#did you know that people who don't like democracy in other countries (dictators) look at our constitution and go wait you can do that? and

[maddy-ferguson]

france is known worldwide for its revolutions and strong tradition of protest I THINK it should be the two empires that followed and also the fifth republic or as like to call it our third empire

[nlghtbabe]

2024 American politics rant (skip if you want)

I honestly cannot fathom how we are at this point. I'm trying to stay positive and optimistic and have hope. But some days I just feel so defeated and angry. It makes ZERO sense how the election race is this tight. No sense at all. DJT is a unhinged lunatic, he lies about everything, talks out of his ass, and seeming has no clue what is actually going on in the country. He cozies up to dictators. anything on the media that portrays him negatively is fake news, he downplayed covid, he led an insurrection against the united states to try and install himself as a dictator, he is responsible for roe v. wade being overturned. he tried to have his former vice president killed. He was given millions of dollars from his daddy and went bankrupt 6 times. He has no plans for healthcare or immigration. he in unqualified and already shown himself to be a terrible leader. he makes up fake lies and dismisses any evidence brought before him, claims grand conspiracies against him with no proof. he was convicted on 34 felony charges. he has never denounced the white supremacists that support him and spread hate. HOW IS HE EVEN STILL A CANDIDATE? WHY ARE PEOPLE SUPPORTING HIM! HE IS AN ACTUAL THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. It doesn't make any sense that he was even allowed to run again. It doesn't make any sense that he isn't in prison right now. I just watched the debate and and thrilled that Kamala did so well and made DJT look like a fool. That brought me up. But knowing that the race is still extremely tight and that people are dug in and will never change (regardless of the facts set before them) is just extremely worrisome. We have an actual cartoon villain criminal who co-opted the republican party. the moment he is called out and directly asked about J 6th and if he would've done anything different and he claims that it wasn't his fault, he had nothing to do with it is just so incredibly aggravating! How is it that there are so many people that can't see how blatant, stupid, and corrupt he is? I feel like i have been taking crazy pills since the 2016 elections. How did we get here? how are we still here? like i said i am still trying to remain positive and optimistic. But it sooo hard when you see your fellow Americans so divided and filled with hate and contempt for each other. it's also extremely saddening to see how close the race is... still. HOW!? I don't get it. I feel like i'm going insane. The republican party has gone off the rails, our supreme court justices are openly corrupt, biased, and dishonest. Sometimes it just feels like there isn't any hope. I do feel somewhat confident that if Joe Biden can beat DJT, Kamala should have an even better shot. I just can't stand the uncertainty. I don't want to give up and I don't want others to give up. There is always hope, it's just hard to see it sometimes. I really want this country to get back on it's feet again. I want our political leaders to work on solutions for bettering the lives of the american people. I want them to stop attacking each other all the time and try to work together and compromise. Fingers crossed for a better America. and soon.

[anyataylorjoys]

Mexicans and American Mexicans are still deported to Mexico under Biden lolol. No matter what you try to bring up to deflect Biden being just as much as a peice of shit as Trump, Biden has continued or made worse. The cages are still a thing but have a different name now. ICE is even still around. You can calm it down and step off your high horse. I only said "you can do whatever you want, but dont shame people if they don't feel like voting or if they vote third party". Biden is just as much as a dictator as Trump. Just hear me out without going straight to the "do you just want a dictator??" mindset for a few minutes. Once you stop seeing red vs blue and start realizing it's about rich vs poor, things will make sense for you. Money and white supremacy is the only thing that keeps the interest of our goverment and is why they do what they do. That's why the United States and Israel are committing genocides across the entire world, no matter which party controls our government. Vote all you want to, but it's not going to do shit other then maybe make you feel like you did something. Going out of your house and protesting out in the streets, speaking up, and more direct action is what brings change. While you're out in the streets, look out for people and make sure people are wearing masks so they can't be identified, can't spread the ongoing pandemic, plus it helps with tear gas quite a bit. I'm sorry for ranting at you, but it just annoys me when people think voting will fix everything while we're all dying in the streets, without healthcare, and while our tax dollars are being used to fund more genocides.

"Just hear me out" no because I said listen carefully and you didn't and went straight to attacking me in my inbox and proceeded to spew a bunch of disinformation that I don't have time to unpack like "they stopped counting the death toll under Biden" wrong! And thanks to the trillions in covid relief funds under Biden, this country didn't go under and my family survived. But whatever this is besides the point I'm not here to defend Biden or even to defend democrats as a whole but at least some democrats appear to have a conscience, even if they are a bunch of pussies for not speaking up against this genocide in fear of losing their jobs and shame on them, I don't know how they sleep at night.

