#Critique of government

[melonisopod]

Whole chapter showing war being pointless and exploitative and how the government that funded said war was all too happy to throw away the soldiers they used as literal living weapons: Apolitical.

Whole chapter about a woman urging her friends to do something about their starving neighbors and how she ended up killing a pawnbroker to enact justice but the system ensured the most helpless were still punished: Apolitical.

Whole chapter where literal Crusaders murder people for modifying their bodies and how it relates to bodily autonomy and identity; main characters visit a border crossing and witness a child being separated forcefully from their family: Apolitical.

Whole chapter about corporations appropriating and exploiting well-meaning genius inventions to benefit themselves and quite literally profit off the suffering of others: Apolitical.

Female character doesn't have her tits out: Evil Feminist Agenda, Forced Politics

#limbus company #this is kind of like how dudes are having screaming meltdowns about barbie being anti-male #and have zero to say about oppenheimer's critiques of u.s. government and the bomb-dropping #i'm glad to see cultural resonance. idiot men are the same in all countries #lcb spoilers #taggin just incase

[communistkenobi]

I’m kinda fuzzy on some of the details of the prequel era but like the separatists have always been one of those villains who express perfectly legitimate grievances with the government but then murder babies or whatever so you know that they’re bad. and like on the whole they’re just a goofy type of evil villain that has all the bad guys with red swords leading it. So I’m not coming out to say “the separatists were right actually”, but they occupied a very familiar role in Star Wars - extreme opposition to the government in any direction is uniformly bad and leads to you becoming evil.

but then Andor does the very smart thing of having Saw, arguably the most radical rebel (ie left wing) character in the mainline canon, not like them. It gives a more definite political character to the separatists when a critique of them is coming from another “extreme” type of character in the universe, because while Saw doesn’t come out with a speech outlining exactly how and why they suck, you now are given some indication that whatever reasonable criticisms the separatists made of the Republic, they are not the same type of people leading the rebellion now, and they cannot be trusted. And this is much more subtextual, but it acknowledges that they were ultimately a right wing movement led by authoritarian people (ie the Sith). Now Luthen calls these differences petty, but Saw existing in this show and expressing a distrust of them gives both the rebels and the separatists much needed political definition. They’re disagreeing about ideological goals, which sort of neuters the horseshoe-theory style of politics Star Wars is so comfortable operating within. One extremist is not interchangeable with any other, and the reason why is a matter of ideological disagreement.

#sw.txt #andor #from what I remember the separatists were like right wing libertarian types #they had solid critiques of the republic but no positive vision for how to build their own government #at least in any way that would be meaningfully different from the republic long term

[alwaysbewoke]

#late capitalism #contemporary economy #income inequality #corporate power #shrinking middle class #economic absurdities #capitalist system #socio-economic critique #economic critique #wealth disparity #capitalist society #economic system #baltimore bridge collapse #infrastructure disaster #francis scott key bridge #construction accident #rescue operations #salvage effort #port of baltimore #supply chains #federal government #reconstruction cost #insurance claims #liability

[assiraphales]

one of the craziest responses (and I’ve seen it multiple times) to my post appreciating little things about america is the people saying “can u imagine if a russian or someone from china did this for their country” bc baby girl that says a lot more about you than me

#home is still home #a government doesn’t define an entire country #you can critique something while still loving something

[mihrsuri]

I am so tired. It is so hard, I cannot actually explain how hard it has been to learn in such raw blatant terms how much people hate you for being Jewish. I think especially as a Mizrahi Jewish woman and especially as someone who considers herself progressive/leftist. Like I always knew - I knew going back years that to be Jewish is to be safe nowhere in the world but wow, the extent to which it has hit home and I will never forget it.

