians having to chase after secular trends that are really no good. A real anything goes mentality in a good number of American Christian circles that spread to other Christian communities, take hip hop music for instance. Though I do know that not all rappers swear a lot, but it’s terrible to see how and why it’s uncommon for a number of them to swear more than they shouldn’t be doing at all. Even if it’s possible to pick out rappers that don’t swear a lot, as they certainly do exist, but it’s hard at times when others swear like there’s no tomorrow.

Or how a number of secular songs reference substance abuse, like Sean Paul’s ‘We Be Burnin’ which was about pot smoking, or Tomcraft’s songs ‘Prozac’ and ‘Overdose’ being exactly what they’re about. Though that sort of music is nice and catchy, it’s unfortunately associated with nightclubs that demand intense partying when people should’ve used the time for listening to sermons and reading the Bible. Maybe this is what the Bible meant by not associating yourself with bad company, because they corrupt or infect your character and conduct as it did to me before. The saying that American Evangelicalism has become an anything goes version of Christianity still rings painfully true, and how it has a bad bearing on other Christianities around the world.

So if Babylon’s musicians would stop singing, then this would be a blessing in disguise really. If America is Mystery Babylon and that the Philippines habitually imitates it, then it’s really not a good influence to how the Philippines should conduct itself as a Christian majority nation, or other countries like Canada, Britain, Ireland, Germany and Sweden for that matter.

*I said before that I’m a fan of the band The Prodigy (among others like Ace of Base) and I’ve been praying for both of them, wherein I had a dream involving the former in church. Then there’s this person named Shannan Howlett who shares the same surname as a certain Prodigy member, the words omen and prodigy were semantically connected in which both of them relate to things portending something. The word prodigy was historically synonymous with the word monster, as the former meant a monstrous or preternatural thing.

The word monster historically meant something against common nature, not necessarily good or bad, but really unusual. Part of the word for monster also meant wonder, so God can do wonders with a band like the Prodigy to get its members saved. The word omen meant a sign, so predictably just as the Prodigy released a song called ‘Omen’, it’s a befitting coincidence that there’s a prophet bearing Liam Howlett’s surname which is God’s way of confirming things. Also Ace of Base released a song called ‘The Sign’, so it’s there the way God made it clearer to me.

That and the same band having released another song called ‘Living In Danger’, so it could be said that God sends signs to warn people of something dangerous. Just as the Prodigy had a song called ‘Thunder’, this too was considered a portent. If the words prodigy and monster historically meant something unusual, then it’s personally unusual to find a prophet with the same surname as a certain celebrity that I know of on something like 444Prophecynews, which is pretty befitting of what these words meant before.

Surely language evolves, but let’s not forget that words have meaning, as the Bible knew it. So the shoe fits according to God’s timing and confirmations of what I prayed for. That and the Prodigy’s habit of alluding to fire, which is what this entry also mentions. Also the song Omen reiterates a Biblical verse called ‘the writing’s on the wall‘. The Bible has a passage saying that God will testify things by signs, wonders and miracles (the word miraculum was also a synonym to both prodigium and monstrum).

Let’s not forget that one Ace of Base member, Jenny Berggren, is a practising Christian and like I said, I’ve been praying for both members of the Prodigy and Ace of Base to get saved, so somebody with Liam Howlett’s surname portending events is God’s way of confirming things through words and their historical meanings alone.

The thing with KPop

KPop is one of many Korean exports to the world, though it’s far from the only facet of Korean music. Before KPop, South Korea did things like Trot and K-Ballads. These two things aren’t widely exported outside of that country, though they may lack certain baggage associated with KPop. Another particularly odd thing about KPop is that a number of boy band members dye their hair in colours you wouldn’t normally associate western boy bands with, let alone without being labelled as the bad boy of the group. That and dressing in a much more sexualised manner than is afforded to their western counterparts. Admittedly, I don’t know these groups well. But the thing here is that among western popular music groups, the sort of musicians who’d usually do these things were obviously not going to be boy band types.

No, these were more likely to be affiliated with either edgy dance music (the late Keith Flint from the Prodigy), edgy rock music (Bauhaus, Sex Pistols, The Clash) or even rap music on certain occasions, but not flat out boy bands. I don’t think I’ve seen the Backstreet Boys in their prime wearing crop tops and mesh shirts often the way their KPop counterparts do, maybe I’m misremembering but it’s not hard to see how and why KPop boy bands seem far more sexualised than their western counterparts are. Like they wear clothes no member of the Backstreet Boys would dare to wear in public, dye their hair in colours no member of the Backstreet Boys would often do (especially if you have more KPop members doing the same thing really) and act cloying in a way none of the Backstreet Boys would openly do.

It would be kind of a hot take to say that KPop boy bands make their western counterparts look frumpy and dowdy by comparison, if because they often wear outfits that no western boy band would do and a lot of their members dye their hair in ways most of the Backstreet Boys wouldn’t touch with a three metre pole. Comes to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen AJ McLean in his prime dye his hair pink the way Bang Chan did. None of the Backstreet Boys wear makeup as often as their Korean counterparts do, and it goes back to what I’ve been saying about KPop bands is that they do things that are unthinkable for their western counterparts. And usually among western musicians, the sort of men who’d frequently do this were often the edgy blokes. The sort of blokes who’re deeper into edgy music genres than something like boy band music.