I don't like Biden, I don't agree with everything he's done. But to claim he's as much a "dictator" as Trump is delusional rhetoric. Trump was actively inciting an coup and threatening vote counters to throw out opposing votes because he's mentally unstable.

You're talking to someone who thinks democracy in America is already an illusion so yes, my vote is an attempt to feel like I'm not powerless as a citizen of this country lol. Voting doesn't solve everything obviously it cannot be that simplified, however I still believe voting is not entirely useless. Our voices do matter and protesting makes people listen. If our right to information, to speak and to protest is revoked, any power we have to make change in numbers will be lost and therefore, I'm prioritizing protecting those rights. I'll be doing everything I can to keep a dictator from becoming president because that's the ultimate threat we face right now. It's unfortunate that you and many others can't seem to foretell just how much worse things could get under complete GOP control in our current political climate of elevated right-wing radicalism.

Democrat or Republican run country, certain things will not get better right away. We have to take the steps necessary to make and maintain progression. But under Republicans, you can guarantee they will take this country back to 1950 and I won't stand by and put the fate of my future and others' lives in the hands of the American people without my contribution no matter how small of a difference you think it makes. People will say "every vote counts" and we all know that's a lie. However, if thousands of people share your mindset and choose not to vote, that's a dangerous game.

[beauty-and-passion]

Update on life and work

1) We learned (almost) nothing.

If you live on this planet, I think you've heard at least once about the current war in Ukraine. And, as a European, you can imagine how I felt (and I still feel) about it.

The first days I was devastated: we didn't even manage to keep peace in Europe for 100 years. After two fucking World Wars, after globalisation, after Internet, with something slightly more important like SAVING THE ONLY PLANET IN WHICH WE CAN LIVE, in the Year of the Lord 2022, we're back to being monkeys who throwns stones to each other.

I can understand Russia's fears. Russia has always needed some buffer states between itself and the West, since and before the Cold War. NATO could expand, but not annex these buffer states.

Well, that's what happened and, slowly, more eastern european countries joined both NATO and the EU.

At the same time, we did nothing to get Putin back in line when he did something wrong before. We accepted this dictator and swept the problem under the rug, hoping it would solve itself.

It didn't work. And if Putin decided that invading Ukraine was a good idea, it's also because all we did before was nothing worse than a tiny slap on the wrist.

Does that justify his actions? Hell fucking no. Invading another country because you want to keep it closer or because the people around you are accommodating isn't a justification. Only monkeys and barbarians do this, not a supposed civilized country. There were a million other possibilities to make Russia's reasons heard: democracy, soft power and who knows how many other means I don't even know about. Look, I'm not an expert about this war and the entire Russia-Ukraine situation. I'm just learning things now and everything is a lot more complicated than the media make it look like: there are millions of political, economic and historical issues, all intertwined together, to the point you can't just say one is the good guy and the other is a bad guy.

The only thing we can objectively be sure about is that Putin did wrong, because no matter how many fucking reasons there might be to justify your actions, choosing violence over dialogue is ALWAYS wrong. Unless someone is shooting you and your family, but I don't think that applies to Russia.

Also we can also be 200% sure that innocent people are the ones who suffer the consequences of all of this. Ukranians who are fleeing from war, Russians who can't even say they don't want this war, all the soldiers who are forced into something none of them wants.

And if this is awful and painful, it also brought out the best of humanity. Everyone protested, Russians included. Switzerland broke its historical neutrality to take a side. Anonymous keeps doing their cyberattacks on Russia. Europe, always so conflicted about everything, took a clear side and decisions have been approved without any fuss.

And, honestly, that's the best thing they could do. Not going down to Putin's level, but using a stronger weapon: economic sanctions. This is what brings a country to its knees. And I know innocents will suffer for that - but Putin will too. Attacking Russia's economy is the only safe way we can stop this. And I really, really hope this will work. Because once this will be over, we must focus again on what's truly important - like, you know, protecting the only planet in which we live. I think it would be pretty useless to fight for a piece of land, if that piece of land will be desert, arid or drowned. Or if we're all dead.

_________________________________

2) The renovation is almost over

Moving on happier, simpler things. As I said in a previous post, I'm doing some huge renovation work in my house. It started as "Let's renew the kitchen and one bathroom", it became "Let's change the floor of the entire apartment. And repaint every room. And move away a lot of old furniture. And sure, let's renew the kitchen and bathroom".

The floor is finally ready and oh boy, what a difference compared to before. The previous brown tiles were nice and they lasted for 50 years, so they were definitely good quality. But it was time to change them for something more modern and brighter. And now the entire house seems brighter and newer as well.

Right after the floor was done, my brother painted all the rooms and he did a magnificent job. The kitchen and living room were painted two years ago, so they were fine, but the other rooms haven't been painted in 30 years. They really needed a big renovation!

