#UNLESS YOU'RE IN A CULT

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

hello this now a legend of the galactic heroes blog i will post essays on it at a whim

hi how you doing this is a big block of text that has light spoilers for LOGH and talks at length about its discussion of autocracy vs democracy, how it balances itself and how it evolves it into a conclusion. I'm gonna put the separation after the first paragraph and if the style seems interesting to you, click keep reading and enjoy the maddened rants of a man who writes to process things.

I think one of my favorite parts of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, a sentence I will write much more often in the coming years, is the weight it puts on actual discussion of merits and complications of imperialism and democracy, and how at the end of the day, there's no true correct option between either.

As the son of a nation that had just left a brutal dictatorship before I was born, I was raised with school teachers who in fact ran from cops in protests, fought secret police, ran counter-propaganda campaigns and defended their rights in the middle of the street, shouting and bleeding. And the pitch I got for democracy was always, well, military dictatorship is unacceptable, and the vote is the most important weapon in a population's arsenal.

LOGH mostly agrees with the sentiment, but it doesn't put republican democracy as the end-all be-all of good government as a matter of fact, which was a fascinating decision to me. The democrats as a faction are mostly corrupt or ineffective politicians who balance their self-interest by either flat-out lying to the population or throwing lives into blenders so they can push a ufanist agenda for an election.

They applaud each other as they figure out ways to remain in power while doing nothing themselves, and even though one or two of them are ultimately trying to Do The Right Thing, the system's checks and balances make it so they're being, well, checked and balanced by people who do not have the population's best interests in mind. We even have one of those same politicians say it out loud: we are parasites, we get paid to suckle on society and offer nothing, we are glorified bank attendants who should only be concerned with how to spend tax money but here we are, deciding who lives and who dies simply because we can.

Meanwhile you have the imperials-- descended from literal space nazis, genocidal maniacs who slaughtered billions or even hundreds of billions depending on how you interpret one of the history episodes -- and they're not much better before Reinhard shows up. A lousy, dumb class of aristocrats grown fat and complacent on the food and effort of the lower classes, with no desire to treat others who don't dress in their fancy suits as fellow human beings.

99.9% of the population will never affect public policy or even be targeted as the main beneficiary of policy, unless one of their young daughters is attractive enough for a 70 year old pervert to kidnap her and maybe listen to her requests every once in a while. The show is not subtle about who you're watching-- they scream Sieg Heil and are all German. It explicitly expects you to balance whatever you feel about the Lohengramm Dynasty with the historical context, both in the show and in real life.

So the question is thrown at the audience, at first by inferring it and then explicitly in season 2: assume for the sake of argument there's change coming for both systems, would you rather live in an aloof, corrupt democracy or a benevolent, yet inevitably complacent autocracy?

And I strongly feel that in most other stories, Reinhard would be depicted as a wide-eyed idealist that would slowly but surely succumb to his own vices, only to become a bad emperor killing all his incumbents and repeating the same problems of the original empire that destroyed billions of lives. It would be a cautionary tale about how absolute power corrupts absolutely or whatever, and about how only through freedom fighting with wanton abandon can we create a world worth living in. There would be nothing no one could tell Yang or Julian or whoever that would convince the audience that they didn't only have good points.

But no, LOGH is genuine about the question: it's a benevolent autocracy, at its heart, you can trust the emperor's words at face value. The values have shifted in such a way that the vices of yesteryear will not be around at least for a little while, and democracy itself may be on its way out due to the sheer lack of consistency it let fester at its breast.

The question is not whether or not having a decent-looking approach to government is a trick by the space nazis, the question is whether it's okay for you to give up your personal freedoms if you can be sure you will have your interests still considered, and that some level of oppression will happen on both sides either way. The show asks you whether, once removed from morality or ideology, you will go with the tax fraudists or with the pompous fucks, if you can be sure your life will objectively be easier on the latter and will always be unstable due to the former's natural changes.

The democratic systems in place in the galaxy by the time Reinhard takes over the Empire are shattered not just because of external actions, but because they were rotten to begin with. There was simply no way for them to survive in their form at the time. You have democrats constantly talking about the wonders of democracy while making sure most of the population will never experience those in the first place.

