#Far Left Extreme Militarism

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"I'M NOT COMMITTED TO NON-VIOLENCE IN ANY WAY."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a film still of Bernadine Dohrn, former SDS member, later turned extreme Left militant in the Weatherman organization, from "The Weather Underground," the 2002 documentary film based on the rise and fall of the aforementioned American radical-political/revolutionary group.

Sources: www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571602-days-of-rage, IMDb, & Wikipedia.

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

is Jewish Voice for Peace actually Jewish? I've heard a couple different things about that but no sources

@gryphistheantlerqueen also asked:

Whooo boy. So this has been sitting in the inbox for a few months, I wrote up a draft, and then it just sat... until this past week, when some new JVP BS hit the fan and gave me the kick to finish it.

Sooooo...

Verdict: Not Actually Jewish

(updated verdict after finding out about the “self-managed conversion” and “teacup mikvah”) Jewish, technically, and that "technically" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and is actively debatable without access to a detailed breakdown of JVP’s actual membership rolls. 

In general summation, JVP is a far-left radical antizionist group that is headed by a few visibly antizionist Jews and whose membership rolls are either a strong minority or outright majority of non-Jews, based on variable statistics that they've released. Although they claim that the “majority of their members and staff are Jewish”, this seems to be both statistically unlikely and actively suspicious due to their noted tendency to instruct even non-Jewish members to speak #AsAJew on social media, and their instructions to do “self-managed conversions”.  However, due to their title, they are very popular with people who want a Jewish Stamp Of Approval for demonizing Israelis and Zionist Jews as a result. In effect, they are Jewish in the same way that people like Candace Owens and Hershel Walker are Black—as self-tokenizing minorities who throw the rest of their ethnic group under the bus in exchange for power and political access.

And despite the claims that they are “inspired by Jewish values and traditions” (as put on their website) and “oppose anti-Jewish hatred,” JVP routinely engages in antisemitic rhetoric, up to and including blood libel and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and acts as a shield against non-Jews who also engage in antisemitic rhetoric so long as the non-Jews in question remember to shout "For Palestine!" first. This is not an exaggeration. 

The primary example of their in-house antisemitic rhetoric is their "Deadly Exchange" program, where they explicitly and conspiratorially blame Israel as being responsible for American police brutality and militarization. However, for all of their fearmongering and blame-casting on the subject—as if American cops needed outside help in brutalizing minorities or gaining military-grade handmedowns from the Pentagon, both of which are explicit claims of the "Deadly Exchange" program—they have a hard time actually identifying specific deaths associated with the international training seminars they're holding up as responsible.

One of the the closest they've come to a specific allegation is claiming that "former St. Louis County police chief Timothy Fitch trained with the Israeli military three years before Michael Brown’s killing and the Ferguson uprising." (Note: this was in a video that appears to have since been made private.) But Darren Wilson worked for the Ferguson PD, not the St. Louis PD, and Fitch retired months before the killing. So he was in a completely different police department, and this is the closest JVP comes to pointing to specific deaths or acts of brutality that they blame on Israel. Everything else is literal fearmongering--up to and including the classic conspiratorial tropes of "secretive Jewish governmental influence".

JVP has also happily supported the words of white supremacists like Richard Spencer, taking his “You could say that I’m a white Zionist in the sense that I care about my people," statement at face value, using it as the basis for entire articles where they compared Zionism to White Supremacy as a deliberate misrepresentation of the ideology that is common on the extreme political Left (you can compare that treatment again with how Candace Owens treats the word "Woke" on the Right). Even when the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" march happened, JVP wasted no time in comparing Zionism with the very ideology fueling the people chanting "Jews Will Not Replace Us," saying that Zionism is "Jewish racial supremacy" and calling for a universal condemnation of the ideology as a form of White Supremacy... which was the exact sort of message that many of those same White Supremacists would have happily agreed with.  So JVP is essentially siding with literal White Supremacists,  even as they claim that "Jews are not the primary victims of White Supremacy."

JVP also engages in Holocaust revisionism, such as with this lovely quote from Cecilie Surasky, the deputy director of JVP, “I believe it is critical to situate the genocide of Jews in a broader context, and not as an exceptional, metaphysically unique event. Some 6 million Jews died, but another 5 million people were also targeted for annihilation.”

(another quote, from an article by Surasky, which compares Netanyahu to Hitler.)

This is just straight revisionism of the entire Holocaust and the unique fixation the Nazis had on the Jews. Literally, even when they were losing, they were diverting resources from the war just to kill more Jews. Quote Hitler himself, "Jews must be prevented from intruding themselves among all the other nations as elements of internal disruption, under the mask of honest world-citizens, and thus gaining power over these nations." The very basis of the Nazi ideology paints Jews as an existential threat to the human race's peace and security—a far cry from JVP's claim that the Jewish suffering in the Holocaust wasn't unique or exceptional.

Additionally, JVP ignores or re-envisions Mizrachi Jewish history. They call the very term Mizrachi “Zionist rhetoric,” and refer to Mizrachi “immigrants,” (“Deadly Exchange,” pg. 16-17), and claim “the Israeli government facilitated a mass immigration of Mizrahim” (“Our Approach to Zionism”) as though those weren’t the direct result of the mass expulsion of and violence against Jews in MENA countries. These weren’t immigrants, these were refugees. 

And as for the question of “Are they Jewish?”, well...

Statistically, they are not representative of the Jewish population as a whole, 90% of whom identify as some degree of Zionist in the sense of “Supporting Jewish self-determination.”  One does not need to be Jewish to join JVP, as they proudly state on their website. Their membership rolls are also extremely obfuscated, and the fact that they encourage their followers, whether Jewish or not, to post and speak “as Jews” on social media makes it even more difficult to figure out what percentage of their membership is actually Jewish.  Furthermore, they have instructions for their members to engage in “self-conversions” that are not acceptable to Jewish law or tradition, and misuse/appropriate other sacred Jewish traditions to the point that “blasphemy” is an accurate description, with their instructions on the mikvah (a sacred bath) being outright offensive.  

(note that one has to be completely nude and bare of any adornment or makeup to use the mikvah, which is a pure pool of collected rainwater to be immersed in, for context on the above... misuse.  Trying to claim this as being “in line with sacred Jewish tradition” is like trying to claim to be Catholic while also saying that the Pope is the Antichrist and that using beer and a doughnut for the Eucharist is acceptable. For more information on mikveh, see: The Jewish Virtual Library, Aish, myjewishlearning, or Chabad.

There's also no altar.

The irony of asking people not to appropriate while doing this is astonishing.)

It’s also telling that they straight up say they are “claiming” the practice as their own.

Furthermore, JVP has hosted panels on “antisemitism” in the past... headed by people who are not only not Jewish, but who have been credibly accused of antisemitism in the past.  

JVP has also endorsed The Mapping Project Boston, which was a Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) subsidiary, listing every “Zionist” organization in Boston, Mass. This included Jewish schools, elder homes, community centers, disability centers, and more; all of them painted with scary and misleading “links” to non-Jewish organizations to insinuate Jewish control of the state and city governments, invoking age-old antisemitic tropes of a conspiracy of Jews as they did so:

(first image is the Mapping Project, the second is a 1938 Nazi political cartoon)

The Mapping Project also, and this is my personal favorite, accused Harvard University of doing “racist science” for engaging in archeological and genetic studies of Jews and Jewish history.  Tellingly, BDS actually disavowed The Mapping Project (albeit for bad optics, not for the rank antisemitism they were promoting)... but JVP has not, even though the Mapping Project’s entry for the ADL reads as follows:

Masquerading as a “civil rights” group, the ADL is a counterinsurgency and espionage organization whose mission is to protect the mutual interests of the US and Israeli governments, and to eliminate solidarity among oppressed peoples, especially concerning Palestine. The ADL spies on and criminalizes activists (using its connections to governments, police, schools, and corporations) while undermining their work by pushing its own state-sanctioned, pro-“Israel” agenda. And while the ADL claims to represent Jews and to fight “antisemitism” on their behalf, the organization has supported anti-Jewish state violence and sanitized Nazis. The ADL cannot be reformed: it must be dismantled and whatever resources it has should go towards repairing the many harms it has done. (Emphasis added.)

Of course, JVP has also engaged in similar conspiracy-toned antisemitic dogwhistles, such as this fun bit from their first Deadly Exchange video:

So clearly (to me at least), they have no problems with The Mapping Project’s tone and presentation.  

And this isn’t even going into JVP’s routine promotion of blood libel, their egregious double standards, their approving of pogroms, their active support for Hamas terrorists and demonization of Hamas’ victims, their attempted revisionism of Jewish history, their abject rejection of Jewish culture, and their other actions that show not just bias, but outright hatred for 90% of the world’s Jews.  

As one commentator put it, JVP as an organization is very much like Autism Speaks is to Autistic people--a thinly disguised hate group that views the people they’re supposedly speaking for as the problem, and themselves as promoting the Solution.  To this moderator, they’re the equivalent of the Association of German National Jews, who were also known as the Jews for Hitler; they wanted to abandon Judaism and embrace Naziism... and they got sent to the gas chambers anyway.  

Mod Joseph

Sources:

www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/jewish-voice-peace

www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Mikveh-Guide-for-Jewish-Voice-for-Peace-Outlined.pdf

(and also just... a general experience/exposure to them on social media, where even the most progressive actions taken by Israel, such as the recent ruling regarding queer Palestinians being able to claim sanctuary in Israel, being labeled as “pinkwashing”)

[assumptionprime]

I need to rant about the Fallout show

Because this is the person I am. Full spoilers, so I’m putting it behind a Keep Reading:

I’m a huge sucker for Fallout (yes even 3&4). And I went into the Fallout show with some… trepidation. Amazon has been a mixed bag on adaptations, we could have been blessed with a Good Omens, or cursed by a Rings of Power. But early buzz and reviews seemed positive, so I slammed the whole thing in one night with my spouse (we were staying at my in-laws house and they have Prime. Time was a factor.)

And y’know? I was really enjoying it! The characters were fun, the plot was engaging enough, and the costumes and visual design were extremely on point. There were some minor lore quibbles to be had: Ghouls needing some kind of medicine to not go feral. Really, more Enclave holdouts? Timeline and date whoopsies. Wait are they in California? Where the hell is the NCR?

I made a face at Shady Sands being bombed and the NCR collapsing. But I wasn’t completely out of the story. Based on what I had seen so far, I thought it was building to a reveal that the Brotherhood had done it. That the more zealous turn they took in Fallout 4, which has clearly carried to how they are portrayed in the show, lead them to bombing the NCR. War never changes, as they say. Maximus even says when asked what happened to Shady Sands: “The same thing that always happens.” Yeah, it leans into Bethesda’s weird desire to keep the Fallout world in a state of perpetual wastelands full of raiders and no civilization, but it wasn’t so terrible that I couldn’t still enjoy the show.

But then.

BUT THEN.

Episode 8, and the reveal of Vault-Tec apparently being the ones who dropped the first bomb in the Great War.

I was surprised to hear that some fans have apparently been debating over who fired first? Some even asked Tim Cain about it?

That’s really odd to me because, in the games, there is already a pretty definitive answer to which side sparked the Great War:

Who fucking cares?

The world ended. What does it matter who shot first?

There is no China, no United States, no communists or capitalists left to fight about it. 

It's a powerful little bit of lore.

For all the posturing, all the promises from each nation that their way is the true way, all the nationalism, the militarism, and blind loyalty to flags over humanity, they both lost. Everyone lost. All that remains of the ideologies and nations that were so important to the people of 2077 is faint echoes over vast expanses of radioactive ash.

Who started the end?

No one knows. No one cares.

It only matters that their conflict was so bitter, so all-consuming, that one of them dropped their bombs, and the other dropped theirs in return.

The truest legacy of the old world is the devastation left by their final, most horrific war.

Can we do better?

Then the show says "Nah, Vault-Tec did it. It's not a commentary on human nature and the futility of self-destructive conflict, it was actually these guys, these mustache twirling villains huddled in a darkened room literally plotting to end the whole world so they can rule what's left."

And I can see the attempt to make this a critique of capitalism. I actually paused the show to praise a bit of writing when Coop is talking with Charlie before the war, when Charlie tells him that the “cattle ranchers are in charge” to illustrate how capitalism and corporations hold too much sway over the government, it felt very in line with how in New Vegas one of the recurring critiques of the NCR is that all the real power is in the hands of the “brahmin barons.” Nice parallel, spot on!

But “we’ll set off total thermonuclear war so we can rule the ashes and have a True Monopoly” isn’t capitalism. It’s just dumb “we’re the baddies” writing.

And then Shady Sands was also Vault-Tec?! Forget any meaning in the NCR falling to the same corruption and/or factional fighting that consumed the old world, they were literally just bombed by the evil shadow conspiracy that apparently also killed the old world. Hank gives this speech about factions fighting and the futility of it all while we see the Brotherhood fighting Moldaver’s NCR remnant, and like, no! You can’t say that when you’ve made it so neither the old world or the NCR fell to war with another faction! It was you! You and your band of cryogenic supervillains!

I don't care that they changed it. Timelines and dates and little retcons don’t bother me all that much. I care that they changed it to something so much worse.

[cowboymaterials]

"im not jewish myself but i think that the proper way to deal with the jewish population of israel would be—" please don't be so idealist. im unlearning zionism myself, but no one wanted us after the war and no one wants us now. we don't want to go back to france, romania, poland, russia... the antisemitism there never went away. it isn't better there. and my extremely left wing, pre-1967-borders-wanting cousins in israel are so far removed from our romanian roots that they would be strangers in a strange land there. the majority of israelis aren't even from europe but other middle eastern nations, to whom it's extremely unsafe to return.

i get where you're coming from but it's really, really not so easy.

I appreciate this message, thank you for sharing your perspective, but I do want to challenge you on this.

You are right, of course it is not easy. I never said it was. My post was a reflection on what justice beyond the settler colonial nation-state could look like. There are no easy answers to this, but the obligation to end colonial occupation globally requires us to try. Just because it is hard doesn't mean it is impossible. Just because it is hard doesn't mean it is necessary.

It is not idealist to call for the end of genocide, occupation, and apartheid. And calling for this requires thinking in new ways about what true justice and safety looks like for Jewish people, otherwise the state of Israel will seem to be the only place that Jewish people can be safe.

But are Jewish Israelis safe? Not physically: Palestinians fight back to reclaim their occupied territory, Israel makes war against its own people, forcing its people into military service, building homes in areas of conflict, promoting violent racism that results in crimes against Black and Brown Jewish people. Not emotionally: the trauma of permanent war and the ideology of racist militarized nationalism are scarring. Not culturally and spiritually: Israel's ethnonationalism privileges Orthodox Judaism and Ashkenazi tradition and the banning of Yiddish resulted in a loss of culture only being recuperated now.

The fault lies in the state of Israel and the antisemitic colonial powers that facilitated its creation and its continued existence. It is an injustice for Jewish people to be forced to replicate the same genocide, displacement, and dehumanization they face in order to feel safe.

Many of the countries whose antisemitism forced Jewish people into diaspora are supportive of Israel, and many of these countries are also colonizers. This is not incidental. Instead of real reparation, these countries chose to benefit from the displacement of Jewish people. The British created Israel not to bring justice for Jewish people but to widen their geopolitical sphere. British politicians called for the "restoration of the Jews" to Palestine in the 1840s, prior to the political zionist movement. This was motivated by antisemitism and by Britain's ambitions to expand their empire. Since its inception, Israel has fought colonial wars internally and externally, acting as a militarized arm of European imperialism. Exporting arms India to be used in the occupation of Kashmir, to Hutu militias carrying out the Rwandan Genocide, and to the Guatemalan army aiding in the massacre of Indigenous Mayans. Allying with Apartheid South Africa, training the Serbian soldiers carrying out the Srebrenica genocide (and then granting them citizenship to protect them), training US police (and FBI, CIA, ICE officers), refusing to recognize the Armenian genocide while arming Azerbaijan's military to continue ethnic cleansing of Armenians. This is not a complete list. There are many other explicit instances where Israel has supported genocide and police violence globally.

I say this to demonstrate how not only is Israel not safe, but Israel makes the rest of the world less safe too. Israel reinforces colonial conquest, not acting in service of Jewish people but in service of imperial powers.

I do think there is another question in here too: Where do Jewish people go if Israel does not exist? This is a question settlers globally ask in response to Land Back. The answer is varied. Pam Palmater speaks to this, while referring to Canada this can also be applied to Israel. Maia Ramnath offers some insight from an anarchist perspective, saying that decolonizing may result in the replication of the nation-state, but this is not symptomatic of the decolonial effort, but rather the global dominance of the nation-state form, requiring global revolution.

And FYI Majority of Israelis are from Europe.

[thunderbone]

After the first screenwriter left the project, the producers had to call another screenwriter to create a new script for the film and that's how it works, guys.

It was from there that Steven Spielberg (Or Uncle Spielberg for those of you close), director of the first two films in the franchise, had a terribly crazy idea of militarized dinosaurs being used as weapons, but his version of the idea was much more fanciful. And what's worse is that he thought the kids would love this idea, holy shit!

To make matters worse, in April 2003, Spielberg and the other producers were looking for screenwriters to write a new script that was based on Uncle Spielberg's "brilliant" idea, and they later called on infamous screenwriter John Sayles to create the new script for the movie. For those who don't know, John Sayles was the screenwriter for the films Piranha (1978) and The Howling (1981), meaning he specializes in creating B horror films.

And that's how that terrible proposed script for the fourth film in the franchise written by John Sayles came about. Get ready to hear the story of John Sayles' screenplay.

Jurassic Park IV by John Sayles

By 2004, John Sayles had written two scripts for the film, the second script having been leaked onto the internet by hackers. Yes, since the end of the 90s, some scripts were leaked onto the internet through hackers and an example of this was the script for the film Scream 2, where the screenwriter had to change several things in the script due to the leak, thus avoiding spoilers of the movie plot. But going back to Sayles' script, as I said, the second script had been leaked online in 2004, where this script is the version we all know.