(The one thing I ask, the only thing I ask is that you recognise that Jewish people, all of us, are indigenous to the land. You do not have to like Israel. You do not have to not advocate fiercely for Palestinian lives, for Palestinian children and for safety and human rights. You do not even have to include disclaimers in this. I do not ask that. All I ask as a woman whose Jewish family was expelled from Persia and Syria long before the modern state of Israel, who has been grieving, who loathes Netanyahu is that you recognise all this, if you have ever been my friend. And if you don’t, please just unfollow and block me now. I am on the edge of suicide anyway, I have no more to lose, no more pain that I have not inflicted upon myself. I can’t do this. I can’t.

I can’t.

#jewish things #i am done i am beyond done #i think i should be dead i think it would make a lot of people very happy #i think i have never felt dirtier and more tainted and more unworthy of existence #i am done #also actually yes ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO EXIST #(and yes you can absolutely criticise the Israeli state and advocate for Palestinians without being antisemitic I PROMISE) #(just don’t yell ‘gas the jews’ ‘keep the world clean’ or do blood libel) #things that are not: standing against israeli extremists/criticising the government/pushing for aid/critiquing the judicial system/the war) #i have absolutely seen people passionately advocate for the palestinian people and i think that is crucial to say! #and not deny jewish indigenity but you know stand against the issues of the israeli state

[robthegoodfellow]

#noah samsen #free palestine #i'd heard about the heinous zionist shit on tik tok #but didn't have the stomach to seek it out #this is good recap of the propaganda machine #both mainstream media and social media #a good recap and scathing critique #fuck the IDF #fuck biden #fuck netanyahu and his fascist government #basically fuck anyone actively engaging in genocide denial #Youtube

[thewhizzyhead]

heyo this is your resident rambler bringing you updates from sapphic filipino twitter: darlentina has been featured on the "for sapphics" twitter account twice and both posts are racking up a lot of views and likes. it's been a week filled with a rollercoaster of darlentina content and we're already breaching the international sapphic stage that is the "for sapphics" twitter account. even more clips and shitpost edits outside of that are amassing hundreds of thousands of views. everyone, this is our pinoy queerbaiting era ala supercorp except that through the power of sheer gay spite, we are very rapidly pushing the production crew to a corner in the hopes that international queer pressure will make them drop the dude cop love interest in favor of what could be one of the most revolutionary twists in philippine mainstream media: making darna and valentina, canonical archenemies, the main romantic pairing and partners in crime in fighting against very thinly-veiled allegories to philippine political corruption

#i am all in for this truth be told #like WE ARE MOST PROBABLY HEAVILY QUEERBAITED NOW BUUUUT #tv shows in the ph have changed the endings and the endgame parings before based on what the fans want #so with all of twitter pushing the production team to a corner with international queer fanfare and exposure #alongside the actresses and writers themselves liking and engaging with the darlentina tweets #i believe that there could potentially be a chance that this might actually happen #i mean THEY ALREADY ARE HEAVILY CRITIQUING THE GOVERNMENT AND POLICE FORCE HERE #SO WHAT'S ONE MORE CONTROVERSIAL THING RIGHT? AND IT'S ACTUALLY A GOOD AND REVOLUTIONARY CONTROVERSIAL THING! so pretty please #also in the long run it really wouldn't do well to pursue the love triangle with the cop #because...copaganda...and given how shitty the police force is here...and given that regina (valentina's civillian self) points that out.. #yeaaaaaaaa i hope they pull a korrasami #like i'm still being very wary of being queerbaited here because This Is The Philippines And We Don't Get Mainstream Queer Romances #BUT I'M HOPING. ALSO THE PRODUCTION CREW POSTED THEIR OWN CLIPS AND USED THE DARLENTINA SHIP NAME TOO. SO. PRETTY PLEASE. #darna #darna 2022 #darlentina #jane de leon #narda custodio #janella salvador #regina vanguardia #abscbn #philippines

