I Know The Media In This Country Is All Propaganda

drives me up a wall living in a very very red district, like “no democrat is ever going to win any local election, let alone a real leftist” district, like “our school board members ran on who was the most anti-mask” red, like “I pass white supremacist signs on the way to buy weed” red

and being in the local leftist community and the guy who runs the anarchist book club and the lady who helps keep the warming shelters open and the people who marched on city hall when a local business was getting death threats for having a drag show are all members of a discord and we get on this discord and have frank discussions about how best to vote

the people who do the protests and the mutual aid and all the real work

going “okay, they’re both fascists, but this one lacks ambition and seems happy to just glide in the position” or “they both suck, but this one can be reasoned with if you frame it patriotically enough” like we don’t even have a democrat to vote for. we know what a vote is. we know what we hope accomplish with it. we know what it can do, and we know what it can’t.

and going from those discussions to here where people think that your vote is some kind of fucking??? enabling maneuver??? as if someone isn’t going to end up in that seat regardless of what you do???

we didn’t build this system, we just live in it. we’re just trying to survive. a vote isn’t a statement of your values, it’s not an endorsement, it’s not a marriage contract, it’s a strategic play you make to keep alive.

the biggest mistake I see leftists making is overestimating their own popularity. “well but everyone would be leftist if they just-“ no, stop, 1) you can’t possibly know that 2) everyone will not just

Please for the love of GOD stop thinking about voting as if it’s an endorsement, or that playing the electoral politics game by withholding a vote will ever get you anywhere. Voting is a a tool. When you vote, you are choosing your enemy. Democrats are a less formidable enemy. It’s that simple. Biden’s NLRB has given huge wins to the labor movement, also known as the only realistic force for liberation we have available to us (which will include ending genocide). Stop making it harder for everyone just so you can feel some bs moral superiority. Tell them you’re not gonna vote for them, make them look as bad and evil as possible. But as a simple practical matter, why the fuck would you risk letting things get objectively worse? Fixing this rotten country will take a long time, and any time republicans gain power they use it to roll back another ten years of progress. Why lay down and let openly criminal fascists ransack the country during this crucial time for the planet? You can say there’s no difference between them, but the republicans are just vastly more dangerous. We can’t afford to go any further right than we already are. Electoral politics is a distraction from real political organizing, but forfeiting your ability to set more favorable rules of the game (i.e. by keeping the worst of the worst out of power) is a foolish and self-defeating strategy.

genocide joe and the democratic party do not give one single shit about how you feel voting for him or if you think he is the lesser evil. every strident social media post and attendance at a protest and deep seated personal convictions and letter to your congressman are adults from charlie brown going Bwa Bwa Bwa to them. you speak one language they can hear and that's the ballot box. & if you vote for genocide joe, what they'll hear is "it doesn't matter how much the left whines, we can openly salivate for genocide and they'll still vote for us." if this doesn't lose them votes it is a green light for every democratic candidate in the future to take the exact same stance, forever. how can anyone who claims to care about electoral politics not understand that

festen as inspiration for succession makes total sense and i've heard so much said about succession's style, but to me, these deliberate zoom-ins, the messy handheld mock doc type stuff, it all conveys a desperation to capture the moment as it is, since the present is the only reality, since the past as a rule is always ambiguous and unreal. a home movie but (like festen) the parts that are very unfortunately happening right now. the past has and can be rewritten but what actually takes place in succession as we see it cannot be refuted because we're witnesses. our participation is definitely a part of this. and the camera knows all of this, its work enhances this sense of fleetingness. there's such a sense of now, of presentness because the present is all we have to make sense of in this story.

Night

hello!

The effects of Tom & Shiv's relationship on the main plot

On a rewatch, I found it really crazy how much this dysfunctional relationship––which initially seemed to be nothing more than a b-plot about infidelity and a reversal of traditional marriage dynamics––has sneakily grown into the primary driver of events in the plot. And it started way before the S3 betrayal.

Many cite the beach scene from the S2 finale as one of the most emotionally cathartic scenes in the show. And I totally agree––its fire. BUT, I also think its larger story repercussions are often overlooked; especially how it basically caused the entire S3 civil war plot. Lets just run down the cause and effect:

1. When Tom finally stands up for himself, Shiv is sent into a bit of a guilt-spiral, confronted with just how awful she's been to him. She is reminded how much she NEEDS him, and that she has been taking his support for granted

2. The two main candidates for the sacrifice are Tom and Kendall. Logan says as much when he consults Shiv, and basically asks her to choose between them. If Tom hadn't shared his feelings with her MOMENTS before, she likely would have continued the objective/heartless mindset she showed towards him earlier in the episode. But, because her mistreatment of him is in the forefront of her mind, she decides to protect Tom. This could be read as a change of heart, but i think it's more accurate to say that she does it to make herself feel better; to mend her cognitive dissonance and affirm to herself that she IS a good person after all.

3. Her decision to protect Tom also serves as the final nail in the coffin for her succession aspirations. Logan says that this is the type of decision that she would need to be making if she were to replace him, and the way she frames it as "I cant choose" but also "please not Tom, for me" signifies a shift in the once-equal dynamic between her and Logan. He follows her wishes because he loves her/she's his favorite, and not because he respects her strategic opinions. I think this moment feeds into his complete lack of respect for her in S3.

4. Of course, Shiv's protection of Tom is what puts Kendall under the axe. I think it's clear that Kendall had no intention of going civil-war-mode before Logan deemed him as the sacrifice, and made the NRPI comment about the boy. Neither of these things would have happened without Tom dumping his emotions on Shiv

5. The beach confrontation is also what gives Tom more independence going into S3, tipping the relationship in his favor for a while until it's completely turned on its head in Italy.

I just think it's so cool that the seeds of an entire season's worth of story are sewn in one little scene of emotional confrontation. The Tom/Shiv dynamic has been just as impactful as the one between Logan and Kendall imo, and it's really exciting that the story has such unexpected engines of conflict––and that they all weave around each other in such beautiful ways.

Best show ever guys :,)

so much of kendall and shiv's sisterly animosity is based on kendall never getting to be daddy's little girl and shiv never being his #1 boy... makes you ponder

found this weird bug digging through my trash. anybody know if it's venomous? what should i do with it?

funny post however you referred to a neurotransmitter as a 1:1 determinant of a certain mood or affective state so i shan't be reblogging