Parallel to that, in Iserlohn Fortress, the literal last bastion of democracy, you have Yang Wenli being pressured to become a military dictator to "put things in their place" and "make sure things work", showing you how little faith people have in the actual system and how much faith people have on him. But Yang has none of it-- taking over would make the entire exercise pointless.

Yet he never says Reinhard is an inherently bad leader, and never stops acknowledging the immense progress that he forced upon the galaxy. Both Yang and Julian constantly mention how, since Reinhard is a beloved monarch, he is technically more democratically-supported than any politician in Heinessen ever was. And that's not nothing-- it is imperative to actually engage with this conversation for those characters, because they are essentially fighting for a system that literally nobody in the universe has faith in, because they just saw it eat itself alive.

What the ideals of democracy eventually shape up to be is the belief that one man should not be the end-all-be-all of government policy, regardless of the kind of system they have. A king, a president, a prime minister, whatever-- other people's livelihoods should never come down to a single person's whim without any sort of recourse for criticism. Democracy, when stripped from its bells and whistles, becomes the ability to make yourself heard for good or ill. Autocracy, likewise, becomes the incapacity to reach anyone other than through personal, non-official means. Neither is future-proof, but one of them gives future generations the resources to fight the scourge of corruption, while the other does not.

And this conclusion takes one hundred and ten fucking episodes. It takes multiple revolutions, the rise and fall of entire governments, conspiracies, probably an entire planet's worth of alcohol. But it gets there! It sits you down and expects you to talk back as it talks about checks and balances, taxes, education, the measure of a man, the place of honor in politics, the whole damn thing!

Yet it never feels like the show is putting imperialism on a pedestal either, because you see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how illuminated despotism always falls: the complete and utter lack of systems that aren't nepotistic as a rule means snakes will slither into nests, no matter what. Yes, the king might not be corrupt-- what about the second in command? The third? The fourth? If the fifth person in the chain is corrupt, then literally everyone under them also is. Because it's a system based on personality and connections, and not necessarily in what's best for each role.

Even though Reinhard tries his hardest to avoid this, and explicitly chooses people whom he trusts and knows can do a phenomenal job, he cannot change the nature of politics. The complete lack of systems designed to counter corruption in autocracies aside from someone coming in and saying "Eh, fuck it, just kill them" means smart enough disruptors will find a crack in the armor, and they will scheme and lie and conspire against the trust that glues the entire system together.

And cracks they find, and it works. You can bring down an entire system in one day by simply undermining the right person. There is no chain of command strong enough in an autocracy to survive the death of a king. Whoever the next king ends up being, things will drastically change, far more than they would if a president were to be assassinated. And, again, the show asks and expects you to form an opinion-- but is that worth it? Is the thought of building an entire castle on top of an exposed central rock inherently a thing of hubris? Is there no middle ground that can make the best of both worlds function perfectly? Is the most democratic-leaning autocrat still not democratic enough? Is the most benevolent military governor still unacceptable?

Ultimately, the conclusion LOGH seems to reach is that a parliament is a good buffer to a king so that the puck does not begin its movement in the same place it stops at, but also so that the people have a more direct way to speak their minds to a centralized ruler other than literally becoming friends with the right people. While much less directly discussed than the grander conversation, it seems that LOGH ascertains that the speed of decisions an autocracy can achieve is not a bug, but a feature, and should be utilized for the greater good, but that aristocrats and the king's friends should not be the only thing stopping a genocide if the king so wishes, and they should definitely not simply be capable of being ignored.

It's not really showed as a victory for either side. Reinhard doesn't live to interact with the new system, and Julian doesn't believe he'll ever stop undermining the Empire, even though he got them to compromise. People will keep dying for what they believe in, but now for far less romantic reasons and for far less charismatic leaders. The legend isn't just over, the legend is dead.

But that's history, that's how it works-- you don't fight until you're the only one standing, you fight until, somehow, both people lose, and then you keep going. The conversation about politics will literally never end, because there is no right answer. There is no holy book explaining how to perfectly govern a population. There's only the messy attempts imperfect men and women put forth, and the shape they take after being grounded through the gears of progress and war. And at the end of the day, this is all just different people trying to figure out a way to better put tax money where it should go, otherwise we all starve next winter.

Legends are told after the fact, and ultimately, they're just stories simplified so that they can better inspire us. The galaxy keeps spinning, unpreoccupied with the affairs of man and their ideals.

