therealenemy

[therealenemy]

I can't keep having the same conversations about love languages, mbti, iq, bmi, "brain fully formed at 25" and shit over and over again...

[therealenemy]

Why the CDU/CSU can go fuck itself

Time for another one of these. a quick(ish) summary for all the non-german speakers about why we're freaking out and the state of our democracy.

Spoiler. its not...good. Not catastrophic (yet). But the alarm bells are very, very loud.

Tl;dr: The CDU, party currently prognosed to win the election, has basically worked together with the afd to get a migrationbill to pass that is very strict. The afd are the nazi party that is getting backed by Musk. This might forshadow a cooperation between AFD and CDU. That would put the far right in power. The current response from the general public are demonstrations against that. Like. there are a LOT of protests currently.

Alright grab a drink and lets go.

First, groundwork: Who are parties and who is the guy we currently all want to punch in the face?

on top: Careful, risk of confusion. on the left: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. Real. On the right: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. comic figure.

This guy here is Friedrich Merz. no, not the guy on the right. the guy on the left. I know. Easy mistake to make.

He's an asshole. He's also the current boss of the CDU and their chancellor candidate. He's very likely to win according to recent polls.

The CDU has a complicated history, but to simplify it: They were in charge for sixteen years before the now broken apart Traffic-light goverment and are responsible for a lot of shit that we're currently dealing with. Like crumbling infrastructure for example. They were more interested, as a party, to preserve the status quo at all costs, than to invest anything. You could argue that a lot of the enviromental issues we are facing and the reason why Germany is currently pretty stagnant, can be traced back to the one and a half decade the CDU was in charge. They are conservative, not a fan of migration and like to throw around 'tradtional values'.

They are, generally speaking, or better were, center right. More on that later.

The other party that is going to be a major pain in the ass to outright fucking dangerous, is the AFD, short for 'Alternative for Germany'.

this is Alice Weidel, she's the current chancellor candidate for the afd. here is her wikipedia article and lets just say her 'controversies' part is longer than her 'political positions' part.

Those are the, to put it bluntly, Nazis. They are dangerous but also a fucking mess. Like, to just list a few of their hits: They've been getting money from dictators (different ones btw, not just one), infigthing is a sport to them, they try to glorify the nazi-regime, the german intelligence agency is watching them because they are officially considered radical right-wing and a threat to democracy, there is a petition to ban the afd and that is a high bar to cross, the demonize immigrants, hate queer people, you know, the usual. Also of course political correctness has gone too far and climate change isn't real and we need to leave the EU. Elon Musk, you know the rich guy who did the Nazi-salute, also has been appearing and is actively supporting them. Just in case we were unclear before on where they all stand.

(btw the whole 'elon is supporting them' thing is pretty scary bc you could argue the reason that the afd is able to win so many votes is bc, frankly, they're good at social media. Do i need to elaborate why that is a dangerous combination.)

to put them into perspective: The afd is too right for the other alt-right parties in the EU parlament. There is a coalition in the EU Parlament for the right, made up of all the right wing parties from other nations and the afd is too right for them. So. yeeeeaaah.

that should do it as background information.

Now. back to current events. where both of these parties are getting more and more support.

For a short history of why we currently have a non-functioning goverment, i made a post about that. Be aware that it was made as a product of its time and doesn't have all the information. For example back then we didn't know that FDP had actively engineered that break up and wanted it to happen for a while. Yes. They wanted to topple the goverment they were in. on purpose. It's been a fun time over here in Germany as well.

anyways, lets get to the meat of things. Since we don't have a functional goverment currently, Merz has introduced a harsh migration bill. This has been in the wake of an attack with two murders, where the current suspect is a migrant. while this is a tragedy, its getting brutally misused by all out rightwing parties to scream about how we need stricter migration laws and that migrants are a danger. Which to be so fucking clear about this, is such bullshit. It's been proven so many times how that is bullshit. I'm gonna be real and not even bother. They're just the newest scapegoats everything can be blamed on.

But because nobody has a majority, all attempts at governing so far have been pretty stalled.

