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thejudgingtrash · 4 years

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My unpopular opinion: Chiron is a horrible teacher, protector, whatever. He’s as bad dumbledor. He often manipulates children and put them in danger? Also is RR really trying to tell me not one single demigod from before percy’s generation made it to adulthood? Not even demigods of minor gods? If not then why haven’t we heard from them, why weren’t they called to fight in the war so that literal children didn’t have to? I have more but I’m not brave enough to post them lol

Fuck, I gotta check my asks more often. Too much stuff laying around and oh please people! Send your stuff in! Don’t be shy! It’s so interesting to see what’s on your mind! Let’s have that conversation and ask me!! :D I mean a bunch of people agreed and disagreed with my stances (Part 1/Part 2), let’s see how I feel about yours!

Anyway HERE WE GO BOYS! LET’S GO LESBIANS LET’S GO!

LET’S HAVE THAT WHOLE DAMN ESSAY!

Chiron is clearly a self insert from Riordan. I mean come on…

That’s a solid Chiron if I see one. Which is pretty ironic as Chiron’s the shitty teacher who we all know and love. Got something to admit, Riordan? You as a former teacher? HMM?

Hiding incompetence under the disguise of the gentle old wise teacher is definitely something that Dumbledore and Chiron share. Chiron is the old centaur who lived for aeons and helped out the most famous heroes of their times, so shouldn’t modern times be considered to be an easier job for him? He’s barely present, highkey vague and has absolutely no problems with tossing children literally out into the open across the entire fucking US and A to clean the gods’ bathroom messes.

Had the heroes been in their 20s like in the original myths (or even older) it would’ve made more sense to let them find their own ways. It would be rude, but somewhat okay. You could expect adults to find the way and connect the dots. But this is just messing with a bunch of 12 year olds because you can at this point.

Chiron is that supposed sweet teacher that just fucks up. We all had one, you know the one. Seems gentle and nice and but has clearly chosen the wrong job. Don’t know if that’s the trauma of living that long and/or seeing kids dying constantly that’s hitting him in the back of the head.

I have the feeling that people are projecting their teacher fantasies on to him just like step-father fantasies that include Paul. Because we want a guide who is trustworthy, we want an authoritative figure that we can share our concerns with and who guides us to solid solutions without betraying our trust.

But like I said, he’s essentially sending out kids to deathly missions and encouraging deep traumas. Yes, we can partially blame Chiron, but most of the blame goes to the gods who enable and encourage this weird dynamic. Would all of them straight up cut the bullshit and mostly resolve their own issues without using their children as pawns, it would’ve been easier for everyone involved. Additionally, there are many kids in camp to keep busy, look after and care for. I don’t know how many there were pre-TLO but I’d assume the number was in the hundreds? Of course, in larger cabins are camp counsellors that help out and guide next to camp schedules. But since Percy’s the only kid in the Poseidon cabin I guess that thought went south? Percy being the special kid would actually mean that there should be a focus on him unless you’re going for the “I’m neutral” spiel. Chiron knew from day one that Percy was walking Poseidon seed, come on.

Also like I somewhat implied, seeing people die left and right might have impacted Chiron to make him feel indifferent/despressed (could also be a stretch, who knows). Which isn’t an excuse, but might explain some takes. Explaining the same stuff for millennia in its essentials is probably getting tiring.

I think this is the third time that I mentioned it on my blog but showing and telling are the most powerful story telling concepts/fundamentals and you see Rowling and Riordan constantly failing at that which is concerning. Instead of Chiron (or Dumbledore) just simply getting down to the point and telling and explaining stuff briefly, he only eludes, vaguely formulates and it is simply confusing especially for a child in a brand new environment who just lost his mother (if we’re speaking about TLT). This does nothing but add more stress in such a fragile situation especially when a new and bigger threat makes its way.

There’s also the discussion on how much of Greek myth Percy actually gets. He has the basic/ obvious knowledge which many tend to forget. He doesn’t come in with no knowledge. He had Latin classes back at the academy, he studies with Annabeth, he knows some of the monsters. What he simply doesn’t know, is the magic of it all. That is the most confusing part for him.

The actual magic is not explained, which it doesn’t have to be in all of its entirety, but needs to be addressed somehow and gradually.