[eidolons-stuff]

Wednesday: *can't look at Enid*

Enid: *whispers in Wednesday's ear* "I never knew how happy I could be until I met you, Wednesday Addams"

[tswwwit]

(sorry, this got way long, and maybe a little sappy, but i didn't want to spam with multiple asks)

so i just finished reading the most recent chapter of the cultist reincarnation au, and i love it so so much.

my personal fave part is bills little rivalry with the mini bill plush. bill waited for so long to see his husband again, and this little plush is getting all of the affection bill wants, i love it. i hope dipper keeps it around after getting all his memories back, because it is a wonderful way to tease bill. just 'fine, i'll just go hug and kiss my new, better husband!' said as dipper walks off with mini bill just to annoy bill.

after reading that chapter i started rereading the entire familiar au (or like 95% of everything that was written for it including snippits, pov changes, and multipart stories, thanks to weirdeggi's masterpost) and its so so fun and interesting seeing bill go from a demonic jackass who barely tolerates his human, to seeing him put so much time, care, and patience into making sure the cultist reincarnation of dipper feels comfortable and relaxed around him. while seeing dipper go from timid and ignorant in the beginning to confident and knowledgeable with the ability to handle all of bills tricks easily.

it's just all so good and you write the characters so so well, i love them so much. i love seeing how much they've grown and drove each other insane/sane. the world building is so well done, especially with how the magic works and affects things. i've read these stories so many times over the years and as they come out, and each new one is always a delight. no pressure on you to rush of course, please take your time, but know that any new fic or chapter you post has at least one person eager to read and enjoy it.

(the rest of this is just going to be fun questions that popped up while rereading, no pressure on answering them, i just thought of them while reading and thought they'd be fun to ask and share)

I am curious about how bill views or thinks about his 'sickness' after the events of confessing it, and if that's different from several reincarnations later. cause i know in the bill v bill fic the other bill still calls it a sickness, and while i know our bill is happy as hell, i do wonder if he still thinks its a sickness or a curse, even if its the best thing to ever happen to him.

i'd also be interested to know if dipper ever makes friends with any demons, cause like i know in confessing it he meets pyronica and she reminds him of mabel, and he kinda got along with the spider centaur demon, but it would be neat to know if he ever makes actual friends with any demons, and if those friendships 1) make bill jealous 2) last over several reincarnations

speaking of the reincarnation, i'm curious when in their relationship that those two put that plan into action. like if it was still early into their relationship or if it was as dipper got older and his days got more numbered. i know bill thinks of it kind of early on while they're together, but that doesn't mean it's put into action right away.

it would be neat to see how all bills henchmen eventually see the whole bond too. i know in confessing it they see bill acting all weird with dipper, and how much his human affects bills mood, so im sure they know its better to have him around even if for a little while. but its fun to think that later down the line when the reincarnations pop up its viewed more as 'vacation time' when the henchmen don't have to take over reality and can relax while bills off smooching his mortal.

Thanks so much; I'm really glad you've enjoyed the fic! If it's been half as fun to read as it's been to write I'll have accomplished a ton.

Okay, onto the questions:

1: Bill likely still considers it a sort of sickness/curse, but like. Not a bad one, necessarily. While his relationship is way weird for a demon, that's actually great! He's the master of weirdness! If it weirds out other beings or confuses the hell out of them, that's proof that he's the best in the biz, baby. And he's very, very happy.

2: Dipper probably does make some demon friends/acquaintances. It's only natural after multiple lifetimes running in the same circles with eternal beings. Given a friendship in one lifetime, it's likely the demons' assumption that they'll just pick back up where they left off! Neat new body, how's it suiting you? (The familiarity weirds out Dipper incarnations until they get their memories back.)

I don't think Bill's jealous of them, though. Hanging out with buddies doesn't register as 'competition' for Dipper's affections, in the same way that Dipper's not jealous of the henchmaniacs.

3: I haven't decided exactly when they settle on the reincarnation thing, but likely it's after a near-death experience. Maybe even post-whump!

4: Speaking of those henchmen! They're eventually gonna get used to Bill being hitched. Not like they have a choice in the matter; Dipper's not going anywhere.