(our goverment currently)

Quick information from the past:

in 2018 the CDU basically stated they wouldn't, in any sort of way, cooperate with the AFD, declaring basically a Brandmauer (fire wall). This basically means that yes, the afd had been given seats in the parlament, but nobody would give them any power whatsoever.

This has been the position of the cdu. It is why people still considered them center-right.

Merz has repeatedly said he didn't care who voted with him. now with a slight majority, 348 to 344, the cdu has won, with the support of the afd. Many see this as the fall of the Brandmauer. It's not good. Merz has more and more talking points that sound exactly like the afd and that is SCARY. There is still a vivid memory alive here about why having a far-right goverment is dangerous. There is a reason why there are currently a lot of massive protests all over the country loudly proclaiming that 'never again is now'.

This also puts for many the cdu from 'center right' to 'right'. There are calls from inside the cdu to 'stop demonizing the afd'. This is scary. This could mean that we get not just a conservative goverment in a few weeks, but a rightwing one. One who is comfortable cooperating with radical right wingers if it suits their needs. To cooperate with a party that even our own intelligence agencies consider a threat to our democrazy.

So. that is why your german mutuals sit there like

Now. To another part. What exactly is that migration bill merz had wanted to pass so desperateldy?

Well first of all it calls for a national emergency, using the beforementioned murder as reasoning, for the danger of immigration. It calls for closing and controls at the borders permanently, not temporary as is curently the case. They want for people without valid ID to be refused entry, even when they are searching safety. People that are already in Germany but need to leave should be thrown in jail until they actually leave.

Which. just to be clear about this. this what the bill they had, that had the support of the afd, says. This is not a wish list. This what they want to be law.

But to be also clear, lots of this is against our current law, against Basic EU law and principle and also a pretty big violation of our constituation.

Which is what makes this situation so fatal. This bill is going to be fought. In court, in politics, with demonstrations on the streets. this bill is controversial. Merz knew that. he knew that a lot of this wouldn't pass. This is a publicly stunt. This is testing the waters. How much will the public allow? how far can he push? Is cooperation with the afd possible for him? How does everyone react?

It was never about immigration or that bill. All the people this is going to impact, all the lives that are going to be lost because of this shit they are pulling - this is to them all just collateral. Its testing how much is possible, tolerated even. The chances of this bill making it law is slim. It needs to pass again in a different body of the goverment with a two thirds majority and that is nowhere in sight.

Also, lets take a look at who voted what:

it was about four votes. So my german friends who also read this - look at this and be aware of who voted what. Who abstained to vote and gave up the four votes it would have taken to stop this. who accepted that to get what they want they would need to get the support of the afd, no matter how much Merz now claims that he still doesn't cooperate with the afd and that there were no talks between them. Look at the numbers. Look how and with who they voted.

To be frank, i am pretty pissed off. I don't think much about wallowing in self-pity and despair. i am pissed off about what is happening. i am pissed off that these people don't have a spine, i am pissed off at the FDP for enabling this in the first place, i am pissed off that we have Nazis in out goverment, i am pissed off that we have people who are willing to cooperate with them. I am pissed off that i need to settle for damage control instead of being able to see something finally move forward.

Now here we come to the less depressing part of this whole thing. And i want you to pay attention to it.

People are protesting. loudly. And in the thousands. There have been ten to a hundred thousands of people all over the country in the last week, protesting against the rise of faschism and the far right. Its all over the country, in different cities. Where the afd appears to talk, so do the protesters. There are 35 afd people to 1300 protesters. People loudly say 'never again is now'. And they show up to back that claim up.

This shit is vile, yes, but it's not going to be unopposed.

I know this all reads as depressing as fuck but do not give into the temptation of falling into despair. This is far from over. Yes those are the alarm bells and they are ringing loudly. But there is still things that can be done. Don't let the afd lure you into thinking this all pointless anyways. It's not. This is all not good, yes, but no reason to fall into blind panic. The bill isn't law yet. Merz is facing massive backlash for his little stunt. This is not a hopeless situation. It's just a shitty one.