Percy asking a simple question like how the camp stays sunny and covered 24/7 and how the wardens work and Chiron casually sitting here like you a stoopid one

doesn’t help.

What many people forget: Magic doesn’t erase logic. Even in a magical setting, unless clearly stated, there has to be some kind of logic to connect the dots. It doesn’t need to be a clear cut A to B, but it should be comprehensible for both the readers and the characters in a particular situation. And that’s just not happening for Percy as the character. This also sets up the premise of Percy being ”stupid” which he isn’t. He is surrounded by incompetent teachers and staff that don’t bother telling him how things work and assume that he’ll just manage.

Yeah. Both Dumbledore and Chiron are awfulness in a sweet calm disguise.

Onto part two of the ask. I have had so many talks with people on that exact problem. It simply boils down to one issue:

Rick Riordan‘s inconsistency in world building and setting. The story telling doesn’t make any sense.

So kids are dying like flies before 18 but many are also super famous and in powerful positions? Many are historical figures that made it well over 18? Make that make sense. Also was WW2 supposed to be kicked off by some 12 year olds with that logic? The biggest man made catastrophe of the modern era boiled down to a bunch of fighting kids? No. We all know it. Just simply no. I actually don’t mind the WW2 background but Riordan should’ve given it another thought and be a bit more sensitive…? Like the whole fascist gang being team Hades? Uhh… sure…. nope.

Also the same logic applies to Civil War? You’re telling me a bunch of kids were supposed to have started this stance? Who was for and who was against slavery then? What in the actual fuck? Using children as child soldiers to stand in for these large complex historical issues that stretch over years and show many of humanity’s horrifying sides is just….eh.

No. This whole thing about campers dying as soon as they reach the magic number of 18 are either bedtime stories to scare the kids or toughen them up orrrr my guess, Riordan actually managed yet again to fuck up his own lore.

It’s the same logic with New Rome. You have a whole city full of adults but have a few kids run that bitch? You did your ten years of service as a child soldier and then do one of these?

As if adults magically exit this world. Like is that the reason why Percy’s been 17 for a whole damn decade? Because otherwise he gotta hand riptide in and all of the boys scout medals he has collected so far? Adults would’ve had the experience and expertise to win those fights but it would break the magic and charm of the books that a bunch of kids are saving the world for the younger demographic. Let’s do not forget that the targeted audience of the books are middle schoolers. Makes somewhat sense with PJO but with HOO Riordan really shot himself in the leg. He should’ve matured the OG characters at least.

(Also speaking about the actual myths again. A good chunk of them died in their 20s/30s/40s. Odysseus guided as an old man. The heroes weren’t twelve and dipping by the age of 16. The Trojan war went on for 10 years for example. So whereas the real Perseus lived a longer life and had a somewhat happy ending in comparison to his peers, he wasn’t the only one that made it into adulthood.)

Riordan mixing up his own lore is just a shame. Yes, it’s human and he already gets a lot of flag for other stuff. I also get it as a writer with my fanfic where I really have to scroll up to search tiny details that I’ve embedded and not noted down. Perhaps it’s my inner capitalist speaking, but for I’m way more forgiving towards a free product, a gift like a fanfic, rather than something I’ve paid actual money for when it comes to this. The process of publishing a book is large. You mean to tell me that there was no editor at Disney that bothered to fact check? Riordan got a check from us all and doesn’t even bother looking up his own stuff. A little bit more effort, Ricardo. Please. You have an entire damn wiki you could use to check for free if you’re too lazy to read your own books/don’t use authors softwares. Like what?

It’s stupid. You know it, I know it. And as you can see, I fully agree with you.

#ask #ask me anons #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #chiron #chb #rr crit #rick riordan #hoo #heroes of olympus #my rants #camp half-blood #dumbledore #pjo hot takes

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sui-senka · 6 years

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DMC Sparda HC

I dunno about you guys, but don’t you ever wonder what Sparda did after the Temen-ni-gru stuff and before he had kids? He’s probably had many lives right?

Not that historically accurate - sorry!

Like in the early days; he wasn’t that used to resembling a human, so maybe his skin on occasion could turn green or blue, maybe purple or red. This isn’t so good when he decides to see the pyramids and the locals in egypt; whom totally freak out because to them he looks like Osiris in the flesh. Afraid of being worshipped again, after the incidents on Fortuna and Dumary Island, he flees to end up in....