The new status quo is pretty weird, but they knew what they were getting into in regards to 'weird' - and frankly, Bill's in a vastly better mood whenever his husband's home. Something that puts the Boss in a cheerful Fun Times Interdimensional Crimes Party mood? When he gets pissy there's a human who deals with it, rather than Bill lashing out and picking on whoever's closest? Absolutely! They're all for it! Once those Big Upsides become apparent, they're gonna be pleased to see Dipper hanging around.

[like-it-or-not-i-am-alive]

Now, I hate to bring political garbage to my page. I do it oh so sparingly, you know? But this warrants the chatter. I just want you to listen to this man speak about voting. Mainly the first minute of audio. This is a clip taken from The Hill's video stream of former president Donald Trump's speech at the 'The Believer's Summit' (https://www.youtube.com/live/EK-2ciNXBMU?si=D3fKwQ_rWxXtFfEw). I do have captions enabled, but be warned they have a lot of random letters due to Trump's 'unique' speech style.

Also, please note the odd cut at the beginning where Trump's head seems to clip is NOT an edit on my part, and I do not believe it is a cut on The Hill's part either. As the words continue in flow and do not appear edited. Also in that this is a streamed video and is unlikely to have tampering. I believe it may just be a glitch in the stream. That or we fell through a mandala universe in direct sight.

Trump talks about the 'cheating left' and the necessity of christians to vote. People have commented on how he says he is not christian (this does reflect on the captions), but I actually don't think that was intentional on his part. It may be word soup in that after an hour long speech, the sentence didn't form correctly (or dementia episode lol). However, my focus is more on his next few sentences/claims about how this election will remove all need for christians to ever vote again.

I question how this can be interpreted in any way other than 'I am the last vote you'll make.' I see a lot of things the candidates say that can be taken out of context. Yet here I have provided a clip with prior and continued context, as well as the entire video, and yet this doesn't seem interpretable. I can't see the angle where this can be taken out of context. I can't see where it's a joke. I can't see where it means something else. How do you interpret: "Get out there and vote. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful christians.... In four years, you won't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good you won't have to vote again."?

You can't. He means every word of it. Even if you pull the angle of 'he'll fix the country so well that its christian core beliefs will be in control and no matter who you vote for, it'll be christian.' It's scummy. It implies heavily that in four years, the need to vote will be unnecessary because no matter how you vote, the set 'correct' person will win. That can't be achieved without voting.

You could suggest he means 'this is the only election that matters and when the next candidacy rolls around the effort is unnecessary but that doesn't make a lot of sense either.

The only way to not make this sound predatory is by suggesting he's just hyping the crowd and doesn't actually mean it... but that can't be it. At least, not to the people who follow Trump like he's the next messiah. Since that would imply cognitive decline. After all, saying he means it harmlessly and doesn't mean to sound so manipulative negates the idea that he's a competent ruler leader.

However you interpret it, whatever you take it to mean, you can't ignore the warning signs.

Doesn't it feel dystopian? This is the behaviour they warn us about. Extreme nationalism. Pushing religious ideology as politics. Placing your leadership on the same pedestal as a god. 'Vote with me to be a hero'.

Its cultism.

Scary shit.

[the-spooky-children]

Episode 10 is gonna be epic

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

been thinking about how danse is who nora is endgame with in death shroud. it compels me

[transarsonist]

if yall dont stop sexually harrassing trans women you're going to ACTUALLY create the baedells you're so afraid of and EVERYONE will loose

[cogentranting]

.

[eurekavalley]

 All of your transgressions, abandoning mother, making me ask for money, your intermittent interest in Ellery. I don't even care that you smell like incense, or have any thoughts about your current, quote, state of affairs. No, I simply forgive you.

[datwinky]

Reasons I'll like but not reblog an artist's art:

1. I am, it's just in a queue

2. It's art I really like, I just don't want it on my blog (which is just an archive for posts I want to go back and look at later)

3. It's something I like but don't really understand the context of like a fandom I'm unfamiliar with or OCs and don't want to reblog because it makes tagging difficult which messes up my organization

4. It would go on a blog (either main or side) where I have no followers and don't have the blog TO gain followers or communicate with and it literally would not spread to anyone for that reason

5. I've been on this site for 8 years and even then have memory issues and use likes as a way to mark what posts I have and haven't already seen/reblogged

