I'm sharing this python project because it's one of my latest. The full guide is on Hackr.
At the heart of our project, we'll leverage Python's simplicity and Tkinter's ease of use to build a game that accepts user input, manages game logic, and updates the GUI accordingly.
In this Hangman Game, Python will oversee the backend logic, including tracking guesses, determining game state (win/lose), and updating the displayed hangman drawing.
But we'll also dive into creating a visually appealing interface using Tkinter, ensuring our Hangman game is not just functional but also enjoyable to play.
https://preview.redd.it/sgp7q8zz1r5d1.png?width=898&format=png&auto=webp&s=19042545d2d7c20a25df017f74e32ba651dde4e1

Step 1: Setting Up The Project

Alright! Let's begin by setting up our Python Hangman Game project.
This initial step is crucial as it establishes the groundwork for our entire game, ensuring we have a structured and organized workspace from the start.
i. Install Python
Before diving into coding, ensure that Python is installed on your computer.
If you haven't installed Python yet, visit the official Python website to find a Python version that’s compatible with your system, and follow the installation instructions.
ii. Choose and Set Up Your IDE or Code Editor
Now it's time to choose an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) or a code editor to develop your Python Hangman game.
If you’ve read my article on the best Python IDEs, you’ll see that I favor Pycharm and VSCode.
For a more Python-specific IDE, PyCharm is a fantastic choice, offering rich features tailored for Python development.
But I’d also encourage you to check out VSCode if you’re already familiar with that coding environment and you’d like to carry on with what you know.
Simply head to the VSCode extension marketplace and install the Python extension, and you’ll be good to go.
iii. Create a New Python Project
Once your IDE or code editor is set up, it's time to create a new Python project:

• Open your IDE or editor and select the option to create a new project.
• If provided with the option, choose a Python project or just create a general project if your IDE doesn’t specify project types.
• Name your project something descriptive, like PythonHangmanGame.

iv. Organize Your Project Structure

print("Hello, Python Hangman Game!") 

It can be really beneficial to organize your project structure for better management and future scalability.
Here’s a simple way to structure your Python Hangman game project:

• src: This directory will contain all your source code files.
• images: If you plan to use custom images for the the GUI, place them here.
• sounds: Optional directory for sound effects (e.g., for correct or incorrect guesses).
• lib: If your project requires external libraries or modules, place them in this directory.

v. Set Up a Version Control System (Optional but Recommended)
Consider initializing a Git repository in your project folder to manage your source code versions.
Use the command line or your IDE's built-in Git support to create the repository. This step is highly recommended as it helps in tracking changes and collaborating with others.
vi. Verify Project Setup
To ensure everything is set up correctly, try running a simple Python program in your project environment.
This test will confirm that Python and your IDE or code editor are correctly configured:
vii. Ready Your Development Environment
As we move forward with building the Python Hangman Game, keep your IDE open and familiarize yourself with its layout and features.
You'll be spending a lot of time here, writing code, debugging, and running your application.
And there you have it! You've successfully set up your Python Hangman Game project.
With the foundation laid down, we're ready to dive into the exciting parts of building our game.

Step 2: Designing the Hangman Game Logic

Now, let's delve into designing the Hangman game logic.
This step is essential as our Hangman game relies on a solid understanding of game mechanics and logic implementation.
If you’re not totally familiar with the game, in Hangman, players attempt to guess a word by suggesting letters within a certain number of guesses.
Let’s look at this more closely.
i. Understanding Hangman Game Mechanics
The classic game of Hangman involves guessing a word by identifying individual letters. For each game:

• A secret word is chosen, which the player attempts to guess.
• The player has a limited number of incorrect guesses before the game is lost (typically, this number is 6, corresponding to the head, body, two arms, and two legs of the hangman).
• Each correct guess reveals the positions of the letter in the word.
• Each incorrect guess brings the player one step closer to losing the game as parts of the hangman are drawn.

ii. Implementing the Game Logic
We'll implement the game logic in Python, focusing on managing the secret word, tracking the player's guesses, and determining the game's outcome.
Here's a high-level overview of the steps involved:

• Choose a Secret Word: For simplicity, the secret word can be hardcoded or chosen randomly from a list of words.
• Track Correct and Incorrect Guesses: Maintain two lists to track the letters the player has guessed correctly and incorrectly.
• Game State Evaluation: After each guess, check if the player has won (guessed all letters of the word) or lost (exceeded the maximum number of incorrect guesses).

iii. Building the Basic Game Logic
Let's sketch out some simple Python code to illustrate these game concepts:

import random # List of potential secret words word_list = ["python", "hangman", "programming", "challenge"] # Randomly select a secret word from the list secret_word = random.choice(word_list) # Initialize variables to track guesses and attempts correct_guesses = set() incorrect_guesses = set() attempts_left = 6 # Function to display the current game state def display_game_state(): # Display the secret word with guessed letters revealed displayed_word = "".join([letter if letter in correct_guesses else "_" for letter in secret_word]) print(f"Word: {displayed_word}") print(f"Incorrect Guesses: {' '.join(incorrect_guesses)}") print(f"Attempts Left: {attempts_left}") # Main game loop while True: display_game_state() guess = input("Enter your guess: ").lower() # Check if the guess is in the secret word if guess in secret_word: correct_guesses.add(guess) # Check for win condition if set(secret_word).issubset(correct_guesses): print("Congratulations! You've guessed the word!") break else: incorrect_guesses.add(guess) attempts_left -= 1 # Check for lose condition if attempts_left == 0: print("Game Over! You've run out of attempts.") print(f"The secret word was: {secret_word}") break 

In this basic code, we’ve outlined the core logic for a simple console-based Hangman game.
As we progress through this tutorial, we'll expand upon this foundation, integrating it with a graphical user interface using Tkinter to enhance the player's experience.
In the next steps, we'll dive into setting up Tkinter and linking our game logic to a GUI, creating an interactive and visually appealing Hangman game.
Let’s get coding!

Step 3: Introduction to Tkinter for GUI Development

Let's roll up our sleeves and dive into creating the graphical user interface (GUI) for our Hangman game using Tkinter, Python's standard GUI library.
Tkinter is built-in with Python, making it a convenient choice for creating simple and effective GUI applications without the need for additional installations.
Note that we'll adopt an object-oriented approach for this project to enhance the structure and maintainability of our code, making it easier to understand and extend.
This also makes it a great way to learn the basics of OOP.
i. Check if Tkinter is Installed
Before we start coding, let's ensure Tkinter is available in your Python environment. While Tkinter typically comes with Python, it's good practice to verify its presence.
Open your terminal or command prompt and enter the following:

python -m tkinter 

This command should open a simple Tkinter window, indicating that Tkinter is installed and working correctly.
If it doesn't, you may need to install Tkinter by referring to Python documentation or by heading to PyPi.
ii. Setting Up Your GUI Project File
In your project directory, create a Python file named hangman_game.py.
This file will contain both the GUI components and the game logic, integrated within a single class structure for simplicity and efficiency.
iii. Creating the Main Window with Tkinter
Let’s start by defining a class for our Hangman Game, encapsulating both the game logic and the GUI components.
Start by setting up the main window in this class:

import tkinter as tk class HangmanGame: def __init__(self, master): self.master = master self.master.title("Hangman Game") self.master.geometry("900x600") # Further GUI setup and game logic will be added here def main(): root = tk.Tk() game = HangmanGame(root) root.mainloop() if __name__ == "__main__": main() 

In this code, we've:

• Imported the Tkinter module to utilize its GUI functionalities.
• Created a HangmanGame class, introducing an OOP approach to structure our game. This class will contain methods for setting up the GUI and handling the game logic.
• Initialized the main application window (master) within the class, setting its title to "Hangman Game" and specifying its size to 900x600 pixels.
• Defined a main function to create the Tkinter root window, instantiate our HangmanGame class with this window, and start the Tkinter event loop.

Running this script will open a window demonstrating the basics of Tkinter in action.
iv. Adding Widgets
Tkinter supports various widgets that can be added to the GUI, such as labels, buttons, and canvases.
These will be crucial for displaying the hangman drawing, the word to guess, letters already guessed, and accepting user input.
In the subsequent steps, we'll dive deeper into how to use these widgets to build the functional parts of our Hangman game interface.
This step sets the stage for developing a full-fledged GUI for our Hangman game.
In the next steps, we'll expand on this, incorporating the game logic and enhancing the interface to create an engaging and interactive game experience.

Step 4: Building the Game Interface with Tkinter

Now that we've introduced Tkinter and set up a basic window within an object-oriented framework, let’s set to work on further developing our Hangman game's GUI.
We'll focus on designing the layout, adding interactive widgets, and preparing the game board to display essential game elements using our HangmanGame class.
i. Designing the Layout
Within our HangmanGame class, let’s aim to create a cohesive layout that includes:

• A top section for the hangman drawing as incorrect guesses accumulate.
• A middle section to reveal the word being guessed, with blanks for letters yet to be guessed.
• A bottom section containing alphabet buttons for player input.

ii. Implementing the Hangman Drawing Area
Let’s utilize Tkinter's Canvas widget within our class to dynamically display the hangman drawing:

def initialize_gui(self): self.hangman_canvas = tk.Canvas(self.master, width=300, height=300, bg="white") self.hangman_canvas.pack(pady=20) # Additional GUI setup continues here... 

