#'capitalism seems inescapable - but so did the divine right of kings'

[hopeworth]

SUN COMING UP ON A DREAM COME AROUND ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM THE EMPIRE NOW SUN COMING UP ON A WORLD THAT’S EASY NOW ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW

#empire now #hozier #hozier unheard #its sooo ursula k le guin ‘we live in capitalism. it’s power seems inescapable. so did the divine right of kings’ #ace.txt

[salteytakesonmanga]

Normally I tend to agree with Zoro in these situations but I have to agree that Luffy is absolutely right here. You can’t just NOT go through the special entrance to start the special journey!

This is another personality trait that gets played for laughs but Luffy has a very keen sense of the emotional and symbolic importance of things like these. There are definitely times when his arbitrary decisions about “because it’s cooler that way” are patently ridiculous, but when it really matters this kind of emotional intelligence is crucial.

Humans need ritual, story, magic… all that jazz, to give their lives meaning. Luffy may not understand it in that way, but he does know that when you allow yourself to be impressed with the world around you, when you find things special and meaningful, your life is a lot more fun.

There’s another layer to this that is part of what makes Luffy so powerful. As Terry Pratchett has said, you need to believe in fun little lies like tooth fairies and Easter bunnies as practice for believing in the big lies, like Truth and Justice and Love and Freedom. When you put all these things together, you start to see how Luffy’s unwavering excitement for silly little rituals lets him believe in other things that should be impossible, like beating an Emperor or becoming the King of Pirates. Or finding the One Piece. And when you combine that with his Devil Fruit power…

#one piece #op ch101 #saltey takes on one piece #zoro #luffy #nami #usopp #sanji #roronoa zoro #monkey d luffy #bringing back the ursula k le guin quote #no reason #’we live in capitalism. its power seems inescapable. but then so did the divine right of kings’

[teaandinanity]

I am fairly sure I am just, PROFOUNDLY insufferable to deal with on occasion.

Like. I quoted Robert A. Caro's 'power reveals' at a friend on discord, but at least in that case I was just copying the actual quote from a website.

I also paraphrased Ursula K. Le Guin on capitalism in her National Book Award speech while talking to a coworker tho.

I just. Do that sometimes. I will go, 'oh, someone else had Good Words about this topic, I'm gonna use the Good Words at you.'

#in my defense tho my coworker was kind of like 'I don't know if we're ever escaping capitalism' #to which I think there is genuinely no better response than 'Ursula K Le Guin said something about that' #'capitalism seems inescapable - but so did the divine right of kings' #which is not quite the quote but does get the point across and I attributed it correctly and thus I got the Important Bits

[overthemushroomcave]

I just miss being 12 and having enough space in my pre internet knowing mind to create just for the sake of giving something life, without the notion of monetization or growing your socials. Idk if there's any coming back to that, maybe gotta wait til I'm 70 and for all this competitive facades to fall (hopefully)

#We live in a capitalism #Its power seems inescapable #So did the divine right of kings

[igottatho]

A new world is possible, my friends. Le Guin famously said: “The profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable; so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.”

We WILL free Palestine

#free palestine #palestine #gaza #south Gaza #Rafah #israel is an apartheid state #israel crimes #israel is a terrorist state #stop israel #boycott israel #Israel #to be neutral in the face of violence is to help the oppressor #tw dead body #TW dead children #TW gore #TW blood #TW extreme violence

[more-complicated]

In 100 years do you think they will look at this horrible loss of human life, and say what an awful thing of the past, we would never do something like this now. While the descendants of the same people are still traumatized. People all over the world still being persecuted. While everyone pretends there is not violence written into everyday acts. In the land you are standing on. The state you are living under. The capital afforded to you.

#what can you do? it is in those same every day acts those same small violences. and it will not be easy #they will never make it easy #we will see a free palestine. #we will see a fall of the us empire #if history has afforded us nothing it is that empires come crumbling down one way or another #i always think about that quote #capitalism seems inescapable. so did the divine right of kings. #dont rb #im just thinking .