Could you imagine Nick Carter in his prime dyeing his hair green like what some KPop musicians do, wear really sheer shirts and wear lipstick like they do? The closest comparable example would be Bill Kaulitz but he’s never part of a boy band to begin with. So he’s practically free to do whatever he likes to do, make the sort of music he and his bandmates love doing and stuff. Whereas with western boy bands, they’re often pigeonholed into roles and are expected to live up to this, which KPop boy bands also do. Sort of like how in KPop bands, a certain member’s made to fill out the role of the youngest sibling and another gets to rap. Or in western boy bands, there’s going to be a good boy type and a bad boy type, despite appearances to the contrary with others like Nick Carter at times.

(Never ask a woman about her age, or a man about his salary, or Backstreet Boys fans if Nick Carter raped somebody.)

Another thing is how KPop agencies openly encourage and enable idolatry of their bands, even if what their western counterparts do is practically no different really. Like it’s not enough to stream their music, find literature about them, buy merchandise associated with them, or even attend their concerts. Admittedly this is also what western musicians and bands do, which is more distresssing if a Christian musician also does this too, like they like being the centre of attention and stuff. (I do struggle with pride and I have prayed to God to do something about Jenny Berggren from Ace of Base, since it’s something she fell into and risked trouble for it before.) On a nationwide scale, it would be pretty distressing for a country with a substantial Christian population like South Korea to do this.

Somebody like Nakita said that one another reason why the South Korean birthrate is so low is because South Korea enables idolatry a lot, but most especially of KPop musicians at that. If you reap what you sow, this is what you get. And in the case with South Korea, this resulted in certain problems. Low birth rates is, in my opinion, one symptom of another problem. I find myself wondering if South Korea prioritising KPop at the expense of something that wouldn’t just unite Korean people, but also build better spiritual relationships with the rest of East Asia and how it results in unnecessary problems like the 4B movement and stuff. The 4B movement involves women not wanting to do with mediocre men, but I can’t help but assume part of it’s got to do with their expectations of men set by KPop.

That’s not to say KPop’s any less Korean but that at other times the average Korean man isn’t like his KPop counterparts, maybe not entirely but enough to be essentially two separate entities. One is a highly commercialised, consumerist enterprise and the other’s just a human being trying to make his way in life, the average Korean man would kill to have a career in such fields but doesn’t bother to. Even if KPop’s not the culprit in other cases, but with KDrama doing something similar in a way, it’s not hard to see how a number of Korean women feel dissatisfied with some Korean men, especially if their standards are set by the media they consume and peruse. As if these men don’t live up to their expectations for what they expect men to be, that such things produce a lot of unnecessary divisions between the sexes. Or for another matter, KPop producing unnecessary expectations of women for men.

Either way, KPop produces more problems than solutions. KPop thrives on selling illusions to unsuspecting people unaware of what those agencies are doing, especially if they have ulterior motives whilst pretending to be paragons like JY Park. JY Park has been suspected of being a false teacher or false prophet, even in Korean language media before, doing things contrary to what he proclaims himself to be. Like no Christian should make themselves into stumbling blocks for others, which is what both Berggren and Park do, though it’s possible for the former to snap out of it in time because of my intercessions. JY Park should have never made one of his singers sing indecent songs, seeing how Christians shouldn’t turn themselves into stumbling blocks for others at all. No Christian shouldn’t lead others astray, which is what people like him do.

Kind of makes one wonder why Stray Kids are called the way they are, as if they’re there to lead people astray with. JY Park may’ve been insincere with his faith in God all along, as if he really cares more about the world, than the word of God. Nakita said that his company will collapse and cease to exist by the end of this year, though other KPop companies will follow suit just the same. If he were to rebuild it, he’s going to lose his family members. And it’s more distressing to think that for a guy for calls himself a Christian, one of his bands Stray Kid have songs alluding to either the Devil or Hell like ‘Hellevator’, like why would a Christian want to go to Hell when they should be going to Heaven instead? Why isn’t he putting an end of his band’s antics, if they go on doing these kinds of songs to sing?

Perhaps birds of a feather flock together and if you can tell a tree by its fruit, then it’s telling that Bang Chan and his colleagues love to rub shoulders with a very worldly Christian. They love the world more than they love God, so that’s why they dress in ways that would’ve been relegated to edgy musicians before, be more sexualised than they should be and stuff. No wonder why God will put an end to their nonsense at the end of this year or even towards it, especially when Christmas season arrives. Mind you in the Philippines, Christmas season starts in September and ends in January. So that’s like five months of Christmas or something, so the end of many of those KPop agencies would arrive sooner than expected.

JYPE might experience financial problems around this time, before dissolving sometime between December and January. JY Park’s own New Year resolution is not make himself into a stumbling block for people ever again, since he calls himself a Christian and he should act the part. But since he refuses to, everything and everybody he has in his life will disappear in some fashion. Both idols and relatives will die, his company falls into serious administration and then vanishes without a trace. Expect the JYP website to have a 404 error, expect anything affiliated with JYP to disappear as well. Stray Kids will be no longer around, all its members will die, one by one. No more, no more.