This second script has one of the most intriguing and infamous aspects of the franchise as a whole. Despite this, it's worth taking a look at this script to get an idea of what the film would have been like if it were released at the time the script was written. Below is a summary of the script, although I recommend that you read the script first before viewing my summary.

The script's story begins with a group of Pteranodons attacking several people during a baseball game, in which it is widely thought that these are the same Pteranodons that appeared at the end of the third film in the franchise. The whole world has started to pay attention to the mainland of Costa Rica, as some dinosaurs are migrating to the mainland. This invasion of dinosaurs to the continent is generating a lot of concern for the entire local population due to the possibility of the ecosystem collapsing.

The new protagonist introduced in the script, Nick Harris, an ex-military man hired by John Hammond to recover the Barbasol can left by Dennis Nedry before he was killed by a Dilophosaurus. That can contained DNA embryos from several dinosaur species stolen by Nedry, and Hammond wants them in order to use them to create a group of sterile and extremely aggressive dinosaurs, because according to him, these dinosaurs would exterminate the entire remaining population of the islands, so there would be no more incidents involving dinosaurs on the mainland.

However, Nick's mission is completely secret, as Hammond has lost the rights to Isla Nublar and his company, InGen, which currently belong to the Grendel Corporation, a Swiss multinational company and conglomerate. In addition, Hammond is also prohibited from cloning new dinosaurs, mining ore and excavating amber of mosquitoes. Hammond now spends his time paying millions to families who lost loved ones in the incidents of previous films.

On the island, Nick manages to find Barbasol can, but is attacked by Excavaraptors, a group of Velociraptors left over from Isla Nublar, where they lived in the underground area of the park. Over the years, they have evolved drastically, where in addition to adapting underground, they have developed large claws similar to the claws of a mole and the behavior of these creatures has gone far beyond, where they are now smarter and more aggressive than normal Velociraptors.

To make matters worse, Nick is also pursued by a group of Compsognathus and the military soldiers of the Grendel Corporation, who at all costs want the Barbasol can. After managing to lose them, Nick tries to return to his plane, but the plane is destroyed by a Kronosaurus, which also chases him quickly. Thanks to the power of protagonism, Nick manages to escape from the marine reptile and manages to return to the mainland. However, after returning to the mainland, Nick is finally captured by Grendel Corporation soldiers, in which he is taken to the company's headquarters in the Swiss Alps.

Nick is forced by the Grendel Corporation to train a squadron of genetically engineered Deinonychus, promising him a payment far greater than what John Hammond had promised him, on condition that he reveal the whereabouts of the Barbasol can.

In this script, we are introduced by other new characters, which are: Adrien Joyce (Ex-military, old friend of Nick and second villain of the plot), Baron Hermen Von Drax (CEO of Grendel Corporation and villain of the plot), Dr. Maya Lundberg (Scientist of Grendel Corporation and second protagonist of the script) and Sherman Fosdick (Chief scientist of Grendel Corporation).

After meeting the other characters, Nick is finally introduced to the hybrid dinosaurs, the Deinonychus Draxi. The Deinonychus Draxi would be the first hybrid dinosaurs in the franchise, which are composed of five of them: Spartacus (X-1), Orestes (X-2), Perseus (X-3), Hector (X-4) and Achilles (X- 5). They were created by Grendel Corporation with the intention of using them as military weapons, where the company's CEO, Baron Von Drax, wanted the embryos stolen by Dennis Nedry to use them in creating more dinosaurs for military use. Deinonychus Draxi has human DNA (which was donated by the company's CEO) and dog DNA.

Human DNA was added for better problem solving, while dog DNA was added to increase obedience. Each one has an identification number pulverized (Which in this case is an X with a number) and all were controlled by a device attached to the side of their heads, where these devices inject chemicals into the raptors, to make them obey Nick commands well for most of the script. In addition to having human and dog DNA, these hybrid dinosaurs also had squid DNA to camouflage themselves (just like the Indominus Rex from Jurassic World).

Nick, with help from Maya, Sherman, and the other company employees, begins extensive training with the Deinonychus Draxi, putting them through several different exercises to prepare them for their future military missions. The dinosaurs' first mission is to rescue a ten-year-old girl who had been kidnapped by a terrorist group. The mission is a brutal success, with the Deinonychus Draxi violently tearing apart the terrorists and saving the little girl from the criminals.

In the middle of the plot, Spartacus begins to have a friendly relationship with Nick (Like Blue and Owen in Jurassic World), while Achilles gradually turns into an uncontrollable killing machine (Something similar with Delta in Jurassic World). After an attack by Achilles during training that almost resulted in its death, Nick discovered that Maya is trapped in Von Drax's castle against her will, being forced to work for him.

Furthermore, Baron Von Drax becomes very impatient and threatens Nick with a crossbow, in an attempt to obtain information on the whereabouts of the Barbasol can. With no choice, Nick finally reveals the location of the can, under the condition that he release Maya after the Deinonychus Draxi's second mission is over. Later, Nick and Maya had a private conversation, where in addition to confessing their feelings for each other and kissing, the geneticist tells the ex-soldier that Von Drax arranged for that little girl to be kidnapped.

Eventually, they would have to rescue a group of hostages held by a drug lord in South America. However, this mission would also serve as a demonstration for various corporations looking to invest in the latest military technology. Investors are shocked to see dinosaurs parachuting during the mission on the observation monitors. In addition to the Deinonychus Draxi, there were also two Dilophosaurus, Casper and Pollux, and an Ankylosaurus, who were also trained by Nick weeks before the day of the mission.

All of the Deinonychus Draxi and the Dilophosaurus were equipped with armor. The dinosaurs manage to invade the drug cartel hideout and once again the mission was successful, where the dinosaurs killed all the drug dealers, leaving only the hostages alive. It is at this point that it is revealed that Nick had tricked Baron Von Drax, where he replaced the embryos in the Barbasol can with frog genes, much to the villain's chagrin.

It is also revealed that Von Drax was paid by a rival drug cartel to eliminate the drug lord and his henchmen. In parallel to this, the Deinonychus Draxi manage to remove their respective devices that controlled them and flee into the forest. Nick and the other Grendel Corporation employees headed to the drug cartel's hideout to assess the damage done by the dinosaurs.

However, the Deinonychus Draxi attack everyone by surprise, turning against their creators. As the hybrid dinosaurs killed Baron Von Drax and all of his company's employees, Nick and Adrien had a final standoff after Adrien deduced that Nick had planned the entire dinosaur attack from the beginning. When Adrien was about to kill the protagonist, one of the Deinonychus Draxi, Achilles, quickly attacks him, brutally killing him.

However, after killing the second villain, Achilles succumbed to its injuries caused by one of the Grendel Corporation soldiers, dying in the process. At the end of the script, Spartacus and the other hybrid dinosaurs flee into the forest, sparing Nick and Maya's lives. Also, Nick reveals to Maya that he had already sent the embryos to Hammond, hoping that Hammond will do the right thing.

Man, this script had many holes, such as the plot of the Barbasol can, because in the first film of the franchise, it is revealed that if dinosaur DNA leaves a refrigerator, the useful life of that DNA will end quickly. Because of this, Dennis used a fake shaving can, which contained a mini cooler that could delay the life of the embryos for a long time, where this process would last a maximum of 2 days.

However, the story of this script takes place after the events of the third film, that is, it makes no sense for the characters to want that lost can, as the useful life of dinosaur DNA samples had ended many years ago. Furthermore, the characters' explanations of the creation of the Deinonychus Draxi is very vague in the script. It's as if such explanations were just there to fill in the holes in the script.

Many of the ideas presented in the script were retooled for Jurassic World and its sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Yes, John Sayles' script has been repurposed in the current franchise, being readapted to be less bizarre. The concept of hybrid dinosaurs (Indominus Rex and Indoraptor), a squadron of trained Velociraptors (Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo), an ex-military protagonist and trainer of that squadron (Owen Grady), a former colleague of the protagonist who wants to use dinosaurs as military weapons (Hoskins), a scientist responsible for creating one of the hybrid dinosaurs (Claire Dearing), the story takes place in a specific location outside the islands (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), and dinosaurs on the mainland (Jurassic World: Dominion) were taken from this script.

It's just that these repurposed concepts were more reliably readapted compared to what was in the pages of John Sayles' second script. Detail: JW's Hoskins character is a bit of a satire on Sayles' script, since everyone knows that militarizing dinosaurs and using them as weapons is a terribly bad idea. But that's not to say it's a bad read, I particularly like this script written by Sayles as it's a fascinating part of the franchise's history, as well as being a reminder of just how trippy and weird Jurassic Park IV could have been.

I would even like to see how the fourth film in the franchise could have been if this script was approved by the studio and it's no wonder that I made 5 fanarts of this script to imagine what the film would be like if it were released at the time the script was written. Not only that, in 2023, an incredible artist I met on Tumblr who makes beautiful drawings called Ralbino hamster (Also known as Ralbi) drew one of the hybrid dinosaurs from this script for me.

In 2020, I had made the first fanart of John Sayles' script. But it was only in 2021 that I finished the drawing.

When I drew the characters, I had to choose the characters that were featured in the script, and these characters are (From left to right): John Hammond (Even with a small participation in the beginning of the plot), Dr. Maya Lundberg (Scientist of Grendel Corporation and one of the creators of hybrid dinosaurs), Nick Harris (The main protagonist), Adrien Joyce (Nick's old friend and one of the plot's villains) and Baron Hermen Von Drax (CEO of Grendel Corporation, one of the creators of hybrid dinosaurs and villain of the story).

To draw Nick Harris, I didn't want him to be similar or identical to Owen Grady, where I imagined the actor Michael Fassbender playing him (Although the character doesn't look much like an actor in the final version of my drawing). Before, I wanted to draw another character from the script, Dr. Sherman Fosdick (One of the creators of the hybrid dinosaurs), but I didn't have much space to draw him.

When I drew the dinosaurs, I chose the main dinosaurs from the script, which are (From left to right): Deinonychus Draxi/Spartacus (One of the hybrid dinosaurs), Dilophosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Excavaraptor. To draw the hybrid dinosaur, I had to base myself on its characteristics according to the script, that is, it is literally identical to the "normal" Velociraptors in the franchise. But since it's a hybrid, I had to add dog teeth and five fingers, as well as add spines on its head and back (A reference to the concept art of a hybrid T. Rex made by Carlos Huante) and the same coloring as the Bernese Mountain Dog.

When I made this fanart, I had added the Dilophosaurus, even though it wasn't mentioned by its correct name in the script (Where it was called "Spitters" in the script, as well as being "replaced" by an unknown dinosaur similar to the frill-necked lizard, Chlamydosaurus Sputori). Also, I painted the Dilophosaurus yellow, red and black to give a reference to the Dilophosaurus featured in Michael Crichton's book. To draw the logo, I was inspired by the logo of the movies The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III (Only the number in roman numerals).

After I had finished making the first fanart of the script, I noticed that the Deinonychus Draxi (Spartacus) that I had drawn in that fanart looked very similar to the normal Velociraptors seen in the movies. Thanks to this small "error", I really wanted to make a fanart of the Deinonychus Draxi, the hybrid dinosaurs presented in that terrible script.

Only I didn't want to draw just one of those hybrids, but the whole squadron of Deinonychus Draxi (Something most fans haven't done until today).

The hybrid dinosaurs that are in my drawing are (From left to right on top row): Spartacus (X-1), Achilles (X-5), Perseus (X-3), Orestes (X-2) and Hector (X-4).

Before I started drawing, I had asked Hellraptor for permission to use the same Spartacus coloring and fur that he had used in his fanart, where he allowed it.

I'm a Hellraptor fan and really liked the Spartacus fanart he made, and I wanted to put the same Spartacus colors and fur he used to reference him and his art. So all the credit for Spartacus' coloring and fur goes to Hellraptor, and if you want to see his awesome art, click here: https://www.deviantart.com/hellraptorstudios

To paint Achilles, I used the Rottweiler coloring to give it a more menacing tone (Since the Rottweiler is one of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world, and I think it goes a lot with this killer dinosaur). As for the coloring of Perseus, Orestes and Hector, I used the colors of Shiba inu, Beagle and German Shepherd, respectively. When I had finished the art, I noticed that Hector was very similar to Indoraptor, but now I couldn't change his appearance as I had already outlined the art (lol! XD).

Finally, I had added the number four in roman numerals, to give the impression that my art is a poster of the movie (If it was released at the time the script was written).

In 2022, I made three more fanarts of the discarded script for Jurassic Park IV, written by John Sayles. In the first fanart of that year, I drew the two protagonists of the script (Nick Harris and Dr. Maya Lundberg) and the two hybrid dinosaurs (Spartacus and Achilles) again.

In the second fanart, I decided to make a realistic drawing, where I imagined the actors Michael Fassbender and Regina Hall playing the two protagonists of the script, Nick Harris and Maya Lundberg. Furthermore, I radically changed the appearance of the hybrid dinosaurs in the script, the Deinonychus Draxi, where they now look 100% like the normal Velociraptors from the films.

However, I really wanted the drawing to have a realistic painting, so I asked my brother's friend, Camila Vytória, if she could paint this drawing for me, which she agreed to. This was the second drawing that Camila painted for me.

I loved the final result of the painting and I am immensely grateful for it. Thank you very much, Camila! If you want to know her wonderful work, click here: www.instagram.com/vcamilart/ 

In the last fanart, I redesigned the logo for the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise if it had been released at the time John Sayles' script had been written. I improved the line and this logo was just perfect, because it really looked very similar to the official movie logos. This was my last fanart of John Sayles' Jurassic Park IV and currently I'm not interested in making more fanarts of this script, because I feel that my work here is done.

A little art of Spartacus, one of the hybrid dinosaurs from the second discarded script for Jurassic Park IV, written by John Sayles. This drawing was made in 2023 by Ralbino hamster (also known as Ralbi), an incredible German artist and super nice person that I met on Tumblr. To draw Spartacus, she was based on two fanarts that I made of this dinosaur a while ago and the result was very good. If you want to see her work, click here: www.tumblr.com/ralbinohamster

BONUS: These are a series of fanarts made by YouTuber Terrordome 3000, who made a video in 2017 about the development of the fourth film until it reached the final product. These photos show what Jurassic Park IV would be like if John Sayles' script was accepted by Steven Spielberg. Yes, this YouTuber was the first to make fanarts of hybrid dinosaurs based on the script.

If you want to see his video that talks EVERYTHING about Jurassic Park IV before it became Jurassic World, from discarded ideas and scripts, rumors from the time, etc., click here: Mysterious Islands: The History of Jurassic Park 4

In addition, this script had two things that until today have not been explored in the franchise: Graphic violence/gore and the constant use of firearms. The intent of Sayles' script was apparently to make the fourth film in the franchise an R-rated movie, something we've only had in Michael Crichton's two books, which is interesting.

As I said before, the story of the previous films was more of the same for focusing on isolated incidents on one of the islands, where the protagonists always fled from dinosaurs without the slightest chance of defending themselves against them. However, here it is different, as all the characters had weapons to defend themselves against the dinosaurs and were always ready for any risk situation.

Furthermore, just like in Crichton's books, the script contained scenes of extreme violence and a lot of gore, where dinosaurs wreaked havoc and killed people in various possible ways, be it tearing people apart, tearing off their heads or limbs, devouring someone alive and etc. In other words, here the dinosaurs, just like the dinosaurs in the books that gave rise to the first two films in the franchise, were treated as monsters, who kill for pure pleasure, contrary to what was implemented in the films, where dinosaurs are treated as animals who act on instinct just like any other animal.

The problem is that if this script was approved at the time the script was written, the film would probably bring a lot of loss to Universal, since the film proposed by Sayles was a film for adults. Are you tired of knowing that even today dinosaur films are treated as films for the whole family to watch, due to the fact that many children like dinosaurs. Because of this, to this day Universal does children's merchandising in the franchise, in which it sells toys from the films to all children, making huge profits from it.

If a film like that was released at that time, the film would be a failure, because in addition to the fact that fans would not like the film under any circumstances, the film would not attract the attention of children, causing Universal to lose a lot of money, since children's merchandising generates a lot of profit for it. This film would certainly be a complete failure, where this film would bury the franchise once and for all for an indefinite period of time, just as happened with the Dino Crisis franchise after the release of Dino Crisis 3.

And it doesn't end there, as it was revealed years later that John Sayles had written a proposed third script for the fourth film after the second script was leaked onto the internet. Not much is known about this third script, but there are reports that this script would bring back Lex Murphy (John Hammond's granddaughter), who would uncover a conspiracy involving hybrid dinosaurs.

The problem is that unlike the second script, where the Deinonychus Draxi always had the same physical appearance as the Velociraptors, that is, they were normal dinosaurs despite being hybrids (just like the Indominus rex and the Indoraptor, which are hybrid dinosaurs but are normal dinosaurs visually speaking), the hybrid dinosaurs in this script were more bizarre and much worse than imagined, as years later conceptual arts of these hybrid dinosaurs, made by Carlos Huante, were leaked onto the internet.

Yes, those freaks that actually look more like monsters from B horror movies than dinosaurs are the hybrid dinosaurs in this third script, according to Carlos Huante himself.

My God, what the fuck?! Apparently this third script is much worse than the second script that had been leaked on the internet years before. Man, what was going on in that screenwriter's head, it almost seems like he had snorted or smoked some drug to come up with this ridiculous idea of half-human dinosaurs, literally.

Speaking of those concept arts of human-hybrid dinosaurs that look more like monsters from a B-horror action movie than dinosaurs made by Carlos Huante, Carlos actually made a video on his YouTube channel discussing the hybrids concept arts. They were commissioned by Joe Johnston for his pitch of JP4.

