[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah it's like adopting a fucking chimp (not even a true predator that) and being surprised it killed you. Or grizzly man. I think it basically supports the thesis.

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 11 points 3 days ago

Pretty much. It can be coopted because fascists love extrrninationist ideologies, but it's closer to a world where a Venus flytrap or other predator that uses guile to entrap prey evolved beyond humans. I haven't seen anything in the lore to suggest otherwise. They aren't ontologically evil they are literally "evil" like a tiger in the jungle.

38
:scully-lockedin: (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by ChestRockwell@hexbear.net to c/emoji@hexbear.net

alternatively, :scully: (since we don't have one), :x-files: or :internet-research:

Keywords prob xfiles, scully, glasses, aliens

37

From Season 2 Episode 4, Sleepless.

There's some great shots of her with her CRT glow reflected (including some with text).

Should I get a less shit quality (taken with my phone here) cap for an emoji? Maybe :scully-posting: ? We should probably get a Mulder too if so, any candidates?

30

It's funny, when I first saw the movie, I really enjoyed it, but in the 10+ yrs since its release, I feel that it's become even more important. I gotta hand it to Wes Anderson, even though it's a late Obama era film, it reaches back to the rising fascism of the 30's and 40's to feel more relevant than ever.

Obviously it's hardly a "perfect" piece of antifascist art. There's plenty of liberal self-soothing. However, I think there's three scenes that lock the fuck in to create a really lovely piece of work.

  1. The first scene where they cross the border and Zero is about to be killed by a fascist death squad, and Edward Norton shows up to stop it. This is, in many ways, the "liberal" perspective - that fascists are just individuals who are part of a bad thing, and we can reform them individually. And the film does make it look like it "works" because Edward Norton's character is fundamentally also a liberal like M. Gustave. We are led to, briefly, believe that somehow liberalism can overcome fascism through "humanity" - whatever that is.

  2. We then get the scene in the middle where Gustave berates Zero for being an "immigrant." This, I think, is really smart by Anderson. He shows a well-intentioned liberal so up his own ass he drops the mask of humanity. In a way, this upholds The Deserter thought - the mask has to slip to do the deed. We see the underlying potential for any subject of this world to become a fascist - even a "good" man like Gustave. The realization/regret here is also really great. Obviously this is because fundamentally Gustave still sees Zero as a human and thus can "hear" him when he replies, but needless to say, kudos to Anderson for really showing the underlying potential that anyone in a fascist regime, without proper consciousness, can become a fascist themselves.

  3. The final scene on the train is sublime. I'll spoiler it in case you've never seen it.

spoilerThe change here is absolutely great. Obviously all the filmmaking -the black and white, etc. - pays off here in spades. The way that Gustave tries to use liberalism to save Zero again is touching, and his turn to his wealth/status as well - all of this futile in the face of a death machine - it's exceptionally powerful. His final "you filthy god damn pockmarked fascist assholes" before the cut and the final "in the end they shot him" is perhaps even more relevant at our current moment than it was when it was written/filmed. The fact that Gustave dies for his antifascist principles I think really emphasizes that no amount of institutional liberal power matters. And yet, that kind of action/sacrifice still matters and is something to be celebrated. It's touching, and I really cry every time it hits (even just pulling up the scene to get the quote right had me starting to feel things).

Obviously there's all the pleasures of a Wes Anderson film. It isn't the deepest well. But, especially since the world is so dark right now, a film that doesn't shy away from the darkness even as it gives us a pleasant illusion of "civilization" can be really enjoyable.

Watch it if you haven't! I'll be re-watching tonight.

44

It still holds up. The brief moment America imagined a kind of communism, just ever so slightly.

9

Yes we can use Invidious but I'm linking his actual video for the occasional ad click, though I think there's a patreon too so no shame using the frontends the bot will link.

Folks, it's amazing. I'm currently at Chapter 10. Truly, this is an amazing deep dive, only rivaled by the Jenny Nicholson Galactic Starcruiser video (there's actually moments in this video you could cut her video in to just expand the entire thing).

If you didn't see "Part 1" - it's here: https://youtu.be/jjNca1L6CUk

30
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by ChestRockwell@hexbear.net to c/labour@hexbear.net

I may not be a power poster here on hexbear, but for those who were around - I got laid off this past summer then rehired by my employer in one of the most fucking pointless layoffs ever.

However, knowing the way the wind blows, I'll be getting laid off again this year most likely. However, having a union is nice and I've found that organizing really rocks and if you have a union, you should do what you can to become a cadre and more involved.

I'm at the point now where I'm visiting members to get them on board with the contract campaign we have coming up. While this doesn't effect me directly (the contract will be negotiated after this year so I might still get laid off), I do feel like by getting folks ready to strike, I'm also potentially building power to push back against the layoffs as well. While applying to jobs has felt so empty and hollow (like, it's still exercising a bit of agency and control over my life, but we all know how that goes), organizing feels fulfilling. Even when a member isn't entirely on board, just the chance to discuss, hear their concerns about work, etc. feels great.

