#towards the republic

[variouspolltournaments]

Propaganda

Lorgar Aurelian: No Propaganda Submitted

Catman: No Propaganda Submitted

Empress Dowager Cixi: One of the central characters of the show. Apparently it's seen as a relatively sympathetic portrayal of her, but she does come across as a villainous figure especially in her power struggle with her nephew the Guangxu Emperor and the Hundred Days Reform

Penelope Akk: she never actually meant to become a villain at all! She fought a sidekick that was a jerk and got branded as a villain alongside her teammates ray viles and Claire lutra, they became the inscrutable machine; Bad Penny, Reviled, & EClaire. They tried to turn good but ended up being so good at being villains they decided to roll with it as none of the adult superheroes could take them down. Bad Penny is a mad scientist whose inventions are ridiculously powerful and she barely understands her powers herself but she is one of the best mad scientists ever seen in their universe surpassing Tesla and Einstein in most impressive inventions created on their scale of measurement

[confusedbyinterface]

Hey Guangxu why are you calling the Empress Dowager "Daddy"?

[confusedbyinterface]

I don't know how much this reflects the actual Hundred Days, but in the historical drama Towards The Republic, Kang Youwei's first recommendation to the Guangxu Emperor was adopting western dress and customs. He references the Meiji Reforms as justification for it.

@kaziusklasterzoroaster said:

what is meiji disease?

"Meiji disease" is my (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) pet term for the seemingly common phenomenon in which people conflate industrialization and economic technicalization with arbitrary forms of cultural Westernization (or, more generally, arbitrary forms of assimilation to any dominant culture).

It is named after the Meiji reformers, who lead Japan to an era of unprecedented prosperity and global prominence by industrializing and technicalizing the economy. The reformers felt that Japan's previous government, the Bakufu, had kept Japan isolated and therefore allowed it to fall behind its European competitors; only by learning the secrets to the Westerners' success and imitating them could Japan catch up. This lead, of course, to the aforementioned rapid industrialization, a feat genuinely unprecedented in human history. It also lead to the standardization of Shinto into a new and more oppressive state religion, to the banning of sodomy, the sex-segregation of onsen, and a general crackdown on sexual freedom, to the introduction of new and violent assimilationist policies towards the Ainu and Ryūkyūans, who previously had been allowed to live somewhat autonomously as trade partners and vassals. Or, to consider the less explicitly negative and the more neutral-but-unnecessary: the introduction of Western dress, including Western military regalia for the emperor and his officers and a push among ordinary people to forgo kimono for suit and tie, the adoption of Western dance styles among the upper classes, the replacement of the katana with Western style swords. There was even a proposal—which fortunately never made it off the ground—to replace Japanese with English as Japan's official language.

This attitude of Westernization in all spheres eventually contributed to the nationalist backlash of the Shōwa period, which sought to reclaim some sense of Japanese cultural particularity—while, of course, holding onto many of the most oppressive policies of the Meiji government, including State Shinto.

One way or another, it seems almost certain to me that whether men wear kimono or suit and tie has precious little to do with a nation's ability to maintain an industrial economy. Whether sodomy is legal or whether men and women are allowed to bathe together has precious little to do with the ability to feed people or provide them with antibiotics or electricity or any of the other comforts of modern life. One need not crack down on variant Shinto festivals, or decorate with gargoyles instead of komainu, in order to make progress in chemistry and mathematics. And certainly, as Japan's success in the modern age has well demonstrated, you do not have to speak English.

But the idea that modernization means arbitrary Westernization remains common around the world, both inside and outside the West. It is, for some reason, a very persuasive idea. There is a feeling that in order to access the benefits of the industrial world, one must give up one's lifestyle completely and assimilate to wholly arbitrary facets of Western life. Surely, when it comes to minority cultures within the West itself, it is mainstream Western society pushing this idea. It seems that it is also often internalized to a great degree.

I think that this mindset has done irreparable damage to the cultural heritage of mankind and to the variety of human experience, in addition to frequently being a core piece of rhetoric in the advancement of oppressive—and, in particular in cases like the banning of sodomy in Meiji Japan or under the Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire, pointlessly oppressive—policies. My frustration is first and foremost with Westerners who export this idea, and second of all with elites in other parts of the world who push meaningless and arbitrary Western practices on those they have power over in order to "modernize".

The success of the Meiji restoration was rare and astonishing. The only comparable case of successful rapid industrialization as far as I know was that advanced by Stalin in the Soviet Union, which was achieved with significantly more death and destruction. I think the Meiji restoration should be studied generally for its historical lessons—some things to repeat and others not to.

[kurlyfrii]

i’m gonna lose my mind the next time someone says “there was a clone who married a padawan” NO!!!!!!! ETAIN WAS A KNIGHT!!!! i’m so serious rn i’m gonna start biting

[silverfox66]

The Curaçaoan freedom fighter Tula receives rehabilitation, and the Netherlands offers apologies.

On 17 August 1795, Tula, with 50 others, started the largest revolt in the history of the Netherlands Antilles against the Dutch tyrannical slavers. Tula fought for freedom and equality. His group traveled across the island, freeing people, and the group increased to 2000 people. The Dutch brutually crushed the revolt and captured Tula. Tula was tortured and brutually executed by the Dutch.

The Dutch government always portrayed Tula as a criminal, but today, he is declared a hero by the Dutch government (he has been a national hero in Curaçao since 2010). They also admitted that the Dutch tried to erase him from history and offered official apologies.

