#political musings

[strangelittlestories]

A friend is studying for their master’s in political theory and they recently asked a couple of us:

In a perfect democracy, would the right to civil disobedience exist?

Case studies we made up included:

1) That one asshole who doesn’t want the town to build the carnival it voted on. Is he a weird puritan? Does he have legitimate safety concerns? Who knows! All we know is: he chained himself to the rollercoaster And now he’s going to prison.

2) Gang, we all agreed we weren’t going to just feed the bears that live in the woods whenever they asked. Why is this one person still leaving bowls of meat/blood/milk out for the bears, like they’re a 1000lb fae. This is how you get bears on main street. …we have bears on main street. But also … maybe we should stop and ask ourselves why the bears are so hungry??

I keep coming back to the idea that a *perfect* democracy should have a long memory

It should remember the bad times and the dark days The “yeah, y’all don’t really need a dry place of your own to sleep” days The “oh shit is that King Arthur returning in our hour of greatest need Oh fudge is that a predator drone” days.

It should stick civil disobedience on the high shelf With the first aid kit.

It should erect a giant stone in the middle of the town square Inscribed with the words:

Whosoever pulls this placard, bike chain, and molotov cocktail from the stone - should they be worthy - will be the rightwise pain in your ass.

[inqilabi]

there's some Marxist figures that are a bit sus to me. Like as in, I think they're agents lmao. But they write generally good stuff, but for me in the subtext, I feel like they're agents. And usually it's the Marxists that the average person knows or comes across first. like your coworker might know that so and so author is a Marxist and not really know much about Marxism. May be it was just in the wiki or something. but anyway I never really say that I think they're sus cos then ppl will be turned off my Marxism in general imo lol

[angstmonsterwrites]

I'm not openly super political on social media, but in light of certain things that have unfolded in my country this week, I'll share an anecdote...

I know exactly one person who's had an abortion, and if she hadn't been able to, the pregnancy would have been a death sentence, both for her and for the incomplete life form taking shape inside her. Due to a genetic flaw, her reproductive system developed malformed--she has PCOS and a badly tilted uterus. As a result of the latter, any attempt to carry a pregnancy was guaranteed to result in failure. Medical estimates were that anything that made it into the second trimester would turn extremely high risk, and more than likely deadly.

Lucky for her, like myself, she was never interested in having children, so not being able to have them was no personal loss to her. However, in spite of her personal wishes and her medical issues, all requests to have her tubes tied fell on deaf ears with doctor after doctor after doctor--most of whom were women themselves! One particularly atrocious line she got was, "Well, you may change your mind AND you never know what medical advances might come along to fix you up."

When the time came that she turned up pregnant, it was the result of a contraceptive failure--she and her husband were always careful about using it, but there's always that sliver of a risk. She'd done everything reasonable in her power not to get pregnant--but it happened, in part because of shitty luck, and more so because of active sabotage by those who wouldn't even consider a fucked up reproductive system reason enough to tie her tubes. (And no, asking a happily married couple who doesn't want kids not to be physically intimate is nowhere near the ballpark of reasonable.)

Her choice, in the end, was to abort or die, and she was cornered into that choice by a medical subculture that can't conceive (pun intended) of womanhood without motherhood.

And in states that now have a zero or near-zero tolerance policy towards abortion, the very choice to save one's own life has been taken away.

>>This is evil. This is the collective and systemic torture, abuse, and manipulation of women and all AFAB folks--mental, physical, and sexual.<<

Very soon after this woman's debacle, my husband decided to get his vasectomy to spare us any such risk. He faced absolutely zero push-back from his doctors. No one grilled him about changing his mind about kids later. His wishes were simply respected.

My stomach turned yesterday when I read commentary on the news by women saying they're going to look into having their tubes tied in response to Roe being overturned. Because they aren't yet aware of exactly how tied their hands may already be instead, or how hard they'll have to look to find a doctor who will respect their wishes.