Colin

A character I created last year though he first showed up in a dream, oddly enough as inspired by Dio Brando from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, along with another character who’s a clairvoyant gunman. He has some similarities to Dio Brando, namely his clothing, habit of knife throwing and ability to stop time, though in his case he can only do so in a localised area so he really doesn’t stop time all the way. But enough for him to do whatever he wants to do, which helps that he’s also an excellent escapologist himself. He kind of looks like a younger Liam Howlett himself, he’s one of the members of the band The Prodigy. Two of his bandmates left early and one of them died, so both he and Maxim Reality are currently the band’s oldest surviving and longest serving members at this point, assuming others joined in eventually.

The one character who looks like Maxim Reality is Fabrice Tientcheu, but it’s kind of awkward that Fabrice is one of the good guys, whereas Colin Sallow’s the one who murdered Jemima Szara’s boyfriend out of spite. Even more awkward is that Fabrice Tientcheu likes cats and Colin Sallow likes birds more, Colin even studied biology before as a foreign exchange student in Gothenburg, Sweden. Wait a minute, one of my other favourite bands (Ace of Base), came from this city. Colin really does a lot of birdwatching and actually owns some birds himself, though these are chickens, parrots and ducks. He also frequently feeds pigeons and ravens, though he used one raven to give him something to get out of somewhere soon enough.

Due to his time in Sweden, he’s able to whip out some Swedish food himself. Though from what’s shown in-story is that he makes pickled beetroots, which is a popular Swedish food by the way. He’s also a close friend of Richard Sorm, much to Jean-Louis Lumiere’s anger and disgust, even though he’s closer to Jean-Louis in age. Also Colin’s an aspiring politician and his own father’s a politician too, though his own politics have yet to be determined as this is a draft. As to where he actually comes from, we do know that he spent time in Sweden as a foreign exchange student. But I suppose he comes from somewhere in the cities, or maybe in the suburbs of a city because he’s got a garden to grow beetroots with. But for all we know, he’s not American, he’s neither British too.

A Canadian though he could come from somewhere in Windsor, maybe a suburb within that city so far and his own father’s a diplomat. So this is another reason why he spent time, in fact much of his late adolescence, in Sweden. He didn’t become a foreign exchange student by choice, but that’s what he ended up doing there. Not to mention, both Fabrice and Colin dressed up as sailors (that alludes to the way Tadzio’s portrayed in the film Death In Venice), but the former did this to keep track of him. He may not be one of the heroes of the story, rather the villain instead, but this gives you an idea of who he is.

Fabrice Tientcheu and Graham Knightley

These two are based on Jojo characters that have cat-based stands (Killer Queen and oddly enough, Spice Girl), though these associations are reversed in their case. In Fabrice’s cases, it’s much more explicit in that he owns cats himself. But then again his own father’s deathly afraid of dogs who apparently passed on his distrust of dogs onto him, said dad’s also based on a Cameroonian musician who also has the same sentiment or fear. Graham’s case is more implicit in that he wears a jacket with an embroidered leopard head, his middle name is Leopold and his mother’s maiden name is Pussmaid (that was a legitimate surname), he also has the ability to explode things and people like Killer Queen does. Like I said before, Fabrice is based on Trish Una and her stand Spice Girl.

The latter’s also based on a cat though it’s not obvious at first, given it doesn’t seem to look much like a cat. It does however leave clawmarks, something Killer Queen doesn’t do to my knowledge. As Tientcheu is apparently a Bamileke surname and that leopards in Bamileke culture are associated with royalty, it’s also the same among Ghanaian and Ivorian Akans. Whilst the west habitually sees lions as the royalty of animals, among the Akans and Bamilekes this honour goes to their closest relatives instead. Not to mention Fabrice shares Trish’s snobbishness and Spice Girl’s dual nature of both politeness and cruelty towards enemies, and obviously the ability to soften things as to render them elastic. As a nod to Yoshikage Kira, Graham works as a salesman whilst being a murderer behind closed doors.

Whereas Fabrice is something of a forensic scientist who’s a failed footballer due to an injury, which kind of alludes to what became of the musician David J (from Bauhaus and Love and Rockets), despite the fact that he looks a lot like Maxim Reality from the Prodigy. Yep, these two are among the bands I liked before and still sympathetic to on some level, though Graham Knightley’s suit is based on somebody else’s. Namely Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys, but with a punkier flair. Wearing what’s his suit but as if Vivienne Westwood designed it, the late fashion designer who’s no stranger to incorporating bondage motifs into respectable formal clothing, as evidenced by the way she made suits before her passing. Oddly enough, there’s another character who shares his likeness.