[aceoflights]

So, what are everyones favourite Ursula K. Le Guin quotes? Please tell me

#i personally love this one: #“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable; so did the divine right of kings.” #ursula k le guin #ursula k. le guin #quote #quotes #ursula k le guin quotes #earthsea

[animentality]

#polls

[radiofreederry]

Happy birthday, Ursula K. Le Guin! (October 21, 1929)

An acclaimed author of science fiction and fantasy, Ursula K. Le Guin was born to an academic family in Berkeley, California. She began reading at a young age, and was particularly enchanted by genre fiction, including science fiction and fantasy, as well as myth and legend. Her writing career began in the 1950s, and she would write continuously throughout the rest of her life. Her best-known works include the Earthsea series of novels, The Lathe of Heaven, The Left Hand of Darkness, a science fiction exploration of gender, and The Dispossessed. A writer in the anarchist tradition, Le Guin's work often explored themes of society, gender, sexuality, and revolution. She received numerous awards for her work, including many Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. She died in 2018.

"We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings."

#birthdays #ursula k le guin

[alpaca-clouds]

The Power Of Media

I need do address one thing, because I see that kinda mindset creep up again and again.

Basically, under postings about utopian media, be it Star Trek, Solarpunk, or - heck - just bare Hopepunk, sometimes people will just go: "Media does not do shit. It does not change the world."

And that just is... demonstrably fault and a very defeatist attitude.

Now, one thing first: Yes, media on its own will not change the world. It will not. If you have this mindset, you are right in so far. We can have endless amounts of hopeful media and the world will not change from it.

But...

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words. - Ursula K. LeGuin

This quote of Ursula K. LeGuin is very powerful to me. Because it really captures the issue very well.

See. Right now we get bombarded with capitalist propaganda left and right. It already starts in school, we will often get it at home and obviously in media again and again.

It is so hard to escape, that to many it is hard to imagine that there ever could be anything else. I mean, we even have the issue within Solarpunk. When I read through those Solarpunk Anthologies, I will again and again find stories, that feature either capitalist worlds - or a world that has to be rebuild after the apocalypse. Because people really struggle imagining how it could be otherwise.

And this is why fiction is so important. Why Hopepunk is so important.

A lot of young people right now are able to see that the system is broken, that it has left them behind. Most young folks, who do not come from generational wealth, see that they will under the current system never own their own house. Their own retirement seems to be rather unlikely. And that is, if they do not die before from either the effects of climate change, from some pandemic through which we have to work because line needs to go up, or just in general because the health care system does not take care of them.

And these young people are willing to fight. They are. But right now they are only fighting against a system. They do not know what they fight for.

I know, for some this might sound like a small thing. But it is not. Especially not in a world, where more and more people are struggling with their mental health.

People need hope.

And again: No, it is not enough on its own. Just hopeful fiction on its own runs the danger of just being endless escapism.

We also need to offer mutual aid for each other. We also need to organize. And, yeah, we need to protest and actually get out there to fight.

But don't underestimate the power of fiction, when it comes to giving people something to fight for.

We know that media and stories have these powers. It is, after all, why those in powers dripfeed us the kinda stories that vilify those, who want to change the system. That tell us, that "everything is fine, okay, just trust the good billionaires" and what not. Because they understand this power.

And we should not leave this power to them along.

#solarpunk #lunarpunk #hopepunk #utopia #utopian fiction #the power of fiction #the power of media #hope is a dangerous thing #it only needs a spark #fighting climate change

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 21 October 1929, anarchist, feminist, poet and world-renowned sci-fi and fantasy novelist Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California. Le Guin produced a huge body of work, including seminal novels like The Dispossessed, and maintained her radical views right up until her death in 2018. And she was always keen to remind people not to lose hope: that however bleak the situation appears, we can make a difference. This came across in a particularly powerful way in her 2014 speech at the national book awards: “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.” We are very happy to be able to make available some of her little-known works in our online store, as well as a t-shirt featuring part of this quotation with permission from Le Guin's foundation. Proceeds help fund our work: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/ursula-k-le-guin https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2115255091992963/?type=3

[salteytakesonmanga]

Very annoyed dishonorable mention for changing this line from “I’m going to get him and break his nose” to this muddle.

Luffy always says exactly what he’s going to do, and then he always does exactly that. It’s part of the subtle magic of One Piece, it’s why the theorycrafters froth at the mouth over every single word in the most innocuous of phrasings, because Oda drops hints like this everywhere. And Luffy never lies, even unknowingly.