All I can say is that I sincerely hope that this backslide in my country is a very temporary one.

If you live in the US, please vote. The vast majority of this country doesn't want this, but the vast majority doesn't vote. Even if you don't think it'll matter or make a difference. Just do it as a favor and a signal of respect. Let your empathy for the women in your life mean more than your cynicism and doubt. Please.

[rosesforhekate101]

The Posionous Fires of Self Interest

A political thought for the day… Created using Starryai So they called forth a formFrom the Deep dark abyssTo embody their evil desires.Obedient it cameFrom the realms of the Dead,Arrayed  in its magical attire.As it passed o’re the EarthThe fair flowers fell dead,From its breath of poisonous fire. Attributed to Hermes TrismegistusPg 188 The Encyclopaedia of Ancient and Gorbidden Knowledge by…

[johannepetereric]

I was under the impression that the collective was made up of individuals, so I don’t fully understand “individual rights vs collective rights” if we’re talking in general. Even “the collective” includes sub-groups, individual groups.

So rights for the collective is rights for the individual, unless we are talking about stuff that only affects the individual. So. Venn Diagram. The right-wing mean their collective when they talk about “individual rights,” not THE as in EVERYONE gets rights….which probably IS what people mean by the “individual rights vs collective rights” war: one specific person before the general populace

[st-just]

I'm really not an anarchist in any really practical sense but, like, every so often I'm violently reminded that 'obviously any organization or group capable of exerting state-like power is going to cause immense suffering to some subset of those under its power out of a mixture of apathy, incompetence, and deliberate policy' isn't just, like, taken as a given by a lot of people.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

I hate it here.

This brave woman had to sue in court here to have an abortion due to her life now being jeopardized by her nonviable pregnancy. The court agreed she was at imminent risk and granted it.

Our Attorney General has now threatened three hospitals who may perform the procedure with litigation and has also saber-rattled that he will have her husband arrested and charged with "aiding and abetting an abortion" if he takes her to a hospital/doctor to have the procedure performed.

This law is not about "protecting babies," it is about controlling women's bodies.

[calisources]

𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋, 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐒.

All sentences on this meme have been taking from different media and sources. They all touch on the topics of romance, difficult and forbidden love, mostly setting in the political schemes of war and peace and royal court. Change names, locations and nouns and you see fit. Some lines might have foul language.

Sometimes we hurt the ones we love, but hurting ourselves to avoid it doesn’t make it better.

Could someone treat you badly and still love you? 

Even so, in the midst of this complicated love, there is a holy union.

Love is complicated. It’s sticky. It’s bliss and it’s a mix of emotions. It’s not easy.

I hated him now because I has loved him then.

 I'm not like you. I can't afford to be reckless.

When have I ever, since the first instant I touched you, pretended to be anything less than in love with you?

Are you so fucking self-absorbed as to think this is about you and whether or not I love you, rather than the fact I'm an heir to the fucking throne? 

You at least have the option to not choose a public life eventually, but I will live and die in these palaces and in this family.

She wears a crown that never should’ve been hers.

Your wish is my command, my queen.

You can always leave my service.

Don’t you see, Diana? If I did that, I’d break not one but two hearts. For I know you love me, though you haven’t said it yet.

You do know me. I love you so much, it sometimes terrifies me.

You are going to regret that, Your Magical Regalness.

Just because I am  a prince doesn’t make my life a fairy tale.

So kiss the others for all I care, but don’t hold back with me.

You are enough to drive a saint to madness or a king to his knees.

He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.

I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.

 I believe we are what we make ourselves, and as such, you, Crown Princess, are nothing.

You, what are you? The brat of lucky parents who were related to a childless king.

Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a king.

There’s a fine line between gossip and history, when one is talking about kings.

You can't treat royalty like people with normal perverted desires.

We kings do develop a certain ability to recognize objects under our noses.

...alone is such a nebulous state when one is queen.

I respect you as my king, and I respect you as my father, but I do not respect you as a man.