And now, it's my time. I'm cleaning the entire house by myself - with occasional help from my mother and brother to clean/move some heavy furniture. I added shelves to the closets, checked every single bed sheet, piece of clothing, seashell, souvenir and cat toy. I'm donating/selling a lot of stuff I never used. And it's still not over, because the new kitchen will come on April 2nd and it will be time to organize that room too.

And this makes me very happy. Not only because the kitchen will be new and cooler and bigger, compared to that stupidly small kitchenette I had before, but also because everything will be *beautiful* and *organized* and everything will be useful. No more stupid useless stuff everywhere. Just a tidy, clean house.

Yes, I know I might sound like an old lady, but trust my words: one day, you too will be head over heels for a new oven that has the auto-clean mode included, rather than a new pair of shoes :P

_________________________________

3) New projects to come

Because of the renovations, I haven't been around lately. Hence why I want to be more active here and in general.

First of all, I want to post the fanfiction I'm translating. It's almost done, so it will come out in a couple of days. I'm pretty happy about it, for a number of reasons: it's the first time I try Roman's pov, it's the first time I try a more "aware" Logan's pov after Fitting Pieces, there are silly moments, there are some familiar dark boys moments because I'm weak for them and there's some sweet angst because I'm weak for it. And there's Janus because I'm weak for him. And yes, he's the main focus - in a way. Of course. I just love using his pov.

After that, I'm not sure what to do first. I have the episode analyses to write and I want to do a couple of them. But there's also this other fanfiction I planned which will be Logan-centric and I keep thinking about it and how much I want to write some scenes. So... well, I will probably let you know once I'll decide it :P

And now, my cats. As a treat.

[padawanlost]

I don't know about you but I found it always really weird how the prequel senators are all ~**uuh democracy~** when they were never elected and most planets aren't democracys and even the posterchild (and one of the only ones i can think of) elects little kids which honestly screams of puppet leaders (padme being the exception) and their anger over the empire seems more as anger over loosing power more than anything else

I agreewith you on the general hypocrisy of the Senate but before we get into that it’simportant to keep in mind that the GFFA’s democracy doesn’t work the same way asours.  Their Republic existed to organizeand control everything involving the entire galaxy like trade between planets.They defended democracy as the notion that everyone in the senate had a voice,it was not about every citizen on every planet. Each planet had it’s ownculture and history when it comes to pick rulers and their representatives inthe Senate.  Padmé was big on thedemocracy all around. Naboo’s rulers were all elected by popular vote (I’m notgetting into the Gungans situations right now, okay?) and it was considered avery democratic planet (their rules being called Queens/Kings were more aboutGeorge keeping his princesses/knights themes than an actual parallel to monarchy).Alderaan, on the other hand, was constitutional monarchy with the rulers beingchosen only from between the ruling families.

The Galactic Republic was a representative democracy, composed ofvarious star systems, sectorsand member worlds throughout most of the known galaxy. Its central governmentconsisted of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The first wasthe Galactic Senate, a bodyof elected or appointed representatives. Its main duties included mediating disputes over issues ranging fromplanetary to galactic-scale, regulating trade routes between star systems, and INTHEORY, represented the interests of Republic citizens. The Office of the Supreme Chancellorwas the Senate’s executive counterpart. The Supreme Chancellor was elected from theranks of the Senate by its members. As the leader of the Senate and the overallrepresentative of the Republic, the Chancellor also held the titles Head of State and President. The judicial branch consistedof the Supreme Court and the lower Regional Courts. TheSupreme Court was composed of twelve justices, oneof whom held the leadership position of Chief Justice. Throughoutmost of its history as the dominant galactic power, the Republic did not styleitself as a strong centralized government, but rather as a union of sovereignplanets for the purposes of collective security and economic prosperity. [x]

The Republic was not agroup of politicians who directly ruled over the planets. It was a group ofrulers (democratically elected or not) who decided on the best interests of itsmembers. As @redrikki mentioned here,the Republic is more like our UN than an actual country. Padmé’s love fordemocracy in general makes sense when we consider her background but for manysenator the democracy they defended was nothing more than the right to protecttheir planet’s interest on a larger scale. Which makes so much sense when wethink about how disconnected the Senate was from the rest of the population.

And, yes, they wereabsolutely more worried about losing THEIR power and influence than they wereabout democracy itself. They were okay with Palpatine slowly stripping away everyone’srights until he decided to take it from senators and the jedi then, and onlythen, they decided he was taking too much.