...Greece. He got the whole human form sitch under control. Living as a local that sought out education, he received information from the mouth from people like Hippocrates, Plato and other great minds at the time. He even took part in one of their Olympic games; acting to represent and honour Poseidon. He was offered Spartan training; but declined as he had enough of the warfaring lifestyle he once lived.

He takes that knowledge to Rome, and rises up the societal ranks to become one of Emperor Augustus’ advisors. It is here he meets a quiet but admired poet and scholar named Vergil; who has been given the laborious task of creating a work to honour the Emperor Augustus. Vergil gives him a copy of the work to read; and he was absolutely enthralled by reading about a hero called Aeneas. He loves the work and gives it to Augustus as Vergil requested - but also asks if it’s okay to name a spawn after him. Vergil soon felt immense pride after that day.

Soon after the fall of the Roman Empire; he goes eastwards to bear witness to the Rise of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. As a scribe; he takes up various pen names when he records what happened. He is interested to see that the Ottoman relics and culture came from a religion that he has never heard of before, so he travels again to study in.....

The Middle East, where he gets education in medicine, and science from Arabian Scholars. He gets so excited with how far humans have come since he first encountered them; and the funny looking contraptions they’ve invented to see the stars. He even meets the people who would become ancestors to the great many Assassins that will gladly give up their life to keep their land safe from European and Templar rule during the Crusades.

He travels to India and China - interested to learn about the empires and cultures that exists there and the rise of Buddhism too. He lives as a monk for a while.

His travels take him further east to Japan; which is currently in crisis after the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which means the clans are at odds with each other. Appaled by the injustice, ruin and chaos that his fellow humans have become enraptures in; he begrudgingly takes up his sword again to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. He taught his skills to young children from any family who needed to survive. Rumour spread of his terrifying strength, speed and his Katana that could cut through anything. That nameless wanderer Sparda soon became known as Raiden.

He soon migrates to Russia; intrigued to find what the lavish lifestyle of the Tsars has to offer.

Not much so he ventures West again; into Europe to find that the Renaissance has started.

As he’s so fond of Italy; he comes back as a merchant to find it’s changed dramatically. He hears rumours of the powerful Medici family, and a family that’s under threat due to the murders that have happened; the Auditore family in Firenze.

He was lucky enough to witness one of the Auditore fall from a rooftop into a cart of spices that he was intending to sell. Interested in who this man was; Sparda is led to visit one of the man’s friends, none other than Leonardo Da Vinci himself. He got to know them well, became Da Vinci’s muse for a short period of time too. During his time in Italy; he meets Boticelli, Donatello (the architect), Raphael and Michaelangelo.

He even comes across a politician who moonlights as a poet, and when reading his work, starts to bond with him. Sparda thinks he’s sort of sweet in a way; that he’s such a romantic, especially when listening to this man talk about the girl that got away, Beatrice Portinari. Sparda sometimes asks him what romance, and love is like. The man; known as Durante deghli Alighieri tells him it’s sometimes not worth it, but that he does have feelings for another woman named Gemma. When this man tells Sparda about this new work he’s currently writing about the people that have scorned him and how they deserve to rot in hell, and also what it means for him to be a Christian; Sparda sometimes fills him in on the details of what hell is really like and how there is different sorts of demons for every section of hell for every sin comitted. Durante soon publishes his work, known as the Divine Comedy and goes into exile, and soon passes away. Sparda; was one of his closest friends that was allowed to call him Dante - and made a promise to the man to honour his legacy by naming one of his spawn after him.

He moves to France; to find that tensions were rising between the rich few and the numerous poor. He bears witness to the revolution and tries to help civilians by providing medical care, food, blankets and shelter when needed.

He moves to Africa; but further south this time. He’s interested to see how the royalty live; and how it is a longstanding tradition for african princes to be sent to live in different places to learn the ways of other people; then to return to pass knowledge to their people. Sparda wonders what he’s going go do with all this knowledge that he has about humans now.

He travels to Scotland to hear news of Bonnie Prince Charlie in exile, many dead after the battle of Culloden. He hears that the survivors fled to a place called New Zealand.

