#humanist report

[arcadiaberger]

Libs of TikTok Gets Minimum Wage Workers Fired for Edgy Anti-Trump Facebook Post

Chaya Raichik being a sleaze, check . . . .

#YouTube  #Chaya Raichik  #Libs of TikTok  #The Humanist Report

[roseblack2222]

"Woke" Videogames, Nickelodeon, Planet Fitness Karen, etc. (w/ Zaid Taba...

[ryf8589]

#McCarthyismIsFascism

[fspgrad]

Conservatives" accusations are always projection.

[tritoch]

I've also seen it suggested that Zenos is a flat character, and I think that's true! I think he is intentionally drawn both sharply and flatly to make him stand out and to play up his symbolic and thematic role. But I think, especially post-Endwalker, he is frequently reduced to the aspects that serve as metacommentary on gaming and MMOs and FFXIV itself, but equally important (and more important up through Endwalker itself) is his role as imperialism's final output.

Zenos initially feints at being a certain kind of rounded villain. He has cool armor and a signature weapon (these things matter in a game like FFXIV), he's presented as a genuine believer in merit in juxtaposition to his sexist and racist officers, he's well-spoken and takes a personal interest in you. In fact, he's a lot like Gaius van Baelsar, whose brief but charismatic (and, due to MSQ roulette, repeatedly viewed) appearances in ARR suggested to some the impression of a noble figure in service to the wrong ideals, one of gaming's favorites kinds of Rounded Characters With Nuanced Writing.

It's possible to mistakenly believe through just about the Ala Mhigo dungeon itself that maybe Zenos will have a turn, that his relentless torture of conquered peoples accomplishes some greater end in his mind. After all, wasn't Gaius also fixated on violence and strength? Didn't he also believe that man raises himself up through conflict? And Gaius's Praetorium speech has fans and defenders to this day!

This is why the Royal Menagerie and the ultimate flattening of Zenos's character is effective, compelling, and ultimately necessary. Where ARR ends still pretending that maybe Gaius was an interesting dude with things to say, Stormblood finishes the job of (literally) stripping violent imperialism of its mask and showing it for what it is. Prosperity, the Roman peace, technological progress, all of those are incidental outputs to this, imperialism's true engine: the naked exercise of power and glorification of violence for their own sakes, as ends in themselves. Zenos fights so he can fight more. That's the punchline.

And importantly, Endwalker confirms it's always the punchline. Garlemald is drowning in recurring symbols and archetypes. Corvos and Goug and Amaurot and (after its destruction) Garlemald proper all at various points represent for different characters a mythical pre-collapse Eden, the reclamation or realization of which (through the right kind of violence applied to the right kind of people) is the putative goal of the empire. There's multiple ideal imperial men, multiple evil scientists, multiple conflicted collaborators. They serve to enrich each other's stories because you can set Yotsuyu's story against Fordola's against Gosetsu's and learn something from it.

But there is only one future for the Garlean Empire (distinct from the nation and people of Garlemald). Zenos is the Crown Prince when he enters the game, and (probably) the last direct male heir in the line of Galvus when he dies. He is the nameless assassin who commits regicide and the opportunistic tyrant who seizes power in the aftermath. He is both the last corrupt emperor and, through the Telophoroi, the barbarian hordes raging at his own gates.

Zenos is the endpoint of the Garlean Empire. Anyone who has survived him will be part of something different; there are no alternatives to him (most notably, Nerva never appears, except as a blasphemy, and Gaius explicitly declines further involvement with Garlemald). He is the nihilistic, violent dead end that lies at the heart of empire. If you feel his aims are hollow and venal, then all is as it should be.

[shipperwolf1]

An important watch for liberals and leftists alike

[thedyf]

Multi-Millionaire Warns “We Risk Revolution” As Americans Grow Increasin...

[tourmelion]

*WHEEZE

[fandom-hoarder]

Is replacing lead pipes a state's rights issue? This Republican thinks so🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

[progressivediscussions]

Today's multitudes of suck up sucker sycophants that are not independent critical free thinkers. Unfortunately this is the average American voter foolishly sending America to hell in a handbasket. Wake up people and use your heads for something besides a hat rack.

[fspgrad]

These brainwashed whackos need to be stopped.

[mrsonvsyoutube]

Conservative Moms’ Plot to Hold Library’s LGBTQ Books Hostage Backfires MASSIVELY

[marvelgreyson]

What's Happening in Florida is Downright Disturbing

So we’re all going to boycott Florida, right?

[shipperwolf1]

One of my fave lefty youtubers has lost monetization just in time for pride month. Sub and like him en masse and hit up twitter (if you're still at that dumpster fire) with #monetizemike!