“I am no happier than the rest of you about this,” Padmé said, gesturingat the flimsiplast of the Sector Governance Decree on Bail Organa’s desk. “ButI’ve known Palpatine for years; he was my most trusted adviser. I’m notprepared to believe his intent is to dismantle the Senate.” “Why should he bother?”Mon Mothma countered. “As a practicalmatter—as of this morning—the Senate no longer exists.” Padmé looked fromone grim face to another. Giddean Danu nodded his agreement. Terr Taneel kepther eyes down, pretending to be adjusting her robes. Fang Zar ran a hand overhis unruly gray-streaked topknot. Bail leaned forward. His eyes were hard aschips of stone. “Palpatine no longer has to worry about controlling the Senate.By placing his own lackeys as governors over every planet in the Republic, hecontrols our systems directly.” He folded his hands, and squeezed them togetheruntil his knuckles hurt. “He’s become adictator. We made him a dictator.” And he’s my husband’s friend, and mentor,Padmé thought. I shouldn’t even be listening to this. [Matthew Stover’s Revengeof the Sith]  

“A fight?” Padmé said. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing—Bail, yousound like a Separatist!” “I—” Bail sank back into his seat. “I apologize.That was not my intent. I asked you all here because of all the Senators in thegalaxy, you four have been the most consistent—and influential—voices of reasonand restraint, doing all you could to preserve our poor, tattered Constitution.We don’t want to hurt the Republic. Withyour help, we hope to save it.” “It has become increasingly clear,” MonMothma said, “that Palpatine has become an enemy of democracy. He must bestopped.” “The Senate gave him thesepowers,” Padmé said. “The Senate can rein him in.” Giddean Danu satforward. “I fear you underestimate just how deeply the Senate’s corruption hastaken hold. Who will vote against Palpatine now?” “I will,” Padmé said. Shediscovered that she meant it. “And I’ll find others, too.” [Matthew Stover’s Revengeof the Sith]  

If Padmé herself had suchtrouble even accepting what was happening and saw any attempt to removePalpatine as “treason”, it’s safe to assume so did most people. Until she wastold her powers (as a senator) no longer mattered she was stanning Palpatine asChancellor even when she disagreed with him. this is a result of Padmé’s blindfaith in the system but it’s also result of her (every senator) extremely privilegedbackground. The Senate and the Jedi Order suffered from the same problem: theygot so comfortable in their power and position they didn’t realize what washappening until their power was directly threatened. The Chancellorwants to use a slave army to fight a war that’s consuming all the Republicresources and leaving its citizens in poverty and fear? Okay, fair enough. Thechancellor wants to diminish the power of the senate and the Jedi Order? Sedition!

[janiedean]

I think I need some education and context on your views towards America. Do you consider the US worse than other governments when it comes to what they do and what their views are and because they can potentially affect the world with whatever that goes on in the u.s. politics creating problems like the possibility of another recession and worse a second Great Depression, the net neutrality problem affecting the globe as well and other problems? I don't blame you if you blame the us, 1/2

Just need more context on your views when it comes to the US and the choices decisions and politicians making choices that would negatively affect the world as well and considered the US dangerous when it comes to stuff like that 2/2

uhm.

in order:

my views towards the US are what they are because a) I spent 80% of my life consuming american media/reading american books/listening to american movies/studying american history quite extensively because we do a lot of it here/interacting with enough americans to get the drill, b) I’ve had lovely first-hand experience of what US interference can do to other countries and hey we didn’t even get invaded, c) I remember both clinton and bush jr very well, which is a subset of a and b but never mind;

I don’t think the US is the worst government on this planet (as I already told another anon), but the US are certainly the most powerful/influential or at least they’ve been until china lately and they’ve been about the ones playing the music since the USSR wasn’t a thing anymore. obviously any dictatorship in any other country is worse than the US, but dunno eritrea’s government doesn’t exactly have the power to destabilize the an entire geographical area, the US do;

I didn’t come up with the monroe doctrine;

the US’s economical situation has effects on the entire planet’s economy because given that the two bigger economies are the US and china... well of course if the US goes in a crisis and it drags all of us with, and on that...1) since I graduated exactly when the crisis left the US and hit us hard it has directly impaired my chances to find work so yes I know something about that;2) the great depression effected the entire planet, things haven’t exactly changed;3) the crisis happened because of the economical policies that reagan & thatcher ran since the 80s and it’s not just me saying it so yeaaaaah I think I’ll blame 50% of that on the US at least;

the US are definitely the worst when it comes to meddle in other countries’s business and **exporting democracy** - if anything because they’ve done that for way longer than anyone else. and during the cold war it was a hoot because I mean, do we wanna talk about chile in ‘73 and the US backing a right wing pseudo-fascist dictator because NO SOCIALISM ALLOWED IN AMERICA or why the vietnam war or the korean war even happened? and I’m not even going into iraq (15/16 year old me remembers enough of all the anti-bush marching she did tbqh) or the BALKANS, which no one remembers but for which military bases in italy were used as a launching point? and ah I remember that guess why people from kosovo magically DIDN’T have automatic refugee status back in the day but what do I know? *shrug* I mean the USSR wasn’t that much better and china today is certainly keeping up with it, but the US have based 90% of their foreign policy on interfering in other countries’s business and to see it without going the military way... just look up the goddamned perugia murders (the ama/nda knox ones), I’d bet all the money I own that she only got out scot free because of US interference;