He goes there to find how the Scots live now and also to find out that the island exists due to a demigod fishing the island out of the sea. (You’re welcome~) He really likes the fact that some of them greet each other by placing their foreheads together - to exchange the ‘breath of life’

He goes back to India; horrified by how the people have been persecuted and how some are deciding to rebel against the empire ruling over them.

He goes to the United Kingdom (England); interested and equally saddened by how the Victorians are benefitting from the exploitation of others. Sparda starts to learn that this sort of thing has happened before; that history keeps repeating itself because humans keep making the same mistakes

He serves as a medic for the Allied forces in WW1 and WW2 whilst living in the UK. The people are simultaneously impolite and extremely polite; seem to like queuing a lot and also like their tea. The weather and food are a bit meh; but everything else in that country makes up for it in his opinion.

At some point after the war is over - he travels to the United States.

He’s involved in the protests in the Civil Rights movement. He’s saddened by the lack of brotherhood some humans show for each other; because of something so trivial as skin colour.

At this point; he’s tired. He’s tired of getting involved in other people’s mess but he feels he also needs that knowledge to fully know if rebelling against his race was the right thing to do. He’s tired of seeing history repeat itself. Sparda wishes for something more; to fully reach out and bond with someone, to feel that feeling that his long-gone friends told him about. He wants to settle down. He wants to feel love.

He finds what he’s looking for when he watches Jimi Hendrix play a set in the Woodstock festival. Through the mud, the deafening music, the drugs, the hot sun and bright colours he notices a fair slender young woman; with long blonde hair that goes just below her waist. She has ocean blue eyes; much more vibrant than Sparda’s paler grey ones. Her hair is adorned with colouful flowers picked from nearby fields. She’s barefoot; and she’s wearing a tie-dyed lime green halterneck sundress. She looks content, happy, lost in the moment. In that moment Sparda thinks that she looks like a nymph or a fairy that’s lost her wings - enchanting, really.

After the set ends - he bumps into this beautiful woman; who’s called Eva. They start talking about everything, really.

Sparda wonders if this is really what the great poets went on about when they wrote verses about love.

I think you guys know the rest ;)

#devil may cry #devil may cry headcanon #dmc #dmc headcanon #sparda #dante dmc #dante sparda #vergil dmc #vergil sparda #legendary dark knight sparda #sparda headcanon #eva headcanon

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her-one-true-love · 4 years

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Life Update

Hey hi hello!

So it’s been a hot minute since I was actually on here. (like 6 years oops. I didn’t think my account would still be active.. Anyways...) And I don’t know, recently with so many things going on in the world I kinda felt like having a blog to escape too. A place where I could come and vent, or just look at things that I can forget about life for a while. It’s not like I can do much more right now but go to work (and I am beyind grateful that I’m still employed and working) and head back home again. I live in Melbourne, and we’re still under some pretty strict lockdown rules for those of you playing at home. And I was thinking I could start a new blog and then thought nah, too much effort. So I checked to see if my Tumblr was active and it was. Saves a set up and I still have a bunch of awesome people I follow that hadn’t deactivated.

So, under the read more I’ll do a bit of a wrap up of what I’ve been up to since 2014...

2014

Not a lot really happened here. I don’t really know why I stopped using Tumblr either. I was really just working and going to concerts like I normally would. One highlight was getting pulled up on stage during ‘Dancing In The Dark’ at a Bruce Springsteen concert. One of my fave memories really.

2015

I did a bit more travelling, with a trip to the UK to go to some of the shows on the S Club 7 reunion tour, and I have no regrets (except booking the flights I did because I almost got stranded in Singapore because of a flight delay with one airline making me miss flights on another. But I did make some new friends on that little detour so that was nice and they kept me sane) I went to New Zealand and had some fun. And really, just worked. Nothing too crazy

2016

Not too much to report here either really, I started planning (and booked) my trip to the USA which I took in 2017 (more on that soon haha) and just lived my life really. Travelled a little. But really, nothing to note haha.