According to Carlos, they were made during a meeting in 2004 and based on their discussions, not a script. Seems like the arts was made parallel to the John Sayles script. However, Carlos claims that the hybrid dinosaurs in his conceptual arts are the hybrid dinosaurs from the third discarded script written by Sayles as I had said previously, where there would even be a fight between the hybrid T. Rex and the hybrid Triceratops.

Yes, those hideous freaks are not the hybrid dinosaurs from Sayles' second script that was leaked on the internet, as the script itself confirms that the Deinonychus Draxi are literally the Velociraptors of the franchise, with few differences in physical appearance. The problem is that to this day, many people think that the hybrid dinosaurs in the leaked script that we have available to date are those abominations from Carlos' concept arts, and that is not true.

Like, every time someone talks about this script, that person states with certainty that the dinosaurs in this script are the dinosaurs from those concept arts, but that person hasn't even read the leaked script, because the script itself denies this by stating that the hybrid dinosaurs they are literally the Velociraptors of the franchise. It's no wonder that to this day no one in this world has had the courage to make a fanart of the hybrid dinosaurs from the script, where me, Hellraptor, Ralbino hamster and the youtuber Terrordome 3000 are the only ones who drew the Deinonychus Draxi based on the script, not on Carlos Huante's arts.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fanarts I made from this discarded script.

[winnienora14]

I have to agree that some Jegulus fan fictions do erase the other characters personalities but ‘’some’’ is important in this sentence. You can’t base your opinion on two or three fics when there are about ten thousands of them. There are lots of Jegulus fan fictions that portray all the characters of Harry Potter extremely well.

It’s also important to mention that canonically Regulus betrayed Voldemort. He helped in the destruction of the horcruxes which killed Voldemort. The same Voldemort who was leading the ‘all mud bloods shall die’ party. So if we base ourselves on the statement you made which is that Regulus ‘’thought exactly like (even more) his parents’’ we could compare the situation to a passionate nazi killing Hitler. I think we can both agree this makes no sense at all.

Now for the ‘’why is everything about projecting onto characters’’… This is a fandom. It’s common in fandoms for characters to get their personality radically altered. When people find characters they find cool or even characters they look up to, they tend to search for similarities between them. It gives them comfort to know one of their favorite characters has something in common with them. Sometimes, people might even change a part of the characters personality to make it fit theirs. They might even give a character their trauma. Some writers also do it so certain people who are not usually representated get the representation they deserve. There is so many people in this fandom, it’s just impossible for all the fan fictions/characters to be happy. Plus, it wouldn’t make sense if they were all totally happy. They are living in a war.

Also, that’s what fandoms are for to their core. They are for people to make assumptions about what comes next in the series, what was the meaning behind a certain scene, to dig deeper and maybe to enrich the characters personalities… So this is what people are doing. While also finding comfort in it.

So maybe to you the characters you used to cherish became ‘’irrelevant’’ and that’s okay. But to so many people they became what your old characters used to be to you. What is really cool about fandoms though is that the content is never ending and extremely diverse. So if a certain kind of content doesn’t entertain you or you really don’t like it you can just block the tags that come with this kind of content. Then, you can find the content that makes you happy without bashing the one that makes other people happy.

Now… I left this one for the end because I feel like this is the most important thing.‘’Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian,ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.’’ It did not have its place in the context you used it in at all. It was totally inappropriate.Throwing words around that had an actual meaningful and truly saddening impact on our society is disrespectful and insulting. It is estimated that over 5,750,00 jews were killed because of the holocaust which was based on this ideology. So for you to throw the word ‘fascist’ around just because you disagree with a ship and know it will get people’s attention and get some of them outraged is just insensitive and wrong.

And for the ‘’I’m BEGGING some of you to go to therapy instead on projecting on characters and crying when people don’t agree with you.’’ First off, mentioning a person you don’t even know’s mental illness is extremely disrespectful. Secondly, maybe projecting is their healthy way to cope. Finally, crying because not everyone agrees with you is exactly what you are doing in this post:hating on Jegulus fans and complaining that the fandom is not the same because you personally don’t ship Jegulus.

That’s it. Have a good day!

something that piss me off with the new jegulus craze, is mostly that in order to make that ship work (because no matter how much you believe in it it doesn’t make any sense with what we have on those characters) everything else gets erased. in order to make jegulus work they erase james and sirius’s friendship. they erased how much james cared for sirius and stood with him against him. they erased who james WAS his values and thoughts. they erased sirius’s character completely. saying that he would be mad that they “dated” and yapping about it, turning him into a dumb jealous bimbo who only cares about himself. they erased the importance OF LILY EVANS. the woman at the center of the series. the woman that fought for what she believed in all for people to take all of her personality and give it to someone who was partly responsible for her death? they erased regulus’s character gave him lilys or sirius’s or andromeda’s. they erased sirius’s strength and his story by making it about regulus, who was never abused and thought exactly like ( even more) his parents. i understand that people can ship what they ship. but like at this point this is not even the hp universe anymore. why is everything about people projecting onto characters i don’t get it. characters that had soooo much potential and depth became completely irrelevant and for what? a random ship and a loser guy that didn’t do shit but is pretty enough for people to love and to project all of their trauma on.

bring back lily. bring back sirius. bring back peter???? why is regulus the new 4th marauder??? why do pathetic facist men always get so much popularity.

what is so appealing about him over the over character that aren’t a pretty white boy but that did everything that you SAY that he did but didn’t. i truly don’t understand

and MOSTLY. why is everything so depressing now. people writing stories and adding plot lines like SA? WHY IS IT THAT IN ONE THE MOST FAMOUS FICS FOR JEGULUS FANS MARY GET SA’ED AND THEY STILL MAKE IT ABOUT HIM?????making everyone that a good person bad? what the hell is up with the projecting and why is this fandom so obsessed with adding random trauma to everything like. everything that was good and fun in this fandom is GONE.

i’m BEGGING some of you to go to therapy instead on projecting on characters and crying when people don’t agree with you.

[oopmiloiswritinf]

A first draft of the opening for a world I built forever ago and characters I made but never did anything with. I’m not the best writer but I hate to give these guys something. There’s a lot of world things that would makes sense in the larger picture but probably not in just this but meh

There is no escape of the heat, even in the dark embrace of the early night. Heat from the day could still be felt radiating off the tarmac hours after the sun had finally set. Summer nights in the nocturnal city were always a peculiar experience. The cool embrace that one would usually associate with the nighttime is very quickly proven a misconception after one night in the city. The black marble absorbed so much heat from the sun that with the addition of the waking locals and the opening of the city became unbearable in the summer months.

Sweat mixed with the humid air coming in from the nearby river, making this evening particularly uncomfortable. The silky fabric of the uniform stuck to the sweat on the back of his neck, rubbing over and over again as he marched in line towards those accursed walls. Standing an intimidating forty feet tall, Luminos’ border walls served as the biggest eyesore around. Even the old collapsed mine on the far-left border of the city was less cumbersome. At least the mine serves a purpose. Cas grimaced as he marched up to the monument. A wall. Such an unnatural thing, sheltering them all from all the evils of the world. The very idea of Luminos is contradicted by this monument to its anxieties. A society dedicated to knowledge and studies, being locked behind a wall cut off from any outside contact or information. Except, of course, from Silvis. Luminos’ sister city tucked away deep in the forest.

Silvis and Luminos had once shared a common home, a common people. Silvis and Luminos’ shared history was one of the only reasons they maintained contact. Their shared history was extremely important, and the fact Silvis had no issues communicating with the outside world allowed Luminos to remain comfortable in their ignorance. Having such a well-liked ally was useful for a city that would never bear its face to the light of the sun. Tonight, was no usual patrol, no. It was the one night a month where that accursed wall would open and allow messengers from Silvis in. The small change from the terrible mundane of life behind the walls was the only reason Cas had joined the Umbra.

“It takes a real man, a strong man who’s willing to do any and everything for his city to join ranks with its protectors,” Cas’ father had said.

Well, it took none of that. Many years ago, the Umbra may have been an elite group of patriots who wholeheartedly believed in their city; but now, the Umbra is more than content accepting whichever applicants scored above average on their entrance exam. A whirlwind of around four months and Cas was a fully-fledged Umbra trainee.

It had proved to be much less freeing and much more tedious than he had expected. As it turned out, only the highest of rankings in the militarized force had the privilege of exiting the walls. As for the lower-ranked members, they were left policing jobs around the quiet city, and of course they were also left with wall duty. In hindsight Cas should’ve read the fine print a little closer, after all at least beforehand he had his weekends free.

Gradually the patrol around him dispersed heading off to their own assignments and stations. Finally. Cas’ spirits had lifted significantly since the start of his patrol that evening. It had taken weeks of convincing when he was first a cadet to allow him to meet the Silvian messengers. He was able to persuade his way into assisting on a task that someone much more experienced would usually take on. It wasn’t an easy persuasion. Cas promised weeks’ worth of his days off to cleaning service in order to secure his spot on the diplomatic team. And by days was it worth it. Yes, it meant even more time spent doing the repetitive jobs he had been so glad to age out of, but it also meant he got face-to-face time with someone who had been outside the wall.

His first time meeting a Silvian was nearly a year ago now. It wasn’t exactly as exciting as he had hoped. Cas was pushed to the back of the small group, not even getting a greeting from the old Silvian man who had come through the small iron door. The dark tan the old man had sported shocked Cas. Luminos, the nocturnal city kept to itself, but was not ignorant. He knew that the others walked in the light of the day rather than keeping to the night as they did but seeing it. Being face to face by someone so immersed in the sun’s rays that they bared skin kissed by it was enough to drive Cas’ enchantment ever further. So, despite being further demoted to assistant on his first diplomatic meeting, Cas was still enchanted by the concept. He pushed once again the next month once again securing his place beside the more experienced soldiers.

Swerving through the narrow corridors built into the wall he began picking up the pace. He had lost count of all the months he’d met messengers long ago. Sometime between his third and sixth time he seemed to forget how much pressure it had taken to get him there. Cas moved with ease in the now familiar environment too excited to acknowledge the other soldiers who moved past him with ridged formality. A paper folder is slid across to him as he checks in for the night. Nodding quickly in acknowledgement to the officer Cas is off again, barely giving his paperwork a second glance. He had the rotation memorized by this point. Each month the doors messengers enter, and which ones arrive changes. Cas had been assigned Alicia Respotes, a veteran messenger on one of her last few visits before retirement. They had been assigned together for almost five months now. She was strict in her routine, arriving the same time every month.

Twisting the silver keys in their hole and pushing his weight against the heavy iron door, Cas was greeted almost immediately by Ms. Respotes rhythmic knocking. Excellent timing as always. With a smirk he pushes towards the next iron door, letting the first one slam and lock shut behind him. It was a preauction, the two doors. No matter how trusted or how routine someone was, the Silvian messengers were still outsiders, and outsiders could never be fully trusted. Pulling back the terribly heavy door he was greeted by the kind face of the little old lady.

“Good evening Ms. Repostes.” Cas chimed as he did each month.

“Good morning, Cas.” She repeated in time.

She never did smile, Ms. Repostes. She was far too formal for that. ‘It’s not becoming of a professional,’ she had once told him. Despite the straight face she always managed to hold when she visited, the lines decorating her eyes and mouth betrayed her. Exposing her against her efforts as a kind woman.

She waits in a wooden chair as Cas begins the process of securing the door to the forest. With her old age she had been provided with a place to rest even for a bit before continuing her duties. Cas never asked about it, the chair was always waiting there at whatever door they were to meet at. He assumed it was probably by the recommendation of another Umbra. Ms. Repostes herself is too proud to request such a thing, but with her years of travel between Silvis and Luminos it was only right that she was provided with something without request.

“Shall we?” Cas extends his arm to her after unlocking and propping the second door open with his foot.

While he enjoyed speaking to Ms. Repostes, her devout productivity was not something he looked forward to every month. If he was lucky, he could prompt an anecdote from her. A story or any sort of glimpse into a life outside the city was a rarity. A rarity he treasured no matter how miniscule the detail. Their interactions never lasted very long. They would walk the narrow halls towards the messenger residing outpost within the wall. A rather quick meeting would ensure where she would report on nothing too important, to him at least. Finally, Cas would accompany her around making some deliveries to the guards and visiting some of her previous accompaniments. The evening would end with Cas escorting her to her chambers early and he would be dismissed until the morning when he would escort her back to the doors.

His task would then be over for the night, leaving him free to do as he pleases. This is when his true fun began. As much as he respected Ms. Repostes, she was not the reason he looked forward to this day every month, and he suspected she knew it. If she could sense his anticipation she would every time request to go off to bed earlier and earlier, always giving him a knowing nod before leaving him free. Trying and failing to keep composure, Cas returned to the common area where Umbra were allowed to mingle with the Silvian messengers. Of course, it was seen as odd for a Umbra to speak to someone they were not working with, it was usually overlooked in the common room. He stopped so abruptly when he reached the cafeteria-styled room that he nearly tripped over himself. Scanning the room with an anxious excitement he failed to notice the hand that had begun to pull him back into the hallway.

“Cas? Cas?” He’d been pulled back against a doorframe, well out of the view of the crowd in the common room.

“Hello? Earth to Cas.” The bright freckled smile and tight grip at his wrist made him jump out of his skin.

“Days!” He jumped back knocking his head against the metal door against his back. The smiling boy before him rolled his eyes without letting go of his grip on Cas.

“You’ve got the weirdest curses you know?” The Silvian boy smirked.

“Oh, scuff off.” Cas gave the boy a gentle nudge. “You scared me half to death, you idiot.” Pulling the boy, Cameron, into a tight hug. With each day leading up to their reunion Cas can feel his uneasiness. His usual inability to focus increases tenfold as the end of the month approaches, and with it his chance to see his best friend again.

Months of carefully excited routine allows for Cas to get lost in his thoughts as Cameron navigates for the two of them, whisking Cas through back doors and eventually up out onto the wall. The fresh air hits Cas like a ton of bricks after hours spent cooped up in the underground passageways within the wall. They had met on Cas’ third try at diplomacy. Once again, he was pushed to the back of the group when greeting the messengers but instead of desperately pushing to get into the crowd, Cas resigned to a dark seat in the common area. Defeated he snuck out through some less-traveled passageways and up onto the wall itself. He’d memorized the route through numerous previous attempts, but up until then, he had never had the guts to push through that final door open and step out into the open air. There was no doubt at the fact he’d be stripped of all privileges and ranks if he was caught up here, and yet, something had pushed him to open that door that hadn’t every other attempt. Be it fate, or mere coincidence it seemed he wasn’t the only one is desperate need of an escape that night.

“You’re really young.” A voice calls out from behind him.

“Who said that?” Cas was quick to draw his knife on the unfamiliar voice. He knew he was in the wrong here, he was hesitant to turn to the voice, knowing for sure it’d belong to someone waiting to strip him of all he’d work for. But the scolding never came. The slap and firm hand he had been expecting was instead replaced by a gentle nudge of the shoulder.

“Are you supposed to be up here?” A boy not much taller than himself seemed to stare straight through Cas. His messy golden hair hung too-long over his eyes with streaks of brown at the roots, and his toothy smile was uneven and too excited to be talking to someone he had never met before, especially when he’s somewhere he definitely shouldn’t be. And yet, despite all the glaring oddities about the boy that would let anyone know he did not belong up on that roof, Cas couldn’t bring himself to look anywhere but the boys face. Freckles. The boy had freckles. He’s Silvian.

[whatisonthemoon]

Danish Moonies and Far-Right Politics in the 80s

From anarchist newspaper Black Flag: For Anarchist Resistance (September 3, 1987)

In the autumn of 1986, some of the structures and methods of the extreme right were exposed. In Denmark, the government consists of various non-Socialist parties. To many within the socialist tendencies, the only alternative to this is a government of the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist People's Party (SF). To many bourgeois people, this combination would be a major threat to their society.

During 1986, a growing amount of letters in the press accused the leader of the SF of "Nazi-style leadership" and of being a member of the Nazi youth from 1941-1944. But what seemed to be a spontaneous flow of letters to the newspaper editors from "indignant citizens" turned out to be a secret campaign started by right-wing loonies in the provincial press.

The semi-secret organization which was behind the campaign was the "Society in Defense of Danish Democracy," which has about 150 members and an unknown number of sympathizers, including many former high-ranking military and police officers, home guards, and members of parliament. The Society pushes a mixture of anti-communism, religious fanaticism, and militarism.

It is based on small cells working more or less independently. Besides this, there are a number of sub-organizations that deal with more specialized subjects. Their main purpose is to fight communism and subversion. Behind every peace organization and 3rd world solidarity group they see the KGB. Therefore they like to call themselves ‘the mental Home Guard’.

Inside the real Home Guard, they have built a secret intelligence service made up of an unknown number of active Home Guards who have gathered information on left-wing activists. ‘The Society’ has close connections with the people behind the paper Aktion who also have files on ‘subversives’. The paper has already published a list with the names and addresses of leading members of the Trotskyist SAP (Socialist Workers Party—very little in common with the English SWP). But the Society also has its own mouthpiece, the paper ‘Facet’, to carry its propaganda against "the communist threat". This threat is from the leader of SF, to students working one day to gather money for schools in Nicaragua (56,000 students attended, approximately £500,000 was collected), and the World Peace Congress held in Copenhagen in the autumn of 1986 with backing by the World Peace Council (which also in our opinion was/is dominated by Moscow!).

PH Bering, President of 'the Society', is also a member of the Danish section of the Unification Church (UC) founded by the Messiah of anti-communism: Sun Myung Moon. PH Bering participates in Moonie meetings arranged by the so-called 'Professors World Peace Academy'. The Danish UC-section, also called the 'Tongil Family', is active on several church fronts fighting socialism within the Danish church.

In 1980, the first and only issue of their paper 'Realia' was published. Amongst other things, it recommended reading the books of American Richard Wurmbrand, who in one of his books tried to prove that Karl Marx was a Satanist! The last germ of the Danish Moon movement is the group 'Causa', who lecture on, among other things, security politics.