In summary, if you have a union, get involved in whatever capacity you can to help organizing. There's spreadsheets and other things for our less socially-outgoing comrades as well - coordinating organizing efforts is just as important (we basically have 4 different ppl variously coordinating ad-hoc, so a centralizing there would definitely improve the org but we'd need a data person and don't have 'em).

Obviously my personal hope is my organizing efforts get enough comrades ready to strike that maybe we can head off layoffs, but even if not I feel like organizing my members will spit in the eye of my employer as those who remain fight (and who knows, maybe claw back some of the layoffs for their own workload).

5
7
Justice - Mannequin Love (www.youtube.com)

If you ever have the chance to see them live, they're so good, but this song slaps on its own too!

7

https://x.com/yungchomsky/status/1984301513271849274

From this tweet from YC - we could have liz-witch and brace-vamp.

I don't have editing skill though. Any comrades want to step up?

16

wtf

11

Folks, she's doing direct action against the tree that hurt the love monster. Truly a beacon of love in this hateful world.

19

There's also a great unplugged mix from the Hansa Sessions if you're into that kind of thing. Enjoy the bop.

sicko-jammin

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 94 points 1 year ago

Pretty sure any number of Nazis is entirely defensible.

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 82 points 1 year ago

Lenin forgot to mention that adventurism is cool because it makes all the liberals show their ass with hand wringing.

Adventurists, I apologize, you were right.

Seriously though, hexbears, still don't start doing adventurism. ORGANIZE AND AGITATE. A mass movement is the only way things will change.

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 82 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

adventure-time feels cool, but we need to see this moment and energy from a broader perspective. If this just ends with everyone being "that was cool" it's not enough. Instead, as the debt collective noted, medical debtors (and others harmed by this evil system) need to organize.

After all, eventually CEOs will just hire tons of goons and private security. So as cool as this was it's not sustainable and violence is only effective coupled to a movement. I'm thinking of my fanon here - when he discussed violence it was always as part of a larger mass movement, not simply wielded by random adventurers.

Of course this doesn't mean we can't seize this moment and this shock to begin to organize and deploy real power. I need to reread all of Lenin on the adventurism, but does he ever talk about being opportunistic about this stuff?

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 97 points 1 year ago

liz-society if you do adventurism we disavow

ypg-brace but if you do

liz-society don't

ypg-brace but IF you do.....

liz-society we disavow and you're not a real poster on hexbear, just a lurker.

ypg-brace so don't do it. But if you do....

liz-society we disavow

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 82 points 1 year ago

Care-Comrade

All irony and jokes aside, I think a bit of fear is entirely justified and organizing is more important than ever.

I wish the general strike wasn't 2028.

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 70 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Hahaha blahaj sucks so hard.

I remember when we defederated them first because of the ableist apologia they did.

rip-bozo

PS I love all our trans comrades heart-sickle

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 79 points 2 years ago

BEING A MINORITY DOESN'T MAKE YOU A DECENT PERSON OR MAKE YOU MAGICALLY UNDERSTAND SOCIAL JUSTICE. LOG OFF AND READ A BOOK!

More neurodivergent queer CIA ghouls does not a liberated society make.

obama-drone

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 97 points 2 years ago

The best part is that I know for sure a few blahaj members have opened accounts here.

who-must-go

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 85 points 2 years ago

That's a yikes from me.

Also, I have a family member with an intellectual disability, so it sticks in my craw when someone tries to defend it as innocent. It's fine if someone throws it out and then gets corrected (think of the Chapos, they quit using it after all), since for a long time it was "acceptable." But to try and defend yourself after correction.... lenin-rage

[-] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 101 points 2 years ago

Awoo has already noted some important refutations, but I want to unpack something here.

Landlords and Bourgeoisie are class identities. Importantly, these are not the result of things outside of your control (i.e. ethnic origin, nation, etc.) but instead determined by actions in the world. While one can't say that one is subhuman because of where they are from, isn't being a landlord (and thus extracting rent from people for shelter) a behavior? A series of actions and choices? And can't we characterize a behavior or action as evil/immoral? Basically, when I say "landlords are evil and deserve to die or surrender their assets to the collective" what I'm describing is a particular set of actions. It's not different from having an opinion on if murderers deserve capital punishment.

Btw, I believe in rehabilitative punishment. However, if we're going to talk about people who deserve to die, I think capitalists and landlords are up there. A person who kills someone else -- either due to mental illness or a crime of passion -- is far less damaging to our social fabric than people who, through institutions, contribute to the death of our world and the immiseration of many. For instance, how many unhoused people have gone hungry/died because of the executives at Starbucks who decide that food thrown out should be covered in coffee grounds to be inedible? We don't have the numbers, but shouldn't we call this behavior subhuman/evil? I think you're missing the distinction between saying the executive who designed that policy deserves the gulag -- a specific inhuman action that deserves a specific response -- and calling all insert ethnicity/nationality here subhuman.

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ChestRockwell

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