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

The Poisons We Drink

YA urban fantasy

a girl who brews powerful potions is coerced into making potions to interfere with D.C.’s most influential politicians in an attempt to stop a dangerous Witcher Registration Act from passing, and will do anything to protect her sister after their mother is killed

bi MC, nonbinary love interest

arc from netgalley

#The Poisons We Drink #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #this is…….a lot of cool ideas but also so many elements and high stakes that i kinda lost track of them #the pacing is weird. the worldbuilding is random? #why is brewing SO overpowered & risky for her but the other powers seem to have pretty normal low-scale risks? #it’s definitely ambitious and has some cool ideas and also some great characters just. didn’t execute as well as I’d like #as much as we’re told the main threat is the government trying to put through a Registration Act #most of the actual antagonism we see is from other Witchers? #like the systemic discrimination got a bit lost in the witcher family drama and murder politics #important things to say about oppression and police violence but like....idk #she has this ‘deviation’- essentially evil sentient magic inside her head (and you KNOW I love that trope) #but it’s barely explained and very underutilised? other than helping her get out of bad situations you could take it out & would barely #change anything #also it’s explained at the start that she’s an empath but other than the very occasional mention I kept forgetting #will also note that I bumped this up my tbr because I saw the author talking/promoting it as the MCs sister being aroace but no mention #maybe it’ll come up in a sequel (there weren’t really any places where it would have made sense to bring it up here) but idk #(just the way the author was asking for advice on how to write an ace character and stuff you’d assume that they’d….put that in the book?) #not really a critique of the book itself but anyway. I really wanted to like this but the way it was put together just did not vibe with me #edit: I saw the author say on twitter that the version used for ARCs was before ace stuff was added and that there's other signif changes? #so perhaps that will be there! i'm not sure if I want to read it again but might skim just to see what that's about

[noctilionoidea]

people acting like Poseidon and Athena did that to Medusa buddy that was Minerva and Neptune

#Uhhhh #please dont take this too seriously but this is about people not doing research into the actual origins of Medusa and gorgons as a whole #greek mythology #mythology #classical mythology #ovid metamorphoses #roman mythology #Also ya know… ovid was not only Roman but writing to critique his government #So

[snarlicbread]

I LOVE TO EAVESDROP I LOVE TO LURK DURING ART CLASS BUT IT DOES HURT MY HEART THE MORE THAT I OBSERVE

#i am listening to the popular group in my mixed media class #im angry im sad im intruiged im disgusted im finding them on instagram im learning who goes by their middle name instead of their first #and yes the paintings of exploding government buildings are coming along nicely tyvm #amazed that any of them are prepared for critique tbh all they do is talk #mine

[bisexualalienss]

monkey man is the an amazing movie. plus dev patel was sweaty and bloody for like 90% of it

#also. the whole thing was critiquing indias far right government 👍

[atlantic-riona]

"it's not realistic—" do you think I am reading the genre named "fantasy" for how accurate it is to real life

#dragons can't fly with that anatomy it doesn't make sense— #well how did they get the sword in the stone #and how did they make it so arthur was the only one to pull it out— #well why doesn't bruce wayne fix gotham logically with paying more taxes 🤔🤔 #this is about dragons and superheroes and magic btw #like okay critique whether that's a realistic reaction to an event or not (keeping in mind genre conventions) #but if you open up a book and it's a fantasy book and there are dragons #I do NOT want to hear my friend. #it's a DRAGON #do you read arthurian literature and go MAGIC #unless the mechanics are directly explored/relevant to the story #it's okay if it's unrealistic!!! #smh hearing people talk about idk superheroes and go #bro #first of all #someone has not read the source material where gotham government is corrupt and bruce already pours his money into programs that help #second of all #the point of batman is that it is about a man who dresses up like a bat and fights wacky criminals #can that include some great and thought-provoking themes and stories? absolutely!! #but at the end of the day it's not meant to be realistic!! #anyway back to the main point #the genre is literally called FANTASY and it is allowed to be true to the name!!!

[blessyouhawkeye]

love when barack obama makes his little annual favourite songs of the year post because they're always so fucking insane. what do you mean barack obama said one of his favourite songs of 2022 was american teenager by ethel cain.

#SIR THAT SONG DIRECTLY CRITIQUES THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT!!!