Back to the 'Society': in 1984, they published the book 'The False Gospel' - an attack on the 'World Council of Churches' because of its work against apartheid. The book was originally in English and supported by South Africa. Many members of the 'Society' have sleepless nights thinking about what would happen if the Blacks in SA came to power. Members are therefore to be found in 'Friends of South Africa, Israel, etc.', different soldiers' organizations, and in right-wing 'peace' organizations, often with conservative youth followers.

The 'Far-East correspondent' of the paper Facet, Erik Dissing, is also the head of the Danish division of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). In Denmark, these extreme right-wingers have organized a committee which seeks to get influential persons as members. The committee numbers lawyers, politicians (Erik Dissing himself is a representative of the Conservative Party in a local council), employers, etc. - about 180 in all. While WACL internationally and historically is known for its connections with Nazis, Latin-American death squads, and different terrorist organizations, the Scandinavian - and with it the Danish - section tries to keep the legal and respectable facade, still providing full anonymity for its 'venerable' members.

This doesn't take its share of building international fascism. At a conference in Dallas (USA) in 1985, they were told to help in the fundraising for uniforms for Nicaraguan contras. They only managed to get about £500 earmarked for the purchase of boots! The story doesn't tell if this little amount pleased the president of WACL-International, the ex-major general John Singlaub, who is one of the key persons in the grip of Americans agitating for financial and military help to the contras!

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

A SHORT HISTORY OF EXTREME LEFT-REVOLUTIONARY PRACTICES IN NIXON'S AMERIKA.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on cover art to "OUTLAWS OF AMERIKA: COMMUNIQUES FROM THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND," published by Liberated Guardian Collective in 1971.

CREDITS: Weather Underground Organization [The Weathermen]; Dohrn, Bernardine (nee Ohrnstein, Contributor); Leary, Timothy, 1920-1996 (Contributor). Cover artist unknown.

Source: www.danwymanbooks.com/pages/books/42888/liberated-guardian-collective-weather-underground.

[loving-n0t-heyting]

i think this is a concerning line of reasoning in several ways

this framing in terms of incentives (or "credibility") has, whatever else can be said of it, about the darkest history of any guiding principle in american foreign policy. it is the watchword of immediately pointless warmakers sacrificing concrete victims in the here and now on the altar of some abstract, future, game-theoretic advantage—most gruelingly, kissingers excuse for remaining in vietnam long after the war had been lost. so already, to begin, this reply is casting its basic conceptual lot with the worst excesses of neoconservatism

not unrelatedly, the argument tacitly concedes the motivation leftists accuse advocates of us intervention of harbouring: that america should act as planetary policeman and the guarantor of international peace by show of armed power. call it imperialism, call it unipolar hegemony, call it the rules based international order, like it or dislike it, this is exactly the accusation that left opponents of american militarism are making. enemies of the anti-militarist position here should at least be honest about it

bringing up iraq and declaring that the us should be held to account for it doesnt address this criticism, it just muddies the whole argument. a world in which washington has to be relied upon to militarily disincentivise wars of aggression is one where it is less possible to hold it accountable for its crimes, and more capable of perpetrating future ones. if the us foreign policy establishment truly wanted to fix the misaligned incentives yr alleging to partly spring from its atrocities in the 00's, it could do its part by submitting to relevant extant international bodies like the icc, not by further aggrandising itself and rendering its services more indispensable. however credible a check america might be against its foreign enemies, it should be obvious it cant be such a check against itself

and this is all granting that credibility is an actually operative force in world affairs to a powerful degree! which is, to say the least, far from empirically certain. definitely too far from certain to recommend itself as the foundational principle for resolving all international disputes.

finally, i am extremely suspicious of confident claims that russia must be willing to continue fighting until they are ground to a total halt, not least of all bc that is what they were saying in washington, not just before the war, but before putin had even decided upon declaring war. "russia will not relent until it is no longer physically capable of progressing" might be true, but its also exactly the kind thing both washington and russia are likely to try to project irrespective of its truth, bc it serves both their interests (respectively: violently humiliate russia to the maximum extent possible, intimidate the opposition and save face to a domestic population about the war you have staked yr whole national prestige on) even if its false. its impossible to know for sure, of course, but the default response to such ignorance should not be "keep the engines of war running at full capacity and consider brokering no alternative until the enemy openly pleads for mercy"

if diplomacy and negotiation are tools only fruitful under narrow circumstances, surely the same can be said even more emphatically of armed conflict. for a global hegemon to reach for the latter as a first resort can only make the world a more dangerous place, not a safer one

Heya, I was wondering if you could talk a bit more about these two ideas? No pressure if you'd rather not, totally understand, just thought I'd ask :)

nobody seems to have a substantive way to actually stop the invasion, or to make wars of aggression costly in general, just a very pollyannaish idea about how we’re just not trying hard enough to negotiate. as if “negotiation” is a fairy dust with supernatural properties and not a political tool that only works under certain very specific conditions.

it's just a question of incentives in the absence of a central enforcement mechanism for international law. if you do not sufficiently disincentivize wars of aggression, then you are likely to get more wars of aggression. notably there was not an equally strong response to russia's invasion of georgia in 2008, and though not wars of conquest, the united states' invasions of iraq and afghanistan IMO also sent the signal in the international community that aggressive military interventions were back on the table in the 21st century. so i think the US in general, and Bush in particular, has a lot to answer for here, but that doesn't mean Ukraine should be abandoned.

as for negotiation, that only works when both sides think they have something to gain from negotiation. if one side thinks it has more to gain from fighting than talking, they will keep fighting. given the domestic political incentives and general worldview of russia's government atm, it seems clear to me that the russian military will keep fighting until it is no longer feasible for them to win more territory, so the only way for Ukraine to obtain a ceasefire is either a) to capitulate, or b) demonstrate there are no more territorial gains to be made, and that russia risks losing gains it already has made.

(Of course, it's also possible that if a Ukrainian counteroffensive were sufficiently successful, Ukraine might want to keep prosecuting the war, to ensure it can minimize its territorial concessions to Russia. This seems correct to me, both from the standpoint of making aggressive warfare demonstrably ineffective, and from the perspective of preserving Ukrainian lives. Russia has committed atrocities in territory they've taken, and will likely continue to do so.)

[renaerys]

Has anyone said “38. That ass is highly unprofessional” for Reds yet? Because I feel like the comedy potential is enormous

38. “That ass is highly unprofessional.”

There are far too many good scenarios for this excellent prompt and idk if I picked the best one, but an effort was made. 🤡

Send me a prompt and some characters! Reminder that the challenge is to make everything SFW, so we're getting creative here.

List of prompts

xxx

Blossom watched from across the room as Brick fist-bumped the head delegate from the China team. He’d been cagey and weirdly subdued all morning, but the moment the unmoderated caucus began, he slinked away without anyone noticing. Anyone, that is, except Blossom.

“Russia? You were saying?”

Blossom snapped the pencil she’d been holding between her fingers. Denmark leaned back and slowly pulled the cup full of fresh pencils out of her reach. “What? Oh, right. I’m proposing we form a sub-committee to begin formal negotiations.”

“No way, we don’t negotiate with terrorists,” said Canada. “Terrestrial or otherwise.”

The United States stood up and palmed his fist. “Agreed. I say we nuke ‘em before they can nuke us.”

“Oh, sure, great idea, Rambo. This is Model UN, not Independence Day.”

“Wow, super in-character of you, Switzerland. Why are you even here?”

Blossom put up her hand. “We have no idea if the aliens are terrorists. I agree that we can’t discount the possibility of hostile intent, but violence should not be our opening move.”

“Crisis update!” A staffer handed Canada a red envelope, which she read aloud to the gathered students-cum-delegates. The aliens had parked one of their space ships on the Xi’an city wall, destroying a huge chunk of it and killing some civilians, and China was using it as justification to attack with full force.

“Oh my god, I think we might actually be in Independence Day,” Canada said.

“Recess! I’m calling for a recess.” Blossom left the table as the United States, Canada, and a gaggle of European Union countries began to squabble.

She found Brick talking to Israel and Argentina. The minute he saw her coming, he excused himself from the conversation and walked the other way.

“Brick! I know you saw me.” Blossom followed him to the all-gender restrooms, where he was fixing his hair in the mirror. “What are you doing?”

“About to take a gratuitous shit. You might want to get out of here.”

She grabbed his elbow and spun him toward her. “I’m talking about your side conversations. What were you doing talking to China without me?”

“Russia’s a big country, and you looked busy doing your thing. I’m just doing mine.”

“And what, exactly, is your thing?” She peered at him. “I swear to god, if that KGB comment this morning wasn’t a joke and I find out you’ve been threatening the other delegates behind my back—”

“Relax, comrade,” he patted her shoulder, “before you pop a seam in your pencil skirt.”

Blossom could not help but check out her ass in the mirror now that he’d brought it up. Of course, he was also checking out her ass, because he was an uncouth jerk who knew exactly how to get under her skin, and now Blossom was at an impasse. If she told him off, she’d be giving him exactly what he wanted, which was to make her snap and froth. If she did nothing, he’d still win with the knowledge that he’d pissed her off and gotten the last word in to boot.

Much like with terrorists, when it came to dealing with teenage boys, negotiation was not an option; the only solution was total annihilation.

Blossom placed a hand on her hip and stuck her ass out more as she examined herself in the mirror. “You mean, this pencil skirt?”

Brick’s smile fell in defeat like so many doomed German aggressors marching into the heart of Russian winter. “Obviously.”

Perish, you fool.

“Did you see a loose thread somewhere around here?” She turned slightly and ran her finger along the side seam of her skirt in an unbridled act of hormonal militarism. “Or was it on this side?”

Brick rested his weight on the counter because he was weak and cornered and they both knew it.

“No?” She smiled. “Just your imagination, then. We better get back to the conference.”

She made it halfway to the door when Brick hauled his wounded carcass away from the sink counter and desperately fired back with: “Disgraceful tactics, honestly.”

“Me? I’m not the one committing treason and encouraging intergalactic warfare.”

“Hey, I signed up for global warming and nuclear proliferation, not this made up Men in Black bullshit. If aliens attacked we’d just blast them ourselves, no negotiation necessary, we can all go home.”

“Oh my god, so you admit you intentionally sabotaged the exercise! I knew it. You are highly unprofessional.”

“That ass is highly unprofessional!”

“Stop thinking about my ass!”

“I literally fucking cannot after that!”

Blossom fumed. “Are you saying I’m asking for it?”

“I’m saying how dare you expect me not to think about how good your ass looks in that skirt!”

“Oh, so it’s my fault, is it? Well, I’m so sorry for looking amazing in Western business professional!”

“Apology accepted!”

“Good!”

“Great!”

“Fantastic!”

“Wonderful!”

“Incredible!”

“Superb!”

“Glorious!”

“Brilliant!"

Blossom had at least fifteen more increasingly positive synonyms that she could have screamed at Brick, but Denmark popped his head in just as she was getting ready to shout stupendous at top volume.

“Um, hi. We’re taking a vote on what to do about the aliens and we need Russia’s vote, so…yeah.”

The vote was close and also meaningless, since China and several allies acted on their own against the aliens, who of course retaliated and gave the United States carte blanche to bust out the big guns. By the end of the conference, half the world’s population had been eradicated by nuclear weapons or alien technology. It was a complete and total disaster, and Blossom had no idea how she was going to explain it to her Model UN club coach when she got back to Townsville.

“Told you we should have just fought the aliens ourselves,” Brick said as they packed up their things for the flight back home.

“Please stop talking. It makes it harder for me to pretend you don’t exist.”

“Still wearing the skirt, I see.”

Blossom threw her water bottle at him, which was both very childish and very unsatisfying when he caught it. “I’m going to wear pencil skirts every day for the rest of the semester just for you.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

“I dare.”

“I’ll drop out.”

“No, you won’t.”

“I’ll check out your ass every day.”

“Go ahead.”

“I will.”

“Great, because I want you to.”

“Great, because I want to!”

“I’m going to look so good!”

“I completely agree!”

They stormed out of the conference center together.

“See you on Monday,” Blossom said in her best die in a trash heap voice.

“You better wear a skirt,” Brick said as if he’d just invited her to jump into an active volcano.

“I absolutely will.”

“I can’t wait.”

Blossom swallowed a scream and took off flying, knowing she’d be there all day if he didn’t get the last word in.

xxx

“Dude, are you okay? You’ve been aggressively staring at Blossom’s ass all morning.”

Brick sucked on his straw loud enough to draw Blossom’s annoyed glance. “Fuck off, Harry.”

“Are you, like, into her?”

She turned her back to him and power posed with her hands on her hips, which was an extremely flattering angle and a high-key bitch move. “I despise her.”

Harry smiled. “Oh, cool! Cool cool cool… Hey, so I was wondering who I should ask to Homecoming—”

“No.”

“But I just thought since you don’t—”

“No.”

Harry finally fucked off.

xxx

If you enjoy my writing, check out more of my fics on AO3, link in my profile. I’m currently updating Trinity House and The Alchemy of Us. Thanks for reading!

[histoireettralala]

Condé vs Mazarin: power and legitimacy.

By April 1649 Mazarin had survived the biggest challenge so far to his ministerial rule. A political revolt had briefly united popular unrest with the discontents of the bourgeoisie, the most senior judicial officers, and a large group of the court aristocracy. A combination of military threats and wide-ranging concessions had apparently calmed the situation; most significantly perhaps for Mazarin’s future calculations, it had demonstrated that his opponents would find it extremely difficult to militarize their opposition in any effective way. But relief was premature. For Mazarin’s new problem was that the military support he had drawn upon in early 1649 had cost him his previous near-monopoly over power and influence. Condé’s blockade of Paris had set him, as the defender of absolute royal authority —and thereby Mazarin’s ministry— directly against his own relatives and much of the great nobility. Hitherto idolized as the young military hero, he was now execrated by all those who had regarded the uprisings since August 1648 as a justified attempt to overthrow ministerial tyranny. Setting aside his personal ambitions, it was essential to his reputation that he should demonstrate as publicly and as vigorously as possible that he was no lackey of the first minister, and that his actions had been on behalf of the crown, not Mazarin.

Who then was Louis II de Bourbon-Condé, who was to become Mazarin’s nemesis for a decade from 1649? The duc d’Enghien, as he was titled until his father’s death in 1646, was no stranger to the realities of ministerial power. His father, Henri II, had rebuilt the material and political fortunes of the cadet branch of the Bourbon family on the basis of a close alliance with cardinal Richelieu after 1626. Henri de Condé provided Richelieu and his regime with the legitimizing support of a prince of the blood, and Condé in return benefited from a spectacular flow of political and territorial rewards. The benefits of the alliance were so great that he was ultimately cajoled into marrying his son, Louis II, to Richelieu’s niece, Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé. The marriage, celebrated at the Palais Cardinal on 9 February 1641, was a spectacular mésalliance for the duc d’Enghien, wished upon him by his father’s ambitions. Enghien, who until 1638 had stood only three lives from the throne, shared with his father an authoritarian ideology of an absolute monarchy mediated only by the king’s ‘natural advisors’, the princes of the blood. But the association with Richelieu and his family brought him into a close, stakeholder’s connection with the ministerial regime. Through this channel would flow the financial opportunities, patronage, and influence that had been enjoyed by his father over and above what would have been his as a prince of the royal blood.

Enghien would have been an important figure in the politics of the 1640s, just as his father had been in the previous decade. But the decision in 1643 to grant him the overall command of the army operating on the north-eastern frontier was not just a reflection of his status and political connections, but a remarkable act of confidence in a young man of twenty-three with no previous experience of overall military command. Enghien was surrounded by experienced lieutenants —most notably Jean, comte de Gassion— yet much would still depend on his untested ability to demonstrate qualities of leadership and decision-making. The French army faced a Spanish invasion, poised to take the town of Rocroi, and previous encounters in the field with the veterans of the Spanish army of Flanders had not ended well for the French. Enghien and his lieutenants took the decision to engage the Spanish army in an all-or-nothing bid to try to save Rocroi. Around 7.30 am on 19 May 1643 Enghien led a cavalry charge from the right flank of the French army which shattered the Spanish horse opposing him and left the infantry centre of the Spanish army exposed to his well-executed flanking attack. The magnitude of the victory over the best troops in the Spanish monarchy was unprecedented. The young duc d’Enghien became a legend overnight, a status that he never lost in the eyes of contemporaries.

Enghien’s successive military achievements through the 1640s in different campaign theatres were not just about heroic, charismatic leadership and calculated risk-taking. There was real tactical skill, partly learnt and partly intuitive, in his military deployments, his assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of his own and enemy positions, and, above all, his ability to exploit surprise, shock, and speed to devastating advantage. Like his great contemporary, Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, he recognized the fundamental importance of keeping his troops fed and equipped, and was free with his own resources to maintain supplies. Unlike Turenne, who had the well-regarded reputation of being thrifty with the lives of his own troops, Condé was unconcerned by heavy casualties in pursuit of his strategic objectives. Yet soldiers serving under his command recognized his remarkable talent for victory. On the eve of the battle of Bléneau in April 1652, one of Condé’s lieutenants wrote of the effect of the prince’s arrival, pulling the army together through the belief, above all among the common soldiers, that he was invincible.

The charisma of a young, brilliant general extended beyond the armies: in the 1640s contemporaries noted that he was regarded with both awe and considerable fear. Madame de Motteville wrote that, even after Mazarin had arrested him, ‘the reputation of M. le Prince imposed itself on everyone, and generated a curious veneration for his person, such that sightseers would go to visit the chamber where he had been imprisoned at Vincennes’. Numerous accounts confirmed that even powerful and well-established individuals found it difficult to stand up to Condé in any face-to-face confrontation, and his anger had an unpredictable character that few wished to test. The legend gained further weight from the fictional, centre-stage representation of Condé in Madeleine de Scudéry’s best-selling novel Le Grand Cyrus, published between 1649 and 1653.