You're the most important person I've ever met.  And I should have never met you at all.

Desires are what can most easily ruin us, lovely.

I find that happiness can always be recollected in tranquillity, Ma’am.

It's almost impossible for those who have had an intimate relationship to return to a formal one.

I question if within you is any magic.

You’re my princess, right? You were always going to be my princess, no matter what you were born.

The king is a saint and cannot rule, and his son is a devil and should not.

For kings, the world is extremely simplified: All men are subjects.

A king deserves reverence when being addressed.

Yes, she had abused her title and station before, but for minor stuff, not to steal a warship.

You are a king worthy of their allegiance . . . with a queen full of fire and promise.

When God calls you into His Kingdom, your way of life will reflect royalty if you serve Him with loyalty.

My royal status is both a shield that protects me and a sword that impales my heart.

You know, for a pampered princess, you have a certain gift for violence.

I have to be seen to be believed.

Kings needn’t raise their voices to be heard.

That is your very own myth. The idea that how you are born or the name you are given dictate the sort of person you really are.

I know that names have power. That is why I cannot let her forget hers. 

You’ll have to face it, Princess. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon enough. And you can’t be this scared when the time comes.

A bad king revels in his importance. A good one hates his office. 

Crowns belong to those that serve.

She was their witch queen, and they adored her.

Beatrice is going to be queen someday.

Kings are only kings because one ancestor was quicker than another to place a crown on his own head.

Queen, do not allow a commoner to dethrone you. Own that throne. You are royalty.

A throne won in blood will soon be drenched in it.

My mother once told me that everything is fuelled by either money or sex, because both lead to power.

Even when she's dethroned by hardship, she still wears the sun as a crown.

She holds a nation’s fate within her shaking hands. She wears a crown that never should’ve been hers.

My reign has been anything but traditional. Let’s not start now, shall we?

Oh honey, someday a real man is going to make you see stars and you won't even be looking at the sky.

Every girl thinks about growing up in a palace. Few ever ponder living in a cage.

Climb up the family tree of any of them high enough and you’ll find a commoner who dared to take a chance.

Am I forbidden to do what all may do?

My arrival saved the kingdom, while his only reiterated that his blood would fill the throne one day.

Slow down there, princess. How do you know what kind of first impression you gave me?

So none of the young men we encountered during our season gave you hot pants for them?

If stubborness were all that was needed to be a good queen, I'd rule the world.

I’d decided that I was going to stop dressing like a princess and start dressing like a queen.

Don’t touch me. Don’t tell me how beautiful my eyes are, how soft my hair is, how you love to hear my voice. Don’t. Don’t pretend you are falling in love with me. 

I know you are lying, and every word you say hurts even more. 

Before the wedding, and the bedding, when I will have to take you as my lord and husband?

I may not be a king or a queen, but I'll be damned if I'm not treated like royalty.

He is fragile, like a prince of ice, of glass.

It is natural that men are going to gather round me, hoping for a smile.

Men only treat women like princesses when they want to use them like prostitutes.

You can smile when your heart is breaking because you're a woman.

I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't do anything but think about him.

Anyone can attract a man. The trick is to keep him.

To save my son, I would plot with the devil himself.

Only fools wait when their enemies are coming, to see if they may prove to be friends.

When a man wants a mystery, it is generally better to leave him mystified. Nobody loves a clever woman.

I wanted the heat and the sweat and the passion of a man that I could love and trust.

I am a fool to own it, but I am in a fever for your touch.

And you are the sort of mistress a man doesn't bother to marry. Sons or no sons.

[blood-starved-beast]

Moros Hadesgame II has very strong "I spend all my time gaming in my mom's basement watching people meet their dooms and don't go out at all" energy and I think that's why the Fates had that minor prophecy to summon him. They're kicking him out of the metaphorical basement so he can socialize more.

[padawan-historian]

Even in this lovecraft country of ours, we still dance (and decolonize) 🔥🍂🌾✨️

[pinkrose05]

Sungenti & Robinhill would go on the most terse double dates in history. That's it that's the post.