guys, the US president and his policy affect all of us. it’s a fact. and that’s why I’d like US voters to actually consider very well who they’re voting for since their president also influences all of us. heck, reagan was president in the 80s and his shitty economical policies made sure I’d end up without a stable job for 2+ years after graduating, that’s the level of it;

and that goes for about a lot of what goes on in the US.

tldr: I don’t think the US are the worst country in the world (even if I think it’s flawed in srs ways and that’s not even about foreign policy, it’s about, like, the lack of public healthcare) and there’s worse places to live/worse governments to have, but historically the US have influenced the entire planet since the 19th century for good or worse and they have an endless history of meddling in other countries’s affair and that’s like, historical and proved, so like... my views come from what I know? and I know enough? like I’m not sure I get what you were aiming at but xD

[yournews]

This ARD interview is an absolute record in density of lies told by Azeri dictator Aliyev. Even for an uninformed audience.

Here are some topics translated into English:

About use of cluster munitions:

ARD: ... There was even evidence from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that your military is using cluster munitions there in Nagorno-Karabakh. Why do you use such weapons?

Aliyev: We do not use such weapons. We defend ourselves. We have invited Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to come to Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, they are working on this conflict only from the Armenian side. They did not ask us if they can come here. Therefore, we have doubts about their impartiality.

ARD: The human rights activists told me that they wanted to come. They asked several times, but they were refused.

Aliyev: No, no. That is not true, because we did that yesterday. We asked why they didn't come.

ARD: I was able to look at research by Human Rights Watch, and the evidence was very interesting. The activists have photos and even the name of the weapon used. They say it was a LAR-160 cluster bomb from Israel. Do you really want to deny that?

Aliyev: Of course. There is no evidence. And I would like them to come here and go to Ganja or Terter to see what weapons the Armenians are using.

ARD: You never signed the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions. Why is it even a problem for you? You could even use the cluster munitions.

Aliyev: Has Armenia signed it?

ARD: We are now talking about Azerbaijan and not about Armenia.

Aliyev: We are talking about the conflict. And whether we have signed the convention or not, does not mean that we use such weapons. We have enough ammunition, modern weapons, and we show it on the battlefield.

…

About status of Nagorno-Karabakh:

ARD: What about an autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh without Azerbaijani influence?

Aliyev: That was part of the previous negotiations, but there was no agreement.

ARD: But you would agree?

Aliyev: We have to discuss it now, because there is a new situation there.

ARD: What influence do you want to have in an autonomous zone? That would be a contradiction in itself.

Aliyev: First of all, we have not agreed on an autonomous zone so far. There is no agreement. When we proposed it, the Armenians rejected it. They wanted to decide independently, which we did not agree to.

….

About bombing the church in Nagorno Karabakh:

ARD: How is it possible that a church was hit in Nagorno-Karabakh?

Aliyev: That was either - as I said before - possibly a mistake of our artillery or the second possibility could be that the Armenians did it themselves.

ARD: Do Christians shoot at their own church?

Aliyev: That was only a small damage. It was not destroyed. Have you seen the pictures? A small damage. The church was not destroyed. It can be repaired in two weeks at most. So we suspect they may have done it themselves, to blame us.

…

About political system in Azerbaijan:

ARD: Some human rights experts and human rights defenders say that you apparently started the war to get the people behind it and to distract them from the problems of democracy and human rights in the country.

Aliyev: There is no reason to distract. Our political system works.

ARD: Aren't there many opposition members in Azerbaijan in prison?

Aliyev: No, no, no. Those who are in prison, they are there because of the crimes they have committed. But nobody is in prison because of political reasons or because they belong to the opposition.

ARD: What kind of crimes do you mean? Telling their own opinion?

Aliyev: No, other crimes, I don't know exactly which ones, but ordinary crimes. There is no other reason. Secondly, our economic performance during the pandemic is one of the best.

…

About Turkish involvement in war against Nagorno-Karabakh:

ARD: Do you feel safer because Turkish F-16 fighter jets are here?

Aliyev: Turkish F-16 fighter jets came here because of a military exercise and they stayed because the Armenians attacked us. And they are here as a sign of solidarity. They are not taking part in any fights and it is not planned that they will take part.

Original video: www.tagesschau.de/ausland/aserbaidschan-aliyev-101.html.