2017

This was a year. I went to NZ a couple of times (in Feb for a quick trip, and then again in July for a wedding) and of course my big USA trip. 6 weeks of not having to worry about much of anything. Except when Greyhound lost my suitcase for 53 hours and I almost had to leave Austin for Miami without it. But it was such a good trip. I went to San Francisco and saw the Golden Gate Bridge (and walked it and damn my legs haha) and Alcatraz. Plus the Painted Ladies and the house they used for the outside shot of Full/Fuller House. Then Hollywood where I stayed right in the heart of Hollywood and got to see a taping of the first season of the Will and Grace reboot. And I did the Paramount tour which was awsome. And I finally got to meet a friend I had known for years too. I did a quick trip to Vegas and went up the Stratosphere and did the rides and they were insane. And I saw the Human Nature show at the Venetian. On to Austin (never again on Greyhound, it was like 33 hours and they lost my luggage. I should have just forked out for the flight. But if I hadn’t I might not have started speaking to a friend that I still have today.) which I did a day trip to Waco to go to the Silos, but beyond that I was drained and didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have done. But the friend that I made did get me out of the hostel (we were on the same coach Dallas-Austin and turned out we were in the hostel in the same dorm haha!) a bit and I did some drunk karaoke! On to Miami and i walked the beach and went for drinks with a couple of girls in my room and caught up with a friend south of Miami, again, finally meeting them in person. New Orleans was the next stop and and i loved wandering the old streets and the WW2 museum was fascinating. A place I want to go back too. After that was Chicago, and I got to see a Cubs game and toured Wrigley Field. Wandered Millenium Park and soaked up the awesome. I did a day trip to Toronto too. But it poured all day till I had to leave for the airport so that was annoying! On to the big apple NYC and I fell in love. I sat in Times Square, went to places that were used as outside shots for some shows, saw School Of Rock on Broadway, and visited the 9/11 memorial museum. I also did a Gossip Girl tour. Then Boston. Such a historical city and I walked the common and the gardens, did a walking tour of movie sites and saw Bruno Mars play at TD Garden. After that I hit up upstate New York and stayed with some friends, again finally meeting them in person after years and years. It was nice to just relax and do nothing much after such a fast paced holiday. After that I spent a night again back in NYC then a night in LA before I flew home. Once this pandemic is well and trulyover and done I want to go back and see some places again and explore places I didn’t get too.

2018

Again, not a lot to report. I didn’t really have any leave to take to go do much of anything hahaha. I got into watching Drag and Drag Race and got to see a couple of shows which was fun, and made some friends because of it. Some I talk too and some I don’t but all in all, a decent year

2019

A couple of quick trips (a week in Queenstown, NZ and a few days on the Gold Coast) and a few drag shows and concerts. Really not too much to say

2020

Well, before the year turned to utter shit, January I just worked and then February I spent all of in NZ. I saw some shows, caught up with some friends and made some new ones (one of which, one of her best friends was one of the people I got stranded in Singapore with in 2015. Small world right??) I went to some places I had been before (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown) and went to a couple for the first time (Taupo and Dunedin) and just all in all, had such a good trip.

Then the pandemic smacked us all in the face and I had to cancel a bunch of trips and leave applications at work coz things have been postponed until next year. So I’ve really just been working (I work at a supermarket, so I haven’t stopped, and again, I am so grateful to still be in work) And Living in Melbourne has been kinda tough (lockdowns and a limit on how far from home we can go and a curfew and carrying a permit so I don’t get in trouble for being out after curfew coz i would finish work as it started. The curfew is over now at least but we still have a ways to go to get out of this other stuff)

And one thing that really threw me was the sad passing of Naya Rivera. She was someone who, through her portrayal of Santana Lopez (along with Heather Morris’ portryal of Brittany) and the Brittana relationship, helped me be okay with who I am. It hit harder and it still hurts to think about. If you followed me back in the day, you’ll remember how much of a Brittana/Brittany/Santana stan I was. And I still am. And all this has rekindled my love for Glee and what I gave me. And I’ve started writing fanfic again (I might link when I get the updates uploaded coz I haven’t had a chance to type them up and upload. Coz I write on paper first aha) and it’s been a source of comfort and let me escape reailty for a while.

2021

If all goes to plan, I’ll be seeing some more drag shows, Including the postponed AU/NZ Trixie and Katya UNHhhh Live tour which was meant to be June this year but is now July next year, and me and a friend have tickets to every city because we could. So please, people, act responsibly, don’t be a dick, and follow the rules so that maybe, we can see the other end of this sooner rather than later.