[yomawari]

I *love* modern political Jamilton AUs, but the lack of general knowledge about Washington, D.C./U.S. politics creates so many missed opportunities. For instance, most people don't seem to know (or choose to ignore) that the Secretary of Treasury and the Secretary of State do not work in the White House.

The Treasury Building is a 20 minute walk* from the State Department. The idea of Alexander or Thomas making that trip just to argue with the other in-person is absolutely hilarious. (Or, even funnier, one being forced to make the trip because the other is screening calls, etc.)

Also, there is the amusing possibility of banning each other from their respective buildings in purely petty acts of retaliation.

*Technically, it's only 20 minutes if you cut through the White House lawn, which has restricted access. It's a 30 minute walk for the public or a 5-10 minute drive.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

One thing I love about the Metal Gear series is that it’s the antithesis to gamer-bro culture saying that games shouldn’t be “political”.

Metal Gear PROUDLY wears its politics on its sleeve! Characters go on long monologues about their political views, they have debates about the nature of humanity and how that applies to politics. Metal Gear doesn’t give a shit about catering to everyone, it has a statement to make and you’re going to fucking listen to it if you want to get to that sweet stealth-action gameplay.

This should not work, it should be cringe, but it does, because Metal Gear also happens to be off the wall fucking insane, and plays it 100% sincere. There’s giant robots. Giant robots fighting other giant robots. People with insane powers who’s only explanation for why they have them is “nanomachines”. The main charcter of the series is a clone of the main antagonist who is also the protagonist himself.

Here, in this world of cyborg ninjas, giant robots, and all other manner of completely sincere sci-fi nonsense, we can be honest about our politics, and I think that’s beautiful.

[johannestevans]

went on a lunch date recently where the guy like. didn't mention what job he did on grindr, just that he'd been working late etc, and then when i got there and mentioned it i asked what he did, and he was like "oh well i work for the police" and i was. immediately shut down, understandably

and later on i asked his opinions abt police brutality, police abuse rates, if he thinks the police should be abolished etc, and later was like, yeah, ethically this is a bad match

but idk like. when ppl tell me they're a cop or a gard (or in the military) on grindr i just block them from the off, bc it's like, well, you're cool w brutality, rape, and abuse, there's no reason you could or should be trusted with an intimate partner. and this guy had mentioned he followed me on twitter and didn't at all seem surprised by my open disgust for his profession, and idk if that was why he didn't mention it up front and thought i wouldn't make a big deal about it (as if) or if he just doesn't mention it to anybody

but i'm still so like ??

like my house has a very explicit no cops policy. if sb else brought their partner or brother or whatever to dinner and they were a cop, they would be told to fucking leave. as if i'm gonna fuck one myself

[quinloki]

This doesn’t happen often at all, but I’m having one of those days where the thoughts I’m having are so salacious and lewd I keep stoping myself from interacting with people and posts because there’s Horny On Main, and then there’s whatever today’s vibe is

Which feels a little like I’m the tentacle monster and the things I’m doing to the blorbos is rude. 😅

[tofixtheshadows]

I keep thinking that King Laios is gonna have a real hard time, politically, with dwarves post canon. I think it's established that dwarves have the most beef with elves (though this might also apply to gnomes to a lesser extent, given Tansu's opinions) and I'm sure they would have their hackles raised over the continent chocked full of concentrated mana that suddenly appeared from the depths due to ancient magic right after the Canaries went in and fucked around.

Worse, the king's court magician is a half elf, and his royal advisor, once they get intel on him, will turn out to be some tallman elf pet straight from the elven capital. And their court was established with a live-in elven ambassador (Pattadol) from day one. Just like in the canon timeline, a bunch of completely innocent circumstances have converged to paint a horribly suspicious picture. The Golden Country folks are gonna have a hell of a time convincing the world that they're not an elven puppet-state. This is designed to give Kabru a chronic migraine.