[seyaryminamoto]

One interesting point here: being conquered by Azula was objectively better for the citizens of Ba Sing Se than being under the thumb of Long Feng. Sure, you're not free, but you don't risk being brainwashed! I don't think there is any villain in the show that compares to Long Feng in pure evilness: his brainwashing shtick is just horrific, and I think that's why even the pragmatic, super-loyal, all-about-the-mission Azula rejects this (very effective, as we're shown in the cartoon) tool.

It’s a fair enough assessment… Long Feng is definitely in the ranks of self-serving villains on the show, rather than those who worked to achieve missions or for learned beliefs (such as Azula, naturally, or even Zuko during Book 1).

What is clear, though, is that the first lot of villains aren’t usually as effective as Azula is. It’s probably why people are more ready to point at Azula as the most evil thing ever, even over her own father, who’s not just the one who sent her on her missions, but the one who raised her into being who she is. But Ozai, Zhao, Long Feng… all three of them are pretty much self-serving. Ozai’s motivations are either just to follow on the footsteps of his forefathers (most likely), or he’s just a madman who wants to watch the world burn. Zhao wants glory, fame, renown, he’s a man who wants to be remembered forevermore, from the looks of it.

And then there’s Long Feng… and Long Feng turns out to be the more clever of the three. He’s in it for power, not so much for glory: he’s a puppeteer, who wants to have full control over his city. And truly, we see he’s going to stop at nothing to maintain that control. He has brainwashed countless people, filled Kuei’s mind with fantasy, kept him oblivious to the war being waged outside the city walls (surely by taking care of the war effort himself, but he must do this as secretly as he can, if he’s to keep Kuei in the dark about the war). Long Feng doesn’t care about the Earth Kingdom as much as he cares about being the mastermind behind the crown. He cares about having power, about never again being the weak boy he once was, who had to struggle and connive on his way to becoming someone important.

His motivations are a lot clearer than Ozai’s or Zhaos, and his MO is something I personally see as that of a twisted dictator. It reminds me of what hapens in my country, all that brainwashing: TV and radio stations get shut down if they dare report on the chaos in the streets or the state of the economy. Any criticism of the government and you risk disappearing or being chased out of the city/country for your troubles. Long Feng’s Lake Laogai is a different way to achieve this effect, only, people will turn up again, as Jet did (after his brainwashing session, I mean). People will notice the difference in behavior, but they probably will think they just learned better than to question the Earth King and his men! And in the end, both in my country and in Ba Sing Se, the official version of the story is: nothing’s wrong. Everything’s fine. Dare say otherwise and you’re going to vanish too.

In short… Long Feng is the intelligent politician. The tyrant in the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity to seize full power. If he thought the Earth Kingdom could stand a chance against the Fire Nation and that seizing this chance would grant him more control over the world, chances are he’d go for it, if you ask me. 

So yes, Long Feng is simply not as resourceful or charismatic as Azula, not as efficient, not as effective: but he was nothing short of a dictator. His methods prove as much. Azula’s apparent tyranny still had Joo Dee, of all people, instated into power while she left for the Fire Nation? If anything, at least it’s more honest on her part to outright show who her puppet is and who’s really pulling the strings here, a lot more honest than what Long Feng did. Naturally, both forms of government were authoritarian, but we’re talking about an era without democracy so yeah, who could expect otherwise in the first place? And yes, Azula is terrifying, and opened the eyes of Ba Sing Se to the truth in the world: but she didn’t kill any Earth Kingdom people in her conquest of the city. No idea what happens to anyone who dares rebel against her rule after she took the city, but we don’t see her ruling Ba Sing Se at all, let alone with an iron fist, because she’d rather take off to the Fire Nation than be Earth Queen elsewhere. So I’d think it’s fair, although no doubt people will disagree, that Azula’s rule on Ba Sing Se may have had a few perks compared to Long Feng’s era. At least she might have started an era without brainwashing, eh? :’D

And indeed, I agree with your assessment about the degrees in evil. And you’re also quite right to bring up that Azula canonically didn’t resort to brainwashing anyone for any of her purposes, despite she had the Dai Li who could have easily brainwashed anyone for her. I remember a fic where she did resort to their abilities for this purpose, but indeed, it’s a fic. Canon-wise, she elects not to: I think Azula rather enjoys proving others wrong through wit and arguments, or she just loves teasing them to no end. Unlike Long Feng, who couldn’t risk anyone ruining his forced utopia, Azula seems to enjoy banter and dealing with people who oppose her (see Day of Black Sun Part 2…). She likes having something to fight against. She’s definitely controlling in her own way, but she would rather wield her authority to keep people in check rather than brainwash them into absolute obedience.