That’s Cyril Rabeholm and he’s supposed to look like Nick Carter, but since this is tentative so he could end up looking like somebody else instead. Like Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten, if somebody else in the development team could become more interested in him instead. Even then you find traces of Nick in Cyril as both of them are fiercely temperamental and violent, as well as how Graham Knightley’s suit resembles his own. Not to mention both Cyril and Nick have pugs for pets, whereas Jean-Louis is content with mixed breed dogs instead. There’s another character who’s also going to be based on Nick Carter, but seeing how America will might disappear (if you believe her), perhaps it’s best to cut him out instead. For now, this is about two characters based on Yoshikage Kira and Trish Una, except that it’s if Trish Una grew up to be a forensic scientist and actually owns cats herself.

It’s not particularly obvious at first, but Spice Girl did something that Killer Queen doesn’t do (to my knowledge): leave clawmarks, which should give you an idea that it really is based on a cat.

Prodigies and Games

As I said before, the characters of Colin Sallow and Fabrice Tientcheu are based on Liam Howlett and Maxim Reality of the band The Prodigy, but also among other things. Although Colin Sallow does look like a younger Liam Howlett, he also shares traits associated with other people (both fictional and real). Same goes for Fabrice Tientcheu, but the thing with Colin is that he enjoys bird watching. This is a hobby that two of my relatives are involved in, especially when they go to the university parks from time to time. He even owns birds himself, though these are chickens. He also takes the time to feed them, often to keep them from destroying the plants. He also feeds pigeons and ravens, which he also uses them to undermine police activity.

He’s also based on how Björn Andrésen portrayed the character of Tadzio in Death in Venice, wearing similar outfits and even the same sailor suit as he did. (Oddly enough, Fabrice went undercover as a marine janitor to better spy on him.) Of course, Colin Sallow’s also based on Dio Brando, even wearing a similar outfit to his and stopping time (however in a localised area) enough for him to throw knives at his victim. Then we move onto Fabrice Tientcheu, where he could be the Trish Una to Colin Sallow’s Dio Brando, if because both characters have the ability to soften things. Let’s not forget that Trish Una’s stand Spice Girl is actually based on cats, though it’s not particularly obvious compared to Killer Queen at first, but it’s been known to leave claw marks (something Killer Queen doesn’t do to my knowledge).

Fabrice Tientcheu and his family keep cats, there are black people who do own and care for cats. This is even a thing in countries like Ghana and Cameroon, the latter is where he and his family come from. Also his father’s afraid of dogs, much like the Cameroonian rapper Mink. He apparently passed on his distrust of dogs onto his son, and if I’m not mistaken there’s an early 1990s Cameroonian study on dogs where a number of Cameroonians don’t like them either. Things might have changed for the better or worse since then, though this could make them relatable to certain black people really. That’s not to say those in the African diaspora don’t own and care for dogs at all, but when dogs are used to harass and attack innocent black people, or that white people seem more obsessed with dogs than they are with people of colour, it shouldn’t be surprising why some black people feel this way around them.

And also towards white people who don’t seem actually interested in them and their cultures, as they would around animals, not that there aren’t any black people who do care about them. Though I feel you’re more likely to find the latter in countries like Ghana, Cameroon and Cote D’Ivoire, sometimes in ways that do match their white western counterparts. Also Fabrice resembles a younger Maxim Reality, well with short hair the way many black African men do to look respectable, as dreadlocks are kind of stigmatised among them there. Not that there aren’t any dreadlocked black African men at all there, but that black African men are often socialised to look respectable with their short hairstyles. It even starts in school that schoolboys are expected to either have short hair or be bald, whereas schoolgirls can be short-haired or have braids.

As they enter the workforce or do something else as they get older, women are also free to either have their hair straightened or dreadlocked. But the menfolk are often expected to have short, natural hair because anything other than that risks looking suspicious in some way or another, not just dreadlocks but also straightened hair. Then we get onto the other sources of inspiration that are more unexpected than the first, namely that Fabrice’s also based on that of both Freddie Mercury from Queen and David J from Bauhaus and Love and Rockets. Fabrice dresses like Freddie Mercury, shares his interest in cats and also knows how to box.

He’s also like David J in that both of them like reading books and were aspiring footballers until both of them got injured, so David J became a musician and Fabrice became a forensic scientist. Back to Trish and her stand, he kind of shares the former’s toffishness and the latter’s dual (and contradictory) characteristics of both politeness and cruelty towards enemies. He’s even really nasty to Colin, once he turned out to have killed somebody, even attempting to gauge out his eyes though Jemima Szara stopped him from doing it.

Or if Colin Sallow stops time enough to escape this, since he’s something of an escapologist himself depending if the player wants to play as either Jean-Louis or Jemima (if she becomes a playable protagonist herself). In the case of Colin Sallow, it would be particularly odd seeing a buff, young Liam Howlett dressing up as Dio Brando. Or Fabrice Tientcheu being a young Maxim Reality who dresses up like Freddie Mercury, whilst the two surviving early members of the Prodigy did inspire these characters, they’re far from the only inspirations behind them. Or for another matter, Dio Brando and Trish Una when it comes to their abilities. There are other sources of inspiration behind them, sometimes in ways that feel rather jarring or unexpected.