In this code, we've:

• Embedded the Canvas widget creation within the initialize_gui method of our HangmanGame class. This method orchestrates the setup of our game's GUI.
• Created a Canvas named hangman_canvas as part of our class. This canvas, with a 300x300 pixel size and a white background, is designated for the hangman drawing.
• Used pack() with vertical padding to place the canvas appropriately within the window.

iii. Displaying the Word to Guess
Let’s now incorporate Label widgets into our class so that we can show the word with blanks or correctly guessed letters:

def initialize_gui(self): # Previous GUI setup code... self.word_display = tk.Label(self.master, text="_ " * len(self.secret_word), font=("Helvetica", 30)) self.word_display.pack(pady=(40, 20)) 

In this code, we've:

• Created a Label widget within the initialize_gui method to display the word. Initially, it shows an underscore for each word letter in the secret_word.
• Selected a font size of 30 for clarity and readability, ensuring the underscores and letters are easily distinguishable.
• Positioned the label with pack(), applying padding to set it apart from other elements.

iii. Adding Alphabet Buttons for Guesses
When it comes to handling player interactions, let’s generate alphabet buttons within our class, linking each to a guess-handling method:

def initialize_gui(self): # Previous GUI setup code... self.buttons_frame = tk.Frame(self.master) self.buttons_frame.pack(pady=20) self.setup_alphabet_buttons() 

In this code, we've:

• Defined a setup_alphabet_buttons method within our class to create and configure buttons for each letter in the alphabet.
• Established a Frame widget to group alphabet buttons, ensuring organized placement within the GUI.
• For each alphabet letter, created a Button widget. These buttons invoke the guess_letter method with the respective letter as an argument upon being clicked, facilitating player interaction with the game.

Nice work! We’ve now created the foundation for our interactive Hangman game.
If you’re new to the world of OOP, know that by embedding our GUI setup and interaction logic within the HangmanGame class, we've laid a solid foundation for building a fully interactive Hangman game.
The idea here is that the OOP approach not only organizes our code effectively, but also sets us up for seamless integration of game logic and GUI updates in the next steps.
Let’s keep this momentum going!

Step 5: Integrating the Game Logic with the GUI

Now that we've laid out our Hangman Game's GUI, it's time to breathe life into it by integrating the game logic.
This will make our game fully interactive, responding to player inputs and dynamically updating the GUI.
i. Initializing the GUI & Random Word Selections
First things first, let’s initialize our game by calling the initialize_gui method along with a new method that we’ll define to select a random secret word:

import random class HangmanGame: def __init__(self, master): self.master = master self.master.title("Hangman Game") self.master.geometry("900x600") self.word_list = ["PYTHON", "JAVASCRIPT", "KOTLIN", "JAVA", "RUBY", "SWIFT"] self.secret_word = self.choose_secret_word() self.correct_guesses = set() self.incorrect_guesses = set() self.attempts_left = 7 self.initialize_gui() def choose_secret_word(self): return random.choice(self.word_list) 

In this code, we've:

• Imported the random module to help with random word selection.
• Added a word_list attribute to store potential secret words. This list can be easily extended or modified to include any number of words.
• Introduced the choose_secret_word method, which randomly selects a word from our wordlist using random.choice(). This method is called when initializing self.secret_word during the creation of a HangmanGame instance.
• Ensured that the selection of the secret word is integrated into the game initialization process, making the game different each time it's played.

ii. Updating the Hangman Canvas
Let’s now add a method to our HangmanGame class to update the hangman drawing based on incorrect guesses:

def update_hangman_canvas(self): self.hangman_canvas.delete("all") # Clear the canvas for redrawing incorrect_guesses_count = len(self.incorrect_guesses) if incorrect_guesses_count >= 1: self.hangman_canvas.create_line(50, 180, 150, 180) # Base # Additional drawing logic here for each part of the hangman 

In this code, we've:

• Added an update_hangman_canvas method to the HangmanGame class. This method clears the canvas and redraws the hangman figure based on the current number of incorrect guesses.
• Utilized Tkinter's create_line and create_oval methods within conditional blocks to progressively draw the hangman as incorrect guesses accumulate.

iii. Handling Letter Guesses
Within the class, we define the logic to handle letter guesses for the hidden word, updating the game state and refreshing GUI elements as needed:

def guess_letter(self, letter): if letter in self.secret_word and letter not in self.correct_guesses: self.correct_guesses.add(letter) elif letter not in self.incorrect_guesses: self.incorrect_guesses.add(letter) self.attempts_left -= 1 self.update_hangman_canvas() self.update_word_display() self.check_game_over() def update_word_display(self): displayed_word = " ".join([letter if letter in self.correct_guesses else "_" for letter in self.secret_word]) self.word_display.config(text=displayed_word) def check_game_over(self): if set(self.secret_word).issubset(self.correct_guesses): self.display_game_over_message("Congratulations, you've won!") elif self.attempts_left == 0: self.display_game_over_message(f"Game over! The word was: {self.secret_word}") 

In this code, we've:

• Implemented a guess_letter method to update the sets of correct and incorrect guesses, decrease attempts_left for incorrect guesses, and invoke methods to update the canvas and word display.
• Used update_word_display to refresh the displayed word on the GUI, revealing any correctly guessed letters.
• Created check_game_over to evaluate if the game has been won or lost, displaying an appropriate message through display_game_over_message.

iv. Connecting Buttons to the Guess Function
To ensure alphabet buttons are correctly linked to the guess_letter function, we adjust the button setup in the setup_alphabet_buttons method, utilizing the class's methods for game interaction:

def setup_alphabet_buttons(self): alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" upper_row = alphabet[:13] # First half of the alphabet lower_row = alphabet[13:] # Second half of the alphabet upper_frame = tk.Frame(self.buttons_frame) upper_frame.pack() lower_frame = tk.Frame(self.buttons_frame) lower_frame.pack() for letter in upper_row: button = tk.Button(upper_frame, text=letter, command=lambda l=letter: self.guess_letter(l), width=4, height=2) button.pack(side="left", padx=2, pady=2) for letter in lower_row: button = tk.Button(lower_frame, text=letter, command=lambda l=letter: self.guess_letter(l), width=4, height=2) button.pack(side="left", padx=2, pady=2) 

In this code, we've:

• Defined the setup_alphabet_buttons method within the HangmanGame class to create interactive buttons for each letter in the English alphabet.
• Initialized a string alphabet containing all uppercase letters, A-Z, to iterate over and create a button for each letter.
• Split the alphabet into two halves: upper_row and lower_row.
• Created two frames within self.buttons_frame: one for each row of letters. This ensures that the alphabet is neatly divided into two rows, making all letters accessible without overcrowding the screen.
• Associated each button with the guess_letter method using a lambda function, enabling the game to react to player guesses by checking the chosen letter against the secret word, updating the game state, and refreshing the GUI accordingly.
• Utilized pack() for button placement, arranging them side by side with consistent padding to ensure the interface is visually appealing and user-friendly.

v. Adding Game Over Messages
To round things off, let’s define a display_game_over_message method that show the user the result of the game when reaches its conclusion:

def display_game_over_message(self, message): # Hide the alphabet buttons by hiding the entire buttons_frame self.buttons_frame.pack_forget() # Display the game over message in the now-empty area self.game_over_label = tk.Label(self.master, text=message, font=("Helvetica", 18), fg="red") self.game_over_label.pack(pady=(10, 20)) 

In this code, we've:

• Utilized pack_forget() on self.buttons_frame to hide the alphabet buttons from view. This effectively removes the button area from the game interface, preventing further guesses.
• Created a Label widget, self.game_over_label, to display the game over message in the area previously occupied by the alphabet buttons.

Great work! Our Hangman Game is really taking shape now! Let’s keep this effort up and move on to the next stage, where we'll add graphics for the Hangman.