It’s curious too… because Azula actually wants to know if people would like her as she is, for who she is. That’s what her little experiment in the Beach was about, even though most people don’t seem to understand it. She wanted to find out whether or not she could make friends (well… if she could get a boyfriend, rather) without them knowing she was royal, If she could bring people to like her as she was, without resorting to fear and authority to achieve it. And that really says a lot about her character, if you ask me. This girl really wanted to make solid bonds with other people. Meanwhile, Long Feng brainwashes anyone who dares defy him. No doubt there’s a key difference in the fact that Azula is a teenage girl and Long Feng a fully grown-ass man, but still. For someone who’s so frequently described as controlling and manipulative, there’s a fair share of characters in the Avatar franchise that outdo Azula in that department by MILES, and Long Feng is one of them.

[eliminativism]

If you don't mind, I'd like to ask for your opinion on this: takimag(.)com/article/top_10_trump_myths_gavin_mcinnes#axzz4WT8GdY44

McInnes is a partisan provocateur, like Milo Yannopoulos. I wouldn’t take what he writes too seriously.

We are already beyond McCarthyism - the alt-rightists and neo-nationalists on tumblr are so far gone that they cannot read a single thing in the press they don’t like without mocking it as fake news. They are worse than feminists - and I say that as someone who has an anti-feminist with very radical anti-feminist stances for three years. You basically cannot get more anti-feminist than I am.

And I consider feminists more redeemable than people like McInnes lately.

The truth is that while the press has problems, you cannot throw everything out of the window without checking. But the “parallel media”, aka right-wing news blogs, have established themselves among their audience to provide any kind of lazy copy-pasting to show “the left media” is wrong, regardless of whether it’s accurate, as long as it reeinforces the biases of their audience. You can find whole networks right-wing blogs for anything, with vast databases of sources they built up - for the world being flat, for chemtrails being used to poison the population, that the world is cooling down and global warming is a hoax, that Noah’s flood was real, that Trump is a reasonable individual.

I have spoken against such falsehoods repeatedly, and always I have found people to be more stubborn and hostile than even a rabbid SJW could be - often from people who would love to point out how ridiculous SJWs are.

Simple fallacy: Just because one other position is wrong does not allow you to conclude your position is right.

Feminism and the new right follows the same human tendencies: The tendencies to see patterns, to see themselves as victims and deserving of more than they have etc.

The “left-wing media” is basically the right-wing’s patriarchy. Lot’s of plausible sounding platitudes with some enacdotal evidence here and there, but nothing overarching.

But maybe back to your link.

What McInnes does here is that he specifically picks a few things he can challenge to some degree and then makes the blatant statement that he is always right and the “left” is always wrong. Let’s break it down.

1) This statement by Trump has been blown out of proportion by the media, but it is also not what is really important about Trump’s assumed sexual crimes.

He has been accused of rape by three different women - a business partner, his ex-wife and a thriteen year old.

The case of the thirteen year old occurred in the 90s in connection with a party of Jeffrey Epstein, who is a good friend of Trump - a convicted sex criminal who has an investment company which is offering financial product specifically for billionaires.

Trump was never convicted - he did donate a large sum of money to the persecutor who was supposed to handle the case of the 13 year old and the case was abbandoned - so one cannot say that he is guilty.

But considering that the neo-nationalists have been going crazy over Pizza-Gate, I wonder why the story about Epstein’s parties, in which the candidates for an underage model agency of his attended, and who, according to the organiser, had to give blowjobs to Epstein’s friends, including Trump, to get “a better chance” at a modeling career, would not spark the same interest. Hmmmmmmmmmm....

https://de.scribd.com/doc/316341058/Donald-Trump-Jeffrey-Epstein-Rape-Lawsuit-and-Affidavits

The case had a hearing on 16th of decembre. Maybe it is just a story of someone who hopes to get money, maybe there’s more to it. We’ll have to see what comes of it.

2) Maybe, maybe not. It would fit to Trump’s personality to mock someone for that, but I wouldn’t say that it shows a disdain for the disabled. He might have just considered it some strange antics of the reporter, without even thinking about a disability. But Trump’s dedicated enemies interpreted it in the most unflattering way possible.

3) “ I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life. You’re pretty much looking at 12 failures for every successful venture“

This is ridiculous and shows that McInness is out of touch or lying.

Maybe such ventures with many bancruptcies is typical for a very small group of millionaire investors who are working in an American business climate where money is fast and loose.

But that has nothing to do with the normal economy. I have relatives who are entrepreneurs and business-owners, but all middle class, not upper class. Not one of them has ever grown bankrupt once. And those who do grow bankrupt in this field never recuperate - they have their debts to pay off for their whole life and hope their children don’t inherit the debts. And even if they recover, people are skeptical of making business with them further on.

