#and unjust wars

[sadsongsandwaltzes]

My mom was a high school math teacher when 9/11 happened. Every year she recounts the handful of students who had previously had other plans sign up for the military in the weeks following the attack.

It’s something else not to plan on joining the military at all, but doing it anyway, giving up everything else, knowing you are most likely going to war, because you feel a sense of urgency to protect your home with the cost of your life if necessary.

These are the men to emulate. These are righteous and good values and they should be honored and respected. You do not have to believe in every political cause and government institution to acknowledge these good men and their strength and conviction. It should be applauded. There is far too much to discuss regarding the politics of warfare, the government, the reality of war, and the reality that many join either from desperation or tyranny. So much noise that we forget the individual is not represented by these arguments. In the midst of your highfalutin political speeches and nihilistic evangelism, remember that good men exist. Good men who want to protect those weaker than them exist. Good men who want to save their loved from the harsh evils of the world exist. And the denigration of these men and their values is what will destroy us as a people (and ultimately as a country). These men and their values should be encouraged.

Honor a strong man. Be a strong man.

[synchodai]

HBO's Continued Insistence on Dumbing Down Westerosi Politics

So there have been countless thinkpieces already on how GOT simplified the feudalist politics of Westeros (by giving a lowborn sellsword lordship over The Reach, by having no consequences for destroying the Sept of Baelor, etc.), but I haven't seen a lot of people talking about that for House of the Dragon.

The worst being that the show presupposes that Rhaenyra is the lawful heir when the books showed there are plenty of lawful arguments why she wouldn't be.

Mind you that I've been enjoying the show a lot so far. This is just to vent out my frustration with the writers' failure to fully engage with the values and protocols of the Middle Age-inspired setting. The show seems uninterested in laws of the Realm in a story ostensibly about politics, save for when they're using it as an excuse to amplify depictions of sex and violence.

Blacks vs Greens wasn't a matter of misunderstanding of who each side thought Viserys wanted on the throne. It was the Targaryens' belief of their absolute authority clashing with the Realm's established traditions. Everyone always knew who Viserys chose as heir. In Fire and Blood, Grand Maester Orwyle said as much when he was parleying with Rhaenyra on behalf of the Greens.

Rhaenyra heard his terms in stony silence, then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father, King Viserys. "Of course, Your Grace," the maester answered. "Perhaps you can tell us who he named as his heir and successor," the queen said, her crown upon her head. "You, Your Grace," Orwyle replied. And Rhaenyra nodded and said, "With your own tongue you admit I am your lawful queen. Why do you serve my half-brother, the pretender?" Munkun tells us that Orwyle gave a long and erudite reply, citing the Andal law and the Great Council of 101. Mushroom claims he stammered and voided his bladder. Whichever is true, his answer did not satisfy Princess Rhaenyra.

(For non-F&B readers: Munkun is the Grand Maester who served Aegon III, the king who came after this civil war. Munkun's book, The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, is one of Fire and Blood's source texts. Mushroom is the King Landing court jester from Viserys I to Aegon III's reign. One is a source written with academic rigor but is secondhand at best. The other is a firsthand eyewitness account but is from a literal fool who will take every chance to make things more scandalous and sexual to please the crowd.)

In House of the Dragon, they replaced Orwyle with Otto and Orwyle's discussion of legal precedent with Otto handing Rhaenyra a book page from Alicent. It's quite evident here that the writers, much like Mushroom, thought a discussion on the actual laws of the Realm were negligible in this story about a succession war.

Even Alicent made no pretense that Viserys chose Rhaenyra over her children and I have no idea why the HBO writers decided to make her mistakenly think otherwise. Maybe they thought a queen regent pushing her son to take the throne over another woman made her appear unsympathetic as a character, but if anything, this only makes show!Alicent less politically savvy and more delusional than her book counterpart, fully believing an addled king's vague muttering on his deathbed was sufficient grounds to change heirs last minute.

Book!Alicent following Andal laws instead of her husband's wishes makes sense given her Andal upbringing, her devotion to the Faith of the Seven which enforces said laws, and her desire to protect her children from Rhaenyra given that Rhaenyra has shown she's not above murdering family (see: Laenor).

In the books, there was a long discussion between the former king's council on who should succeed Viserys.

Here are the arguments for Rhaenyra:

Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood

the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens

hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Here are the arguments for Aegon II:

many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead [...]

Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92

the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter

Ser Otto reminded them that Rhaenyra’s husband was none other than Prince Daemon, and “we all know that one’s nature. Make no mistake, should Rhaenyra ever sit the Iron Throne, it will be Lord Flea Bottom who rules us, a king consort as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was [...]”

Should the princess reign [...] Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the Iron Throne.”