So. That’s that. I guess there’s stuff I missed but that’s the main stuff haha. If you got through all this, you deserve an award. I’m gonna try be a little active here and actually use this again. I see stuff on my timeline and I see accounts that haven’t changed their name (or did but kept the old one as back ups on a dormant URL) and I’m like I remember them and I smile. I think back to when Tumblr was where we all were all the time. And I’ve already found some awesome new accounts to follow too!

Till next time,

xoxo

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thedailymonty-blog · 7 years

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Let’s take a look at U.S. taxes vs Swedish taxes.

Read the link below and take a look at his six reasons the Swedish tax system is great while ours is dumb. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/8/11380356/swedish-taxes-love I almost want to go in swinging but it’s a decent enough article so I guess I’ll start with the part I liked. 2. Tax forms come already filled out and 5. We get cash instead of deductions See how these link together? They don’t have to do our complicated bullshit with deductions because they get the money up-front where we’d get a refund, and so the tax documents are simple enough that the average citizen only needs to do minor deductions. I think item two could be implemented for 1040EZs even without item five, but item five is a great idea. The best part is this: we already have an agency that can take care of things like that! The IRS! And we can handle it step by step! The IRS could gradually go from being the monolithic mass of accountants, audit lawyers, and data entry clerks that it is to being a slightly-less-monolithic mass of accountants, audit lawyers, fraud lawyers, rebate clerks, and data entry clerks. This doesn’t sound like a big change but checking rebates for fraud is way easier than going after year after year of taxes to find something, so not only would we have a better system, but we’d be better at finding people who try to cheat that system. Seriously, this is such a good idea that I might dedicate my life to it. 4. Sales taxes in Sweden are higher — but less noticeable and 3. There is no property tax I promise you that the people notice when the sales tax goes up, even in Sweden... But, the basic idea that prices at the store should include sales tax when you see them on the shelves is a nice one, and it’s an easy enough law to write. So, Hell, I’m for that part! And, yes, U.S. property taxes are high, but we need a way for cities to pay for necessary services. Maybe these “less noticeable” sales taxes would work. But the sales tax is considered to be a tax that affects the lower classes more, while the property tax is considered to be a tax that affects the upper classes more, so... Uh... It’s worth pointing out the irony of this though: you have a writer for Vox (a liberal site) favorably comparing a European country to America (a liberal pass-time), and two of his items combined would make any liberal scream: raising a regressive tax to lower a progressive tax. This guy better find a Democrat to suggest that stuff, ‘cause if a Republican does it there’ll be a riot. But, I’m not necessarily against a plan to do this; it’s just that we have our high property taxes for a reason, and the reason is to help the little guy. I guess I’m fine with either on principle, though. Whatever. Let’s get to the areas where I disagree. 1. Swedish income taxes are not much higher than US taxes — but they give you an education This isn’t really a comment on our tax code, it’s about our spending. But, it does go to show why Americans are against high taxes: we pay all that money and get nothing for it. There’s a damn good reason for that, though! We don’t have as much of a budget for stuff like this because our money is going to our ridiculously over-sized military. I say that like it’s a bad thing, but the United States pays for 40% of the NATO Pact that protects twenty-seven other countries, including Sweden. But I should say 40% and rising! Not only because we’re thinking about including some of those new Baltic states and Georgia, but also because other members are cutting their contributions to pay for all that expensive quasi-socialist statecraft and their EU dues (but I repeat myself, ZING!). It’s a common enough criticism to say that we could just shrink our military, but it’s actually not that simple. The whole idea behind the Marshall Plan was, “You can rebuild economically while we defend you. Seriously, don’t break Europe again right after everyone just put the fires out guys.” That just sort of carried over into our current “world police” that defined our foreign policy in the post-WW2 era. By now we have all these treaties that make it tough for us to shirk on our military. Besides the NATO Pact, our naval bases in Japan and the fact that the Korean War is still technically going on are serious complications to any plan that involves making our military smaller. And all this is an important factor in trade deals that favor the U.S., of which there are plenty. Another problem is that healthcare is so damn expensive here. The author mentions this, and that deserves an entry on its own, because there are so many factors involved. But, “Hospitals have no idea what to fucking do anymore,” and, “Health insurance companies have to work with the constantly-panicked hospitals,” combine to make one of the biggies and the cause of that comes down to... Well, the fact that healthcare is so expensive. That’s right! Our healthcare is so expensive because of how expensive it