Trump belongs to a financial class which is called “locusts”. They don't lose money from going bankrupt, they profit from going bankrupt. They never pay their debts - you know who stays with the debts? The small businesses Trump had contracts with, which he never payed and which he will get away with for never paying, because he can delay the court cases longer than small-businesses who barely have enough to continue to exist.

4) Everyone outsorces production to other countries when it makes sense.

That Trump does it is not the deal, the ridiculousness comes from Trump’s claim that he will bring the jobs back to America.

Yeah, he can... if the Americans are paid e.g. Chinese wages. Which will be an interesting enterprise with the costs of living in the US.

There is no system of encouragement behind outsourcing - with the additional cost of transport and the difficulty of running a business at a country you don’t speak the language of, and the often unstable legal situation in these low-wage countries, everything already speaks against producing there - but companies still do it because it makes economic sense. And it has been going on for so long that it shows it works.

Trump is not a hypocrit, he’s just a retard, like everyone else who believes that one can reverse that trend.

I mean, either that, or a Stalinist.

You would have to bring so much government control into businesses that you would basically disable capitalism if you wanted to dictate where a company can produce how much of what - and sell it for what price, if you want to keep it affordable.

I didn’t know Trump’s supporters would love to live on a kolchos, but surprises with them never end.

5) I never heard this, and I cannot say anything. Basically, if you are rich, it is easy for you to find ways to get richer. There are various ways to do that - legal and moral, or the Trump way. Both happens among that elite class.

6) This is Trump toeing the line to dehumanisation of immigrants just like the European neo-nationalists do with Muslims - they are all rapists, all criminals, it would be a better world if we would get rid of them etc. Oh, not “literally” all of them, but you know, you have to break some eggs to make an omelette...

This is just typical right-wing populism which is as old as modern politics itself. It’s not even something specific to Trump, it’s something every right-wing party does to some degree and it has been a beloved point of the Tea-Party movement, which considted of the most embarrasing American country hicks the world was ever displeased to witness on the news. McInness’ apologetics for it are laughable.

7) Well, Roe vs Wade is being attacked by many Trump fans.

I don’t really think Trump himself cares much. Trump just wants to make money - that’s what his presidency is about. He doesnt want you to bring the truth, he wants you to buy the newspapers his best friends own instead of those his friends don’t own.

If he could open a restaurant with dead fetus burgers, he would. The thing is that Trump is in bed with people who have ties to conservatism who would be interested in anti-abortion legislation. That ties in to the Republican senate keeping the surpeme court seat open for months without considering any candidate Obama suggested. Trump will suggest someone the rich American conservative establishment likes, so he lick their assholes and they can lick his.

8) Ties in to 7). If we look at Trump’s staff, he personally doesn't care about black vs brown vs white. He will just bring in anyone who will help him make money. He would appoint Göbbels for his talent of speaking to the press and he would butter up Malcolm X’s asshole if it would give him more support from the black vote.

Trump does not care about politics, he cares about $$$. He is completely amoral in that regard. And that’s how people who do care about polirics will be able to rise to political positions which would never be considered in any way fit for politics in a Western democracy. And Trump does not care what they will suggest in terms of social policies. That’s not his thing. If someone wants to build concentration camps with gas chambers on American soil, Trump would just ask “How does that sell? Do the approval numbers look good for that?” If the answer is positive, he would not care about the action itself.

That’s one of the big points about the campaign and the press coverage - people try to pin things like being against Jews of LGBT people on Trump, but it’s not true. Trump does not care. The thing is, Trump would also not care about the reverse. That is what Trump can be attacked about. He himself may not support bigotry, but if bigots would make him successful, they will be his best friends in the White House. That is the danger of Trump - not his personal views, but that he simply does not care. His lack of personal views is the danger.

9) Basically see 8). Trump will bend and break existing laws if he thinks it’s a thing that saying makes him popular. Immigration, right of assylum for the prosecuted - doesn’t matter, if it makes his voter base uncomfortable.

That’s exactly the same with Europe, Europe’s new right and England’s Brexit.

People have a “feeling” that something is wrong, they find some structure they pin their nebulous feelings to and then get agitated. Is there causality behind it? Doesn’t matter. Someone, somewhere is conspiring against me, and in my feeling of powerlessness I have to ruin it for everyone else. As I said, it’s why feminism is attractive to people with low self-esteem and a short-sighted view of society. The EU is the European right’s patriarchy or the post-marxist’s burgeouisie - people I have never met with some planned agenda against me that keeps me down, and though I cannot point to evidence or causality, enough people are talking about it that there must be something to it.

10) I have no idea what point McInness is trying to make here. If Trump wants to build a wall, he can. He cannot make the governent of Mexico pay for it. If America makes budget cuts to pay for the wall, then America makes budget cuts to pay for the wall. Has nothing to do with the government of Mexico. McInness is just rambling about a red herring.