#civilian perspective

[antianakin]

There is exactly one criticism that I agree with my, very anti-Jedi, cousin on and that's the Jedi were TERRIBLE Generals. Generals may TRY to make sure their men mostly come back. But useless sacrifices are not only acceptable, but expected, the men are mostly expandable in war. The Jedi did not consider sacrifices like that acceptable or expected. Sure it did happen. It was WAR. But they tried their best to make sure it DIDN'T. The Jedi were terrible Generals. But they were the teachers and Leaders the CLONES NEEDED.

I'm not sure I'd ENTIRELY agree with that. I think I'd be willing to agree that the Jedi were perhaps less CONVENTIONAL Generals, and they definitely do seem to at least TRY to place the lives of their men above just tossing them away for an easy victory, but you can just as easily claim that keeping the men alive to keep fighting is a good strategy in and of itself.

The biggest piece of evidence I'd point to that the Jedi were actually perfectly good Generals is the Citadel arc and Tarkin's criticisms. The one real criticism he makes of the Jedi as military leaders is that they're occasionally too soft and will abandon a mission if it looks impossible to win without near total casualties (on either side). But he's generally fairly positive about the Jedi and if they were truly awful at their jobs, I don't think TARKIN of all people would hold back on saying so, even to the Jedi's faces.

And we DO see the Jedi willing to make sacrifices and accepting that this is a necessary part of war. The Citadel arc is, again, a perfectly good example of this. Obi-Wan and Anakin go in with like 3-4 men each I think and they come back with a grand total of 3 (Rex, Cody, and Fives). A LOT of clones die on this mission that they all KNEW was basically a suicide mission because the Jedi themselves decided that getting the information about the hyperspace lanes was vital enough to the war that it was worth losing multiple lives over (including their own).

So it's not that the Jedi don't understand that sacrifices are necessary in war or even that they avoid it entirely, they just avoid what they see as UNNECESSARY sacrifice for what might amount to a fairly minor victory. Keeping more of their men alive might, in the long run, be a better strategic choice than losing all of them on one campaign, especially if it's over like one uninhabited moon or something like that. There's nothing to say that the losses the Jedi deem acceptable are things that would've changed the entire tide of the war had they chosen to push forward instead.

The other good evidence that the Jedi acting this way would've been the WORSE choice is the Umbara arc. We are told and then see that Krell IS the kind of General who is willing to lose a lot of clones in order to gain victories in battle, and the clones do recognize that he has a lot of victories under his belt. But never once do they discuss whether those victories really MEANT anything or had a large impact on the war effort. It certainly never seems that the Republic is majorly pushing back the Separatists because of Krell's victories, nobody ever mentions that Krell gained them a major advantage with those victories or took out anyone of any consequence on the Separatist side with his strategies. And by the time he gets to Umbara, he's explicitly using this strategy to WEAKEN the Republic side and cause a loss. Several of his strategies WOULD'VE meant the Republic lost on Umbara and it's only the clones utilizing different strategies that put fewer of them at risk that they actually end up continuing to HAVE victories at all.

I'll also point out that the Jedi continuously getting their men killed en masse would've bankrupted the Republic a LOT earlier because they'd have to be paying for more clones a LOT more often than they did in canon and I can't imagine anyone would've considered that a particularly sound strategy and at some point I'm sure the Senate would've felt obligated to put a stop to it anyway and insisted on strategies that kept more clones alive for longer. So I'm not sure it's fair to claim the Jedi were utilizing BAD strategy by not just exclusively using tactics that meant most of their men were killed for every single victory.

So the ONLY criticism we EVER see of the Jedi's ability as military leaders is Tarkin claiming they're "too soft" and Tarkin is the kind of person who would likely say that until the Jedi started carpet bombing entire Separatist planets. Would it give them a victory? Yeah, sure, maybe, but that's the exact same strategy the Separatists are using and look how well that works out for THEM. Everything else we ever see seems to showcase that the Jedi are in fact perfectly good Generals, not just in that they're kind to the clones and are unwilling to carpet bomb Separatist planets, but also because they're just... good at this. They CAN be strategic, they CAN run wars if they want to. And I think that's the whole point of the Jedi in some ways is that yes, they CAN make war when they need to, they just actively choose NOT TO every time they can. THIS is why Qui-Gon tells Padme that he and Obi-Wan are there to protect her but that they can't win this war for her and they end up going off to fight off a Sith while Padme has to actually win the war with her own people and the Gungans instead. The Jedi don't WANT to be in the position of doing nothing but fighting, but they're absolutely capable of this kind of work.

That's the tragedy of the war in some ways, the Jedi ARE good at this no matter how much they wish they weren't sometimes. But being good at it means they can actually protect the Republic, their own men, and even the Separatist civilians better, so they're not going to just sit there and do things that will screw over a bunch of people. Yes, they're going to fight the war in such a way that they reduce casualties as much as possible, but reducing casualties also requires doing enough to not LOSE the damn war, too. It's a delicate balance they're trying to hold on to and I'd argue they manage it better than anybody else would've ever done in their position.