[therealenemy]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/elon-musk-appears-video-german-far-right-campaign-event-2025-01-25/

I need to talk about what’s happening in Germany right now as our elections come up in February, because I am so angry right now and now the amount of foreign influence from America has become, in my opinion, untenable.

For context the AfD Party in Germany ( or alternative for Deutschland ) is a far right neo Nazi party that has been on the rise in Germany for a few years now. They have played on fears of immigration to get elected and this has sadly worked because many Germans are still terrified of any religion that is different from the norm. They have very cynically used past terror attacks to imply that all Muslims have a „culture of violence“ and frightened Germans into believing that those of Arab descent all want to hurt our women and children.

They cannot call themselves „Nazi“ because that is illegal in our country but they use Nazi talking points and propaganda even to the point of copying their methods to get elected. For example; a little while ago they sent election mailers to to the homes of known immigrants that looked like fake plane tickets telling them they need to go back where they come from.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/14/german-police-investigate-afd-flyers-resembling-plane-tickets-for-immigrants

They have advertisements on our TVs and posted everywhere, featuring only white Germans using taglines like „Germany for Germans“, and implying that we used to be safe from violence and rape in our country (which, as a women, is ridiculous) but now we can’t be, you know, because of all those brown people.

Most recently, they hosted a rally in which Elon Musk was a VIP guest speaker. He talked to Germans and claimed we shouldn’t allow our „culture“ to be „diluted“ by multiculturalism. He opined that Germans should no longer feel ashamed of being German because of our Grandparents and Great Grandparents. Saying, as he has before on twitter, that the AfD were the only ones could „save“ Germany. It was the most direct references to our Nazi history that I have ever seen in German media.

Musk, the worlds richest man, who built said wealth on the back of other ppls labor and by buying up the intellectual property of people far smarter and more accomplished than him, now is determined to use that wealth and the influence it comes with to create a resurgence of the far right white nationalist extremism world wide. He, a man shaped by his Grandparents support of Adolf Hitler while they lived in Canada and his family’s support of South African apartheid while they lived there, now believes that he can shape the world, our world, in his image.

For my German friends: any German who votes AfD ( or CDU who at this point have capitulated completely to the far right ) are admitting that they have learned nothing from our history and are allowing themselves to be led by the nose by this worm of a man and his pet, Frau Weidel. And for my American friends, please I beg of you, resist this man and the politician he supports at every turn. It should be obvious by now why Elon Musk, who proudly does Nazi Salutes on your biggest political stage and then jokes about it, who has previously told the world that he believes western Jews are stealing from white Americans, supports Donald Trump.

What we should be doing is banding together internationally to stop this attempted destruction of our democracies and, frankly, our lives. This man should be brought to heel, we cannot allow a man to control elections internationally simply because he has collected such unspeakable amounts of wealth.

[therealenemy]

[therealenemy]

Stannis: Why did my brothers, The Party Kings, inspire so much love and loyalty while I, Guy Who Let’s A Witch Set People on Fire-

[therealenemy]

i’ve been a 23 year old girl and i can tell you it does not

[therealenemy]

if you're feeling powerless right now—and god knows I am—here's a reminder you can donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds, the Trans Law Center, Gaza Soup Kitchen, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and hundreds of other charities that will work to mitigate the damage that has been and will continue to be inflicted

life continues. we still have the capacity to do good, important work. that matters

[therealenemy]

dany is an interesting character because her acts of violence routinely get framed as worse and more concerning than every other character whom one would label as 'perceivably morally good' in asoiaf. some of it is probably misogyny and some of it is strictly boxing dragons in the nuke metaphor category because "angry teenager has three nukes" does not result in particularly flattering readings of the character; but the rest is because revolutionary counterviolence often gets portrayed as just as bad (worse even) as the every day violence required to uphold an oppressive institution as a way to make some point about all violence in itself being evil. now the reason i don't believe asoiaf buys into that rhetoric is because dany's adwd story arc is basically her agreeing to one concession after another until the fighting pits are re-opened, she's married to a slaver, and the yunkish are slave trading right outside her city walls. i don't know why people are reading her choosing drogon in the fighting pit as her running away from her problems because i've always interpreted it as a rescue, she's a princess in the metaphorical tower, shackled to a peace the price of which is the continuation of slavery and the dragon is her rescue, the dragon is her knight, the dragon is her and the dragon is the truth she has been avoiding the whole book, that the choice she has to make in slaver's bay is not between war and peace but between war and slavery.

now the way she reaches this conclusion is kind of bad and concerning, "dragons plant no trees" is not the ideal thing to internalise but obviously that's a low point in her character arc, the way sansa believing littlefinger's philosophy of "it's all lies" is a low point in hers. and neither are whole truths. which is something that will get addressed later, because that's how character arcs work!