Once again, the show chose to cut out this long political discussion. Instead, the council had already made up their mind and decided to stage a coup (when in their perspectives from the books, it would definitely not be a coup).

For all their marketing how two sides are equally grey, HotD is actively delegitimizing Aegon II. The strongest argument for him is how his claim follows the laws of the Realm, but the show doesn't seem to care about the laws of the Realm or the political need to maintain a more predictable/tested transfer of power.

Instead, the show focuses on Viserys's relationship with his daughter and the mysticism of the Targaryen bloodline. In doing so, they emphasize Rhaenyra's strongest arguments for succession — that she's more of a Targaryen than her half-brother and that her father prefered her.

And what for? Because in our modern-day, we don't have male-prefered inheritance and people can only imagine misogyny as the only injustice here? What about the injustice of a monarch exercising absolute control, thinking that his "superior" heritage makes him above the established laws of the native people?

This is not to say Aegon II is unquestionably the heir. But this is to say that the show removed the political nuance of why people are questioning in the first place. Precedence isn't the end-all-be-all of succession, but neither is "because daddy said so".

[thevalleyisjolly]

I hope we never learn Luthen's backstory and also I hope he's just some ordinary guy. Perhaps a somewhat well-to-do antique dealer on Coruscant, maybe with a sideline or two in less legal trade, things like rare artifacts or kyber crystals. Sometimes a Jedi drops by, maybe trying to track down whispers of stolen crystals or just investigating tangential leads for a mission, but it isn't hard for him to smile genially and wave them off. He's very good at his job and while it's sometimes an annoyance, these busybodies and eager beaver detectives, it's rather satisfying to get away with lying to a Jedi.

One night, on a night of fire and blood, he finds a Jedi on his doorstep. Maybe he's met them before once or twice, maybe it's a complete stranger, a fugitive who made it out of the massacre and somehow stumbled their way to wherever the Force led them. Whoever they are, however they got here, they don't make it any further, leaving Luthen with the dangerous body of a newly-declared traitor and a lightsaber.

The body, at least, is easy to dispose of for a clever man with a toe in illicit activities. The lightsaber too must be gotten rid of, deconstructed into its component parts, wires and metal and a crystal.

He holds the blue crystal in his hands, hands that just hours ago, days ago, were the last touch that a dying stranger knew. And as the proclamations start coming out over the Holonet, the Senate's roaring approval of their new Emperor, the announcements of martial order, the executions of traitors to the Empire be the Jedi or Separatists or a lonely, scared person who fought until the end to reach the doorstep of an unfounded hope-

Luthen looks at all he's done. All he hasn't done. All he might do. And he writes an equation.

[chamerionwrites]

While I’m up here on the good old niche soapbox, I bring a sort of “Plenty of fannish criticisms of the Jedi Order are fairly silly, but the only thing sillier is watching George Lucas’ Massive Systemic Institutional Failure And Collapse Trilogy and deciding that one of the central institutions the story is about is doing a bang-up job 10/10 no notes” vibe to the fandom that many people really don’t like

[awkward-sultana]

"According to the criterion of stipend, the haseki, or favorite concubine, enjoyed the greatest status in the imperial harem after the valide sultan. The haseki, a slave concubine and no blood relation to the reigning sultan, ranked higher than the sultan's own sisters and aunts, the princesses of the dynasty." - The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire by Leslie P. Peirce

[ivywing]

Anakin, listening to EPIC the musical (Space Edition) and bawling his eyes out: he just like me for real!

[tanadrin]

an irony-driven justice system where the rules of evidence in the trial of people who have publicly advocated Tough On Crime policies are significantly relaxed, people who rail against criminal defendants getting too many appeals or too generous a right to counsel are denied appeals and counsel, and you're only allowed to execute people who have stated in public they think executions should be legal.

[liberty1776]

The coming wars are not patriotic. They are the result of the abject failure of political leadership and a long trail of lies stretching back decades. Those who control the narrative and push for ever-increasing war as a solution to all ills are leading America, and America’s future generations, into an abyss from which we may never be able to recover. Generations of political leaders have destroyed America’s economic largess through the signing of trade agreements which exported jobs and industry abroad. They have removed consumer protections and supported massive bailouts of casino capitalism, and now – again – predators … Continue reading →

[justinspoliticalcorner]

George Chidi at The Guardian:

As thousands of Democratic delegates, party officials and elected leaders descend on Chicago for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) a smaller, strident group of protesters have taken to Michigan Avenue ahead of a week that promises several demonstrations. A protest of up to 1,000 marchers combining support for the Palestinian cause and abortion rights gathered at the iconic corner of Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue in Chicago Sunday evening. The protest is the first of several demonstrations, legally permitted and not, planned for the convention. Some protesters at the march, organized by groups like Bodies Against Unjust Laws, have come explicitly to “Disrupt the DNC”, arguing that American support for Israel in the Gaza war was tantamount to genocide and that the Democratic party was indistinguishable from Republicans and equally unworthy of political support. “The rhetoric that comes out of the mouths of politicians – and I’m not saying that some of it isn’t sincere in the wish to defend reproductive justice, or for trans and queer people, or even for citizens on the ground in Gaza – but rhetoric does not stop the bombs from falling,” says Linda Loew, a protest leader. “Rhetoric does not deliver abortion care from someone in a state that has a six-week abortion ban. What we need is action. We need the end to funding to Israel and the end of delivery of weapons.” It didn’t matter to some of these protesters if the nominee was Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.

Thousands of protesters, mostly those supporting pro-Palestinian causes, will be in Chicago this week to protest the DNC.

[shivasdarknight]

"#also feel that wrt ysayle especially since the devs sure think she wasnt worth anything" YOU'RE SO RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT!!

IM NEVER GOING TO GET OVER THAT

They LITERALLY admitted that they didn't know what to do with her sO THEY JUST KILLED HER OFF? AND THEN JUST REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE HER EVEN BY NAME? When was the Last Time the name Ysayle was said and not That Witch or Iceheart (estinien ilu but bro she's got a name).

They really do not want to admit that they did something really shitty writing wise and now that a new arc is approaching im very certain that's it. we're getting nothing else because now they can just brush that away when she was done SO fucking dirty. like wow, didnt know what to do so just axe her off wtf

were the forums not such a toxic space and would that i could send proper feedback to the devs, this is the one thing i would harp the most. because if they can figure out how to bring back male characters - legitimately for two expacs, or metatextually through corpse possession - they can do something with Ysayle who was so complete in the Aetherial Sea that she showed up as Shiva while the others were just formless weapons

I've got like 5 different ways that they could do it without breaking the laws of canon. And without violating anything story wise since her death was meaningless, served little, and then she's just suddenly forgotten by all of her former allies who shrugged and moved on but spent So much time mourning the men that died - including the Legatus that got her killed.

[philsmeatylegss]

Ngl, studying history, especially contemporary history often about how powerful countries played a roll in sabotaging a developing nation, means a few times a day you see a post posted by someone who obviously doesn’t study history but is using a historical event to further a political point (that I usually agree with but it is completely out of context and usually super disrespectful) and it will literally have thousands of likes and you just have to learn to sigh and move on.

[rescue-ram]

Latest news about US troops moving to Lebanon is stressing me tf out.

[namisweatheria]

I need to finish my one piece reread and percolate first but I find it very interesting the thread between different characters reclaiming monstrosity alongside their humanity and specifically how it intersects with chopper's characterization. I think about how he gets more and more baby-ish in the way he acts and looks as the series goes on, and that one sbs where the "bad ending" version of him looked significantly older than the "good ending" version.

He didn't get to be a child when he was a child, having to learn to take care of and soothe himself when there was absolutely nothing but coldness and rejection in the world for him for his first.. 12 years? of being alive. So the meaning of being able to be childlike with his chosen family is apparent.

However, my friend was talking about an allegorically disabled character in a different show this morning, and about how disabled children often experience both infantilization and parentification. Having to care for your parent's feelings about your disability before your own. Being stripped down to nothing but what you can't do.

There's probably nothing there, but the long thread of intertextual connection between disability and monstrosity in culture and fiction is generally on the forefront of my mind. It makes "monstrous" characters feel like my characters. With transexuality too! The cultural and intertextual thread between it and monstrosity is strong! The way trans men in particular are infantilized and also seen as dangerous and aggressive at the same time seems relevant, especially for a character that technically didn't have to claim a gender for himself, being born a genderless animal, but chose to anyways.

I don't know I feel like Chopper's a much more interesting character than we often give him credit for. He's much more than the lonely baby who finally found a home that he's often boiled down to.

[fipindustries]

Falklands?

did you know that british soldiers were singing "always look on the bright side of life" as they traveled by ship towards the battleground where they were going to massacre argentinian soldiers? Its a fun bit of trivia

[thebleedingeffect]

Thinking about fierce deity again and while I very much understand where the thought of him being some sort of war god comes from- I just can't get myself to believe in it. I very much do believe that the fierce deity is capable of vast amounts of destruction and carnage, but I do not believe that he's the type to enact pointless death. He's capable of so much hurt, but instead, he commits himself to protection, justice, and the very people themselves. He's just not a violent guy, but he CAN be violent, am I making any sort of sense

[thisloveforyourmom]

Just read Fourth Wing and my god. I know people think the Inheritance Cycle is only mediocre but if you are this desperate for a dragon war novel read that instead every single part of it is handled better