The very particular danger Condé posed to Mazarin, or to any government which sought to control him, was the intractable nature of his own ambitions. His father had been manageable because he was rebuilding the Condé inheritance after its devastation in the sixteenth-century Wars of Religion, and was rehabilitating his own political reputation after rebellion and imprisonment. By the 1640s the Condé had become the wealthiest aristocratic family in France, and more territorial grants, positions, and financial rewards, though demanded, were no guarantee of further tractability. Moreover, a family strategy that aimed to consolidate the pre-eminence of the Condé-Bourbon over any other aristocratic family in France would lead Condé to target further desirable assets, especially lands and governorships, whose possession would challenge the hegemony of the crown in areas of the kingdom.

Yet at base the prince was more interested in power and influence at the centre of the state than in local power and quasi-monarchical status built up across the provinces. This desire for influence did not mean that he wished to take over government, to oust Mazarin or supplant the role of ministers in general. Indeed, the detailed, procedural business of government, the workings of the executive, would have been considered by Condé to be beneath his status, and appropriate to (interchangeable or dispensable) professionals of modest birth like Mazarin. What Condé wanted for himself was a decisive influence in the formulation of royal policy, the ability to oversee and, where necessary, shape decision-making without negotiation or compromise with other parties. During the regency he considered that this was his right by virtue of his blood, and by his acquired status as the military paladin of the young monarch. He would expect to maintain this privileged role of high-status advisor and intimate councillor after the king came of age, with the assumption that his voice would naturally outweigh others in royal decision-making. Despite the charges variously made against him by Mazarin and the court, all on the basis of notably scant evidence, Condé was far too deeply committed to the principle of divinely ordained absolute monarchy to wish to replace the king. Such an act of usurpation would radically challenge his own ideology, which linked his own status to a God-given hierarchy headed by the sovereign. Indeed, his hostility to both the Parisian frondeurs and to Mazarin was precisely because they sought to trespass upon what were the fundamental prerogatives of the monarchy.

In seeking to unravel Condé’s personality and his motivation, it is no less necessary to retrieve him from the condescension of posterity. Equipped with hindsight which sees the defeat of the Fronde as a triumph for ministerial government and its modernizing, state-building initiatives, Condé’s fate becomes a facile metaphor for the fate of the traditional ‘sword nobility’ as a whole. His reckless and inappropriate ambitions for political autonomy, personal glory, and immoderate reward were vanquished by the agent of state power, cardinal Mazarin. Defeated, forced into exile and into the service of Spain at the end of 1652, Condé was required to make a humiliating submission to Louis XIV in 1659 as the price of his ‘pardon’. After this he was reduced to an obedient vassal of the monarch. This supposedly parallels the traditional nobility as a whole, whose last irresponsible and doomed act of self-assertion was the Fronde. After this final defeat they were reduced to well-ordered servitude in the court and army of the Sun King, whose powerful, centralized state represented the triumph of bourgeois administrators, the heirs of Mazarin’s victory over the frondeurs. On this interpretation, Condé’s chief crime, if he is relieved of the charge of attempted usurpation, is setting up an ideal of autonomous political action and individual liberty in defiance of the ‘modern’ requirement for disciplined, collective obedience to the crown imposed by its faithful ministers. Indeed, even by the standards of the collective ideal of aristocratic liberty, it is suggested that Condé went too far in pursuit of uncompromising self-assertion, and helped to undermine the very values that he sought to uphold.

The real problem posed by Condé for Mazarin and his regime was not Condé’s uncontrolled individualism, his ‘folle liberté’, but the perception of contemporaries that he held more legitimate right to participate in the decision-making of a regency by virtue of his blood than did a ministerial appointee of the queen mother. Indeed, it is a remarkable triumph of a well-entrenched historiography that Condé’s actions are perceived as illegitimate attempts to challenge what is treated as the legitimate royal government personified in its first minister. By conflating Mazarin with the authority of the crown, the crucial dynamic of the conflict building up from 1643 and climaxing in the Fronde is misunderstood. Mazarin’s attempts to resist Condé’s claims to involvement in the political decisions of the regency did not deny the essential legitimacy of those claims. His approach most frequently relied on alarming both the queen mother and the king’s uncle, Gaston d’Orléans, that Condé would squeeze them out of the decision-making which was no less their right by family. Mazarin hardly needed to be reminded, and the mazarinades would have done the job for him, that his own position enjoyed no such legitimacy.

David Parrott- 1652- The Cardinal, the Prince, and the Crisis of the Fronde.

[rametarin]

It's because Shitty Left see authoritarianism as inherently right wing, they define themselves as left, therefore, they can't imagine their authoritarian ideas are authoritarian and bad.

They see subjective sources of morality that are religious as baseless and worthless, and then will cite some philosopher's just-so way of perceiving and Old Wives Taleing thje world and cling to that with all the zeal of a religious martyr; like someone that champions Foucoult or Simone de Bouvoir or Engles like they're prophets citing hard science. They insist these ethics are as okay to treat as holy writ as mathematicians confidently speaking about equations, arithematic and algebra. And they do not understand how they can be compared to religious zealots, because their religion doesn't classify itself as a religion, they avoid telling the names of their prophets to unbelievers, and refuse to do more than vague until they're in positions of power to gatekeep the position based on those values.

They harbor pseudo-spiritual beliefs about culture, projecting it as some zoomed out multidimensional being with individual people just mattering as much to it as cells. A monolithic view of culture and society, and treat mental health as having an upwards and downwards direction, the way some people incorrectly view evolution as an intelligent design process moving towards breaking physics and perfection, rather than stimulus, adaptation and generational change. That's why they don't see the irony of when they burn books in the name of "mental health" and advocate for gatekeeping of culture from influences and thoughts and ideas they disagree with and aren't compatible with their ideological doctrine. Audacious and vain and cold blooded and tone deaf.

They hate Nazis, but for the wrong reasons. To them, Jews are simply textbook examples of the concept of The Oppwessed Powitical Minowity, not a heritage and religious bloodline (the premise of which, they find abominable, but that won't stop them from treating Jews like a woobie political concept) and posterchildren for how bad white people, militarism and in theory, ethnonationalism.

But history has shown they'll forgive ethnonationalism so long as it's not white ethnonationalism, when it comes to sympathies for opponents of the west, provided they wave the right symbols and speak the right leftist rhetoric. Their biggest problems with ethnonationalism simply being, multiethnicism is viewed as an impediment to a Single Culture/Single Class/Single People society, and so to them, multiethnicity is a stepping stone to blurring the lines and blending them out by invalidating their legitimacy in a mixed society. Their biggest problem with ethnonationalism simply being, it's not pure, abstract ideological nationalism. And a competitor.

But you tell them this and immediately they try to disregard what you have to say by seeing you as some right-wing Nazi apologist, and start talking down to you as if you were this bad guy they're projecting in their heads. For the audacity of not sharing their shitty far-left ideological extremism and puritanical ignorance.

Just the way Russia grabs hold of opposition when they're the ones misbehaving, drag them down into the mud with them, before trying to narrate how they have no mud on them and having mud on you is a sign of being wrong. Speaking as if the other person dragged them down singularly, and the other person is singularly muddy, excusing themselves from the equation. The fact Imperial and then Soviet Russia was a major supporter of this cancerous far-leftist strain and then used it to control the domestic leftists across Europe and former European colonies, and continues to influence them in behavior and doctrine, shouldn't be lost on anyone.

Just to be extra clear—when I talk about how raging antisemites/bloodthirsty tankies/Glorious Revolution LARPers etc are "supposed leftists" or "shitty progressives", I don't mean it in a No True Scotsman way. I mean that our movement is, unfortunately, beset with members who claim to espouse certain views (compassion, truth, justice, kindness, the bettering of the human condition) and then act in a way that is vicious, conspiratorial, unjust and cruel and explicitly crow about their desire to make things worse for humans (but it's okay because they're the BAD humans, see)

It's not that shitty leftists aren't really leftists. It's that shitty leftists' actions contradict their stated morals and they're really, really bad at furthering the goals they claim they want to further.

[lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby]

The Hero that was never meant to be

I’m going to ask you guys a quick question. Think back to the volume 2 season finale in 2014. Or before Salem's debut. Once all of the antagonists are defeated and you're now left asking; Who's going to be the next antagonist for the series?

Before we proceed with this inquiry let's take a look at what exactly distinguishes a hero, from a villain.

Hero/Villain/Anti;who knows?

Below are multiple examples/definitions and meanings of heroes and villains as well as their anti sub groups.

Hero

a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

the chief character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

“a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities." Heroes come in many forms in life, ranging from one's family and friends to athletes to movie stars. A person's heroes can change over time.

Villain

(in a film, novel, or play) a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.

 a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel. 

a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.

Anti-Hero

a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

is 'a central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes'. These missing attributes include idealism, courage, and morality. Anti-heroes can sometimes do the right thing, but it is usually because it serves their interests to do so.

Anti-Villain

is the opposite of an Anti-Hero — a character with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues who is ultimately the villain. Their desired ends are mostly good, but their means of getting there range from evil to undesirable.

Now that we have some measure of clarity about this let's get to the point.  Basically Ironwood is a Anti-Villain character

If you think back to the things we have learned throughout the series, all the people we have met, you will find that all of Ironwood’s traits align better with Salem, Cinder, Jacques, and Adam.  All of them have this hunger for power and/or control, all of them are trying to protect themselves and increase their control.  

All of them use a level of manipulation and none of them really cared about the damage it would do to others.  Ironwood might be a little better because, at first, it was something he kind of thought about.  Kind of. He had trouble relating to the idea that protecting more was better than protecting less, and it seems that he had been struggling to find his heart since the beginning. 

Ironwood is a well intentioned and desperate man who wants to protect Atlas against Salem, but he can reach extreme means to do so. By the end of Volume 7, he's willing to abandon both Mantle to die and throw away humanity's best chance of survival by leaving Amity Tower; he also falls far enough to shoot a teenager for comparing him to Salem.

Going hand in hand with his Never My Fault tendencies. Ironwood hates anyone bringing up how his ways don't work, with extreme annoyance being the best reaction possible. It doesn't matter if someone is simply stating the objective tangible negatives of his actions, he will not hear it. He gets into a shouting match with Nora when she calls him out on how much damage he's doing to Mantle and only stops when she points out his proposed solution to deal with the current unrest (martial law) is just going to cause far worse problems if he goes through with it.

While he demands complete loyalty from others, Ironwood has repeatedly betrayed the trust of others in the name of the greater good. If someone is an obstacle to accomplishing what he believes is necessary, he will use political or even military power to enforce his will.

Ironwood has helped Ozpin fight Salem for years but they disagreed over the best way to defend Vale; Ironwood secretly convenes a meeting of the Vale and Atlesian councils to report Ozpin's behavior, resulting in Vale removing Ozpin from overseeing the Vytal Festival security in favor of Ironwood. Qrow later tells Ironwood that he has a strange idea of showing gratitude if he responds to Ozpin bringing him into the fight against Salem by betraying him. Even after being confronted, Ironwood insists that he had no other choice.

Ironwood spends most of Volume 7 promising that the Kingdom of Atlas is safe and that Mantle can count on him to protect them. However, when he discovers Salem is arriving in person to attack Atlas, he decides to abandon Mantle to the Grimm in favour of raising the floating city of Atlas higher in the atmosphere where the Grimm can't go. When Ruby tries warning her allies about Ironwood's plan, he disables her scroll, and has Teams RWBY, JNR, Oscar and Qrow arrested.

Ironwood's a man with good intentions, but he seems to believe the best way to handle any sort of situation is if he is in full control of it. This is seen as early as Volume 2, where he both brings a large fleet (composed mainly of machines) along with students for security and later has the Vale and Atlas Councils transfer security control of the Vytal Festival from Ozpin to himself. 

After the Fall of Beacon, James continues to tighten Atlas' defenses with a Dust embargo and closing of its borders, and by the time the heroes arrive in Mantle, there are broadcasts of the general practically saying that as long as they cooperate with his laws, he can and will keep them safe. 

As Salem's forces continue to sow discord and increase his paranoia, and when he discovers that Team RWBY has consistently hidden important information from him, Ironwood decides to invoke martial law and raise Atlas out of Salem's reach, under his control. When Ruby warns the others of his plans, he shuts off her call with his own Scroll.

Ironwood is noted for being a man who never gives up pursuing his vision of how people should be protected. When his attempts to convince Ozpin that they're on the wrong path fail, he convinces the Atlesian and Vale councils to override Ozpin's authority and give him direct control of protecting the Vytal Festival Tournament. 

In Volume 7, he is willing to pursue his goal of protecting the Kingdom of Atlas against Salem no matter how bad his public reputation becomes with the citizens.

To be clear Ironwood is an Anti- Villain type character in the RWBY story. He may have good intentions but it is unknown as to their extent of what they are. His methods to achieve those methods have only made things worse.

I couldn’t let you breath, cause I didn’t wanna Die

We all say we would die for something but do we actually mean it?

“I would die without regret I offer up my life”

It is hypothetical but not in the way you suggest. The difference between using would or will is not about whether the speaker is being disingenuous about their offer, it’s about whether the speaker knows if they are ever going to be in a position to fulfil their promise

It is hypothetical because the speaker does not know whether there will ever be a situation where they would be in a position to give their life to save you. If they were to use will, it implies they are anticipating that they will be in a position to give their life to save you 

When someone says “I would die for you if you need it,” is it just a hypothesis that's never going to happen,  the subject doesn’t want to die at all, otherwise they’ll use “will” instead of “would”?

Kill or be killed

All the weapons in rwby appeal to the audience as they have options when it comes to fighting. Ironwoods does not. His weapon is only designed to kill as a reflection of his inability to see reason. As opposed to other characters that show that when they kill it would be a last resort option.

(Think of the Jedi's preference for lightsabers instead of blasters)

Ironwood has a revolver  -  reliable, never jams. high attack power, similar to his mentality on robotics in general and how he values them focusing on the characteristics of the revolver is the important part, and you see it in another Atlesian character--Weiss Myrtenaster is a Rapier and a Revolver as well, and revolvers are still used nowadays because of their reliability. They'll never jam, and when it comes to a gun all that really matters is hitting the target on a pragmatic mindset at least, and ultimately in the show the weapons used by characters say a lot about them. For example;

Qrow has a scythe - not a weapon, a farmer's tool, alluding to the scarecrow. The actual weapon would be the sword mode, and is inspired by the grim reaper, who uses a scythe because he reaps souls like one would reap what was sown(or harvest)

Jaunes shield and sword are both offensive and defensive weapons which offers a variety of options as to handle conflict

Ozpin's cane symbolically conveys the message that it's okay to be weak and its normal to accept help and support from others

Yang's gauntlets are basically Bruise but don’t kill type weapon as such they give her  more control of the damage that is inflicted on her opponents

As ruby put it the Weapons in the show are an extension of the characters. The extent of Ironwoods weapon is that it conveys his blunt, and cold methods that he can’t or won’t embrace alternatives solutions or anyone else's ideas to problems

This can also be seen with his use of militarized Huntsmen and the use of mindless android soldiers. As I stated in I am power Ironwood’s personnel combat abilities are mediocre to non-existent with his true power stemming from the consent of the people to die for his cause instead of him since it's guaranteed that he will die instantly due to his lack of unique or special combat abilities. 

(Pretty self explanatory considering he had to sacrifice an arm to beat a nerd)

Fear of death is basic human instinct

Ironwood believes that he is this chosen savior and can’t die and he believes his life is more important than others and would instead sacrifice everyone else instead of him if it would mean victory

Now you're probably asking why does Ironwood not want to die when he said he would? As stated before he doesn’t trust anyone but himself to do the job right. His narcissism and ego prohibit him from trusting others and having faith that people besides him can win. 

This has been hinted as early as his debut in V2 where he asks Ozpin;

“Do you honestly believe that your children can win a war?”

Because of this and his Nihilism for rejecting the truth, he believes that he is the most important piece on the bored and everyone should listen and die for whatever he needs if it would mean victory

Ambitions and desires of a broken kingdom

A character without motivation is a really boring character as opposed to one who does. But to realize what their motivation is or what it is truly is another. Ironwood is no different but what exactly is his personal motivation that is unique to him one must wonder?

That's just it, he has no real personal motivation. Like what does he have to lose? What does he have to gain? What is so important that he is willing to go to such lengths that clash with the ideas of Ozpin and the heroes? To answer Atlas. After all, what is Ironwood without Atlas?

 It is important to know the effects of a characters home and origins to better understand a character's personality. Ironwood's plans have always been in line with Atlas, whose intentions are that of Ancient Mantle. Now what exactly are the intentions of the former capital that would live through Ironwood.

Atlas as I stated before is more or less a Technocratic Conservatives society led by Authoritative totalitarians with a focus of becoming an Extreme Militaristic Oligarchy that had originally started out as a Resource driven Empire out of necessity and without restriction 

To clarify, Ironwood is a byproduct, and enforcer of Mantle’s(later Atlas) Philosophical Ideology and Culture. The effects of one's origins can have a very lasting impact on one's life. Ironwood’s life has been heavily affected by his homeland to the point that he will die for it, and sacrifice whatever he deems necessary for it. 

Because of this Ironwoods alignment is that of Lawful Evil because of his Atlas ideology

A Lawful Evil character is an evil character who either tries to impose or uphold a lawful system on others without regard for their wishes, and/or adheres to a particular code. They believe in order, but mostly because they believe it is the best way of realizing their evil wishes.

In other words Ironwood will always be the loyal son of his Kingdom and will do anything to save it.

Now that clears his main motivation and the scale of what he is willing to do to achieve it but what motivates him personally?

Well that's just it there is none. His primary motivation is pretty shared by most of the heroes and main characters and as is the common clause of save the world stories everybody knows they can’t let that happen as peter quill would say;

“Why do you want to save the Galaxy?”

“Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it.”

So with that in mind what's in it for him that he can’t lose or let the world be destroyed?