6. And the one you want to hear the least: yeah. Sometimes art is nice enough for a like but not a reblog. It's called preferences. It's not a matter of technical skill or effort put into the piece or fandom they're not in or whatever. Sometimes you just don't vibe with something that much. That is NORMAL. A like and no reblog there shows, at least for me, "hey I can appreciate the concept behind it/technical skill/etc" but I won't reblog because for some other reason I just don't like it enough to have it on my blog. If the idea that not everyone will like your art enough to show it around to your friends is that big of a blow to your ego then you need to stop posting it because that is EXTREMELY unhealthy. It does you no good and only serves to ruin your relationship with your art. Stop

I have had it with this likescolding. “Tumblr doesn’t have an algorithm so likes don’t actually do anything” motherfucker I am not clicking that heart to give some post better ~algorithmic visibility~ I am clicking that heart to help my internet friend microdose on serotonin as god fucking intended

[sotiredmostnights]

Hey, I dont mean to rain on your parade, I know you love Linkin Park, but are you aware of the stuff regarding their new vocalist Emily? Shes unfortunately a born in scientologist and supported Danny Masterson. You're probably already aware of it but I figured I'd submit this just in case. No hate to previous LP, just their current situation is yuck.

hello anon!

i actually didn't even know who danny masterton was before you sent this 😭😭 but yeah i looked it up upon reading this and wow! we really can't have nice things these days, huh. 🧍

i still stand by appreciating that the band is healing from their past and trying new things but man i wish they did some vetting before choosing emily in this case

[prairietrashdotcom]

god i haaate alberta so much "trudeau hates the oil industry!!! i work at suncore i pay your wages!!" i pray you and your ford-F150 are engulfed by wildfire flames and you are reduced to a charred corpse on the side of the road. hows that for an oilpatch bonus

[snekdood]

idk who needs to hear this but no amount of social pressure is going to stop people from being religious.

[bigsnorp]

like i cannot stress enough. voting is the most boring and basic part of living in a democracy. you should vote because you're only asked to do it once every several years.

if you dont like the main parties, vote for another one or spoil your ballot. they're only listening to votes. if you want a mainstream party to move to the left, vote for a party that is further left. even if that party has no chance of winning. because they're only listening to votes. that is how quantitative data works. you cannot extract anything from data you didn't collect.

if you don't vote you're excluding yourself from the sample and saying 'it's cool if you dont listen to me im gonna sit this one out'. voting is basically just taking attendance. that's it. politics is what happens in between elections and you should participate in that too.

[necromancy-enthusiast]

To help everyone understand the gravity of the situation with Unity's recent bullshit, here are some games made in unity:

Cult of the Lamb

Bendy and the Ink Machine

Untitled Goose Game

Road 96

Cuphead

Power Wash Simulator

Genshin Impact

Getting Over It

Inside

Tem Tem

Kerbal Space Program 1

Kerbal Space Program 2

Rust

Rimworld

Outer Wilds

Dream Daddy

Thomas Was Alone

I Am Setsuna

Tunic

Night in the Woods

Pony Island

Return of the Obra Dinn

Among Us

Pokemon Go

Hollow Knight

Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Willow of the Wisps

Vampire Survivors

Two Point Hospital

City Skylines

The Long Dark

Firewatch

Oxenfree

Subnautica

Subnautica: Below Zero

Fall Guys

Many, MANY MORE

Unless you only play tRIpLE A titles this will most likely affect a game you like. Hell, it can even affect really big games like Pokemon Go.

For a long time, starting years and years back, a lot of people have been talking about the preservation of games and being against moving to digital only games for reasons like this, and how the greed of various big companies in the game industry will negatively impact access to games and their preservation. It's happening. This will impact games that are already out. This will impact games being made. This will impact games made in the future. So if you care even a teensy tiny bit about a single game made in unity, or you care about the future of game development period, I suggest you pay very close attention.

A good article from an indie developer detailing the changes and exactly how it screws devs over:

[mikahorror]

i didn't know this would be a cult story but i kinda appreciate the serial killer being jules. power hungry narcissists aren't usually women (even now) but i think it's an interesting commentary on how her father's hatred of women controls her life. even if that wasn't intentional.

plus she witnessed her father murder her mother (that's basically chap. 1) & it's still very clear that jules is lucid every time she kills someone.

still a little unclear on how these "rituals" are supposed to help jules? unless she reconnected with ned 🤷🏾‍♀️ only on chapter 9