[seductivejellyfish]

Making this post against my better judgement but:

It is 100% true that decolonization does not have to include mass expulsion and/or revenge and those are scare tactics and false flags used by colonizing powers to prevent decolonization actions.

However, it is ignorant, willful or accidentally, to ignore the history of Jews as a group specifically when imagining the future for Jews in the middle east after Palestine is freed.

White people in the US, for example do not have a legitimate reason to fear that they will be expelled from their homes in the event of landback successes. That fear is manufactured and based on nothing.

Jews absolutely have reason to fear that they will be expelled from their homes in most countries in the world. That fear is more or less legitimate in various places due to a variety of factors, but it is not built on nothing, it is built on the history of Jews being expelled from nearly every country in the world, and a current state of the world that is still rife with antisemitism.

The region around Palestine is not on the whole wholly hostile to the state of Israel because of humanitarian support for the people of Palestine. That is absolutely a large part of the motivation for action for many people in the region and around the world, but on the governmental level, many of these countries are also deeply antisemitic and have eliminated the Jewish populations of their own countries.

It is reasonable and logical, not invented, for a Jew to fear expulsion from their home in the middle east without a Jewish state to protect them.

That does not mean that Palestinians want to force Jews out, kill them all, etc. Those are still false flag claims to discredit the movement.

It also does not mean that Jewish safety should ever come at the cost of Palestinian lives and safety. Palestine must be freed, and it is not on the suffering Palestinians to reassure Jews that they won't be 'taking revenge' or anything like that. It also doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any physical returning of home and lands - there absolutely must be.

But it it disingenuous to compare the situation precisely to other decolonization situations in this respect and gets in the way of communication. The Jewish fear of expulsion is not a fear built on nothingness and guilt, though those of course contribute to the fervor of that feeling among settler Israelis. Jews have real historical and current reasons to fear expulsions from governments of the world, even if they do not have immediate reasons to fear mass expulsions from a specifically Palestinian government.

And a second time, for good measure: It also does not mean that Jewish safety should ever come at the cost of Palestinian lives and safety.

#just sort of tired of the 'its not complicated' and 'its just like every other ethnostate' crowd #yes there are absolutely many useful and productive ways to analyze israel by viewing it as a colonial ethnostate like many other #colonial ethnostates #but that doesn't mean that there are not also things that are unique about the situation #just like there are things that are unique about every other situation in the world #it may be 'uncomplicated' to say that you unequivocally #believe in freedom for palestinians and an end to genocide #but that doesn't have to mean that the situation is not complicated #and saying that the situation is unique complicated etc. #does not mean you don't believe in the above! #“you need israel to survive anywhere in the world as a jew” #is absolutely propaganda by the israeli government and is not true #but that doesn't erase the fact that jewish communities are still at risk in many places #and the feeling of unsafety even in relatively safe places is based on actual history not imagination #so critiquing it and arguing against it by comparing it to populations that don't have that history is not going to work

[mejomonster]

I started reading Billy Bat manga by Urasawa Naoki (u may know him as the guy who did Monster) and jesus christ its wild. Absolute experience. Judas and Jesus are in it, so are ninjas, so is lee harvey oswald (technically at least 3), theres a bat thats satire about how evil mickey mouse and disney are, there's lying cartoons galore, there's the civil rights movement, the oppressivr terror of the ku klux klan and the structural damage of segregation and fucked up laws, and the pervasiveness of advertising and the coca cola company ("golden cola") there's real events sprinkled with gratuitious fictional shit about manipulative God Billy Bat (or perhaps "administrator/guide to the human race"), a scroll that could control the world, Fake walt disney has hired killers, the looming brutality of imperialism and corporations buying out poorer areas, killing in other countries and breaking laws and whatever else is needed to acquire what they want, there's a cartoon dog kennedy assasination, a baby kevin inherits the powers of an older kevin, there's ninjas and priests, there's a small town out west full of cowboy larpers who are this comic artists biggest fan club, a secret agent Smith with a heart of gold (one hopes), a teenager named jackie whos seeing visions, there's a good and evil fake "mickey mouse" bat but frankly theyre probqbly both evil cause either way they lie and manipulate to get people to do what they want, judas cameos not only in his jesus arc but as a little kiddo, and like. Im not even halfway done. Einstein JUST showed up.

