Mzuark

There's been a thought rattling around in my head for a long time and I haven't had a good way to articulate it until now, so I'm planning to ramble for a bit.

Everything going on in the world right now, in Palestine, in Ukraine and Africa is a good reminder that the mass killing of humans isn't some archaic practice that went out of style a thousand years ago. There are real consequences for dehumanization and calling for one group or another to be wiped out. It starts small, as many things do, as just a little grain in your head that some people are just lesser or worse and thus you'd be okay if they weren't around you. I find that a lot of this rhetoric comes from pop culure, you see it in books, movies, anime, and video games. Especially when it comes to the fantasy genre. For anime, you have stuff like Goblin Slayer or Frieren where Goblins/Demons are little more than animals and need to be genocided for the betterment of society. Books, you have Orcs in Tolkien (Something I appreciate about ASOIAF is that Grrm doesn't do this and always treats the idea of a full on massacre like it's horrible). But video games is where it goes all out.

--Nerd Speak Below This Line--

I've been playing a lot of Elder Scrolls lately, which means I've become reaquinted with the lore, and one thing aout TES that's always been a little concerning to me is how many of the backstories end in genocide and displacement. The Nords, the strapping 6-7 feet tall beautiful white people came down from the north and killed all the snow elves nearly to the last, the Orc homeland of Orsinium has been sacked and destroyed multiple times scattering them across the land, the Redguards showed up and killed pretty much everyone they could find for miles before being happy to stop in the desert, and the Empire has essentially been engaged in an extermination war with the Elves (who aren't saints either) for thousands of years. Two events that I think are really disturbing are Pelinal Whitestrake and Tiber Septim's conquest of the Summerset Isles. Now I'll be brief: Pelinal is this uber badass Terminator from the future who had a bad habit of murdering elves so hard that he came home from war covered in blood. Which wouldn't be too bad if they didn't specify that he often wiped out civillian populations and even other races that aren't even involved just because they look like them. Tiber Septim was mad that the High Elves were able to fight off his Imperialist bullshit multiple times and ultimately got a superweapon to go kill them all horribly until they submitted. Both these characters are beloved and their victims get the old "They deserved it" routine. And yes, the backstory does "justify" the purges because the Elves are almost always cartoonishly evil, but still. TES tries to be morally gray but that's kind of a lie because when all we ever see is what was written by the winners, it starts to look like that's what we're supposed to takeaway.

--Nerd Speak Ends--

When you wake up in the morning and see a news program about a school or hospital being bombed, seeing someone say "They deserved it" even in regards to a fictional species hurts in a deep way. People are programmed to think this shit is a joke from a young age. And some react violently when you try and pull them out of that mentality. So yes, I don't like genocide. Even if it's happening to to a nonsense race of animal people.

Apparently the 14th Waffen SS was unique in that it was the sole branch of the Nazis that didn't do anything Nazi like, and never attacked the other Allies. Nope, just fought the communists.

How convenient.

Like the kind that made you stop and think for a second about how stupid the person advocating it is. For me, it's the classic "The biggest mistake in recent history was the Allies not pushing into Russia after the fall of Berlin."

There's just a level of imperialist arrogance and blood thirst in there that makes my skin crawl. The worst thing in human history was that the US didn't immediately betray the Soviets and wipe them out until they were sure communism was done for.

First of all, it's written in the most flowery and self aggrandizing way possible. The group is referred too as a "successful counter to Russian propaganda", meanwhile their actual sponsors and leaders are left notably unmentioned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAFO_(group)

What do they actually do? Oh they just post irrevent memes. NOT PROPAGANDA, memes. Nothing meant to be taken seriously of course lol.

There is a reception section, and a recognition section, but no "criticism" section. Surely there are people out there who don't support this group right? According to Wikipedia, there is not. Every pushback comes from the Russians, the vatniks, and the orcs. No one cares about the harassment or the slurs, at least no one who matters.

As you can see in this image, the way Wikipedia is set up you'd need some notable source that claims that the group is divisive in some way...except there are no notable sources because all of the approved media says they're the heroes.

If there was ever any doubt that the doge pfps had government/corporate backing here you go. You aren't even allowed to mention them in a negative context.

The entire "joke" is that the evil Chinese are spying on you and you should be afraid of them. At this point, I that every TV show over here that gets really popular is obligated to start blasting pure propaganda at the viewer.