#And simultaneously doesnt mean there cant be another true love later ^_^

[freebooter4ever]

kenny p is losing his mind over this one

[akechicrimes]

Hey crimes, feel free to disregard this tangent but, do u ever feel like P5 inadvertently or otherwise implied Goro was right with his fake ���vigilante justice operates outside and the law and thus must be brought to heel” opinion? What with the fact that the Yaldabaoth confrontation implies the thieves work perpetuated humanity’s sloth AND THEN after an entire game showing us the hundreds of people who were at the v least COMPLICIT in shido’s machinations, a system which is (1)

ohhhhh this one is fun!! this is a super neat question, ty for asking!!!

hmmmmmmmmm

im going to try and break this down into parts, partly because persona 5 is such a convoluted mess with its own lines of thinking, so tell me if i dont do it right. the issues are: (1) goro definitely did say that operating outside the law was bad just on principle that you shouldn’t operate outside the law, and (2) persona 5 did definitely go on to say that all of the phantom thieves’ operations outside the law didn’t come to anything in the first place anyway, because they were only targeting individuals instead of mass systemic corruption/their presence was enabling people to become more apathetic.

i think what persona 5 is trying to get at is that it’s not necessarily that acting outside the law is bad, but that, like you said, targeting only individuals doesn’t work as a tactic. so vigilante justice (e.g. batman style of taking down supervillains) cannot compare to societal reform through collective action.

when i say collective action, i mean that i think persona 5 is trying to point out that “systematic” corruption is really just a corruption of many, many, many individuals working in concert--and that “reform” could just be said to be the opposite, which is activism from many, many, many individuals working in concert.

obviously the ending cutscene where akira;s social link network gets together to protest his arrest is the best example of collective reform, but i think one of the things that i rly like about shido’s wide-spread conspiracy is that it does a rly good job of paralleling akira’s social link network, and pointing out that in the same way that shido’s conspiracy is a collective effort of many many many people that make up a “system,” akira’s widespread social link network creates the opposite effect of a collective effort of many many people that make up a force for change. 

which is why having the phantom thieves as a group itself just promotes more apathy--you get one group of people doing all the work for the rest of society, when if anything’s going to change, we need everyone on their feet.

which surprisingly correct, insofar as i’m aware. if society’s going to change in a substantial way, beyond just changing the hearts of a handful of abusers and letting the rest of the system remain untouched, everyone’s got to be involved. collective effort. do your part. wash your hands. stay indoors. don’t forget to vote. seriously, wash your fucking hands.

but when it comes to whether or not persona 5 says that you shouldn’t be acting outside the law... 

i think persona 5 really really really really really doesnt want to be caught promoting lawbreaking while also being You Should Break The Law: The JRPG.

part of this trouble, i think, is just because they need players to actually like the characters in the game, and therefore all the character have sympathetic reasons for breaking the law. because persona 5 has to sell marketable characters, too, persona 5 itself makes it pretty clear that people who operate “outside the law” are usually not evil dipshit criminals who love sin. the people in persona 5 who act outside the law are usually people who dont have enough power to operate inside the law in the first place. akira, the pt, and goro all seem to have resorted to what they did because they had no societal power at the start, wound up with a persona (aka fast and easy power source), and wouldnt have been able to do anything about their situation otherwise. characters who operate outside the law (like takemi with her vaguely illegal practice, or kawakami and her also vaguely illegal sex work, or iwai and his vaguely illegal gun business) are still supposed to be waifus you are sympathetic towards. 

(...i think i accidentally called iwai a waifu? hmm. on second thought, i’ll just leave that sentence as it is.)

and i really do have to point out that persona 5′s attitude of FUCK COPS is insanely strong. like. persona 5 HATES cops. and that doesn’t let up basically ever, at all, at any moment. for anything. persona 5 wants me to believe that makoto will become a good cop in the future, but if i wanted to find an existing good cop, i’d have to go all the way back to persona 4. like!! shit!! goro akechi is the closest thing we have to a good cop, and he has a pet guillotine for CEOs and his middle name is komaeda.

and that part of the big attitude with FUCK COPS is that it’s another way of morally exonerating the phantom thieves. i think... although the game ultimately concludes with “you should probably not break the law any more because the metaverse is gone,” it’s difficult to argue with the fact that persona 5 is a game in which it presents you with 10000000000000 reasons to break the law and feel Great about it.