Cartoon character iconography

When it comes to cartoon character iconography and especially those of superheroes, once an outfit is designed for the character comes expectations for what they should look like, should they ever wear new outfits at all. In the case with Supergirl, she’s a female counterpart to her cousin Superman and the expected iconography for her involves blonde hair, blue blouse, red cape, red boots and a red skirt though the belt varies from circular to v-shaped. But certain aberrations do happen such as red shorts, a proper catsuit, blue skirts and the like, though the expected iconography is supposed to be a feminised version of Superman’s own outfit, barring the hair itself. Or for another matter, the expected iconography for Rogue’s that of a woman who dresses in a brown jacket and a green and yellow catsuit with yellow boots.

I guess if Rogue existed in the real world that even if she retained her love of dressing in yellows and greens, and sometimes wore her old clothing from time to time she would’ve also changed with the times in some way. This is what she ended up doing in the comics from time to time, but her most iconic outfit’s from the 1990s and this is the same outfit a number of cartoonists return to from time to time. To put it this way, Siouxsie Sioux is a real life musician whose most iconic get-up consists of teased black hair and black clothing, though this is the same look that she graduated from as time passed. She now has straight greying hair and doesn’t dress in the same way she did when she was younger, but you should get the point I’m making regarding iconography.

It’s easier to draw cartoon characters in the same outfits as it’s easier to draw from memory, especially over time that’s become an accepted part of their respective iconographies. It also makes it easier to lend itself to merchandising, given the character’s expected iconography. Back to Supergirl, her expected presentation’s that of a blonde woman who wears a feminised Superman outfit. Cassandra Cain’s expected presentation’s that of a young Asian American woman who dresses in a black coloured Bat outfit that comes with a mask that fully obscures her face, though ironically given her knack for reading body language this would’ve impeded her ability to carry out such a task. But sometimes impractical outfits become part of the character’s expected iconography like the latter one.

Vampirella’s own outfit would be hard to comfortably wear without risking indecent exposure, though some cartoonists take this too far, sometimes without regarding the character’s own dignity in certain situations. But it’s become an accepted part of her associated iconography, despite how inconvenient it would be in some situations as to warrant more modest redesigns. So if this outfit was designed for the character in mind from the get go, or gets popularised in a more accessible format as it is with Rogue, it would be hard departing from the expected iconography without risking backlash of some sort. There have been attempts to get Black Canary from not wearing fishnets, most notably in the late 1980s and also in the 1990s, though the fishnet thing’s so deeply entrenched that it’s easier to return to those.

Than to risk the unknown, though the animated productions have shown that this is possible without changing the character’s overall look that much, all you have to do is to substitute fishnets for an opaque pair of tights. But even then there’s often the expectation for what the character should look like, if such a look was either part of the character or is popularised in other media, that giving them an entirely different outfit would be a very drastic departure. Sort of like what happened to Street Fighter’s Cammy White upon her latest appearance, for a long time she wore a thong leotard with a beret and two braids. Then comes the latest Street Fighter game with her sporting shorter hair and a more modest ensemble, that inevitably a degree of backlash would’ve occurred anyways.

When it comes to real life musicians, fans would inevitably have a favourite look, even if the musicians themselves have moved on from it as fashions change. Let’s say your favourite David Bowie hairstyle is the iconic red mullet, even though he moved on from that haircut as the mid-1970s marched on. Then one could on go saying that they liked Liam Howlett* best when he was younger and had undyed hair to boot, this is one example but not the only one that I can hypothetically come up with. But the thing with cartoon characters is that they’re designed with certain looks in mind, not so much something they chose at their own volition, since they’re not even real. In Rogue’s case, her most iconic look is the one that got popularised on television.

But it still often reinforces people’s expectations of them, that doing a radical redesign would make them practically unrecognisable. So there’s much care to make them recognisable whilst redesigning them in some way, given how such portrayals reinforce people’s expectations of them.

*He’s a member of the group called The Prodigy and he’s its resident keyboardist.

Money, Money

There have been some videos about how K-Pop groups and companies encourage and enable idolatry in a myriad ways, though this isn’t unique to them as I think western musicians and groups are just as culpable. It is possible to make something like either the Prodigy or Ace of Base into idols, which I have at various points or another, which is probably also true for other people in my situation and position. K-Pop is no different in this regard, though the real difference is that where it’s coming from, it’s from one of the few East Asian countries with a substantial Christian population. The largest belongs to the Philippines, which makes this all the more grievous, as we should know better. But this means we’ve abandoned our first love in favour of the world and idols like these.

South Korea is no different in this regard and whilst it still has a substantial enough Christian population, this is pretty disturbing why would a country like this would enable idolatry when so many of its people have turned away from this before. It would be parsimonious to say that both South Korea and the Philippines are heading in the same direction as Europe and Canada are already in, going from practising Christians in the majority, to those who’re lukewarm at most. Cultural Christians if you will, like they know the Bible but have not much of a personal relationship with God in any way. This is also true of the Philippines and South Korea, why they always do the things they shouldn’t be doing and stuff.

This is also the reason why God will allow China to take over both of them as they are at risk of backsliding and may already be in the process of doing so, I think if the Philippine congress were to approve of gay marriage, that’s when a lot more Filipinos start backsliding real badly. Going from nearly 100% religious to 30% religious in just a few years, hastening what’s already undergone in Europe and Canada. A sign that the Philippines is on the verge of backsliding real badly, as to warrant getting conquered by China the same way Babylon conquered Judah. Same goes for South Korea, especially when it comes to enabling or encouraging sins like these.