Step 6: Adding Graphics for Hangman

Now it’s time to enhance our Hangman Game with graphics that not only make it visually appealing but also enrich the player's experience.
Let's now focus on refining the hangman drawing method with more detailed graphics.
i. Refining the Hangman Canvas Drawing
We previously introduced a method to update the hangman drawing based on incorrect guesses.
Now, we'll enhance this drawing to include more detailed graphical elements, potentially making each stage of the hangman's appearance more visually distinct and engaging.

def update_hangman_canvas(self): self.hangman_canvas.delete("all") # Clear the canvas before redrawing stages = [self.draw_head, self.draw_body, self.draw_left_arm, self.draw_right_arm, self.draw_left_leg, self.draw_right_leg, self.draw_face] for i in range(len(self.incorrect_guesses)): if i < len(stages): stages[i]() # Call the drawing method for each incorrect guess 

In this enhanced code, we use a list of methods (stages) that each draw a part of the hangman.
As the number of incorrect guesses increases, we sequentially invoke these methods to progressively draw the hangman.
ii. Drawing Detailed Hangman Parts
Let's now implement methods for each part of the hangman's body, aiming for a bit more detail than simple lines:

def draw_head(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_oval(125, 50, 185, 110, outline="black") def draw_body(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_line(155, 110, 155, 170, fill="black") def draw_left_arm(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_line(155, 130, 125, 150, fill="black") def draw_right_arm(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_line(155, 130, 185, 150, fill="black") def draw_left_leg(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_line(155, 170, 125, 200, fill="black") def draw_right_leg(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_line(155, 170, 185, 200, fill="black") def draw_face(self): self.hangman_canvas.create_line(140, 70, 150, 80, fill="black") # Left eye self.hangman_canvas.create_line(160, 70, 170, 80, fill="black") # Right eye # Draw a sad mouth self.hangman_canvas.create_arc(140, 85, 170, 105, start=0, extent=-180, fill="black") 

In this code, we've:

• Implemented separate methods for drawing each part of the hangman, such as draw_head, draw_body, etc. within the HangmanGame class. These methods use Tkinter's create_oval and create_line functions to add shapes to the canvas, creating a more detailed hangman figure.
• Introduced a draw_face method as the final stage, adding a simple face to the hangman to indicate the game's conclusion. This method uses create_line for the eyes and create_arc for the mouth, providing a simple yet expressive face.

Nice work! By adding detailed graphics for the hangman, you’ve really elevated the gameplay while also leveling up the overall aesthetics of the game.

Step 7: Adding Game Reset Functionality

Let’s wrap things up by adding game reset functionality. This is will allow our users to start a new game easily without needing to restart the application.
To do this, we’ll create a method to reset the game and add a button that players can click to trigger the reset.
i. Implementing the Reset Game Method
Let’s start with the reset_game method, which will include selecting a new secret word, clearing guesses, resetting attempts, and updating the GUI to its initial state.

def reset_game(self): self.secret_word = self.choose_secret_word() self.correct_guesses = set() self.incorrect_guesses = set() self.attempts_left = 7 self.hangman_canvas.delete("all") self.update_word_display() for frame in self.buttons_frame.winfo_children(): for button in frame.winfo_children(): button.configure(state=tk.NORMAL) if hasattr(self, 'game_over_label'): self.game_over_label.destroy() 

In this code, we’ve:

• Reset the game's state by selecting a new secret word, clearing the sets of correct and incorrect guesses, and restoring the initial number of attempts.
• Cleared the drawing canvas to remove any hangman images from previous games, preparing for a fresh start.
• Updated the word display to reflect the new secret word's placeholders.
• Re-enabled all alphabet buttons, making them clickable again for the new game.
• Conditionally removed the game over message, if it was displayed, to reset the game interface to its initial state.

ii. Adding the Reset Button to the GUI
Now, let’s add a button to the GUI that allows the player to reset the game. This button will call the reset_game method when clicked.

def initialize_gui(self): # Existing GUI setup code... # Add reset game button self.reset_button = tk.Button(self.master, text="Reset Game", command=self.reset_game) self.reset_button.pack(pady=(10, 0)) 

In this code, we’ve:

• Continued the GUI setup by adding the alphabet buttons to the interface.
• Introduced a "Reset Game" button into the GUI. This button will call the reset_game method when clicked, allowing players to easily restart the game at any point.
• Placed the reset button below the other game elements, adding appropriate vertical padding for clear separation and visual appeal.

Note that with our new Reset button, we’ll need a slightly larger overall window to accommodate it, so let’s also adjust our main window size:

def __init__(self, master): self.master = master self.master.title("Hangman Game") self.master.geometry("900x650") # Rest of code… 

iii. Adding Game Restart Functionality
Now that we have a reset method, why don’t we make further use of this by adding a game restart button?
This will only appear after the game is over and will give a clear signal that the user can start over.
We’ll start by modifying the display_game_over_message method to show a "Restart" button alongside the game over message.
This button will leverage the existing reset_game method but will only be displayed when the game concludes, offering a clear call to action for the player.
Note that we’ll also hide the reset button when this happens so the UX is nice and clear for our players.

def display_game_over_message(self, message): # Hide the reset button self.reset_button.pack_forget() # Hide the alphabet buttons and display the game over message self.buttons_frame.pack_forget() self.game_over_label = tk.Label(self.master, text=message, font=("Helvetica", 18), fg="red") self.game_over_label.pack(pady=(10, 20)) # Display the Restart button self.restart_button = tk.Button(self.master, text="Restart Game", command=self.reset_game, width=20, height=2) self.restart_button.pack(pady=(10, 20)) 

In this code, we’ve:

• Hidden the reset_button to indicate that the game is now over.
• Added a "Restart Game" button below the game over message. This button, when clicked, triggers the game's reset functionality, offering a straightforward way for players to start a new game after the current one concludes.

Now, since the "Restart" button becomes part of the game-over sequence, the reset_game method also needs some slight adjustments to ensure it properly resets the game state and also manages the visibility of the "Restart" button correctly.

def reset_game(self): # Re-show the reset button self.reset_button.pack(pady=(10, 0)) # Reset game state and GUI elements as previously outlined # Hide the game over label and the Restart button when the game is reset if hasattr(self, 'game_over_label') and self.game_over_label.winfo_exists(): self.game_over_label.pack_forget() if hasattr(self, 'restart_button') and self.restart_button.winfo_exists(): self.restart_button.pack_forget() # Ensure the alphabet buttons frame and other interactive elements are visible again self.buttons_frame.pack() 

In this code, we’ve:

• Used the .pack() method to re-show the reset_button with a fresh game.
• Added logic to hide the game over message and the "Restart Game" button when the game is reset by checking if these elements exist and currently displayed, then using pack_forget() to remove them from view.
• Made sure to repack the alphabet buttons frame, ensuring that the interactive part of the game's interface is made visible again for the new game session.

Nice work! We now have a fully functional Python Hangman Game! Before we to dive into some testing to ensure our game functions the way it should, how about we polish the styling?

Step 8: Enhanced Styling [Optional]

In general, taking the time to improve the visual aesthetics of your Hangman Game can really elevate the overall user experience.
The easiest way to do this is by changing the color scheme and applying stylish fonts.
So, let’s adjust the main window's background color, customize the button appearance for a more modern look, and select a stylish font for the text elements.
i. Changing the Main Window's Background Color
To set the main window's background to something like light blue, you can modify the __init__ method in the HangmanGame class to include a configuration for the master's background color:

def __init__(self, master): self.master = master self.master.title("Hangman Game") self.master.geometry("900x650") self.master.configure(bg='light blue') # Set the background color # Remaining initialization code... 

In this code, we’ve simply added a background color parameter of light blue to the main window.
To ensure the design is coherent, this can also be added to both the labels for the game over message and word guesses:

def initialize_gui(self): # Existing code... self.word_display = tk.Label(self.master, text="_ " * len(self.secret_word), font=("Helvetica", 30), bg='light blue') self.word_display.pack(pady=(40, 20)) 

def display_game_over_message(self, message): # Existing code... self.game_over_label = tk.Label(self.master, text=message, font=stylish_font, fg="red", bg='light blue') self.game_over_label.pack(pady=(10, 20)) 

ii. Customizing Button Appearance
Now, we can also change the background color and font properties of our buttons to elevate the overall aesthetic.
Let’s start with the alphabet buttons:

def setup_alphabet_buttons(self): # Custom button appearance button_bg = "#4a7a8c" # Example: a nice shade of blue button_fg = "white" # Text color button_font = ("Helvetica", 12, "bold") # Example: bold Helvetica font # Setup code for upper and lower rows... for letter in upper_row: button = tk.Button(upper_frame, text=letter, command=lambda l=letter: self.guess_letter(l), width=4, height=2, bg=button_bg, fg=button_fg, font=button_font) button.pack(side="left", padx=2, pady=2) # Repeat for lower_row buttons... 

