#political reform now

[critical-skeptic]

Their Mental Acuity? Questionable at Best

It's not just that Mitch McConnell had an episode that could have been an outtake from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Hell, he's got the jittery, confused demeanor down pat. And it's not that Feinstein and Trump have become symbols of a generation lost in its own dementia, though that would make a fascinating psycho-political study in itself. What's so damn alarming is that these individuals are put in positions of immeasurable power, wielding influence over the masses, despite the clear signs that their cognitive abilities have departed, leaving behind only delusional hubris and incomprehensible jargon.

Take, for instance, the recent episode with McConnell. His face twitching like a glitching NPC in a poorly designed video game and his subsequent confusion were nothing short of terrifying. It's a symptom of something much larger: a system that's malfunctioning and in desperate need of an upgrade.

Trump/Biden 2024: A Nightmare Sequel

We've been here before. The Trump/Biden shitshow is like a terrible sequel to a movie that nobody asked for. Trump, the unhinged madman who's turned American politics into his personal circus, and Biden, stumbling his way through speeches as if he's trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphics. This isn't a race to the top; it's a slow, agonizing crawl to see who can keep their dentures in the longest.

Age Doesn't Always Mean Wisdom

No, I'm not being ageist. Fuck that. What I'm saying is that wisdom doesn't always come with age. Sometimes, age brings senility, rigidity, and a refusal to adapt. We shouldn't hand the keys to the future to individuals who can barely remember where they put their glasses.

The veneration of age as wisdom has gone too far. It's time to look at the cold, hard facts. Statistically, we've got more than a few in Congress who are off their fucking rockers. It's not cute; it's not endearing. It's a danger to the very fabric of our society.

Conclusion: Time for a Change

It's about time we stopped coddling these senior statesmen like they're adorable, bumbling grandparents. They're not. They're at the helm of a nation, steering it towards oblivion with a lack of understanding of modern problems and an obliviousness to the technological intricacies of our world. The balance of power has tilted drastically, and we can no longer afford to be enslaved by traditionalist and boomer influence. The future demands a more diverse, more acute, more adaptable generation at the helm.

So here's a message to the geriatric politicians: retire, rest, write a memoir. But for fuck's sake, stop running the country into the ground.

[burninglights]

how we feeling fellow minorities & trans people

[rejectingrepublicans]

[silviakundera]

more Li Rong/Pei Wenxuan/Su Ronqing dynamic thoughts...

Ep 18, Su Rongqing: "Don't forget that if it wasn't for His Majesty's fear of the imperial relatives, you wouldn't have even been able to get close to Her Highness in your life. Not to mention to be with Her Highness."

imo it's key that SRQ is from a super prestigious land-holding family, whose wealth and power are old & deeply entrenched. He's your modern day chaebol nepo baby, smart & educated & ready to inherit his family's slice of the empire.

Because he's every insecurity PWX has, tied up in a bow and sneering dismissively at him lol. PWX whose family worked hard to get out of the countryside and entered officialdom just in his dad's generation, and who doesn't even have the backing of that family. He has had to work 40x as hard and without being the princess consort he would never in his lifetime have achieved the stuff that's just handed to SRQ.

Part of PWX being determined to fight for Li Rong and not letting SRQ get in his head is that he needs to internalize that she sincerely thinks PWX is valueable and has never thought he was inferior to SRQ. None of their problems were ever about that. She saved SRQ for her moral conscience. Then she settled for him because her husband couldn't let go of his childhood engagement crush (plus his own acknowledged pride issues about a marriage arranged by the throne). He never actively tried to repair the marriage - his insecurities overtook him and he gave up. SRQ didn't "win". There was never any contest.

But though Pei Wenxuan tells himself this and tells Su Rongqing that she'll never say yes to him.... we gotta know that it's not that easy to defeat all your inner demons. That's why I think he gets a bit erratic and overblown in his romantic moves in the succeeding episodes - subconsciously anxious to tie Li Rong further to him.

[awkwxrdapple]

Hi my name's Anna and according to this c*nt I'm a vegetable

[thestarlightforge]

Thinking about the alternate world where Coryo stayed with Lucy Gray and chose reform, so eventually, they watched the 74th Games from a spotty Covey TV in the Seam. And his heart broke in a whole different way when Katniss whistled in the arena, when she sang to Rue—gave the 3-finger solute to the camera, and the Mockingjays picked up her tune. Not watching from a plush leather throne in the Capitol, grinding his teeth at the beasts he most associated with his ruin. But nonetheless, an obsession.

Because he still knew exactly what that would do, the fire it would spark in the Districts. Lucy Gray did, too. He’d be changed politically by Twelve, guided in better directions, but his core would be the same—knowing the power of Panem, wanting to protect his family. So when she sang, all at once, his heart shattered with love for her—his clueless fireball girl, who knows not what she’s starting—and then cold crept through him, prickling and tensing his old back in a cold sweat. Because their little songbird just painted a target on her back.