[worstloki]

Israelis singing together: we’re coming with our guns to kill those Amaleks, they have no water and electricity, those rats will not survive when we leave our homes to go to war, we want all those Blacks and Arabs dead (electric solo, disco lights)

Palestinians singing together: oh my homeland how you suffer, one day the bloodshed on your soil will stop, one day we will return to our home village, Palestine will be free again (sitting together in a space lit by phone lights)

[marginal-notes]

Okay, so. No one needs to hear me out on this. I’m just saying. One day I’m going to crack and heave out all my biting commentary about Naruto gender and clan and lineage politics through the lens of an always-a-different-sex Kakashi fic or outline, and it’s just going to… exist… out there.

No one else gets changed, it’s just Kakashi, and it’s going to be a nightmare from start to finish that’s definitely also heavily tinged by my personal perspective on being agender aro ace.

[dc-multiverse-week]

Earth-34: Home to the superheroes of the Light Brigade, who live, work in, and when necessary defend the vibrant city of Cosmoville.

[marmot-bumblebee-231]

han solo was just trying to make his way in life as an instacart shopper and occasionally uber driver, and somehow ended up involved in like. a terrorist organization.

[dbphantom]

that one part in film z where it's edited like found footage and luffy is an unstoppable monster to the marines >>>>>>> whatever the fuck was going on during roof piece

[kaxenart]

For the character fanart: Louis-François Lejeune (if he hasn't been suggested already), and Parzival.

Is it fanart if it's my son?

Unclear how Brutus has saved Parz's life, but Parz does ride better with a horse with enough opinions to stop him from jumping off a cliff.

Parz: I'm sure it's fine.

Brutus: NOPE.

*bridge suddenly collapses in a stiff breeze*

Parz: Ah, you were right, old chap.

[compacflt]

Speaking of book recommendations, I just finished reading "Annapolis Autumn: Life, Death, And Literature At The U.S. Naval Academy" by Bruce E. Fleming (he was/is a teacher at the Acedemy) and I thought it was interesting. It gives a glimpse at some workings of the academy but also what is like to be a civilian in a military environment specially when one doesn't exactly drink from the same kool aid (hope that's how the expression works, I'm not American)

i will look into it!! But now i get nervous reading about the usna because i don’t wanna know how inaccurate my portrayal of it is. Lmfao. Posting for the rec

[miraculouslumination]

"Omg I can't stand when people try to use the intersectional feminist argument to include men. Like when they ask if a homeless man can be misogynistic to a rich woman. I'm just worried for the (poor helpless weak females) homeless women AROUND him!!"

So you just suck at intersectional feminism. Okay.

[daisyachain]

“Only 14 people have been able to get out. The motion could have consequences for others who are waiting, he said.

Miller said he was not saying that the motion was "a bad thing to adopt," adding it represented a "principled position" as amended.”

A Canadian minister is implying to the national news service a) that Israel is holding Canadian-linked Palestinians hostage in a war zone, b) that Canada’s foreign policy is dictated by fear of US military allies, c) that the Israeli government with US backing will kill allied residents/connections even for adopting a toothless non-binding motion in accordance with OECD norms.

It’s nothing new to know that the Canadian government is too craven to make a comment on US politicians openly threatening to bomb us as at a New York Democratic event earlier this year. It is also nothing new to see that Israel uses its murder campaigns to threaten foreign nationals or foreign-connected nationals to influence international policy, as seen in the delay in releasing Brazilian and South African citizens from Palestine.

What is bizarre is to see the Canadian government say that Canada believes wholeheartedly in supporting Israel not because of any conviction but because we are certain that Biden and the US will initiate or arm retaliation against Canadians’ families for our independent policy movements.

The key and only important power dynamic in this situation is the genocide of Palestinians by the colonizer states US and Israel. One weird sideshow is that the US is taking this opportunity to exercise its de facto colonial possession of fellow colonial power Canada. The events aren’t unusual. The semi-half-open-mostly-implied discussion of it is.

[lord-squiggletits]

And then the humans decided to help the totally pacifistic Decepticons build their totally peaceful commune even thought their boss was totally peacefully talking about how he wants to get to the slaughter and conquest already.

[voguewoozi]

can gabe saporta just stop talking please

[theriverdalereviewer]

seeing the discourse around whether oppenheimer should have represented japanese/indigenous americans and I just wanna say I think they can feel however they want about this film

[s0fter-sin]

even though ellie is immune, we see in the mall that infected still attack her and we know that they will rip people apart in an attempt to spread. a vaccine wouldn’t kill the existing infected or stop them from attacking. ellie would never be able to make a decision without the fireflies manipulating her into thinking she was selfish and killing people and turning her against joel by making her think the same about him and maybe even that she’s just a replacement for sarah. not to mention they would just use a vaccine as the ultimate trading tool to topple fedra and become the new world leaders which is what they really want. they were going to kill a little girl without telling her she was going to die on the off chance her brain could produce a cure. joel did the right thing

[marinehero-a]

     Can’t remember if i ever did talk ab pirate garp headthoughts         p sure i did but continues to rotate it,,,,       I feel like he would’ve been an accidental pirate, kind of just stumbles across a pirate ship and tags along until he got bored, continues to explore the world but with no sense of law he keeps getting into trouble     stealing supplies, beating up people in self defense or beats up corrupt marines he runs into          either forming a crew on his own or being recruited by the Rocks Pirates, where at some point he’d leave them in favor of joining the marines

[determinate-negation]

its so insane to me how people will maintain the perspective that occupying armies have to fight by carpet bombing villages and refugee camps because theyre dealing with an enemy that blends in with civilian populations and not realize or refuse to admit thats because theyre fighting civilians who are forced to take up arms against an occupying power