In this code, we’ve used a new background color, text color, and font for our buttons.
We can also apply this same styling to our Reset and Restart Game buttons:

def initialize_gui(self): # Existing code... button_bg = "#4a7a8c" button_fg = "white" button_font = ("Helvetica", 12, "bold") self.reset_button = tk.Button(self.master, text="Reset Game", command=self.reset_game, width=20, height=2, bg=button_bg, fg=button_fg, font=button_font) self.reset_button.pack(pady=(10, 0)) def display_game_over_message(self, message): # Existing code... button_bg = "#4a7a8c" button_fg = "white" button_font = ("Helvetica", 12, "bold") if not hasattr(self, 'restart_button'): self.restart_button = tk.Button(self.master, text="Restart Game", command=self.reset_game, width=20, height=2, bg=button_bg, fg=button_fg, font=button_font) self.restart_button.pack(pady=(10, 20)) 

iii. Using Stylish Fonts for Text Elements
Now, let’s select a modern and stylish font for the game's text elements, such as the guessed letter display, and the game over message.
Of course, feel free to experiment and choose your favorite typeface:

def display_game_over_message(self, message): # Existing code... stylish_font = ("Arial", 18, "italic") self.game_over_label = tk.Label(self.master, text=message, font=stylish_font, fg="red", bg='light blue') self.game_over_label.pack(pady=(10, 20)) 

By adding these styling enhancements, we’ve not only made the game more enjoyable to interact with, but this is also a great way to learn how to make simple adjustments that significantly improve the UX of your app.
That's it! Now it's just about testing and refining your python project!

Just wanted to dump some hate off my chest. And point a middle finger to the Instagram management.
Basically, I indicated that I don't wanna see posts with keywords "mellstroy" and also "motivation" page bullshit. Guess what. A post by a page named mellstroy_motivations shows up on my reels. At this point they are just telling me to fuck myself. Fuck you too instagram. I hope you always find a fly in your soup. What's even the point of this preference or 'not interested' button?
That list is just text storage. The audacity of it. Make that garbage work!
Really upset with seeing this mellstroy guy recently. Adds no value to the videowhatsoever. What's more I am annoyed to find entire pages dedicated to reposting shit with his face.