is! The situation went out of control decades ago so it is out of control now, and we need to make huge, painful, confusing changes to fix it because nobody did anything all those decades ago! Fuck Baby Boomers. Fixing all that will be tough, but that carries some complications of its own. That brings me to... 6. High taxes give me more choices and freedoms Look, you’re being naive if you think the politicians are giving you all that stuff because they love you so huggy-muggy much. They do it because they want your vote. We’ll get the occasional politician who cares about the occasional cause, even here, but too much of that idealism crap makes you so inflexible that you can’t actually win an election. I mean, you can tell Al Gore really cares about the environment because he’s willing to stand up for it, even when it costs him. He’s still a pretty standard Democrat the rest of the time. He walks the same tight-rope every suspected liberal does in a country as conservative as ours. And part of that tight-rope is plain ol’ pork barrel politics. That’s where your awesome hiking trail really comes from. Some construction company wants to dig a hiking trail, so they all lobby a politician, and the politician gets some campaign money and all their votes, plus bonus votes from people who live where the trail’s gonna be and decide they just like the idea while the future Congress critter’s campaigning. But let’s say someone really is an idealist that wants to help Americans out: the size is a factor there, too. Look at the size of Sweden: 450,295 square kilometers (or 173,860 square miles in the system we still have to use here because of white trash) with 9.9 million people. Just two of our states - Alaska and Texas - are bigger than that all by themselves. And the third in the list, California, is about the same size as Sweden. Less then 10% smaller. So, any time we wanna spend money on something like that, we have to somehow get people who’ll probably never see it on board. This makes ideas like that hard to put into practice... And frankly? Even if you are an idealist, it kinda makes them bad ideas, all by itself. After all: this is all about helping people by building things they’ll use, right? Like I said: we have fifty states and some of them are huge. With Sweden being about the size of just California by itself, simple distance is enough to keep anyone from ever even seeing any of the nice pork our Congress critters send back to our districts. This is why you’ll sometimes see conservatives say, “Well yeah, they do all this stuff and reap all these benefits, but they’re a geographically small country,” about this criticism of the U.S. Infrastructure spending is just more helpful when more people use that infrastructure. For example, public transportation spending is way more efficient in areas where lots of people live. You can’t have a good bus system in a huge, spread-out city, and most American cities are pretty spread-out. So even if a politician’s “charity” (with other peoples’ money as collected by taxes) really comes from a place of kindness and caring, it has to be the weird sort of wall-building charity where you say, “The people of Oregon deserve the best!” and somehow still say, “The people of Maine do not deserve the best! That money should go to Oregon!” And it’s weird, because you’d think the number of people per square kilometer would factor in and America’s a denser country that way, but that’s not the issue. The issues are, “Where is the thing you want to build going to be?” and “How far away are you from all that?” In Sweden the answers are, “Pretty much in the south part of the country and along the east coast,” and, “Going all the way from the north part of the country where there’s nothing to Malmö in the very southern tip? 22 hours away by car or six hours away by plane.” Every place in Sweden is somewhere that a Swede could take a vacation, basically. In America the answers are, “We have some cities but pretty much just all over the place,” and, “Really fucking far sometimes.” Say the author gets his ferries and stuff? The 23,000-island Stockholm archipelago is still more accessible to huge parts of the country than your 23-island national park. It makes them wonder why they have to spend the money. The fly-over states are called that for a reason: our Important People fly over them just to get from one of our big population centers where all the stuff is (New York) to another (some city in the California metroplex or Seattle, depending on your job). Big, popular infrastructure projects will tend to have the backing of Important People trying to improve the already-very-wealthy areas where they live, so we have these bitter Midwestern and Southern states that just say, “Screw all that! Limited government! Give me my tax money back!” Somehow, this never actually leads to lower taxes, though. (Have I said “Fuck Baby Boomers!” yet?) It’s harder to build a coalition around the idea of doing anything like that, because the coalition will involve a much smaller percentage of the country, so our Congress critters need more wheeling and dealing to make it happen. This means politicians will be using a lot of time and energy on just getting the necessary pork back home. Makes it awful hard to work on other stuff, like healthcare! Not that that frees the Boomers from the responsibilities they’ve shirked. But I digress: think about some of that whenever you see an article about how Europe is awesome and we suck, tumblr. All I ask!

#politics #sweden #taxes #policy proposals #first post #united states

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