It would be kind of ghoulish to think that KPop producers, executives and musicians themselves have consecrated to the Devil in some way or another to get to where they are now, it is possible to pray for them as others have in the past. But for every K-Pop musician who turns to God, there are those who harden their hearts and refuse the word of God in any and every way, thus missing their chance at salvation by God. Not all KPop and Korean musicians are like this, thankfully enough and there are those who’ve already turned their backs on fame and fortune in favour of worshipping God more. But it remains to be seen if many more KPop musicians will be saved, whether if this is also true for balladeers and Trot musicians (another Korean made music genre).

Though I’ve listened to some KPop before, even rather recently, I never really got into any KPop musician seriously as I have with their European counterparts. The music is catchy but given the revelation of KPop musicians and their ilk making a deal with the Devil, it does make one wonder why they manage to acquire not only a lot of fans worldwide, but also a very devout following. Like I said, this isn’t unique to them as you see this with western musicians all the time too. It’s possible to make a band like Sisters of Mercy into an idol, which is already the case for other people. Except with KPop, this is deliberated. It’s more methodical than one would with Trot, even if there are already some people who’ve made Trot musicians into idols of sorts.

KPop is oddly very methodical in attracting a devout following, especially when it comes to some musicians feigning gay sex to arouse the lusts of their fans, which also got me into thinking this is no different with the Backstreet Boys, which would’ve been just as calculated. Burk Parsons refused to do anything Backstreet Boys related when he was younger, feeling he doesn’t want to arouse lust in people, which is particularly true for the BSB army producing a lot of online BSB pornographic fanfiction. This would be called visuals back in the 1990s, with one video being kind of pornographic to some people like one of my brothers.

So it seems Lou Pearlman was very successful at doing just that, though it also helped that he managed the erotic dance troupe Chippendales before. KPop managers, producers and executives likely have the same mindset really, which explains why KPop musicians feel the urge to feign gay sex onstage. KPop could also be seen as kind of too sexualised for some people, especially when it comes to skimpy outfits and feigned gay sex, that this would be too much for others and even those in Korea. The first webpage that said that KPop promotes idolatry is an online thread in Korean, which led me to YouTube videos pointing out the same thing.

Somebody going by the name of Nakita pointed this out repeatedly, that KPop promotes and enables idolatry in a lot of ways. You have KPop fans writing fanfictions, collecting every magazine article and book featuring their idols and so on, even if these behaviours and actions aren’t unique to them either. Ace of Base, Bauhaus and Prodigy fans have done some of the same things by the way, though in the case with KPop it’s all the more grievous as South Korea had just recently turned Christian. Why would an East Asian country with a sizable Christian population do the same thing as a backsliding European country is wont to do? This is one way of knowing and realising that South Korea is in the process of backsliding, it has lost its first love.

Churches are also closing in South Korea, so the process of backsliding is accelerated there. What took centuries for European countries to become secular, it only took a few decades for South Korea to do the same. The Philippines is also in the process of backsliding, where it would even take a few years for this to become majority secular if the Congress ever legalises gay marriage at all. If it ever takes place in the near future, then the Philippines will also witness a hastening of backsliding. The thing with KPop only makes it worse as it’s something that successfully takes most people away from God, possibly why South Korea is getting more secular and why the Philippines is next in line. KPop really is a curse, a stain on everybody’s clothing.

Even if not all Korean musicians are like this, but it’s kind of horrifying if the Philippines ever goes the same way South Korea is heading, KPop is already distracting a lot of people from God and this is one of many factors that hasten secularisation in both countries.

The Prodigy’s Initial Audience

When it comes to the band The Prodigy, it’s gone through quite a transformation. Starting out in rave before acquiring a more aggressive rock-inspired sound come Music For The Jilted Generation, then stuck with it ever since. Though there were nonravers who were into the Prodigy in some way, especially regarding the song ‘Charly’ which was sampled after a public service announcement animated series, most of the Prodigy’s early audience consisted of ravers. This shouldn’t come as a surprise that the very earliest Prodigy tracks and songs came from a rave background, though the Prodigy was also considered too mainstream for rave if it weren’t for ‘Charly’.

The late 1980s preference for rave came from a time when Margaret Thatcher was increasingly no longer the British prime minister at the time, she was the one who shut down some mines and contributed to certain ills people didn’t want to put up with any longer. This was also met by a need for a kind of escapism for those who came of age when Thatcher’s time as a prime minister drew to a close, so rave seemed to be one of the go-for answers to their problems. Partying away one’s sorrows that Thatcher was responsible for, don’t be surprised if Liam, Maxim, Leeroy, Sharky and Keith all felt the same way. The Second Summer of Love was a respite from all that Thatcherite politics in their formative years.

The first years of adulthood feels like something they could dip into, as they had something to do without much parental supervision this time. No surprise that many of the Prodigy’s initial fans felt the same way too, especially those who were into rave early on too. Early enough to catch the Prodigy’s rise, early enough to witness their roots in rave. The earliest Prodigy recordings encapsulate the end of the Thatcherite years, something some British young adults in their day would do by partying the night away in former warehouses and the like. True to form, the Prodigy refused to appear on Top of The Pops (a British programme involving music).