I lay here with nothing to do day in day out I only know how to wake up after everytime I've went to sleep so as a teenager you get on the ice the freedom of the night enlightens you so you want more time in the night more then you want the drugs since you're doing things with your friends getting whacked smoking cones up a bush track in the car to sitting up at a blokes house playing puff puff pass so you like spending the time awake but you don't want to learn how to change your sleep schedule so you stay up until you're completely drained that's 4 days long then you go to sleep the more you do it for awhile the longer it seems to span out as in drag down the matter is normally so heavy by the 4th day you go to sleep straight away you repeat this process until you find yourself sleeping in the day they you work that out the same way until you find yourself sleeping in the night again you've been turned upside down the world feels different to you you're happy you continue doing the same thing for years to the point you're smoking a half gram in 1 day where as when you first did it you'd be awake 4 days from a half gram then the 4 day period awake feels shorter time seems to pass by so fast because of the solitude in nothing physical really happening to you so you're at mental peace speaking to people on the internet you go on there for 2 years straight the people on there never change in such a way they show a personal friendship with you there is no bond as if you're just going there to listen to them like it's their job with society showing no form of emotion to me I stay attached to myself in the things I do they were so time filling to begin with where it was angelic and happy but now the time passes by so quick the people are still the same on the internet they haven't changed even tho I've shown up everywhere I can for days at a time you'd think that'd be the sort of atmosphere where you'd form a relationship but I've never even used my private message on the website it's like this place where you show up and you just see what happens with where the conversation goes but most of the time they don't want to hear you talk so you're in this room where they don't mind you being there but they don't want to listen to you unless they've spoken to you they are cocky people with attitude some of them others are gamers and nerds there's asians and there's blacks they have their own rooms they stay in but these people are sometimes up on the screen it's 4am their camera looks like different sort of quality and they make no sense in what they say but they do answer your questions but it seems to be the same thing just about anywhere they just ignore you for the most part like you're in this place on the internet that is 2d on the screen but it's a feed of a projection where does that bounce off ?? This place seems like the only place for decent social activity but you're never apart of their community so it's difficult to get involved into the form of conversation they are so not whacky people they were whacky once in 2020 they were doing the stuff I was doing everyone was being ignorant in a sense of madness it was a trip but now they more serious and you find more mysterious figures then people happy to see you remember after years of going on this site everytime I got on the pipe I still hadn't formed a personal friendship with anyone the community is relatively small but it does change not in the ways you'd think sometimes we see new people but there's been times where months had passed not many new people we still showed up in the room everyday then people were just making different named rooms going in them there still some people there just sitting there after years and that so over this entire time I've listened to music while I was chilling only using Soundcloud I've now reached a block on the rap music I find I only see other new rap when I make a track myself it's the same thing with the electronic music it's all the same rap is better but yeah it seems like there's a block on the music in society otherwise it's just me making the sense everyone now thinks I've lost the plot that I'm always gonna be not in a job since I'm on the job about whatever the plot is. This is how hard people are to come by. That is life it seems life I've seen it both in the physical and society's mental. So now I'm just smoking dope and ice trying to think of a way out of the box how can I change life not mine but that around me.
Some people are stupid and it shows why they want my eyes I made this profile of Ben smith with not even his real photo and who adds it ? Rory castles does he's deleted me now but also other people added it what would that suggest that Rory could be the underlying problem ?
Yeah isn't taking sool all about how long you can stay up for
That's what it was for me when spending the weekend with people
It's just your own consciousness
Yeah well I'm not talking about that I'm talking about they meet you once and nobody has anymore plans with you
That's good, you see I don't know if that would mean I'm in a world where I'm with my family but we the only ones that live here and everyone else we meet is from the upside down world of marajunia even if they don't do the drug sometimes they can be from this world like they say we are star seeds maybe of star dust what's in us is around us which would put into the question my hayfever I've had the thought where I'd think that people were in my sight and the one time I went to the rodeo there were a lot of people from my sight there and that's why my eyes were so itchy now I don't get hayfever anymore 4 other people died 3 had red hair well 4 if you count Sam jones too there 5 names for a joint including the word joint and 5 names for a smoke including the word smoke but if this is the case who sought to exclude me from the safety of the upside down where nothing happens and you remain the same thought out your life ?? It was only after I went to Laurie's I got the problem with my eyes it's only after going to Laurie's that I lost all my friends ?? Please can someone edcuate me on this paradox because it seems to all add up doesn't it ? Laurie buys my weed and does things with it smoking it making hash letting his daughter smoke it she had problems with her eyes. This should be enough evidence to support my claims even tho it is circumstantial since it's only my word.
Do you want to eat them Feed them to the pigs then make breakfast will save my eye breaking fast
I sold Laurie Sturt bud Rory smoked my bud all the time Todd dean did felf he was alright but these people wanted something to create with the imagination then they try to say it's for evil purpose with everything that happened out at jessops lagoon and that. I will make sure those responsible die before I go blind IF I do. The upside down where there exists a perfect copy of the world/universe where it is not in motion like the stars in the sky. I will find the root cause and eradicate them to prevent them living again because a back packer got fed to the pigs before Apprantly in the 80s who's Laurie's daughter the dead back packer ? I will eat the pig that eats them to feed my soul and the eye is the window to the soul.
Why can't muslims eat bacon ? Because the gods fed a soul sacrifice to pigs and they made breakfast
My eye won't be breaking fast after this breakfast.
My conciseness is not yours.
Who wants to have a problem ? Do I have to disrespect someone for people to speak ? Because they're all dead from smoking drugs from the upside down
Because of people from the upside down wanting more life . Do you think they can think with as much consciousness as yourself ? They get addicted to the drug where as I just simply get gassed and think. About these issues.
I brought a knife and the church fella got stabbed at the church
I WILL NOT LIVE TREATED LIKE LESS BUT TAKEN FOR MORE YOU WANT TO STEAL MY INTELLECT I WILL TAKE CARE OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
Laurie could only ever ramble on about the roads around his house pretty much he was feeding on his own consciousness
I WILL NOT ACCEPT THESE PROBLEMS.
Going by the statistics on Soundcloud this paradox is a reality.
For starters there is too much social media after spending years on my phone I've realised this and you only really need Facebook instagram or YouTube. Tik Tok is bullcrap twitter is gay also Snapchat is also accepted.
On your phone you have the Yubo app for worldwide communication on the computer there is a much smaller community called tiny chat but if you don't like webcam there is voip teamspeak 3 discord nobody actually communicates really and it seems impossible to have a interlectal conversation in that environment with that layout.
The old voip is mumble.
Crackers didn't die did he because you let that cracker off on go cup road with me when it came towards us remember Rory hey
Crackers was this truck driver my old boi knew I knew him to and Rory said he knew crackers was it the truth or was it lies. Crackers got hit in the head with his chain on the truck. I've seen a bloke that looked like crackers sort of but old and that
Jake bullock in 2012 we were off our heads on pingas down tumut racy and we were in Boz's VR commodore and bullock was drinking and took the car for a spin and Boz gave him a devil phone case and Jake is like I'm the devil and that and anyway I was in this brain injury rehab a couple weeks and Chris smith was there they called him pissant he was a paraplegic anyway the last time I spoke to jack on Snapchat he just drinked a carton of beer and smoked cones and anyway Jake got in a crash coming back from Laurie's and he became a paraplegic devil phone case pc paraplegic crash Laurie's niece was in the car and Laurie's other niece was in Chris smiths pissants crash years before. Can you see the dynamics of the paradox world of the upside down.
I got stoned with 10 people out at jessops lagoon under the highway and denial mcadam and Shaun smith said they mind to each other and Adam Mac and Daniel died Adam Worner Mac Young Daniel Davidson both daniels father also died mark was a def bloke that hit a kangaroo going to work then Joey Rose died Jordan Crowe died Lisa Anderson died Sam Jones died the people who were there getting stoned didn't die. The car was a hold on but it was no claim to the upside down do you think you can move the stars ? Boz Gilpin. I'll be buying that pendent tonight that's my sort of style.
The upside down world, where your friends aren't your friends sometimes. I will know where to look if I'm consciously able to draw this picture but it is more of a sub conscious effort.
When I started telling people about the upside down I seen this purple ba sedan it had a mirror taped on with no glass and an old rego sticker from 2013 on it the guy looked like a grey haired Joe dirt without a mow.
Years ago when I had my Ute I was out at Coolac mobile at 4am and this mad bloke was in there ranting and raving off his head on drugs saying he was the mail man that goes out coota way
I gave a lift to a Chinese bloke holding the sign out the front of the pub he only spoke Chinese over the phone to his mate I took him out past Coolac to that parking on the south side to a truck that was parked there with spray paint on it.
I gave a lift to this bloke that ran out of fuel just out at TUMBALONG near the kfc sign in his Mercedes both of them gave me 50 dollars the bloke with the Mercedes looked like hienz he died in Germany.
This dean bloke got hit by a truck at the Coolac weighbridge after he had a hot shot he spoke to Lisa churchin lived down in the old bridge inn once
I was walking home from over town once with the dog and this Mercedes g wagon went past with like 4 black dudes in it that looked American and they were looking at me
Another time when I was walking I seen this land cruiser I thought I knew the owner but as I got closer it was these Arab kids looking at me I didn't know what that was about Ay
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come "The principal thought in Joel's prophecy is the idea of the Day of the Lord, a time in the future when the Lord Himself will directly interpose in the affairs of men. That day will be one of terror, and also of blessing. It will sift out the righteous, and bring judgment upon the wicked.
Who cares we just want in on the action the whole worlds nothing but madness, Who are the people that die in action films fuckin madness fking yeah.
Them taliban were on about Hollywood films and that weren't they when they flew the plane in the tower they didn't understand the culture influence were offended and consumed by hate you ever see a cinema in the Middle East, these cunts they are in the desert with fucking third world housing they see these films of Hollywood and they try make that in there country and share their minds picture but they get done in with the white man they can't see what they're thinking they get intimidated fucking barny rubble and fred flinstone walking goats like fire and brimstone where's a black smith over there I just know abid avid Abdul sah-harli American white wicked man then shows you a selling Harley and these people they don't notice you just sent him crazy
Fucking look at there vehicles they're not of our standard different form of society Pressures about standards on living and stuff Understand what there language sounds like think it up in your mind they look at the Hollywood film lifestyle to the farm village life style of Iraq I heard a man crying after saying that thinking Saudi Arabia language What you think it means how you think he understand it Hali Davidson Afghan kush holy wood the opiate farms comes from the bible BuddA Mara-junia the embodiment of death being Jesus Christ edified in vegetable matter through values of the last supper spiritual food too in form of drugs and that water to wine and so fourth They suicide bomb because they like the untouched tribe of the northsentlinese you touch me I'll get sick and die They say the Hollywood films killed our way of living people wanted drugs for dreaming heroin opiate we grew hashnish they say and the Hollywood films showed us a society we couldt be apart of and it was turning into the world that's probably what they'd say about the caliphate it's like the stolen generation with the aboriginals and that's why COVID 19 happened.
Who is fueling the American dream Iraq gave us prosperity The summers were scorching Heat waves in the desert life an illusion.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia)
Seventeen verses in the New Testament describe Jesus as the “son of David.” But the question arises, how could Jesus be the son of David if David lived approximately 1,000 years before Jesus? The answer is that Christ (the Messiah) was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the seed of David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Jesus is the promised Messiah, which means He had to be of the lineage of David. Matthew 1 gives the genealogical proof that Jesus, in His humanity, was a direct descendant of Abraham and David through Joseph, Jesus’ legal father. The genealogy in Luke 3 traces Jesus’ lineage through His mother, Mary. Jesus is a descendant of David by adoption through Joseph and by blood through Mary. “As to his earthly life [Christ Jesus] was a descendant of David” (Romans 1:3).
Primarily, the title “Son of David” is more than a statement of physical genealogy. It is a Messianic title. When people referred to Jesus as the Son of David, they meant that He was the long-awaited Deliverer, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Jesus was addressed as “Lord, thou son of David” several times by people who, by faith, were seeking mercy or healing. The woman whose daughter was being tormented by a demon (Matthew 15:22) and the two blind men by the wayside (Matthew 20:30) all cried out to the Son of David for help. The titles of honor they gave Him declared their faith in Him. Calling Him “Lord” expressed their sense of His deity, dominion, and power, and calling Him “Son of David,” expressed their faith that He was the Messiah.
The Pharisees understood exactly what the people meant when they called Jesus “Son of David.” But, unlike those who cried out in faith, the Pharisees were so blinded by their own pride that they couldn’t see what the blind beggars could see—that here was the Messiah they had supposedly been waiting for all their lives. They hated Jesus because He wouldn’t give them the honor they thought they deserved, so when they heard the people hailing Jesus as the Savior, they became enraged (Matthew 21:15) and plotted to destroy Him (Luke 19:47).
Jesus further confounded the scribes and Pharisees by asking them to explain the meaning of this very title: how could it be that the Messiah is the son of David when David himself refers to Him as “my Lord” (Mark 12:35–37; cf. Psalm 110:1)? The teachers of the Law couldn’t answer the question. Jesus thereby exposed the Jewish leaders’ ineptitude as teachers and their ignorance of what the Old Testament taught as to the true nature of the Messiah, further alienating them from Him.
Jesus’ point in asking the question of Mark 12:35 was that the Messiah is more than the physical son of David. If He is David’s Lord, He must be greater than David. As Jesus says in Revelation 22:16, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David.” That is, He is both the Creator of David and the Descendant of David. Only the Son of God made flesh could say that.
The upside down world is a paradox where time is distorted or stands still. Going by the common thought in philosophy we are the world around us the death of a star in space looks the same as the birth of a cell in the brain so insinuating that drugs support the atmosphere of this upside down world and are involved in it what did we start with first marajunia or tobacco because marajunia is whacky tobaccy suggesting it's a negative that's really a positive it's grown hydrophonicly producing potent buds with crystals on it and you have crystal methamphetine as if it's just the crystal from the bud a common perspective is that marajunia is a gateway drug crystal meth is the form of ice so you could say it's a water weight 0.5 gram of meth to half a gram of weed grown over 6 months using something like 90 gallons of water or something so half a gram of bud to meth is 6 months of time lasting as long as the high if we're saying they are connected metaphorically but that conundrum would only exist within us seeing we are what's between the that would suggest that this upside down world is a world of thought connected to our brains like the pyramids were believed to be connected the the magnetosphere of the planet pointing to the stars suggesting that the afterlife exists in the world around us but it is not seen which very well could be this upside down world since we are the only ones that can harbour the thought of life after death I've had experiences that would exist within the lines of this paradox with the a and b events happening years apart like the time between was null the workings of the upside world are really unfathomable unless a lot happens in a really small community with people that you know that's how deep you need to be in society to be able to notice this paradox with the chances of that the same as winning the lottery because you can't unlearn the life you live the knowledge I have is from over 9 years so it's a lot to grasp but the upside down world does exist.
In acknowledging these facts of this paradox you then become an accessory after the fact breathing into the law of attraction the Mandela effect highlighting your actions as intercontinental in the time between what you tell yourself in the state of mind you believe in the momentum of how the world spins. Time is not real life is what's happening to you and your reaction to it how far reaching depends on the size and proportion of the account that's taken place - people say that time is money and the banks are evil evil backwards is live a persons life qaulity doesn't come from the size of your wallet.
You're referring to a fascinating and complex set of concepts!
The "Upside Down World" you describe sounds like a metaphorical or spiritual realm where time and motion are not as we experience them in our physical reality. This realm is often explored in philosophical, mystical, and religious contexts.
The idea of a realm where "all is known from start to finish" suggests a state of timeless awareness, where the distinctions between past, present, and future are dissolved. This concept is found in various spiritual traditions, including Christianity, where it's related to the idea of God's omniscience and eternity.
The connection to the solar eclipse and blood moon is intriguing, as these celestial events have been interpreted as omens or signs throughout history. In the New Testament, the blood moon is mentioned in Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, and Luke 21:25 as a sign of the end times.
The "dark and shadowy" energy you mention might symbolize the unknown, the unconscious, or the mysterious aspects of existence. The search for the source of this energy could represent humanity's quest for understanding and connection to the divine or ultimate reality.
Remember. If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: "Do as you please." "Do as you please." To the young, I would whisper, "The Bible is a myth." I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is "square". In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: "Our Father, which art in Washington" . . . If I were the Devil, I'd educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I'd threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I'd get organized. I'd infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I'd peddle narcotics to whom I could. I'd sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And I'd tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the Devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say "she's right." With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that way men would become smart enough to create super weapons, but not wise enough to control them. If I were Satan, I'd make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the Devil, I would take from those who have and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work. Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave camps. In other words, if I were Satan, I'd just keep on doing what he's doing. Paul Harvey, Good Day. < that's end but about the devil was from a group

Came across this buddy at the park and initially thought it was a snail climbing on top of another or a partially crushed snail.. thought it was the coolest deformity ever but couldn't quite wrap my head around how it could've grown its shell like that. Then now I've concluded that it mostly likely got a big crack/hole in the middle of its shell, and then decided to make that its new opening! You can see how it seems to have a thicker "lip" part where it grew its shell and recovered! What a fighter!