(another tangent: i feel like one of the big undercurrents of persona 5, and especially the TV station, is that the phantom thieves are justified in their lawbreaking because the police aren’t doing their fucking job. like, someone’s got to keep people safe, and if the cops don’t like the phantom thieves, maybe they should get off their asses and actually get the criminals before the thieves do. akira literally was on live television and he was like ALL COPS ARE BAD and goro was like wow. anyone else think that was really sexy? @ the guy in the glasses in the back, call me later when you’ve leveled up your charm and knowledge.)

so atlus is in this place where they’ve pointed out that people break the law because they dont really have any other choice, and also persona 5 the game HATES cops, and also persona 5 the game cannot tell you that breaking the law is bad because it is literally A Game About Breaking The Law, but at the same time, they cant really go around promoting crime. from a doylist perspective i was 100% unsurprised that they came up with a fancy narrative reason to get rid of the metaverse and their change-of-heart abilities and just the phantom thieves in general, because all of those are a threat to the status quo. although the game might be right that relying on the phantom thieves to change society for the rest of the population makes the rest of the population lazy and apathetic, it’s pretty convenient that this means that the kids are now no longer able to break the law. so persona 5 really wants people to do things the kosher way, e.g. protesting and such. 

hhfmgmhfmghfmgfmghmfhgg. taking this all with a grain of salt, because again, i do think atlus is trying very hard to avoid saying that people should break the law:

i think atlus wants to say that it’s not necessarily acting outside the law that’s not right, but the fact that just loading the phantom thieves with a ton of power makes people apathetic, and changing the hearts of a few individuals is Not enough to get rid of something like shido’s conspiracy. so instead they say, you shouldn’t break the law because it’s not effective without collective reform. 

i think another thing that persona 5 wants us to believe is that for the most effective reform to be achieved, people both inside and outside the law/system have to be involved in the collective effort to improve society. 

e.g., toranosuke wants to be a man of the people--someone who speaks for the people who are outside of the diet, but toranosuke himself is someone inside the diet. sae’s the other good example; the phantom thieves protest akira’s arrest at the end of the game, but sae, as the insider in the justice system, has to be there to hear and work with them. and this might just be because i watched haru’s s link last night, but i feel like takakura is a really good example: haru pushes back against the company’s shitty policies with her “outsider’s” perspective (quoted because she’s technically the largest shareholder, she just hasnt ever been really involved in how the company is run), but takakura, as the company president and most powerful person at okumura foods, has to be there to hear her request and agree with her, and make company changes based on her requests. 

and it’s for this reason that persona 5 wants us to consider maybe lawbreaking isnt morally bad, just not effective.

i wish i could say that that’s more bad atlus writing, but it’s not. i’ve only really examined changing schools on an institutional level, but the best examples of institutional change in school administration have always been cases where the administration, parents, and community members all work together. in some cases, parents bring up requests for the school to accommodate their needs, and the administration listens and works with them. something something--everyone needs an advocate. the point of a lawyer is to advocate for you. the point of a politician/representative is to represent you and your interests. so on and so forth.

(and i also wish that it could be as simple as saying, “wow atlus said something right for once!” because that’s not true, either--acting outside the law can be outrageously effective. persona 5 trying to tell us that acting outside the law to get shit done isn’t effect smells like corporate trying to tell its workers that unionizing doesnt actually do anything.)

(and i also wish that persona 5 would have acknowledged that sometimes, it takes more than just an extremely moral person to change the world. take toranosuke, for example--i’m sure that if he gets elected, he’ll go out there and be a wonderful representative of the people, but at the same time, can’t we also simultaneously acknowledge that any politician who can make “politics” a career for profit will always be incentivized towards self-interest? in the same way that a military for profit will always be incentivized towards war?)

but insofar as whether or not persona 5 thinks that vigilante justice/acting outside the law is in and of itself morally bad--i’d say probably not. i think they want us to think that it’s not effective.

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this is a slight tangent that kind of goes off the issue of whether or not persona 5 is concerned with whether or not breaking the law is moral or effective. i was going back through goro’s dialogue in the engine room--who knows if that’s going to be changed in royal--but i was trying to figure out exactly what the phantom thieves condemn him for. (fucking difficult as fuck considering how bizarre that dialogue was at places.) 

the first one is murder, which goro is unimpressed with (LMAO. KING). the second is that he operated outside the law, to which he replies that they did the same thing (valid). the third is that his form of justice was “selfish,” in that it only served his personal need for revenge. at that point, goro changes the subject--which is not really surprising, since goro admitted long before the engine room that his quest against shido was for his own personal satisfaction. 

that is to say, the phantom thieves can’t say that they don’t operate outside the law, because they do--however, if the phantom thieves can’t be legally exonerated, the phantom thieves are morally exonerated despite operating outside the law because they do it for the benefit of others. that’s actually not an incorrect statement from the phantom thieves, although i dont think they’re doing it for Society Writ Large. the phantom thieves in every single palace have taken on targets to help someone else: firstly ann and ryuji and shiho, then yusuke, then various shujin students being blackmailed by kaneshiro, etc, etc. i remember pretty distinctly that ann insists that she doesnt want to get involved with madarame just for drama or fame (whereas ryuji wants to pick a big target just for the sake of getting famous), but she agrees to get involved with madarame’s palace because she doesn’t want to leave yusuke to possibly kill himself like a previous student.

because the phantom thieves are not able to say that they haven’t operated outside the law in the same way that goro has, the dividing line between them is instead that the phantom thieves are doing so selflessly. but this is just an elaboration on the question of whether or not “is lawbreaking moral?” rather than necessarily “is lawbreaking effective?”

there’s an argument that nothing goro or the phantom thieves did was effective in the long run, and there’s an argument that sae is proof positive that working inside the system won’t be effective, either. 

anyway, unions are effective. so maybe we should agree to wash our hands and join a union.