#rant #billy bat #its. an experience ill say that. its wild and im kind of floored it got published #it makes a lot of good points but its also ultimately a long winding Batshit Wild Bat Cartoon-as-God MYSTERY thriller #so its like. oh you learn about the pains of cowardice. the cruelties of corporations. #the way society doesnt value a whores life as you cry for her because she was wondetful. the way being just is hard #its hard to be brave and dangerous but it uas to be done. the vile dangers of advertizing and capitalism and profit over human life. #but then also. theres a fucking bat talking to a girl in her college class lol #its an interesting perspective in a way also cause like... #1 a lot of comic artists just full on would not touch these elements in their plots at all. and while ive seen these topics in stories #before. tjis is the most Pointed Disney/governments/corporations critique ive seen in comics. since like. its literally fake disney #ajd real ass historical figures and govts getting critiqued. #then 2 in japanese manga i havent seen foreign events covered much. and its interesting to see the perspective of #world events and america from this author. and his choice to make the protagonists who he did: a japanese american whos born american #and was in the allies as a translator. part of the US occupation when he initially visits japan. #the japanese mangaka whos older than ww2. the white upper class (truly upper class) coca cola #dynasty equivalent inheritor. a lower class black woman factory worker from florida whos outspoken and a leader and #braver than her husband. their kiddo kevin whos the most important person in the world worth saving. jackie the japanese american teen girl #eho grew up Loving fake disney and is in college. her dad the taxi driver who through other people #eventhally got the courage to go reunite with his wife and daughter jackie who left him. #(oh also a european priest and JUDAS and a ninja) #its just like. the author worked hard to put what feels like a japanese and american perspective and the Many ways those overlap and Dont #into this. as well as a variety of upper class and lower class characters. the rich fake walt disney and the poor bat town mayor and elder #who get killed for standing in the way of a corporations dreams. #jackie kennedy and the sweet girl who saved cartoonist Kevin and worked the street. #the rich dynasty inheritor of golden cola and his working class wife. how it all falls away in the deep soutj with pther lines #society draws. the poor student jackie versus the other protagonists witj a job #how kevin yamagata has not much connection to japan except a fondness for his parents. while jackie is even more #culturally removed (having never even visited japan) but her family still has their heritage of stories and places they miss and #want to visit and traditions her dad still regulalry discusses.

[eroguron0nsense]

Absolutely love it when mangaka and anime directors do Japanese Period Pieces or fantasy lands and draw heavy inspiration from them but explicitly make them leftist/anti-nationalist/anti-authoritarian instead of leaning into certain connotations and in Shinichiro Watanabe's case, make a point to try and spotlight marginalized and Indigenous narratives. Also, the fact that the Wano arc takes the barebones concept of the Chushingura story (surviving vassals of an unjustly executed lord) and dispenses with all the ludicrous historically politicized notions of seppuku and ultimate submission to authority–also notably a story that was adapted to WWII nationalist/fascist cinema–and immediately says "isolationism bad", "death to feudalism/crony capitalism/war profiteering/environmental destruction", "open up the country". It's not a perfect projection of my personal politics by any means, nor do I expect it to be by any means or intend to interpret it as such, but it's so good

#samurai champloo #tbf people have rightly observed that jidaigeki were used as avenues of social critique and could be fairly anti-establishment in the face #of intense government repression during the buildup of Japanese militarism so I don't mean to say they're all right wing or anything #but the implicit association of the samurai aesthetics with Japanism/Japanese hyper nationalism persists in spite of those works #shinichiro watanabe #eichiro oda #one piece #wano country arc #wano arc #wano kuni