Probably it already knew it compromised its street cred by sampling audio from something meant for children, so it’s not something it didn’t want to do again despite gaining controversy with ‘Smack My B Up’ almost a decade later. (It could be said that SMBU was like a new Charly in this regard, one that didn’t endear the band to feminists this time.) Whilst the Prodigy would gain a newer, wider audience with rock lovers as the millennium drew closer, it’s also rooted in rave and likely still has some fans from its rave years. They’re the ones who really are intimated with the band’s early years, though some fell out of the band for reasons like selling out and so on.

The Prodigal Daughter

This story references both the Prodigy, where the late Keith Flint (the Italian word for flint is selce) spent time in Egypt before returning to Braintree, and Dalida whose real name is Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, who was born in Cairo herself.

Iolanda Selce was often goaded by her father, Edoardo, into supporting and working for his leather making business. She’d acquiesce to this by ordering any sort of leather from sellers such as deer leather, elk leather and cattle leather, turning them into a variety of items like bags, shoes and belts. But she also prefers to make and sell her own items, often handmade and plant-based. For awhile, she didn’t get along with her dad over something.

‘But Dad, I want to sell dresses.’

‘You could always make leather dresses.’

‘No! I want to make and sell cotton dresses!’

‘Why not?’

‘F— you!’

She packed her belongings, including her fabrics, patterns and sewing materials, with her to Egypt and stayed there for a few years. Learning Arabic along the way and then quickly adapting to the Egyptian market, she developed a habit out of making and selling more modest garments. Abayas, qabas, shintiyans, galabiya bi sufras, telli dresses and caftans, you name it and she’s done those as often as before. Lately, she’s creating a pattern on paper, then cutting it out before layering it over a 90 cm cotton fabric. She starts outlining the pattern with tailor’s chalk, before cutting it out and sewing it by hand herself.

Using multiple needles on the same garment, she sews it as fast as she can. Using a variety of threads to get the job done as quickly as possible, she picks out a 100 m thread and a 1000 m thread together, cutting the threads and then inserting them into her needles. Needing to take a break from all that sewing, she makes herself a sandwich using rumi cheese and then slicing an eish fino bread almost in half just to insert the cheese and meat with. She then slices it into several pieces to share it with her adoptive family, including her adoptive mother Basma.

‘Do you want one, Basma?’

‘Sure I do, Iolanda.’

Then she gives it to her and she eats it.

‘Thanks!’

‘You’re welcome.’

She makes mint tea both for herself and Basma, talking about her home country.

‘What’s like in Italy, Iolanda?’

‘To be honest, I left it because I don’t want to make something with leather anymore. My dad kept on making me do it, but I’d rather make something out of cotton instead.’

‘You do leathermaking?’

‘I used to do it because my dad does it. He used to pay me in the thousands for it, he’s got a decent leathermaking business.’

‘Why don’t you help him with it?’

‘I do, but I want to sell the stuff I make.’

‘Don’t be so disrespectful to your father.’

‘But I want to do the things I want to do, especially for myself and myself alone.’

‘You should help him out.’

‘I did, but I don’t think he respects my decision to sell what I want to sell and it’s selling clothes based on cotton and linen. The plant-based fibres.’

‘Okay, you really want to make and sell the things you wanted to do.’

‘Precisely.’

After eating, drinking and chatting with Basma, Iolanda returns to sewing. She gets the folded garment out from the treasure box and resumes sewing it, as soon as she unravels a string a cat wants to play with it but she removes it from the room leaving it with Basma instead. There she sews uninterrupted, in fact she spends hours solely sewing it herself. After finishing the dress, she moves onto one of the sleeves finishing it as quickly as she can. As soon as dinner arrives, she cuts out the thread and needle, putting both of them in her metal box and then folding the garment (including the other sleeve), placing it in a treasure box and after doing this, she eats with Basma again.

Basma puts out the shashouka for them together, taking turns getting from it until there’s no more. Basma then gets two pieces of pita bread, puts falafel balls into both of them and gives each to herself and Iolanda. Then both of them eat, whilst everybody drinks water. Basma then gives some meat to the cat to eat, and leftovers to their dog outside. Once everybody’s finished with dinner, Basma and Iolanda go to the bedroom together. Basma sleeps on one bed, Iolanda on the other. The following morning, Iolanda wakes up and turns on the lamp, opens her stuff from both boxes and resumes sewing. She cuts and sews the other sleeve, finishing it as quickly as she can before Basma wakes up.

Once Basma wakes up, Iolanda has already finished it. She takes a look at it and is marvelled by it.

‘That’s a nice looking dress, may I have it?’

‘I feel…mixed feelings about it.’

‘Why?’

‘I’m planning on selling it to someone else.’

‘You may sell it to me instead.’

‘Well.’

Iolanda eventually sells the dress to her for 200 pounds, thus getting as much as she can and puts the money in her wallet. But later on this morning, she receives a message on her phone. It’s something from none other than her own dad.