These are small steps, but important in the road towards reparations.

[mossiestpiglet]

[ID: Text box from a manga. Text reads “The kingdom of Granzreich became a republic as the result of a national referendum. King Leonhard was its last king.” End ID]

Absolute funniest possible way to end a series about a gaggle of princes competing to be king. You won but at what cost

[confusedbyinterface]

The guy translating Towards the Republic on Youtube made a post about this!

"In all of history, the presidency was elected unanimously only once, with George Washington. We all believe Mr Yuan will be the world's second Washington, and the first Washington of China!"

Yeah I see why this is specifically being brought up.

Censors also targeted essays about the pivotal early 20th century political figure Yuan Shikai. March 10 marked the 111th anniversary of Yuan Shikai’s election as the president of the Republic of China, an election Beijing-based historian Zhang Lifan called “a serious drama worthy of the name; [this year’s election] is a farce.” Geremie Barmé, who translated Zhang’s commentary, added that Yuan’s own rule quickly devolved. Netizens have been drawing comparisons between Yuan Shikai and Xi Jinping since at least 2018. The comparison has given birth to the pun “the second-coming of Yuan Shikai” (二次袁 èrcìyuán) which is a homophone for “Anime, Comics, and Games” (二次元 èrcìyuán). WeChat articles intimating a comparison between Xi and Yuan are tightly censored. Even a “this day in history” article on Yuan’s 1912 election that made no overt or implicit reference to the current era was censored after it was published to WeChat. Despite such tight controls, some Yuan Shikai comparisons flew under censors’ radar. In the aftermath of Xi’s unanimous election, netizens began sharing a 2018 essay from Shanxi Television’s WeChat account on Yuan Shikai’s fondness for Tianjin’s famed Goubili “A Dog Wouldn’t Touch ‘Em” steamed buns. “Steamed Bun Xi” is perhaps the longest enduring of Xi’s many censored nicknames. 

[wolframpant]

Tiberius's reaction when he is told of Livia's "brilliant" plan to restore the republic sums up my feelings perfectly.

[wantonwinnie]

I haven't thought much about how The High Republic connects to the prequels yet. But I think one interesting potential outcome of the Nihil attacks in general, and for Chancellor Soh's Great Works in particular, is: why would any future Chancellor petition the Senate to invest heavily in the outer rim again? Starlight Beacon, destroyed, Valo fair, destroyed. If terrorists are just going to threaten anything the Republic tries to build for outer rim citizens, that's not worth the effort, or so the thought goes.

That could be a major reason for creating a rift leading to separatist sentiments later. The Republic would be less focused on building infrastructure and aid for outer rim citizens (like they should) and more focused on resource extraction/exploitation.

[devotedlittlefreak]

French people when they're inventing soc-dem accelerationism

[bereft-of-frogs]

I'm back to 'I would be able to have so much more fun with the acolyte if I wasn't so chronically online' because the spoilers (still haven't watched the episode) have just filled me with a sinking sense of dread

rip our ability to be able to talk about anything else

[variouspolltournaments]

Note: Character does not have to be the main protagonist, just a protagonist. Can be any kind of villain, including (but not limited to): just straight up evil, former and "because the narrative says so" villains.

Submissions for this tournament are still open, I'm just getting as many prelims out of the way as I can before they close.

Propaganda: Towards the Republic is a historical drama and Li Hongzhang is one of the central characters. He is a "villain" in the eyes of many historians because he was responsible for negotiating the "Unequal Treaties" after the Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion. The show takes a figure who was until fairly recently seen as a national traitor in China and portrays him sympathetically. There's a scene when he receives a message from Cixi to negotiate terms with the Eight Nation Alliance after they captured the Forbidden City, and he angrily says he's once again being ordered to become a traitor and sell out China.

[confusedbyinterface]

Me getting assassinated by Japanese ultranationalists for calling the Meiji Emperor a "scrunkly blimblo"

[roseaesynstylae]

I guess if I have a Star Wars hot take, it’s this: I firmly believe that Young Jedi Adventures has more interesting characters, more emotional story beats, and is just better in general than the Republic Commando books. (It’s equal with the game.)

[cienie-isengardu]

Atin: Laseema mentioned you understand lekku language, is that true?

Vau: Quite enough, yes. Why are you asking? Did something happen?

Atin: Well… Etain and Laseema were talking in the kitchen about Kad. Kal joined and somewhow the talk turned into lecture about good wives and the importance of fatherhood and the all. Etain sounds upset so I though Laseema will be upset too but she is smiling while her lekku swirl in a way I've never seen before and now I'm not sure should I interfere…?

Vau: Oh, that. Well, it depends.

Atin: Depends on what?

Vau: Are you okay with Laeema stabing Kal or not. If you mind, then I advice to take the knives out of her reach while you still have a chance because in a few minutes it maybe too late. if not, stand down and let Laseema have fun.

Atin: …osik.

[EDIT: changed picture from photo to scanned version ]

[clochanamarc]

aisling gets very passionate when people say "the south of ireland". like to the extent that stanley and richard have to intervene because it starts with "oh, my family is from the south too!" "...it's the republic, but don't--" "no, i'm pretty sure it's the south. there's the north, right? so there's gotta be a south--" "there IS a south. but there's the south of northern ireland and the south of the REPUBLIC--" "i know what i'm--" "I'M LITERALLY IRISH--" and then she has to go to the staff room and drink tea while rani shows her photos of the cliffs of moher.