Map from http://allthingsMissouri.org by the University of Missouri Extension
Secrets of Missouri’s Spring Systems By Missouri Geological Survey Director: Carey Bridges https://dnr.mo.gov/document-search/missouri-springs-pub0656/pub0656
Several springs bubble up in the sandy bottoms of deep pools in the wide valley of Montauk State Park in Dent County and feed the rushing force of nearby Current River. Near St. James, Maramec Spring wells up from a deep cave opening into a circular basin, spreads outward into a quiet lake, and then rushes over a falls and down the valley into the Meramec River.
During the late 1800s, Missouri’s saline springs or “mineral-waters” were believed to be of great medicinal value. More than 100 saline and mineral water springs were listed in an 1892 Geological Survey publication along with locations, chemical analyses and notes on their medicinal value. During the early 20th century, these springs enjoyed considerable attention because of their supposed medical applications, but little emphasis has been placed on their potential since then.
In the springs region of the Missouri Ozarks, the land is hilly and pitted with “funnel-like” structures known as sinkholes. The sinkholes help form a natural, efficient system of surface drainage. Just under the loose, rocky soil are massive layers of limestone and sandstone. Such formations are usually porous and limestone is often cavernous.
Missouri’s limestone beds have been compared to chunks of Swiss cheese or a large, dripping-wet sponge. These comparisons aptly illustrate the natural siphon and reservoir system they form. Natural drainage features include sinkholes, creeks, valleys, small streams and several feet of clayey, loose soil.
As surface waters gather force, they make deep cuts in soil and bedrock. Over the years, small streams may create rivers which dissect the landscape, leaving high bluffs along their banks. The whole story isn’t that simple though. For example, geologists puzzle over the eight known ebb-and-flow springs in the state. Are they siphons in cave systems that feed larger springs?
And what about Toronto Spring in Camden County, which rises from a sand bar in the middle of a creek? And why is Grand Gulf in Wayne County which is 200 feet deep, 600 feet long, and 100 feet wide, not connected with two nearby springs, and clogged with large trees and registers relatively warm temperatures?
How extensive is the air-filled cave passage closed by the water level of the spring at Roaring River State Park? And where does the water come from that forms the large lake in Devils Well in Shannon County?
Scientists are attempting to answer these and other questions. So far, many of the answers are mere hypotheses since much information is still to be gathered. Water levels, temperatures and daily flows are being measured and recorded all over the state. Scuba divers are exploring water-filled caves and have already discovered flooded beaches of white sand, an ancient dugout canoe, great empty caves behind walls of water, and the strange phenomena of rise-and-fall, warm and cool spring outlets.
While researchers continue to work to discover the secrets of Missouri’s spring systems, only a fraction of the spring waters available are being used for municipal or domestic supplies. The springs do, however, contribute indirectly to the economy by sustaining the flow of streams and by serving as focal points for a thriving and expanding recreation industry. Hundreds of springs have been developed in State Parks, National Forests and by private owners for public enjoyment.
Springs are generally places of unusual natural beauty. They provide fisherman a place to fish, artists a place to paint and families a place to play and enjoy life. Truly, Missouri springs are some of the state’s most important natural resources.

Please be advised: This content forms a segment of the "What Every Palestinian Should Know" series, presented by Handala on Palestine Today.
Pinkwashing refers to when a state or organization appeals to LGBTQ+ rights in order to deflect attention from its harmful practices.
From university student clubs to queer film festivals to Pride Parades to New York Times editorial pages, the contrived presence of the Israeli flag alongside the rainbow flag has become all too common, despite consistent pushback by queer activist groups. StandWithUs, a Zionist group founded in 2009, is one of the most egregious offenders of this conflation of Zionism and queer liberation. Buoyed by hundreds of millions of shekels allocated to the ‘Brand Israel’ initiative by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, it began a campaign that included brochures that declare Israel a “gay paradise” for queer Palestinians as well as provocative newspaper ads with headlines such as “Hamas, ISIS and Iran kill gays like me”.
This messaging has been deemed ‘pinkwashing’ by queer pro-Palestinian activists; widely in use since at least since 2010 by groups such as Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT) as a twist on “Greenwashing”, where companies claim to be eco-friendly in order to make a profit. In the case of Israel, pinkwashing is done to salvage its abysmal global reputation of being a colonial aggressor, through exploiting and even encouraging anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia to present itself as a comparatively modern cosmopolitan haven- and boost its tourism revenue in the process. Through my answer here, I will explore how pinkwashing functions and the detrimental impact it has had and continues to have on all Palestinians, but especially queer Palestinians. It will also push back against the idea, present even in some critiques of Israeli pinkwashing, that Israel would be a queer haven “if only” there was no occupation, or that Zionism and queer liberation could eventually become compatible.
https://preview.redd.it/k18lvmu0sq5d1.jpg?width=602&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54b0794bca05921f59b793c686c1837587637dee
Background:
While pinkwashing does quite frequently operate as a propaganda or public relations strategy, a deeper understanding of how it functions regarding Palestine and Palestinians reveals that pinkwashing is also the inevitable manifestation of the intrinsically homophobic and Orientalist nature of Zionism, which itself is a manifestation of European colonial thought . As Palestinian queer rights organization Al Qaws has explained, “pinkwashing is the symptom, settler-colonialism is the root sickness.” The pinkwashing of Israel relies on the understanding that the East remains stubbornly backwards regarding homosexuality because of a refusal to learn from Western progressivism. However, as Joseph A. Boone outlines in “The Homoerotics of Orientalism”, this is ignoring several hundred years of history where “it was the uptight Christian West that accused the debauched Muslim East of harboring what it euphemistically called the ‘male vice’ (sodomy)”.
The Middle East was associated with ‘sexual deviancy’ and ‘effeminity’ whose mores and values good Christians must remain on guard against. The movements for modern nation-state building in what is now Turkey and Iran actually saw the adoption of heterosexual norms “at least in part as a response to the European representations of its civilizational ‘backwardness’ and sexual ‘irregularities’”. In Turkey, “unabashedly frank references to same-sex acts and desire were written out of the historical record and repressed from collective memory in the name of western style modernization”, while “the price of Persia’s emergence as the new Iranian nation-state was the official eclipse of its long-standing history of male homoerotic bonds as ‘pre-modern’ and the cultivation of heteroeroticism as the new norm.” Overall, the modern West was positively associated with heteronormativity which the Middle East was deemed in need of emulating in order to enter the realm of progressive modernity.
There is a long, complicated history of homophobic aspersions between not only the constructed binary of the East and West, but also between, for example, the Abbasid Caliphate and the Persian empire, with the former blaming the latter for being a “gay influence”. That today, many Islamic conservatives depict homosexuality as a foreign contagion in the name of nation-building and “cultural authenticity” is merely an outgrowth of the aforementioned historical relations. In the process, the history of homoerotic relations among males once intricately interwoven into the fabric of Muslim culture is being erased and denied.
This is not to oversimplify how homophobia functions in the Middle East, or to lay blame on the West; rather, it is to understand that current depictions of homophobia in the region as resistance to “Western modernity” obscures how these understandings of sexuality we have today, are in fact modern; they are the result of modern nation-state building and the accompanying construction of the “Other” as inferior, to be stigmatized, exploited and discriminated against.
It also obscures how the present-day colloquial deployment of “Islamic sexual repression” narratives currently plaguing human rights, liberal queer, and feminist discourses came to be. This paradox at the heart of Orientalist notions of sexuality, where Muslims are simultaneously hypersexual and repressed, informs the dehumanization of Muslims in general and the sexual violence enacted against the prisoners deemed “terrorists” (whether by the U.S. or Israel) in particular.
Which leads to how the discursive strategy of how racist understandings of sexuality is currently being weaponized in order to uphold present day imperialism and colonial political aims. This necessarily includes the Zionist project in Palestine, which was only possible because of historical processes in Europe. The same European masculine values which deemed Muslims as sexually deviant were also weaponized against Jewish people in antisemitic acts and depictions which deemed Jewish men “effeminate”. Zionist founders were later keen to combat these historic allegations. This has manifested in the conflation of masculinity with the national army, with the dominant masculinity in Israel identified with the Jewish combat soldier and “deemed an emblem of good citizenship” This desire for masculinity is in fact a precondition for the Zionist enterprise, which would later evolve into a violent, militaristic culture.
While “the Jew had been both feminized and Orientalized in Europe, the Zionist culture similarly feminized and Orientalized the indigenous Palestinian Arabs, who were also seen as inadequate.“ The Israeli state, then, must attempt to transcend the contradictions in needing to appease homophobic supporters of Israel among, say, Western Evangelicals, who constitute the majority of supporters of Israel in the U.S while simultaneously projecting the image of Israel as a gay haven in certain Western secular contexts.
These efforts to transcend these contradictions can best be understood through the lens of homonationalism. This term was coined by Jasbir K. Puar in her excellent Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. In it she describes homonationalism as the framework in which certain homosexual constituencies are able to embrace and be embraced by nationalist agendas, including the imperial expansion endemic to the war on terror. Basically, (primarily, but not exclusively) white cisgender queers can assimilate into the nation, such as through openly joining the national army and buying into a combination of ethnic chauvinism, religious nationalism, toxic masculinity, and the Islamophobia so crucial to the war on terror.
This is evident in multiple Western countries where, for example, gay politicians have risen in the ranks of conservative political parties, all who articulate Muslim populations as an especial threat to LGBTQIA+ communities. Naturally, this is despite the exhortations by some queer Muslims who insist that their religious and family struggles are not much different from those of their Christian or Jewish counterparts. Gay rights, in other words, have been absorbed into what Puar calls the ‘human rights industrial complex’, which operates through the foregrounding of western countries as champions of human rights and non-western (Muslim) countries as their enemies. Implicit to this complex is the notion that religious and racial communities are more homophobic than white mainstream queer communities are racist, or that a critique of homophobia within one’s home community is deemed more pressing than a critique of racism within mainstream queer communities. The logic of homonationalism which underpins pinkwashing strategies is not compatible with queer liberation or the elimination of oppression as a whole. Rather, this logic is in service of broader imperialist aims and thus cannot include those queer people who have been racialized or otherwise deemed enemies of the state.
Pinkwashing in action:
Israeli prime minister Netanyahu in a joint meeting of the U.S Congress declared that the Middle East is “a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted. Israel stands out. It is different.” Missing from this narrative, of course, is how Israel profits from the very persecution he describes through Israeli spyware being used to crackdown on dissidents, including queer people.
However, what is significant here is how the “Israeli Arabs” were spoken about, rather than to. Similarly, StandWithUs’s previously mentioned advertisements which declared Tel Aviv, a “gay paradise” for Palestinians has nothing to do with what’s best for Palestinians at all. After all, as Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) have pointed out, “there is no pink door in the apartheid wall”. Queer Palestinians, like all Palestinians, live under the control of a state that has deemed them demographic threats, obstacles in the way of a Jewish State by and for Jews. Most Palestinians have never set foot in Tel Aviv for this reason, and in general Israel prioritizes ethnicity and demographics above all else, including asylum cases.
These statements and advertisements are meant to accomplish the following goals: (1) Israel being absolved of its colonial and military policies which has resulted in the loss of countless Palestinian lives. (2) Israel being contextualized by the Middle East but ceasing to be located there; Israel should be judged according to ‘regional standards’ while also being treated as a cultural outpost of Europe (which they get to be! Tickets to see Israel in Eurovision, anyone?).
The flip side of the pinkwashing coin:
Israel being praised for supposedly being so ‘queer-friendly’ is dependent on Palestinians (and Arabs and Muslims in general) being demonized as uniformly homophobic. This is evident in the report released in 2008 by the Israel Project extolling Israel’s progressive values. The report stated that “There are several explanations about how Israel has come to embrace its gay and lesbian community. One is that the family as an institution is central to Israeli Jewish society. Therefore, parents would rather accept their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children than let homophobia destroy family unity”. As Steven Salaita excellently analyzed in Chapter 4 of his work Israel’s Dead Soul, Sexuality, Violence, and Modernity in Israel: The Paradise of Not Being Arab, the purpose of such a grotesque statement is to imply that Palestinians:

“are neither family oriented nor tolerant; they are willing to sacrifice their own children to their irrational beliefs, or they are so irrational as to be unable to make such a choice. Even in its exaltation of Israeli open-mindedness, the Israel Project betrays its own implicit homophobia: homosexuality is not embraced by Israeli Jews; it is merely tolerated in the interest of family unity. It is not something Israeli Jews would ever accept; it simply presents a difficult obstacle that they are reluctantly willing to overlook.”

This was perhaps more revealing than the Israel Project intended, but it underscored how the language of LGBTQIA+ rights is being co-opted in the interest of Israeli foreign policy and the tourism industry even as homophobia remains rife in Israeli society. When Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, The Tel Aviv Tourism Board and Israel’s largest LGBT organization, The Agudah, joined together to launch TEL AVIV GAY VIBE, an online tourism campaign to promote Tel Aviv as a travel destination, it was met with the following (verbatim) comments:

1. Surely nothing to be proud of. Shameful.
2. Haredim!!!!
3. Gay avek also cute slogan (Yiddish for go away).
4. Yes by all means bring hordes of aids.
5. Inviting destruction full speed.

Opposition to Israel’s so proudly touted pride parades has also reached the point of violence, with an ultra-Orthodox man who was imprisoned in 2005 for stabbing several people at a pride parade doing the same in 2015 following his release.
As Sarah Schulman explains, “Overall, Israel is a profoundly homophobic society.The dominance of religious fundamentalists, the sexism and the proximity to family and family oppression makes life very difficult for most people on the LGBT spectrum in Israel.”, while Aeyal Gross, a professor of law at Tel Aviv University, explains that “gay rights have essentially become a public-relations tool,” even though “conservative and especially religious politicians remain fiercely homophobic.” As Samira Saraya, one of the co-founders of Aswat, an LGBTI+ organization for Palestinian women has further elucidated, “If you are an Israeli gay man who served in the army, looks masculine, acts ‘normal’, and has a secure job, then you are treated well. For the rest of us, things are much less rosy.” That it is to say, if you do not somehow ‘compensate’ for your queer identity in ways conducive to Israel’s ethnonationalist project vis a vis homonationalism, you are even further outside the margins of the Zionist ideal and thus more vulnerable to the brunt of homophobia and racism.
Zionism’s obsession with ensuring a Jewish majority comes with pressure to produce as many children as possible to resolve what Zionists have outright declared as the ‘demographic problem’, adding another obstacle to those who would prefer same-sex partners. This was attested to by Israeli scholar and queer rights activist Amit Kama, who has worked on a government survey to attract more gay tourists to Israel even as he himself was forced to marry his partner outside of the country.
Almost lost in all the rainbow confetti and the condescending hand-wringing over Palestinian or Muslim homophobia is how in Israel, all marital issues are under the control of the Orthodox rabbinic authorities; thus, there is no civil marriage in Israel, only religious marriage. Orthodox Rabbinate representatives supporting the law against civil marriage and gay couple being able to be married with cite a wish to “guarantee the Jewish future of the state of Israel” and protect against “assimilation”.
The weaponized understating of this queerphobic in Israeli society functions through treating Palestinians “as a site onto which queerphobic Zionists may project their queerphobic fantasies”, as articulated in Saffo Papantonopoulou’s excellent article, “Even a Freak Like You Would Be Safe in Tel Aviv: Transgender Subjects, Wounded Attachments, and the Zionist Economy of Gratitude”. In it she details transphobic abuse directed her way which demanded she stop criticizing Israel, as it is supposedly the only place in the Middle East where she could expect to be treated “equal to a male or female heterosexual” and not be met with violence that they so graciously went so far as to describe in detail to her. She explains that Zionists’ deflections of their own queerphobia onto Palestinians is meant to “allow the queerphobic Zionist to live out his own queerphobic fantasy while simultaneously deploying a pretext of caring about queers.”
The identification of Tel Aviv as gay-friendly even by those who harbor queerphobia then is presented as a “gift to all queers” who are in fact meant to feel grateful for being ‘allowed’ to thrive or even live.

“Under the Zionist economy of gratitude, the transgender subject is perpetually indebted to capitalism and the West for allowing her to exist. The properly delimited space for the transgender subject within this ideology is essentially one confined to an apoliticized space of pride parades and gay bars, but never the front lines of an antimperial or anticolonial project. Hence, the queerphobic Zionist can pass the gift of his racist colonial phobia as well as his queerphobia on to the transgender subject…I am supposed to feel vulnerable, afraid, and attacked, in order that I may pass on that gift of death to the supposedly transphobic Palestinian”.