You overstepped your boundaries

To help understand his character it is important to understand what exactly his role in the plot was originally and how he ended up biting off more than he can chew when he broke away from it.

Essentially Ironwood was meant to be the overseer and guardian of the relic of creation as well as the trainer of the next generation of huntsman/huntresses. Meaning the only position of power that he should only have is Headmaster of Atlas academy. As I stated in I am machine Ironwood's heroism stems from a lack of trust and in doing so has burdened him with more responsibility than he can handle.

The catalyst 

All of the events and conflicts that plague remnant at the shows present can all be traced to Ironwood. An argument can be made for Salem but to me she seems more of an opportunist instead of an actual evil master mine. Being the opportunist she is she needs ammo for which she is otherwise incapable of making on her own. Thanks to Ironwood she has plenty of it to enact her plans and reach her goals 

Below is a list of events and conflicts as well as characters that have been affected by Ironwood

(Whether Directly or Indirectly)

The Schnee Dust Companies Immoral and shady practices

I know Jaques is mostly to blame for all of this but one must ask; Why didn’t anyone stop him before V7? 

It's already been established in the show that the S.D.C. and Atlas Military have a corporate alliance to mass produce Weapons and ammunition. The most prominent weapons to come out of this alliance was the paladin assault mechs. Now how important was this alliance to Ironwood?

In short, they are the best choice to provide for his needs for war. As long as he gets weapons and all that he needs to sustain a war he doesn't care what the giver has to do to meet his demand. As such Ironwood had enabled Jaques and allowed him to continue his immoral ways so long as he gets what he needs. On the other hand Jaques seems to be at least a decade older than Ironwood so there is a possibility that the corporate alliance has already been there long before Ironwood ever came to power.

But I ask again why didn’t Ironwood who was aligned with a man like Ozpin didn’t stop him? As the Volume 7 commentary stated Ironwood doesn’t care for Ozpin's rules and sees being efficient is more important than being morally good. Because of this Ironwood had been more focused on starting a war first and caring about people second thus he has only spread misery by enabling Jaques’s greed just to have his war. The crimes of the S.D.C. are also Ironwood’s 

The family strain of the Schnee family and Winters abandoning

While we’re still on the subject of the Schnee's let's talk about how essentially Ironwood made Winter the Blake to his Adam

As I stated before in “You had me with your words”  we don’t exactly know why Winter would be so loyal to Ironwood to the point of saying that her life doesn’t matter in V7 and why she would be so against her family to the point that she makes no effort to see Weiss, and Whitely included and only bothering to be apart of Weiss’s life only because she seems to be following the same path of defiance against their father. In other words she only chooses to interact with her sister only if she is rebelling against their father. If she is not, then Winter wants nothing to do with her. 

Now who or what exactly would cause Winter to have this unhealthy mindset in regards to her own personal existence and relationships?

The answer being Ironwood. 

If we were to consider Jaques words being serious than it is more than likely the truth. Ironwood did steal Winter, not just from her father but from the rest of her family. I don’t know what exactly Ironwood said or did to turn winter away from her family but it wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart. He did this  just to have a loyal subordinate with incredible power( her hereditary semblance) & status( her grandfather's legacy and accomplishments) just to give his power and status more legitimacy.

By doing so Ironwood made Winter  believe that her family as well as herself is beyond redemption due to the actions of her father thus leading her to abandon them and only believing Ironwood can redeem her hence why she values her life so little and is willing to die for whatever Ironwoods says.

I understand that winter joined the military to get away from her dad but she had options besides the military and like weiss she could have went to the other academies to get away from her dad but she didn't which i consider Winters greatest flaw is that she has no idea of an actual healthy relationship

The White Fang

This is also speculative but not unlikely as the show has clearly shown; Faunus and Atlas don’t mix. 

Same thing with the S.D.C. this can really be seen as indifference on Ironwood’s part and lack of care  but still Ironwood didn’t do anything to settle the racial inequality in Atlas even though he is allied in a secret circle that's supposed to keep the peace.

Especially when that inequality was being used to help legitimize a terrorist organization that can be used as a disposable army for Salem which it did.

Watts’s Defection & the P.E.N.N.Y. Project

Ironwood commissioned 5 scientists including Watts and Pietro to make Weapons for war.

Even though Watts is an egotistical bastard it really makes you wonder how someone as smart as him would work for a literal demon lady hell bent on conquest. The same can also be said about why he chose Penny instead of any other actual and practical projects ideal for war.

One thing to note is the possibility that Ironwood did not tell the 5 about the real reason as to why they’re making these weapons in the first place. For example would Pietro really want Penny the closest thing to an actual child that he may have had to be used as one of Ironwoods militarized assets?

We’ve seen what Pietro is like and that he really cares about Penny and if it were his choice Penny wouldn’t be in the situations that Ironwood would place her in. Ironwood had basically taken and drafted Penny without her or Pietro's consent and made her a tool for war and much more.

In semi canon sources(Amity Arena) the general consensus is that the Paladins were Watts’s idea and project. One of the misconceptions is that it was a contest for whose idea would be made but since we see both the Paladins being used and Penny that's not the case. All 5 projects were going to be used but only 1 would take top priority first before others and that project was Penny. 

This might actually explain why the paladins were ugly and incomplete in V2 as opposed to their slicker and finished versions in V3. The Penny project took both praise and priority first before the others. Once penny was finished the other projects would begin that may also explain why the Paladins weren’t first revealed until the events of V2 even though Pietro said that the commissions for the projects including the Paladins were almost a decade ago as of  V7 ep 7 

To Watts he felt insulted that his (to him) practical project was being postponed for a sad man's personal self indulgent pet project. This and due to not really knowing as to why these projects were going to be used for. Because of this and Ironwood’s lack of concern for people He had essentially driven Watts to Salem and made him one of her most valuable assets that she ever had. Salem herself even states that she should have employed his services years ago that alone tells us how valuable an asset Watts was and Ironwood discarded it. Which led to the fall of Beacon and the civil unrest in Mantle With Watts out of the way let's move to the next question

Why the Penny Project?

We all know at this point that Penny is the Pinochio for Pietro’s jopedo. So why would Ironwood approve a project that seems the least efficient and effective for war? There have been many theories as to why but two of them stand out the most; Potential vessel for the maiden powers and Espionage

It has been made clear that Ironwood has been readying for war against other people Salem specifically but how does one go about that? The first of which can be explained as Ironwood trying to make the ultimate artificial warrior with incredible power. As Ironwood has more faith in machines than people he would see Penny as the ultimate super soldier that he can use in his war

The second theory as to why he chose penny could be for spy and espionage purposes. As stated by cinder in volume 3 where this theory originates from; why would Atlas make a robot look like an innocent little girl? We know why Pietro made Penny look human but why would Ironwood go along with making a T800 complete with realistic skin and hair?  Besides Pietro there was no logical reason to make penny look as humanly as possible. Like the Terminators who were designed for infiltration and assassination missions and Ironwood being a paranoid individual who sees the world as one of two things; you’re either an asset or a threat / Penny or similar models would have been used to spy and eliminate potential threats in the other kingdoms. With the possibility as to what Ironwood would use penny for before her reveal in V3 clear let's move on to the last part of this bullet point

Why didn’t Ozpin know about Penny?

Prior to the truth of her origins being revealed via her death by Pyrah the only people who knew she was an android are cinder’s team, Ruby, Pietro, and Ironwood. The villains knew that truth after being fortunate enough to have Ironwoods scroll infected by the virus and Ruby found out by accident from penny. 

So officially the only people that were allowed to know the truth about Penny were Pietro and Ironwood. Winter and the Ace-opts don’t count as Volume 7 confirmed that they were brought into the fold after the fall of beacon along with penny so by the time of the fall of beacon they had no idea about salem or that was the sole purpose as to why penny was made.

 The same can be said for Watts too since Penny was still an idea being developed along with being assumed dead and not seen in atlas for years. Thus Watts never even knew what penny looked liked. Had he known i'm pretty sure he would’ve revealed that to Salem who would have given it to cinder for use in her mission. But as V3 shows Cinder finds out after getting access to Ironwood's personal scroll. Meaning that Ironwood kept Penny so secret that he never even bothered or considered to tell Ozpin.

By the end of PVP Ironwood sounded like a terrified child who got caught while trying to explain to a pissed off Ozpin about Penny only to be coldly told in a threatening tone to use the army that he brought to clean up his mess or else. That alone is proof enough from Ironwood that he never told Ozpin about Penny and was scared of what Ozpin would do to him for catching him on his secrets and lies.

So why didn’t Ironwood tell Ozpin about Penny? Short answer Ozpin would never approve the use of Penny. It was already established in V3 ep 6 that Atlas has been doing unethical experiments with Aura. Ozpin and most of the inner circle don’t really approve of such practices but can tolerate it  and use it if they have to. But most likely not to the extent of using it to make artificial living beings just to be soldiers.

This would be a similar moral dilemma as the clone troopers from star wars who were bred and mass produced at an accelerated rate to fight  in a war that they didn’t even understand or have a choice to fight in with the mindset and innocents of a child. The Umbara arc from season 4 of the clone wars series perfectly depicts the unhealthy amount of abuse the clones faced and the length of being taken advantage they were forced to endure

Now apply that to an army of pennies with the same childlike innocence and naivety and sentience being deployed into combat without much preparation and are expected to die just to buy time for the real heroes to win.

Now who is more likely to use a clone army without concern for the morality and ethics about making it let alone not care for the well being of those clones

A key important factor to remember is that until V7’s end Ironwood was pro war as he thought he could win against Salem if he had the largest army at his disposal. Penny was no exception and Ironwood only saw her as a potential part needed for his war machine. Because of the war centric views of Volume 2 & 3 Ironwood and lack of concern for the safety of others Ironwood had set the stage perfectly for volume 3’s finale

The Fall of Beacon

The points above actually help validate and contribute to the Fall of Beacon, but it's true Beginning for its fall started when Ironwood arrived at Beacon in Volume 2. As stated by Oz in Ironwoods first appearance Headmasters don’t usually attend the vytal festival with their students. Given what we now know about the importance of the academies, Ironwood pretty much abandoned his post and risked the safety of the relic under his charge.

All in what appears to be an effort to make a power grab against Ozpin and promote Atlas.(That’s probably speculative but not far off the bat given Ironwoods doubts and actions by the end of V2).Ever since his debut Ironwood has always been a character that contradicts the main characters that are suppose to be the heroes

He seems to only believe the best way to handle any sort of situation is if he is in full control of it. This is seen as early as Volume 2, where he both brings a large fleet (composed mainly of machines) along with students for security. Ironwood has helped Ozpin fight Salem for years but they disagreed over the best way to defend Vale; Ironwood secretly convenes a meeting of the Vale and Atlesian councils to report Ozpin's behavior, resulting in Vale removing Ozpin from overseeing the Vytal Festival security in favor of Ironwood. 

 Volume 2 also has Ironwood reveal to Glynda that he thinks Ozpin is hiding something from them. Glynda points out that he's part of the inner circle that's hiding things from the rest of the world and that he needs to stop talking about trust and learn how to trust others. Ignoring her advice, he secretly collaborates with the Vale Council to strip Ozpin of his control over the Vytal Festival security, then tells Ozpin to trust him.

This also brought up the possibility that Ozpin would be removed as Headmaster of Beacon academy. Not only was Ironwood willing to depose the leader he was following from his position of power but also remove an important ally from safeguarding one of the most important and crucial places in all of the world that also holds probably the most important relic of all of them(The Crown of Choice)  

I already talked about how Penny’s secret had contributed to the fall so I’ll be talking about how Watts contributed to it since I forgot to include in the last bullet point. Its a very small Easter egg but on Cinders scroll as she was rigging the vytal tournament for CVFY’s match and discovering Penny’s android nature there is a small cursive W at the corner of her scroll. The small W that Watts uses as a holographic icon when he calls Leo in V5. RT has said that they had WTCH in their back pocket for years until they were revealed taking that into account it is clear that the virus that infected Beacons CCT Ironwoods scroll and forcing the droid army to commit order 66 was made by Watts.

The virus and the cyber warfare aside the next final contribution on Ironwood’s part was the imprisonment of Roman Torchwick

It's pretty much been clear that Torchwicks' imprisonment was an improvised plan on the villains part to get an inside man aboard a warship. Basically it was like Heath Ledger's joker in the dark knight; he wanted to get caught. Torchwick himself said that he is where he wants to be to Ironwood at the end of V2. As V3 showed Torchwick and Neo took over what can be assumed to be Ironwood’s personal flag ship and used it to destroy the rest of the air naval section that was brought for the Vytal security team. 

This could have been avoided had Torchwick not been released into Ironwood's custody or at the very least kept somewhere else that should he escape he couldn’t have done so much damage. The Airships aside it was also possible that Roman had used the onboard artillery on the city as well that means that innocent civilians weren’t just being mowed down by hacked robots but being carpet bombed as well increasing the death toll at the fall of Beacon.

The Dust embargo and closing of borders

Since the fall of Beacon Academy, Ironwood has become increasingly unstable and paranoid, making more and more ethically questionable decisions that he repeatedly justifies as the greater good; by his own admission, he will do anything it takes to stop Salem. 

This however does not fare well with the rest of Remnant though.

As Atlas is the primary location for most of Remnants Industry as well as having a monopoly on Dust; Remnant’s most crucial resource that everyone needs in order to survive, the other  kingdoms rely heavily on Atlas for technology, resources and weapons. By placing an embargo he has cut off everyone in the world from their most valued resource. Though he did this to stop the enemies chain of supply he is still letting people suffer and die by with-holding the one thing they need to live and survive. 

Which brings us to the borders

Though it could have eased tensions after the fall of Beacon it just lasted too long as well as the fact that Ironwood had essentially turned his back on the world and refused to help the other kingdoms in their time of need. In the CFVY book spin-off all of the Beacon students either went to Haven or Shade academy to finish their training. As well as the Vale refugees going to other kingdoms as well. But due to Atlas closing its borders none of the students or the people went to Atlas for help. Basically due to Ironwood’s orders the Kingdom of Atlas was forced to not help the other kingdoms when they needed it the most.

And it has only gotten worse due to the events at Mistral in V5 as not only are the students of both Beacon and Haven going to shade, putting a strain on the academy but leaving the entirety of the worlds largest kingdom unguarded and undefended as it now lacks able huntsmen to protect it due to Ironwood’s refusal to help 

It should also be noted that when Ironwood closed the borders he had failed to inform any off his subordinates of who can and can’t enter the kingdom especially in regards to allies like Glynda or Qrow who again are allies against Salem and Ironwood made little to no effort in keeping contact with the other Oz members. This is made evident in V6 when the Argus soldiers refused to believe Qrow about being an ally to Ironwood. you could say that he was waiting on the amity project to make contact with the other members but  he had to have realized that they needed to get into atlas at some-point. But did he make it easy for them or any other ally to reach him? No he did not. 

The Mistral Huntsmen Genocide and the Battle of Haven

Second verse, same as the first, he had put them in a hearse. Another example of Ironwood’s indifference and hypocrisy that led to the death of allies and innocent people.

Due to the events of the Fall and it being broadcasted the enormous state of panic had spread throughout all of the kingdoms. The negative emotions in mass had attracted the Grimm and caused much havoc and loss throughout all of them and the worst to suffer from this mass hysteria was most likely Mistral due to its larger population and territory.

In V5 Lionheart had confirmed that Mistral losses were heavy and many of the local huntsmen including the Professors from Haven were killed in the initial grimm invasion that plagued Mistral following the fall of Beacon. After the initial panic had settled down the Mistral council had been employing Huntsmen in mass and restricted their activity to crucial and vital missions in high profile areas to ensure the safety and stability of the Kingdom.

Now the real question comes in where was Atlas?

In the world of remnants shorts  its confirmed that Mantle and Mistral have an alliance that eventually carried into Atlas. With that being said, where was Mistral’s ally during the fall out and what were they doing. We know in V5 that all Military Assets were recalled within the month prior to the battle of Haven. I know that the kingdoms are weary of Atlas at this point but given the state of the world after the fall, Mistral needed all the help they could get. As such Mistral would have to call upon the old alliance and have them honor their word and offer aid. 

Or at the very least transfer some assets over to Mistral to use it as needed. We have the base in Argus sure but that was just a forward border control base  that didn’t really help anybody. Prior to the recalling Ironwood had Winter gather intel on potential activity that would lead to a second fall of a huntsmen academy and he chose to do nothing. This is further proof of his hypocrisy and arrogance. Ironwood at this point is reading the military for war and with holding aid and support that was actually needed. 

His V4 self is a stark contrast to his V2&3 self as that version of himself was willing to manipulate and intervene in the affairs of other nations under the assumption that the ends justify the means and would see himself above the rules so long as it's for the greater good and stop the threat before it can escalate. That was exactly what Ironwood did at the end of V2 by stealing power from Oz and tried to enforce his own set of rules if it would prevent a disaster.

Now why did Ironwood not do the same thing with Mistral and try to prevent the potential fall of its academy regardless of the bad publicity that it would warrant? It's already been said by Ironwood that he doesn’t trust Leo to handle the situation at Mistral and based his dissection to close the borders on Winters report and decided to prepare for an potential attack on Atlas rather than sending a small task force to handle the threat at Mistral. 

Taking into consideration his plan for Amity it's quite possible that he wanted Leo to fail and Mistral to be ready to eat from his palm. In other words unless there is something to gain and benefit from he’s not going to do it.

Ironwood all the way till he was told the truth about Salem in V7 had a War is the Answer mentality and was hoarding everything and anything that would help sustain a long campaign as well as increasing the size of that force with the intent that  that the large numbers were enough to intimidate Salem and her faction into surrendering and eventual destruction. The only problem is that the people he needs were born in a time of relative peace.

Because of the 80 year age of peace that followed the Great War the Modern world of Remnant has had zero to no conflicts as large or damaging since that one war. There were small conflicts sure like the faunus war, the White fang terrorist cell, and the criminal underworld but they weren’t that much or a threat or concern to a majority of remnant it wasn’t until the Fall of Beacon that the foundation of this peace was shaken so intensely that the cracks started to show but it was still together if only held by a thread.