‘Iolanda, it’s me. I want you back in Italy.’

Then she starts typing.

‘You want me back in Italy? Why, Dad?’

‘Sorry for not letting you sell the clothes you wanted to make, I’ve changed my mind.’

‘Why?’

‘I’m selling items based on plant-based leather these days.’

‘Really, Dad?’

‘Yes, customers want more plant-based items. You’re free to make and sell cotton garments.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘Please come back, Iolanda.’

‘Okay.’

Iolanda starts packing all her belongings, she goes planning on returning to Italy to be reunited with her father in four years. Seeing that Iolanda is leaving, Basma goes near her, looking teary-eyed she comforts her.

‘Please don’t leave me.’

‘But my father’s telling me to go back to Italy, he’s changed his mind and he’s selling plant-based items this time.’

‘I’m going to miss you, so when are you going to return to Egypt?’

‘I won’t leave you, Basma. I’ll go back to Egypt, so don’t cry.’

She wipes the tears off her eyes as she pats her on the back. Then the two hug each other.

‘I’m going to miss you.’

‘It’s okay, I’ll come back to Egypt. I promise I will.’

‘I don’t feel good losing you.’

‘I’ll always be there for you.’

Eventually Basma stops crying as soon as Iolanda heads for the airport, bringing along her passport with her. Once she goes there, she shows her passport and then pays for the ride. She takes a seat, listening to music once the plane takes flight. Going from Cairo to Florence, she meets her father again.

‘Iolanda, it’s good to have you back.’

‘There’s someone in Egypt who misses me and she’s Basma.’

‘Who is she?’

‘She’s one of my friends and my host mother. I stayed there for four years straight.’

‘Four years? That’s a long time.’

‘I kind of overstayed my welcome there.’

‘Welcome back then.’

The two reunite and then head to their house together, there Iolanda is free to make cotton dresses. But her father reminds her of something.

‘Iolanda, I don’t think Italians are into those sorts of dresses.’

‘But that’s what I did in Egypt.’

‘The average Italian isn’t Muslim.’

‘I could always sell it to Muslims here.’

She did like what she told him she would, but she also learnt to observe fashion trends in Italy again in years. So the day after selling those dresses to Muslims, she’d sew clothes for non-Muslims based on what’s hip and current in Tuscany. After living in Egypt for four years, Iolanda got weirded out by the multitude of scantily-clad Italians that she had to make the outfits skimpier to sell it to them. But Edoardo’s glad to have her back and Iolanda’s willing to make items based on cactus and fruit peel leather this time.

Further back to the 1980s

The post about what would happen if the Prodigy were to start out more recently, well in the late 2000s when that thread was taken, got me thinking about what would happen if the Prodigy came about at the tail end of the 1970s instead of the tail end of the 1980s. Musical trends and the overall cultural atmosphere are different, instead of the emergence of acid house and techno we’d get the emergence of post-punk and new wave. The closest real life precedent the Prodigy has from the late 1970s would be Depeche Mode, as the latter also came from Essex though from Basildon rather than Chelmsford and Braintree. But this would have odd ramifications for some of its members if they started out in the late 1970s as young adults.

Liam Howlett would’ve most likely ended up as a keyboardist for some new wave/post-punk band, pardon if it’s the Duran Duran fan in me peaking through, but he’d essentially be a less stylish Nick Rhodes and one with more classical training beforehand. Maxim Reality was in a duo with somebody else and also considered pursuing a career in reggae, so he would’ve went straight ahead into reggae if he was a young adult in the early 1980s. Leeroy Thornhill said online that he started Djing when he was a teenager, so he would’ve gone on as a DJ for some reggae or dub outfit if he was a young adult in the early 1980s. Keith Flint is probably the hardest for me to pinpoint what he could’ve done as a young man in the early 1980s, given there’s no precedent for him in any way I think of.

He’s done a lot of odd jobs before such as working as an investigative driller, among other things as well as having considered becoming a farmer, but you could argue that he would’ve been part of some post-punk or punk rock outfit. The reason he became the way he was in the Prodigy because he didn’t have anything better to do, so becoming a dancer for the Prodigy was one such outlet for him. Just as the Prodigy would be rather different if they started out in the late 2000s, they’d be just as nearly unrecognisable if they started out in the late 1970s and early 1980s. To reiterate, Liam Howlett would’ve most likely gone on as a keyboardist for some new wave band, Maxim Reality would’ve become a real reggae artist anyways and so on.

In all honesty, Keith Flint is the hardest to come up with any late 1970s precedent for him. You could have a dozen keyboardists for any new wave band that Liam Howlett would’ve easily joined if he was a young adult in the early 1980s, but it’s hard for me to come up with who would be the Keith Flint of the early 1980s. Perhaps you’d say that he could’ve gone on as a punk rock singer, which is just as likely but he could’ve essentially been Ian Curtis of Joy Division. He too committed suicide, leaving behind his colleagues to go on as New Order. Anyways, a Prodigy of the early 1980s would be just as unrecognisable as a Prodigy of the late 2000s given the differing musical milieus that their paths would be different from what the band ended up doing in the late 1980s.