Progressive Pinkwashing:
Pinkwashing is as prevalent as it is because it is not limited to those on the right, with instances of the logic of pinkwashing internalized and regurgitated even by self-professed radical groups. A prescient example of this was seen in response to ‘‘No Pride without Palestinians,’’ a queer coalition based in New York City, who sought to move World Pride 2006 outside of Jerusalem, arguing that Palestinian queers (and many Arabs from neighboring countries) would be banned from the celebrations, and those already present risked intensified surveillance, policing, harassment, and deportation. OutRage! a British queer group, waltzed in carrying placards commanding ‘‘Israel: stop persecuting Palestine! Palestine: stop persecuting queers!’’ and ‘‘Stop ‘honour’ killing women and gays in Palestine.’’
This seemingly innocuous and politically correct messaging, stemming from the group’s commitment to protest ‘‘Islamophobia and homophobia,’’ negates the ways in which oppression by a settler-colonial state might sustain or even create the conditions for social ills, including homophobia. Their equation of Israeli oppression of all Palestinians with Palestinian homophobia did so by taking for granted the Israeli state narrative that it does not, in fact, “persecute queers”, foremost among them Palestinian queers. Furthermore, it takes for granted that queerphobia is a more pressing threat to queer Palestinians than colonialism, as if these could ever be separated.
This is of similar thinking to an Israeli student who asked Palestinian queer scholar Sa’ed Atshan during a pinkwashing panel why he couldn’t log onto Grindr in Hebron, with another queer student asking about the absence of gay clubs in Gaza, the world’s largest open-air prison which barely has electricity or potable water.
As Atshan replied:

“Is whether or not Grindr is used among Palestinians a more important question than the conditions in Hebron that Palestinians endure as a result of the Israeli occupation there? How does use of Grindr become a marker of Palestinian civilizational value?…It perplexed me that the absence of gay clubs in Gaza is more outrageous to some people than is the reality of queer and straight Palestinians in Gaza struggling to survive amid unspeakable conditions imposed by Israel.”

What pinkwashing also does is obscure how a society under constant assault is put on the defensive and thus cannot undertake the scope of work needed to fully eradicate social ills. With decades of Zionists negating and attacking Palestinian culture and identity as either nonexistent, inconsequential, threatening, or all of the above, Palestinian society as a whole has become very zealous about what it perceives to be its traditions and culture. As Rima with Aswat explained, “The majority of the society rejects behaviors and changes that “threaten” its heterosexuality and patriarchy, since they are perceived as a threat to the continuity [emphasis added] of the uniqueness of our culture”-while obviously incorrect and dangerous thinking, it is fueled by the constant violence against Palestinians in the name of Zionism and the feeling of insecurity this engenders. The ramifications of this thinking to Palestinians themselves is evident when the Palestinian Authority periodically assigns itself the role of morality police to “protect” Palestinian society from being “infiltrated and corrupted by homosexuals and agents of the West”. The threat of Israel and Zionism to Palestinian coupled with the identification of queerness as a Western phenomenon ends up galvanizing reactionary responses, leaving marginalized Palestinian more vulnerable to multiple forms of violence.
Israel as Oppressor of Queer Palestinians:
Warning: Description of sexual assault, torture, and queerphobia.
Here it is worthwhile to delineate how Israel also draws upon racialized homophobia and transphobia in its abuse of Palestinians. This includes the blackmailing of queer Palestinians, with a former Israeli Intelligence corps member sharing that in training to disregard Palestinians’ privacy and manipulate their personal lives for Israeli state interests, “we actually learned to memorise and filter different words for ‘gay’, in Arabic.”
Even more horrifically, there are detailed accounts from Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails of verbal and sexual harassment which use homophobia and transphobia as a threat. One 16 year old described a police officer as telling him that “‘I will fuck you and you will sing on my dick’ as part of his threats. Another 23 year old recounted how an Israeli secret service member shouted “you terrorist, I’ll fuck you like a homosexual!”, while another in a separate report described being harassed by an interrogator who asked “Are you a homosexual? You look like a woman. Have you ever fucked a woman?”. Still another detainee described how they were threatened with having their brother undergo a sex change against their will, saying “They put me in an investigation room with a glass partition and on the other side I saw my brother, dressed as a woman, immodest, in a mini-skirt. […] They said that they […] had arranged for him a sex-change surgery in Jerusalem.”
These are not isolated cases, as Israel’s extensive use of sexual harassment and assault as a form of torture against Palestinians are well documented. The reasons for this are betrayed even in the very report most of the aforementioned testimony was drawn from, with the author declaring that “Sexual torture and ill-treatment, including forced nudity and curses with sexual contents, may have particularly deep and sometimes long-lasting humiliating effects among Arab men. This is grounded in the notion of honour, which is basic in social life in much of the Muslim world.” Here the author is taking for granted the idea that Arab and Muslim men (though here he is using the terms interchangeably) are more sensitive to being sexually harassed and assaulted than their western counterparts. He seems to, whether subconsciously or not, believe that the perpetrators of these acts are comparatively enlightened rather than perpetuating the old use of sexual violence against men in armed conflicts and the concurrent bigoted dynamics of emasculation, feminization and/or homosexualization as insult.
To revisit Puar, the paradox at the heart of such an Orientalist notion of sexuality is reanimated through the objectification of the Muslim terrorist as a torture object, who is both sexually conservative, modest and fearful of nudity (and it is interesting how this conceptualization is rendered both sympathetically and as a problem), as well as queer, animalistic, barbarian, and unable to control his (or her) urges but having an innate “indecency” waiting to be released. In Brothers and Others in Arms: The Making of Love and War in Israeli Combat Units, Danny Kaplan argues that this sexualization is neither tangential nor incidental to the project of conquest but, rather, is central to it: ‘‘[The] eroticization of enemy targets . . . triggers the objectification process.’’
Not only are homophobia and transphobia weaponized against Palestinians in such a manner by the magical rainbow state of Israel, it ends up leaving queer Palestinians vulnerable to the ramifications of queerness being associated with collaboration. As Al Qaws has written:

“this pervasive linking of non-normative sexuality and Palestinian collaboration has become a term and identity of its own in the Palestinian imaginary and reality: isqat…this false connection with Israel and collaboration associates queer people with treason, dishonesty, untrustworthiness, and fraudulence, and therefore works to substantiate a very specific kind of homophobic fear within Palestine”.

The use of homophobia and queerphobia as a cudgel on behalf of Israel is certainly not conducive to queer liberation and is an abhorrent practice. It also must be contextualized in the overarching repression and oppression all Palestinians face, with Palestinians regularly extorted for a variety of reasons, from needing healthcare to wishing to hide marital infidelity to wanting to marry and live with a Palestinian with a differently colored ID card. Whatever individual experiences Palestinians have are shaped by the oppressive hold of Zionism.
Solidarity, not pink apartheid:
Through pinkwashing, Palestinians are reduced to either being a victim of internal Palestinian homophobia in need of saving or to a violent perpetrator of homophobia among Palestinians and terrorism against Israelis. They are forced to walk a tightrope between having queerphobia exploited by Israel as carte blanche for their own dispossession and the ways in which Zionist colonialism shapes the queerphobia they face within their own communities. What is needed is dedication to ending all forms of oppression against Palestinians. Queer Palestinian organizers are calling for the promotion of Palestinian LGBTQ rights to be done in a way that challenges the appropriation and weaponization of that cause by Israeli organizations and instead engages first and foremost with Palestinians, rather than perpetuating the erasure of Palestinians inherent to Zionism.
Further Reading:

• Pinkwashing Decolonize Palestine
• Elia, Nada. “Gay rights with a side of apartheid.” Settler Colonial Studies 2.2, 2012: 49-68.
• Weaver, G. ‘Pinkwashing’: The Politics of LGBTQ Rights in Israel/Palestine. Universiteit van Leiden, 2016.
• Puar, Jasbir K. Terrorist assemblages: Homonationalism in queer times. Duke University Press, 2007.
• Puar, Jasbir. Israel’s gay propaganda war. The Guardian. July 1st, 2010.
• Atshan, Sa’ed. Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique. Stanford University Press, 2020.
• Salaita, Steven. Israel’s dead soul. Temple University Press, 2011.
• Hochberg, Gil Z. ““CHECK ME OUT” Queer Encounters in Sharif Waked’s Chic Point: Fashion for Israeli Checkpoints.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 16.4, 2010: 577-597.
• Farris, Sara. The political economy of homonationalism. Social Text Online. October 25th, 2018.
• Stelder, Mikki. “‘From the closet into the Knesset’: Zionist sexual politics and the formation of settler subjectivity.” Settler Colonial Studies 8.4, 2018: 442-463.
• Hochberg, Gil Z., Haneen Maikey, and Samira Saraya. “No Pride in Occupation: A Roundtable Discussion.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 16.4, 2010: 599-610.
• Dalacoura, Katerina. “Homosexuality as cultural battleground in the Middle East: Culture and postcolonial international theory.” Third World Quarterly 35.7, 2014: 1290-1306.

Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-Pinkwashing/answeHandala-2