With the Peace in mind and the peoples faith still with the huntsman as their distrust for Atlas Military lingers no one in the world of remnant outside of Atlas would have any motivation or desire to mobilize for war let alone a war for a foreign leader of a foreign land that has recently come under suspicion. Ironwood was never going to be able to unite the Kingdoms and mobilize their people for his war after the fall of Beacon with Atlas being painted as the bad guy. Unless the situation went from worst to extreme.

Like if another academy were to fall with the same or greater results like Beacon. Then maybe people all around the world would consider following Ironwood’s lead and wipe out the threat before things can get even worse.

Because of this Ironwood had allowed Mistral and possibly the other Kingdoms to exhaust themselves so much that they would be unprepared for the next major Grimm invasion should they come after the next major hysteria induced panic. Panic like Ironwood’s original plan to unite the world and tell them about Salem causing the kingdoms to fall into further disarray only to be saved by the flying grace of Ironwood and his Military. And the only repayment for his help is that you join his fight.

I know this is all speculative and you can say Lionheart was the one who was responsible for mistrals problems after the fall, but remember Leo was the only Faunus on the council of a racist kingdom and only had one seat over the huntsmen and can only give out and approve mission assignments that would get them killed thus he had no real authority or power in Mistral  besides siding with the majority and even if he tried to talk the council into refusing Ironwoods help their racism wouldn’t listen to Leo and they would do the opposite and call for aid. 

But again Ironwood prior to the fall was willing to stop the threat at its source regardless of politics. But after the fall he had put all of his focus on preparing for war instead of helping people that needed his help at that moment. This may be due to his semblance(still dumb BTW) but ultimately he was focusing on his own needs first than the needs of others. Because of this he had ignored the issues of Mistral and failed to see the truth of what Lionheart was doing and had allowed Most if not all of the well trained and experienced huntsmen of that kingdom to die leaving the kingdom defenseless and unprepared for any conflict that would come.

 Like the Battle for Haven for example. Had Ironwood not recalled everyone back and had Winter and whatever Atlas personal that were with her its quite possible that the battle may never had happen, the truth about leo would have been discovered sooner and the genocide of Mistrals huntsmen wouldn’t have been as bad had Ironwood actually chose to help, Instead he  started to fall back and focus on the Amity Project and Atlas instead of spending any resource outside of them, due to a narrow focus to and putting everything on it just so he can have his Victory.

The Civil unrest in Mantle

A loved and respected leader will die by the side of his people: A feared and hated one will die by their hand. Short term closing the borders cloud have helped ease tensions between Atlas and the rest of the world but long term it had made things worse

Due to the fall of Beacon it's quite possible the initial attacks that came after can explain why Mantle's defensive wall was so destroyed and ruined by the time of V7. That means that potentially for almost over a year that wall has had no repairs or maintenance  and has had the bare minimum leaving the citizens in a state of constant peril and danger since the fall of beacon

This is further made worse when Ironwood closed off the borders and cut off the chain of supplies and trade not only to Atlas but also to Mantle as well making the kingdom suffer more than it had to. As the original capital, the rise of Atlas reduced Mantle to a shadow of its former self. Streets are run-down, technology is old, security defenses haven't been updated in years, and smog from the mines hangs heavy over the city. People struggle to eke out an existence, depend on dangerous mines for work and experience regular Grimm attacks that the city increasingly struggles to repel. Meanwhile, Atlas hangs in the sky above their heads; a constant reminder of the wealthy elite that is failing to share the wealth that Mantle creates, and a target of Mantle's growing resentment and anger at having been left so far behind.

Ironwood who is again allied with and a member of a secret circle that is supposed to keep the peace and prevent any social unrest that can cause a conflict.  Thus he should have tried to ease the tensions and made the conditions of Mantle better in order to maintain peace. Now I know it's not solely Ironwood’s fault for the state that Mantle is in as he hasn’t been in a position of power for long but still he should have focused on the people instead of preparing for a war that may have never come. A stark contrast to Ozpin’s way of preserving peace and handling threats

Because of his narrow focus and indifference he made things worse as he was only focusing on potential threats that have yet to come instead of focusing on the issues and preventing them before they escalated. After the fall, the embargo and closing of Borders Ironwood concerned himself with preparations for an assumed winnable war instead of trying to restore peace and keep the people on his side. Which is ironic as he was doing this to rally a large force and stop the threat but did not consider that he may have been pushing away potential troops and allies that he would have needed. And only stoked the people's frustrations 

This is mostly due to Ironwood never giving an estimate of time for how long the embargo and the borders would last as well as not giving a clear and believable reason as to why he was doing all of this in the first place. I know he was going to tell Mantle and the world about Salem eventually and he did in V7 but that was only because he was forced to and used it to take out potential threats by baiting them. This is also added with the fact that he really didn’t have any solid proof that would make the people believe him about Salem as well. Due to the frustration of the people it would just sound like made up propaganda and Ironwood shifting blame onto a fake enemy to drive people's attention onto something else. And yes the people believed it but remember they were being evacuated so i don’t think they were buying Ironwood's statement but were just glad that they were being saved.

And in the end it doesn’t even matter as ultimately Ironwood caved in to fear and decided to leave Mantle for dead. Which could have been avoided had Ironwood focused his attention to the needs of people rather than the needs of war. One of the constant themes of the show is that victory is not in strength or in mass numbers but within the small and willing hearts of those that will fight no matter what.

In conclusion Ironwood had played a pivotal role in contributing to all of the conflicts that plague the world of Remnant at present, even if it were minor role he nonetheless helped set the stage for the villains and Salem   

The reason why I say that; as stated in earlier sections: Despite all of his talk about the greater good for the world he really means the greater good of Atlas and by extension himself. He is prioritizing his kingdom above all else at the expense of the other kingdoms and exploits of their people for his kingdom's own personal gain. As well as with holding beneficial technology that could actually benefit and improve the living conditions and way of life of the other kingdoms.

Ironwood’s inability to trust and have faith in people and others to keep the peace ultimately led to him intervening in affairs that he had no right to and with his own belief that his way is what is best had caused the Fall of Beacon and the events and conflicts before and after it.

It was over before it started

Now the Question must be asked what was Ironwood’s plan?

Ironwood throughout the series believed that he could win against Salem, and by the end of volume 7 he still believed that he could win, but in reality he had already lost the moment he tried to start a war.

To quote Ruby as she asked Ozpin: what was Ironwood’s plan to stop Salem if he ever had one to begin with? As far back as Volume 2 to Volume 7 Ironwood’s ideas and plans to handle Salem seemed to be; gather a large force, blitz run her stronghold, and destroy her with WMD’s. Most of his plans stem from an appeal to force and intimidation tactics via large numbers with heavy armament. In any other circumstances this could have worked had it been a different kind of villain that wasn’t immortal. As V6 has revealed Salem can’t die through traditional means such as modern warfare thus making Ironwood’s plans and solutions moot and pointless. Once he is told the truth in V7 he still continues down the same path of thinking that has not only failed but enabled the villains goals as well. So it must be asked why does Ironwood not see that his way is flawed and that he was never going to win if he continues down this path?

 Ironwood's numerous conflicts throughout the series occur because he feels he does not need to follow the standards he sets for others; He demands people trust him while showing them none in return. He forces others to sacrifice much for the cause while giving up very little in return. He insists on loyalty when he has turned on others solely because they disagreed with him.

As Volume 7 progresses, he becomes willing to commit increasingly dubious actions in order to oppose Salem. He starts off by imposing a military embargo on Mantle despite the economic hardships said embargo is causing for the civilians on the ground and diverting resources that Mantle needs to rebuild its infrastructure to build a comm tower at Amity Colosseum. By the end of the volume, he's degenerated into declaring full martial law, abandoning Mantle to die, and either attacking or having arrested anyone who opposes him.

Salem and her faction were a tumor that can only be handled with the surgical precision of a scalpel not with the bulk of a fleet or large armies. The Huntsmen were that scalpel and to be specific the Huntsmen that Oz had chosen as they were meant to protect all people and prevent conflicts without personal bias or desire. Ironwood only acted in the self interest of Atlas and the benefits that he would gain from it

Ozpin’s priority had always been the people, no matter where they came from. However, I think he was once in Ironwood’s shoes.  I am pretty sure he tried everything, including the same things Ironwood did, and saw it fail horribly. Ozpin or at least the soul, has had centuries to millennia's of experience in fighting Salem and managing the world. The delicacy of the human mind and heart are something he is well acquainted with, and I think he already knew what type of person Ironwood was, or at least was becoming.  Near as I can tell, the big reason he kept Ironwood on at this point was because Ironwood had the resources and technology he needed to keep his plan moving forward and wouldn’t relinquish them.

Ozpin worked hard to maintain the peace and goodwill of the people.  Ironwood, so far, has not.  Having robot sentries on every corner without the concept of morals and stopping trade for a kingdom that can not easily generate its own resources, as well as hoarding those resources and preventing necessary repairs and aid to those people–those actions all show that he is not keeping this important aspect of leadership. He is not making sure that the people are on his side so when he needs them because he does not consider their needs as important unless they are in line with his own

Even with the Knowledge of the truth of Salem’s immortality he is still sacrificing everyone and everything else for nothing just to keep up the illusion that he is the hero and to keep his source of power high in the clouds away from anyone who really needs it

I may have been a little harsh on Ironwood for his actions, especially V7 and I understand the circumstances that led to escalation by the end of the volume.  He was making dubious decisions but he was trying to do better, he listened at times and tried to show an extension of trust, the kids with giving them the lamp back, and later with Robyn at the dinner. These were due to the positive influences of Oz.  He just fell back to old habits hard and turned to extremes when it became clear he had non control of what was happening by V7 end. He was struggling with old habits and opening up and was doing better that first part of the night a prime example of what the creators meant if Ironwood had been more open and trusting of others but when everything went down he was pushed over the edge in the latter half of the night cementing his fall and decent into an antagonist further making the problem worse as he has always done. This is mostly due to his primary source of influence; Atlas (which we can agree has been the biggest source of conflict in the show so far) and probably his lack of understanding and planning for what comes after all is said and done.

What did you think would happen?

The question must be asked; What happens after Salem? The fandom has pretty much each their own idea of what might happen after Salem is finally defeated. But do the characters know what happens after the war especially Ironwood? As the end of the hero’s journey goes; Nothings the same after you become a hero. And given Ironwood’s behavior and actions before his fall in Gravity, Ironwood seemed to have ambitions and plans in the works for the long run after Salem was no longer a threat. As stated before in I am Machine no one is truly altruistic to the point that they do something that doesn’t benefit them. So what exactly did Ironwood want after Salem was gone to the point that most if not all his actions and decisions were in the effort to reach and make those plans come true?

As stated in Broken Kingdom Ironwood doesn’t really have any personal desires or motivations that aren’t related to Atlas or the Heroes common goal to stop Salem. As far as we can tell Ironwood has no current family members at present and there's very little that tells us that he has anything in mind outside of either Atlas or Salem ,so what does Ironwood have to gain from this conflict?

All hail the conquering Hero

Ironwood’s biggest issue is that he has to be the center of everything, that he has to be in control. First he’s going to try and gain control with his army, while trying to wrangle anyone else back under his control. Then, when it becomes clear that anyone who has a plan that better and could work, he’s going to get competitive, come up with new and crazy superweapons to throw against the enemy in an attempt to prove that he can defeat Salem before the heroes can gather allies from across Remnant. He believes that He is strong, that He is brave, that He doesn’t need to run to anybody for help! He believes that he is the hero and is letting his self entitlement cloud his mind and it has gotten the better of him

 An In-Universe example of this false belief comes from RWBY: Amity Arena as it  gives bios to every character in the game compiled by the In-Universe developers. While many try to be objective, the ones representative of the Atlas Elite tend to demonstrate a notable bias, most prevalent with the General's. His bio is very defensive of him, calling him the "hero of our time" and that he wears the burden of the world on his shoulders, talking him up as a Hero with Bad Publicity. The bio goes as followed;

General Ironwood. The hero of our time and Atlas' greatest protector. Under the general, we have advanced to incredible heights, discovered new technologies, and created the world's first artificial intelligence. Though horrifyingly revealed at Amity Arena, Penny is our proud foray into sentient AI, and Ada is the culmination of the machine learning we have long developed in our labs.

As reviled as he was for his misguided attempt to protect Vale, how can the world fault our General when the culprits are out there? How can the victims be blamed for the sins of the perpetrators? Is incompetence somehow a greater sin than premeditated evil? Our General may have failed to protect Beacon, but he's not the one that hacked our weapons into hurting the innocent.

Yet... he wears that burden on his shoulders like he is alone in the world...

Ozpin, missing. Lionheart, dead. Theodore, uncertain. We say Atlas is the greatest, the mightiest... the city in the clouds, but what is first place when there is no competition? Yet, our kingdom and our General... we're the best chance that humanity's got... which scares us to death.

Menagerie?

...what about it?

After reading that you can probably see through the propaganda, hypocrisy and ego that are written in the bio. A key factor to note is that this was possibly made after the main heroes arrived in Atlas and before the election night. And since there's been no contact or travel between the kingdoms and Ironwood was aware of Leo's status by worst case scenario  it tells us that the heroes have shared everything with Ironwood in regards to those events concerning Haven.

 Since Ironwood is looked up to as a god by his subordinates and since he was the one of the only few to have known about them as well as to have the status to make any key choices since the app is made by atlas scientists contracted to the military. Thus Ironwood had used it and the blind loyalty of his loyalists to make propaganda and shift the blame from himself to something else as well as try to emotionally manipulate the people by making them sympathize with him while ignoring the truth.

He is not Remnant's only hope nor is he the best choice.

This is another example of his never my fault montra and he does things right and its further shown in the bio as it not only continues to discredit the other Headmasters(I am well aware of leo) but ignores all the good and actual heroism of other people like the Faunus of Menagerie as they are to the primary reason as to why Haven didn’t become the next Beacon and as stated before in an earlier section the opportunity for the Battle of Haven was in a way created by Ironwood who had chosen to flee and protect his city instead of preventing an attack like he had originally intended with Vale.

It may also show how much Ironwood believes in his own hype as it does paint him as some sort of de facto king of Atlas. Again he views himself as the chosen savior of the chosen people and that it is his destiny to rule and change the world as he sees fit. Or as Watts puts it the Giant that stands above all

I’m the Captain now

I think it's safe to say that almost everything he does is a twisted version of Ozpin's ways as well as to place himself as Remnant's ultimate leader as he believes he is the one that can ensure a safe and secure world. Ever since his debut he has undermined everything that Ozpin has done and stood for because he believes his ways aren’t efficient ( Or beneficial) to him and has been systematically taking power and control away from him and placing himself as the new big good.

He wants to be the New warrior king and change the world as he sees fit as he only sees Ozpin as either a failure or a hindrance to him and his plans. Combine that with his Atlas ideology and a lot of things make sense. I mentioned in the False chosen one that Ironwood may have been influenced and tried to emulate the Warrior king as to better rise and gain power and correct the supposed mistakes of Ozpin. Even though that he has claimed to be doing it for the greater good of all of Remnant but  he really means only Atlas and himself

A world Reborn in my image

A major factor to consider is that Ironwood is a by-product of Atlas that was a by-product of Ancient Mantle. Ironwood is essentially a living mouthpiece for Atlas. He pretty much the living embodiment of the kingdom if it were a character. That's the sad truth of Ironwood is that he is simply an extension of this toxic environment and tricked into believing that its this ideal society when  in truth it never was.  In other words a legacy of tyranny lives on through Ironwood

We’re all aware of the origins of Atlas and its rise to prominent power. It started out as Mantle that began with a handful of people that prospered by adapting to the harsh conditions by making advanced technology faster than the rest of the world. It eventually formed a trade  alliance with Mistral trading tech for food. A grimm  incident occurs and Mantle thought being cold emotionless robots was a perfect solution. It tried to force its toxic ideology onto other civilizations and was met with mixed results. The Great war happens they lose and all of their resources are spent forcing it to rebuild its economy that eventually gives way to Atlas

Now how does this affect Ironwood?

Well Mantle through its alliance with ancient Mistral possibly adopted their ideals of imperialism and expansion as Mistral was the world's largest territorial economic empire of its time. When it comes to the rise of an empire and the type they are as well as their need for expansion it can be summed up to these 3 

Economic empire

Ideological empire

Territorial empire

Due to Mantle's lack of essential resources like food and energy, its early days were more or less focused on establishing a strong economic trade empire in order to get the essential supplies needed to sustain life in solitas. After its great depression period after the War the kingdom's economy began to grow at a rapid rate that by the time the kingdom shifted to Atlas it had Remnants largest economic empire.

This is also an important factor to consider since the sad truth of it all is that as long people can make a stable income and support themselves, they are more than likely to turn a blind eye to any shady or immoral activities so long as there's something to gain. What does this have to do with Ironwood you ask? Well as his bio card said Ironwood has pretty much been proclaimed as the kingdoms benefactor for its prosperity. This may have been due to his Corperate alliance with The Schnee’s since it was Mostly Nicolas and Jaques as far as we know being the most prominent reason as to why Atlas has prospered. 

When Ironwood formed that alliance with the SDC it gave him at least half of the power and influence of the company that was truly responsible for the kingdom's wealth and claiming it as his own. Once he had gotten some control over the economy it was time to move onto the next step and increase the empire from economic to Ideological or Political expansion.

Empires change and adapt in order to satisfies their needs now that Ironwood is the de facto head of that empire and given what we know about him and Atlas it is quite possible that he has been indoctrinated to have this desire to create an empire for Atlas as the politics and ideologies of its people have given it a false sense of entitlement and need to have everything under their control.