[therealenemy]

reading larys’ character + him being disabled as “he’s disabled because he’s a villain and it’s showing he is evil and that’s ableist” instead of “exploration of how the dehumanization of disabled people in this society shapes a person and how they act and it’s obviously not positive” just indicates you are a shownly, maybe a book wiki warrior, but not a particularly intelligent one

[therealenemy]

I sold fish in the market from cold dawn until sunset, putting by coppers to stave off the winter, and I watched the man who sired me walk past with his son and heir with a fur around his shoulders. Choosing sweetmeats to eat after supper by the fire. And now that boy is dead. And his sister before him. And the heir that took his place. And now, now, now you remember I live. Now you wish to… suddenly to scatter the crumbs of your favour.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2022—) ✥ 2.08 "The Queen Who Ever Was" dir. Geeta Patel

[therealenemy]

“Beware the Ides of March”

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2.03 ⬩ 2.08

[therealenemy]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.01 | 2.08

[therealenemy]

on the subject of rhaenyra and alicent as an ouroboros, each ending up where the other began, in addition to their respective role reversals with religion and sacrifice we now have the final shots of the finale. it is now alicent who is free to run away, who is framed by nature in peace.

meanwhile, it is rhaenyra who is forced to remain behind, in a shot framed like the bars of a jail cell.

rhaenyra tells alicent that she cannot go with her- not that she does not wish to go with her- but because her part in this "was decided for me long ago." alicent has been freed from the shackles of viserys's wishes upon his death; rhaenyra has taken her place and is now chained to them.

[therealenemy]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON ❃ 2x06 "Smallfolk" dir. Andrij Parekh

[therealenemy]

Okay i know that hotd as a tv series makes a lot of questionable choices but i do feel like -given the material they had in hand- they're doing a good job of exploring themes in asoiaf universe. The smallfolk is very involved and their actions are swayed by each move the royalty from both sides take, and what made me genuinely think "oh, they kinds get it" was the speech Larys gave to Aegon II.

Larys is obviously very cunning, always preys on the downfall of everyone around him, tries to make alliances with whoever has power. His speech to Aegon about how he is now first and foremost his disability, and how he will remain in danger as long as he lives was just. Cripples are also bastards in their father's eyes, tyrion said. And he was right.

[therealenemy]

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY as AEGON II TARGARYEN S2E7 | The Red Sowing

[therealenemy]

jace confronting rhaenyra was the absolute highlight of this episode for me because it's been such a long time coming- this has been the undercurrent of the tension building between him and rhaenyra throughout this entire season, even though it's gone unspoken until now. it is so incredibly unfair to jace that rhaenyra has refused to talk with him about this, especially when it's clear that it's been tearing jace apart. he cannot turn a blind eye to the rumors the way rhaenyra does, the way she tries to insist he does. he is the one who has to live with people's derision and he is the one who will have to clean up the mess of his ascension when rhaenyra dies and his legitimacy is questioned. and he is the one who has to point out that she is undermining his single proof of his legitimacy that is the backbone of his entire claim to the throne, the thing he has used to assuage his own insecurity: his dragon. he is angry, and he is afraid, and he is right to be- this is a massive clusterfuck in the making. and rhaenyra clearly does not know how to handle this; she's clearly just been hoping she would never have to handle or address it, even with her own sons. so she just tells jace she has to do this even though it's stabbing him in the back. her argument is to avoid bloodshed; i'll be curious to see what emotions this stirs up in jace once it does not, in fact, avoid bloodshed and all of his fears about this are proven true.