[earthdeep]

also? GREEN GOT AS MANY SEATS AS REFORM HOLY FUCKING SHIT

[suzie-guru]

There have been 416 school shootings since Columbine.

The most recent school shooting was today (September 4th, 2024).

I’m so exhausted from the horror of the world, and I’m hurting for everyone in Georgia.

I’m begging you, vote and canvass for gun regulation and reform.

[twelfth-dykector]

the tories gained absolutely no seats. peace and love on planet earth

[darkeyedghost]

I can't believe Nigel Farage has officially become an MP, for fucks sake

[cloudywithachanceofjam]

rishi is the WORST for stating he’ll bring back mandatory national service. It has made me feel so sick with the suddenness of it.

I’m not 18 but I think about the kids I tutor and my friends little siblings and cousins and I just cannot fathom this weighing on their choices and futures like that

whereas keir says he’ll lower the voting age to sixteen

is it even a choice anymore?

[sandymybeloved]

waking up this morning to see the exit poll over-predicted for the tories and reform, amazing, wonderful, thrilled

[princehendir]

Sorry but half the time when I read posts on here I'm like "i agree with you but unless the revolution is happening very very very soon this entire conversation is moot."

[samueltanders]

YESSSS MY SEAT DIDNT FALL TO REFORM!!!! THE EXIT POLL WAS WRONG LADS.

[afterthelambs]

PLEASE spill the Makoto cop tea. I'm always down to hear people's thoughts on that

Thanks anon! I do my best to keep this blog positive-vibes only, but since you asked I will answer. Warning: DO NOT read this post if you do not want to see any criticisms about Makoto Nijima from P5 + discussions of police. This is not hate towards the character or her fans. It's just criticism for the writing choices and their implications for her.

Makoto Nijima does NOT want to reform the police. There's a mandela effect in the fandom where everyone seems to think she does, but rewatch her rank 10. Reform isn't mentioned at all. I'm so serious. What she actually says is this:

Within her confidant, the context is the host that was preying on her friend Eiko. Wanting to stop situations like that is good and makes sense 👍 The writers framed her decision to become a cop as a response to the most clean-cut black-and-white situation ever.

But here's the thing though: what happens when the lawless and the victims are the same people? Because in the real world, crime tends to concentrate among the poor and marginalized. The real world is not black and white. And I try to separate my personal experiences with the law from the media/art I engage with, but that doesn't work here because the game at large doesn't portray society as black and white.

There are a number of people in this game that do wrong because they have been hurt or are marginalized or did not receive proper help. A lot of mementos requests are about 'lawless' people and yet many are portrayed as 'due to systemic issues' or a lack of support or developing mental illness. It's also not a coincidence that Akechi is the most marginalized of all the phantom thieves and he was the one who did the most crime. There is deliberate social commentary here. People do not become lawless out of nowhere. They are shaped by their circumstances. And the game itself sympathizes with these people, focusing on changing/ helping them. The game's conclusion is that providing support and rehabilitation is the solution. Rehabilitative justice > Punitive justice.

Police wouldn't achieve that. Police in the game are framed as corrupt and incompetent at their core. Our protagonist is one of their biggest victims to demonstrate how they are weaponized against the weak. Even Sae Nijima at the end of the story has shifted to become a defense attorney rather than attempting to reform it (best character arc btw) because she recognized that the system is broken. And you can't even blame it just on Shido controlling the police because we see that the problems persist beyond him. By the end of the story they remain useless or outright harmful. The police do not help or rehabilitate, they only punish.

So no, this isn't me projecting my personal issues with cops onto the story because within the game's own story, law enforcement is not the solution. If it were a question of reform, we could debate about whether police reform is possible, but again: Makoto doesn't care about reform. It never comes up. According to the writers, she wants to be a cop because she thinks not enough lawless people are being punished. You can argue that her wanting to 'head an organization' means she wants to be in a position of power where she can reform them, but remember that police only enforce the law. They do not make the law. If reform was her goal she would be a politician. (I honestly thought that's what she was set up to be, since she was student council president and all but I digress)

Also a small detail, but notice how she mentions destroying the lawless before she mentions helping victims? It's super minor but I think it's indicative of the cop mentality. There's greater priority on punishing than helping.

I also dislike this conclusion to her arc because it's net zero character growth. You're telling me the character that was rebelling against corrupt adults' orders is now becoming a cop, the biggest bootlicking profession of them all? She started the story being a well-intentioned pushover, and she's ending her story being a well-intentioned pushover. And it doesn't matter whether she as an individual is a good person or not. All cops comply to be active participants in a system that is designed to hurt the weak and prop up the powerful.

TLDR: You do not help victims by punishing the 'lawless'. You help victims by helping victims. Period. Makoto becoming a cop is a contradiction of this and her own character arc. Either the writers did her dirty by not thinking this through or this is meant to be who she really is, and both those possibilities upset me.

[assortedantics]

Never thought I’d be getting so heated over the bloody politics yet here I am.