When looking at it from V1 to V3, it looks as if Ironwood was trying to occupy without resorting to force then you're left asking the real questions like "Why is ironwood selling the people of Vale on Atlas military Technology?" "Why is it that when a breach happens in vale, Atlas Bots rush in?" "Why did Ironwood make a power play to become the security of the Vytal Tournament?" It all seems to point to the same thing, Ironwood wanted control over Vale

A section of Lyrics from the song “When it Falls” may help reveal Ironwoods true intentions since his introduction and to be honest they seem relevant only to him and given his actions this is mostly likely the truth as they go like this; 

“They play the part of allies

Claiming peace their only goal

But once the fight for power starts

They'll eat each other whole

Their iron gloves point fingers

They'll wage a war of blame

And mankind will wilt in pain”

As of V7 aren’t those words mostly relevant to Ironwood? After all, what has he done recently? He claims to be an ally with intentions of peace but he’s really trying to control those who buy that lie and escalates the situation to the extreme for no logical reason other than to set the stage for the next part in relation to the lyrics.

After all is said and done the fight for power will start and he wants to win and consume everyone before they can consume him. And as things go wrong he points his metal hands blaming everyone but himself as he tries to gain control and power, the world suffers.

Ever since his debut he has been trying to amass  Political power which would lead to a territorial empire under Atlasian control. Playing into the theory that he does want to be a better version of Oz he wouldn’t make the same mistakes that he assumed the king  did by letting the kingdoms remain independent instead of being under the control of one.

A king has his reign and then he dies

To continue on with the theory that he is essentially a bastardized version of Oz, Ironwood may have been trying to find ways as to make himself immortal 

Another reason as to why he would see Ozpin as inferior is due to the fact that for all his power he can’t stop himself from dying, or at least maintain the same amount of world power and status from his last life. This may have given Ironwood ideas and ambitions to pursue any methods that may yield results that may make him a true immortal version of Oz hence why he most likely authorized the research and development of the aura transfer technology as a means to artificial reincarnate till proper immortality was achieved.

This could also be another reason as to why he may have chosen the Penny project. As it could lead to a way of extending his life as a means of transhumanism; immortality through technology

To reiterate Ironwood doesn’t trust anyone to do things right so he micromanages everyone under his control and makes them dependent on him. This is best seen with Winter and Clover as Winter would side with a madman as opposed to siding with her sister and clover’s inability to think for himself led to his death. 

Due to his lack of faith in people Ironwood makes them less independent and make them rely on him as  he may believe if everyone is dependent on him then the more control that he will have over them as to better determine who is a threat as the people he controls are more or less robots now without a conscious or sense individuality and are less likely to commit evil acts. Similar to ancient Mantle’s anti life policies before the war.

If he believes that to be the case and since he only trusts himself to see it through he’s going to try and find ways to make him live as long as possible until his methods become autonomous. Because of his lack of faith for others Ironwood doesn’t understand or refuses to understand the fact that he is going to die one day and everything that he has ever accomplished will be undone by the ultimate victor; TIME.

This is sadly the likely outcome as everything changes through the passage of time. As time moves so does the advancement of decay upon the world. Ironwood is already dying by aging and all that he has achieved will be undone or outdone by others that will come after him. The same thing can be said for everyone else in the show as they already lost. 

Ruby, Oz, Cinder, even Salem herself have already lost to time. Everything they have or will achieve will be undone as well and one day they will all die. It’s just a matter of how and when. 

To better explain let's take a look at Epsilon’s final speech from RVB season 13;

“There are so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day, and because of their sacrifice, the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everybody lives happily ever after. But the hero... never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if their sacrifice actually made a difference. They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end, they just have to have faith.”

Does Ironwood have faith in anyone that's not under his control? 

People only do wrong when the perceived benefits outweigh the cost in that moment. Ironwood doesn’t just see an opportunity to stop Salem he also sees an opportunity to bring the world under Atlasian control with him at the top. Since he has amassed so much power and authority he sees himself above the rules that everyone respects and follows. Because of this Ironwood tries to hold unto that power because without he is nothing and would become a lesser and weaker being which would be an affront to his perfectionist ideologies

If your nothing without it then you don’t deserve it

Take away Ruby’s Silver eyes and what is she? Someone that will continue to fight no matter what

Take away Atlas from Ironwood and what is he? Nothing but a broken man who had this coming for a long time.

As I stated in I am power Ironwood by himself has nothing to contribute to the fight against Salem. Let's face it the only thing that he had going for him was the fact that he lead the Military and as we later find out that Military isn’t going to be useful against Salem since the key concept of the show since V1 was that there is no victory in strength but in the simpler things in life that start with simple and honest souls. 

How does this concern Ironwood? 

Well that's just it Ironwood was never going to win with his methods and he was never going to get the benefits that he wanted if he followed someone else with theirs. Again Ironwood had plans and ambitions after Salem that saw him as the ruler of the world instead of her, and controlled it so that a threat like her or any threat to his power would never come again. This is probably what he thought would happen before being told of her immortality. 

Now with the knowledge that he can’t destroy her and that she’s coming he decides to cut his losses and settle with ruling the city instead and leave the rest of the world in her mercy instead of accepting the fact that he is wrong and relinquishing power to someone that can handle the situation better. Remnant doesn’t need Ironwood to survive. This is the biggest problem with Ironwood that he thinks he is the hero so long as he is in control of Atlas. Because without it he is truly nothing and has defined his whole existence around it. And will continue to make whatever plans to keep himself in power and is willing to pay the price at the expense of others.

“What if all the plans you made,

Were not worth the price they paid?

Even with the lives you stole,

Still no closer to your...

Goal.”

He never cooled the fire but he still incites the crowd for he can't see what he has  become a crown with no kingdom

Ironwood had only played to win and he would laugh at the ones who lose while millions are shouting out for him to stop but he Still lit the fuse

He says he wants to fight but Then he always runs because he doesn't want to die yet he Still shoots the loaded gun escalating things for the worse

His refusal to see the faults in his own actions. Ironwood continually defaults to and relies on methods and actions that have repeatedly been proven to not work because he refuses to see the error in using said methods to begin with.

This isn’t your story James

One of the important aspects to remember is that this isn’t Ironwood’s story. His entire character and story revolves around the main protagonists and how he interacts with them and more importantly what role he played in it. Ironwood started out as a side character that ended up getting a lot of focus because the story of  Team RWBY and the show in general is to show how the last generation can fail the next and how that generation has to learn and grow so it can avoid the mistakes of the past. 

Before we delve further into Ironwood’s true character in the show let us explore whether or not he was an antagonistic or protagonistic force in the story. Keep in mind these terms are different from hero and villain. Below are several definitions and meanings for the 2 narrative characters types;

Antagonist

a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work

Protagonist

the leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

an advocate or champion of a particular cause or idea.

In modern literature, the protagonist drives the story forward by pursuing a goal. 

The protagonist of a story is sometimes called the main character. 

Since this is RWBY’s story and to an extent Oz’s, Ironwood(and Atlas to an extent) was always meant to be an antagonistic force in opposition to the show's true ideals of  heroism and saviors. 

The antagonist is the principal source of conflict for the protagonist. Often, the antagonist is a bad guy, a villain, but he doesn't necessarily have to be. He may just be someone who has a different agenda. Antagonists might be one person, a group, or even an animal.

Due to the beliefs that his methods are for the best even though they contradict the intentions that were thought to be shared by the heroes Ironwood was always going to become an Antagonist for the series at some point

Volume 7 slowly sees him fall into this, as his paranoia and determination to stop Salem cause him to perform increasingly questionable decisions for the greater good. While Qrow, Oscar, and Teams RWBY and JNPR support Ironwood, they increasingly debate the merit of doing so, given how concerned they're becoming with his behavior. When Cinder breaks into his office and plants a black queen, Ironwood sends Winter to forcefully take the Winter Maiden's powers, and he begins to question every decision he's made and speculate whether he's played right into Salem's hands. His confrontation with Team RWBY over their decision to leak intel to Robyn triggers the appearance of a Seer Grimm, forcing him into a verbal confrontation with Salem. With the discovery that the conflict with Watts and Tyrian distracted them from realizing they'd lost long-range sensors and that Salem is already on her way to Atlas, Ironwood snaps. He orders the arrest of Qrow, Oscar, and Teams RWBY and JNPR, and decides to abandon Mantle to die in an effort to prevent the two Relics and the Winter Maiden from falling into Salem's hands. Volume 7 ends with him and the protagonists actively opposed to each other, as his refusal to acknowledge that his methods are flawed and his opposition towards anyone who might stand in his way solidifies him as an antagonist.

The events of Volume 7 slowly but surely tear away at the positive aspects of his character as he succumbs to fear and paranoia, and questions whether Salem's strength comes from her ability to strip away her humanity. By the end of the volume, he has degenerated into a paranoid tyrant who abandons Mantle in favor of saving Atlas, is willing to kill a dying Winter Maiden to protect the Relics from Salem, and arrests the heroes for disagreeing with him. At the end of the volume, Oscar even points out that Ironwood's actions and current mentality make him no better than Salem.

 His character deconstructs the mindset of the Necessary Evil character archetype. He declares his willingness to sacrifice his reputation and humanity for the greater good by forcing others to sacrifice for his cause. Characters constantly question the morality of his choices and his own actions create consequences that later bite him in the ass. His lack of concern over his image and the negativity his actions generate serve only to assist Salem's plans and increasingly alienate him from the heroes. He appoints himself the judge of what counts as the "greater good", he neglects Mantle's security and makes it increasingly vulnerable to attack by viewing it as less important than Atlas. Oscar lampshades the deconstruction by pointing out that being willing to sacrifice all of Remnant just so "a few can live" is making him just as dangerous a threat as Salem.

In a way Salem and Ironwood are also foils to each other as they appear to be dark lords from their respective genres 

Ironwood being the syfy equivalent clad in white to convey the false message of order and peace while masking evil intentions and crimes 

Salem being the Fantasy equivalent clad in black to emanate a sense of Mystery and fear of the unknown while using it to her advantage

Discussed between Ironwood and Oscar. Ironwood spends Volume 7 utterly haunted by how Leo's fear of Salem destroyed him and endangered Mistral and Haven. He is so determined not to end up like Leo, that he doesn't realize what mistakes his own fear of Salem is causing. While Leo completely submitted to Salem and became her puppet, he has full self-awareness and knows exactly how far he's fallen and why. Ironwood cannot accept that he has any fear of Salem at all and interprets the problem as possessing "humanity". He believes Salem is a threat because she has none and speculates that the solution is to become the same. He becomes increasingly controlling over his kingdom and his allies; regardless of how much suffering his methods cause, he persists in believing it's for "the greater good". While Leo is willing to give up the Relic of Knowledge and his kingdom's Huntsmen, Ironwood is so determined to prevent Salem getting the Relics, his Huntsmen and the Winter Maiden, and thereby avoid Leo's mistakes, that he travels in the opposite direction, becoming a dangerous authoritarian instead of a spineless coward.

Ironwood has made it clear that he will use whatever means necessary to defeat Salem. When Team RWBY calls out his decision to raise Atlas out of Salem's reach, he calmly says he's aware that he is essentially damning Mantle to her wrath. He later tells Oscar that he is done letting others' opinions hold him back from doing what he thinks is right. The boy warns him that he'd become as dangerous as Salem herself like that; the general simply nods to himself but doesn't deny it.

This is who he has always been. The only difference is the more desperate he becomes, the more extremes he goes to to maintain the illusion he is strong and in control of the situation.

During Ozpin's speech, notice how this unique line of dialogue is purposely inserted over Ironwood's last scene of  Volume 7.

“Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start? I suppose we all find out... sooner or later.”

As the other parts of the speech are relevant to the other characters shown in the montage This specific line cements the Truth of Ironwood's character being a threat that was planned for a very long time. Going with the show's themes of Grey morality and the balance of light and dark, we are to learn of the possibility that with the potential to do great good also comes with the potential to do great evil. 

As we were focused on the obvious threats in the show like the grimm, the white fang, Cinder, and Salem we are tricked to neglect the obvious signs of evil intent that are hidden and growing  among the heroes. The real monsters of the world aren’t the ones with fangs and red eyes hiding under your bed, No the real monsters of the world look just like you and me. After all if we assume everyone is like us then how can we tell who the real monsters are, that are hiding in plain sight. 

Ironwood’s evil nature and antagonism  was subtle and growing under the skewed perception that he was the hero and that he was right. But this comes down to the fact that he is only in it for himself and what he has to gain from it. 

I understand that James Ironwood was a tragic character even from his introduction, and the seeds for his volume 7 turn were planted in volume 2. I eventually recognized that RT was setting up this pivotal plot point way back in the day and now they are harvesting what they had sown.  

Ironwood didn’t snap when he found out RWBY lied to him. He was content, even after he defeated Watts. He snapped as soon as he saw Cinder’s present. The Queen piece. He unraveled immediately and, sure, the discovery of RWBY’s lies didn’t help,  but it wasn’t the cause for Ironwood’s descent.

 He genuinely means well in opposing Salem and her forces, but his severe paranoia complex, exacerbated by the stress of being one of the only ones in the know about Salem and having to explain his actions to the skeptical populace and council, cause his decisions to degenerate over time. By the end of Volume 7, he becomes willing to abandon everyone in Mantle to die, violently lashes out at anyone who opposes him, and manages to undo all of the hard work he's accomplished by second-guessing his own actions.

James Ironwood is undoubtedly a fascinating character that has this certain appeal to most people. I  can understand Ironwood's viewpoint but it is not the same as forgiving or condoning as good. Sure, I thought him intervening in affairs that he had no right to was a skewed perception, but I understood where he was coming from. I thought him ignoring the concerns and advice of people was reckless, but I also kind of understood  his limitations and his upbringing. But in all honesty I was neutral about Ironwood ever since he debuted and didn’t think he had much to contribute to the story besides being the guy with an army along with the pride and arrogance that comes with.

Because of that Ironwood was always an antagonistic force in RWBY with ideals and plans that contradict the established ideals and motivations that are already shared with the world of Remnant. He just simply couldn’t fit in and when he tried he didn’t like it. When he tried to change it and take charge he only made things worse. Ironwood had potential to be good and a proper hero due the influence of Oz but his pride and ego that he got from Atlas got the better of him and now the show's true heroes will have to fix the problems that he has caused.

Summary

[weatherman667]

This was going to be a reply to a different post, but it ended up being far more important on it’s own.

Contrary to popular belief, BLM had massive, broad spectrum support across the US.  It wasn’t until they started burning down cities that they had any opposition.  Any chance they’ve had to “defund the police”, they have simply slashed if not eliminated the police budget.

We don’t need to convince Libertarians that Defunding the Police is a good idea, as they were already onboard with it.

Saliently, the movement is not being done on an individual city basis, where individual police budgets could be discussed.  It also ignores the fact that we do have all of the social programmes that they claim to want.  The main problem with these social programmes is not budget, but the fact that the individual they are aimed at are normally mentally ill or addicted to drugs.

I’ve worked a lot of security.  I’ve had roommate who as addicted to drugs and mentally ill, and he would talk to his social worker whenever he had a problem.  He eventually realized that he needed to live in a group home with supervised care, as he was most vulnerable when left unsupervised.  When working security, I rarely had an encounter with homeless who were actively trying to better themselves, because they always found room in a shelter within a week.  The people who couldn’t deal with the shelter’s rules were the ones who stayed on the streets.

I’m definitely not saying we don’t need social programmes, nor am I saying that they couldn’t use more funding, what I’m saying is that we have to accept a high degree of failure with these programmes.  This is what Emotional Labour originally meant, social workers watching drug addicts having constant relapses while trying to seek help.

The biggest problem with modern policing is militarization.  We used to have “Policing by Consent.”  The idea, first created in England, and the foundation of policing in the Anglosphere, is that only through complete neutrality could police be considered fair.  They have to treat people on an individual basis, and that is the only way to win the trust of the communities.  And without the trust of the communities you don’t have policing, but military occupation.

The problem with this is that if there is a difference in offending, there is a difference in punishment.  BLM has fighting against this disparity, effectively eliminating individual policing and policing by consent, and it’s been replaced by police militarization.

Are there police forces that are racist?  Yes.

Are there police forces that are incredibly corrupt?  Yes.

But if you do not try to distinguish between the good and the bad, you end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The vast majority of people in the US, including black people, want the same or greater police presence in their communities.

A lot of police forces do teach that their pistol is only for extreme circumstances.  The majority of proper police work is done through dialogue.   But, even when officers do use proper de-escalation procedures, they get hit with ACAB / Defund the Police.

[mywingsareonwheels]

Things the MCU needed/needs far far more of

- Marginalised people in the writing room, and in the directorial teams, and high up in the crew. Especially POC, Jewish people, LGBT+ people, and disabled people.

- And this reflected in the portrayal of the characters, storylines, etc.. I initially made this a far longer post and went into detail about what that might look like (which in many cases means “more like the best of the comics”...), but honestly most of it’s stuff we’ve all said a lot before. :-) Queer relationships. Comics!canon Jewish characters actually being Jewish. A complete absence of ableist jokes/ableism being used as a punishment for disabled characters. Etc. etc. etc..

- Found family tropes, especially wrt the Avengers who are right there with the potential for found family joy and then it didn’t really happen. This honestly is probably the biggest failure for me of the MCU as a whole. Found family is *great* and is one of the most appealing things about any superhero group - I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this! And it’s not like it’s only fanfiction that’s done this better: the comics do it better, the Avengers Assemble cartoon is *made* of this trope. (Fanfic do often do it really really well though. :-) )

- Characters who’ve been through trauma especially really extreme trauma) being traumatised and this and their healing being treated compassionately and at least a bit realistically. And while I have Bucky particularly in mind here, I really mean all of the major characters and plenty of the others!

- Relatedly, action!characters being allowed to be seriously vulnerable. Including the men.

- Cats and dogs.

- Hugs.

- Left-wing politics, anti-imperialism, anti-militarism. (Dratted military funding/editorial control. :-( )