[rrightplacerighttime]

El cabron con los flores

I know what you think Putting on a leather jacket from the older brother, he wore it on his first date Even though this is not a date And your armpits beg to differ Your Target cologne And Clarks ashy from latecomers at church mistaking them for concrete Things you would never fucking wear for anyone Ever But you wanna look sharp For what its worth you have to do laundry too But that can wait

I know how you feel A hot iron about to touch your stomach blow torch to butterflies stuck to leftovers And simultaneously to the peace of above ground train rides You and her The right side of her face on your left shoulder Everything moving right past you The world from coney island reversed But her face never budges You feel it even when it rains There is no umbrella Let the drops see my happiness for once

I know how it goes You wait after her event ends And give her the gmo daisies from the guy sitting on a milk crate You learn later on that she loves the color orange Old books And Ducle de leche Somehow despises chocolate And her arm is shades of Clemente If he ever had a fat ass and some braces She almost bombed a mexican barbecue betting she could throw a rock further Then you sit with her over eggrolls and seseme chicken More leftovers for butterflies that aint goin fuckin nowhere now Mindless chatter and semantics at the same damn time Playlists for days Hot wings Hotter carribean islands Near death experience stories at 3 am That Kmart you both were at the same day at different times Week after week youll ask the same question of How did i ever live without her? - You ask the question staring at her While both of you Lay on the grass Little spic children running in the background Some of them leaping like theyre invincible Some of them crying Holding their arms that will be fine Legs that will run again Copies of yourselves You stare at her unflinching Everything is almost right with the world Except she cant even look at you past 7 mississippi without looking to the side Or down Somethings on your mind And she shakes her head yes And you know Its her old boy that died Went to bed one night and never woke up You can tell its him in the way her chest moves So heavy Clutching her purse The photo booth pictures she still has of him The second and third one hes kissing her And then she kisses you to try and buff out the thought How did i live without you? - The answer being with your hand down your pants and exacto knifes making out with your legs Self sex and stencils I love you I love you too Even though she is easily irritated and highly flamable - Thank God for google maps Or she wouldve never smiled for the photo pictures from the concert that she did and even though you cant stop acting like a child Overnight apologies Morning flights to funerals You sleep on the plane and dream about how she told you She wanted to drive to south america Then you wake up And you remember you dont even got a fucking drivers license And you wont for another 4 years The movies shit so you go back to sleep And you dream about nothing Nothing Nothing but God can help you Oh but dont worry He will You love each other A love strained when youre late to pick her up Or when you say something that triggers her But Your mouth is a war zone Which is new to the both of you And when you give silence a try it just makes it worse The love is still there brown leaves over faces Slow dancing in pharmacies Infront of the greeting cards Chicago songs still make you tear up Pussy Cold walks to the train Taking turns with hands in each others pockets Because neither of you wants to let go

I know how it ends Standing in front of her never thinking you could feel this distant The things she says without saying them Thats what you loved the most about her Never wasted a word When the moment was honest You begin to think after she dumps you All the times that she told you she loved you How sometimes she would repeat it over Again and again Like when you tell the ghosts outloud That they are not real The more you say it the more you begin to believe it Instead of accepting what you know is true She doesnt say in front of you this time And the few times she will text it to you Wont exactly bear the same meaning She picks up her head from your shoulder And gets on a plane And never comes back Extra time apart from her Turns into forever

But see YOU do not end Just reset You catch glimpses of her Sit across from someone who looks just like her Both times you say nothing You do nothing but look and walk away You talk about her in pieces to your friends The female ones who you dont mess with Who kinda thought you were gay at first And tell you this when you get cool like that Just pieces Never the whole thing at once Thats even worse than alcohol poisoning They tell you to just forget about her Words of advice While they put on leather jackets Dont go back to her Delete her friends Delete her number (which she changed) Try and get some other girls numbers Even though they dont really catch your eye Do not go back to her Do not go back to her Do i really have to say it a third time? No i get it, twice is good one for each face In the meantime You make some shitty paintings Walk to harlem To brooklyn Only two shots to date Because the sting in your throat is ugly dance with some wives at weddings The beer is fantastic And now youre black John Travolta in suspenders When youre sober You get a decent job And her name is on everything you touch Wonderful But its no big deal I aint mad anymore, B So UPS can keep looking You buy new clothes Sign up for driving lessons Because fuck Peru The Mets lose another World Series And you actually read books now At holiday parties in the heights You hold your sister in laws child And you Look at the way he smiles at you And you just hope, on the ride home That no one ever takes that away from him At the end of star wars, you cry now which you never did Because everything dies by the big asthmatics red lightsaber Everything but hope That same night you set an alarm for 4am You go to sleep and you dream about nothing. Nothing.