Arlong says his nose is unbreakable. Arlong says it’s impossible to break his nose. Zoro, the strongest member of the crew after Luffy, couldn’t put even a scratch on it. So when Luffy says he’s going to break it we’re meant to think “no way, how could he, Zoro couldn’t do it with a sword, Arlong is using it like a frickin harpoon, this is another one of Luffy’s wacky ideas.”

But what if Luffy could do it? What if Luffy could do something that everyone said and everyone believed was impossible? Wouldn’t that make you start to think… maybe something else that we were told was impossible could actually be possible?

#one piece #nami #yosaku #johnny #sanji #luffy #don’t mind me #just gonna leave this ursula k le guin quote here #’we live in capitalism. its power seems inescapable. but then so did the divine right of kings’ #no reason #i'm just saying #dishonorable mention

[statementlou]

my post yesterday about why I don't really care if Louis Tomlinson supports starbucks shocked me by actually circulating and getting notes and obviously I like validation and appreciation.... but I feel kind of weird about my big contribution to the topic being something that might come off as discouraging attempts to help Palestine. Feeling powerless in the face of such injustice is horrible and scary and traumatizing and while there are certain things that I do not think make much difference (like boycotting irrelevant targets), that's NOT how I feel about the situation in general! We CAN make a difference and help the Palestinian people! It can feel impossible to fight against all that power and propaganda and military might- but it has been done successfully over and over, colonialism has been destroyed in one place after another a hundred times in the last century, apartheid regimes have fallen, occupations have ended, because over and over, always, even all the military might in the literal world is less powerful than a united front of the PEOPLE. As Ursula K LeGuin said, "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings", and as Louis Tomlinson said "The power and magic comes from the people, you guys. Don't undermine your role in all of this" and "get off the 'gram and into the streets"!

Under the cut are things you can do that I believe actually directly impact the Palestinian people and the Israeli government, including some easy ones, and the key to a successful movement is to have every type of contribution, to have NUMBERS. However- it is also necessary to have people willing to do the actual work of fighting injustice, not just changing their consumer habits or yelling at people online. I strongly encourage people to explore becoming physically involved in activist work, and not to see it as yet another tiring obligation but rather as a way to help yourself feel less overwhelmed and exhausted. Feeling powerless and defenseless is a trauma that follows us into every corner of our lives, but standing up and working for change can not only save lives, but is good for your own mental health as well, I promise.

I can't make you an exhaustive list of resources, only tell you some tactics that I believe are actually useful. I'm not an expert or whatever, but I have been actively involved in social justice advocacy, activism, and direct action for over 20 years and am drawing on that history of both things that worked and were great and things that were not from my personal experiences. Thank you to @captainrayzizuniverse for helping me (but she didn't see the post any stupid things said by mistake are entirely on me), and especially for pointing out a big (typical white person) slip up, which was to almost forget the very first item on this list: Listen to, support, and amplify Palestinian voices!!! The whole starbucks issue wouldn't even exist if people just went by this single important guideline and did the things Palestinians were asking for rather than making up other things to do instead. In life altogether, and speaking as a disabled person god does this come up a lot: if you want to help someone, start by asking them what they need and then do that even if it isn't what you think they should want. Don't fucking wing it!! Join local groups organizing for Palestine: the people united are powerful, but only if they are united and working in large groups! Join a group! This is hard because... how? who? And I can't answer that for everyone but I can tell you that in the US JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace) is doing a huge amount of very accessible recruiting, you can just join (you don't need to be Jewish) and get involved straightaway in the great actions they're putting on. PYM (Palestinian Youth Movement) is not open to everyone to join but you should definitely follow them on SM to keep up on actions and maybe find ways to support. If you're a student I bet there is some kind of group at your school?

Go to protests: protest works, period. The general politician rule of thumb is that anyone who bothers to actually go out and march represents 10-100 voters. When they look at the numbers (like- '500-1000 people protested the most recent bill you signed') they do this math and they worry. But also honestly if it's something you can manage- it's good for you. It helps. Even if you just go alone and don't talk to anyone, being in a crowd of hundreds of people feeling the same things you are, caring as much as you do, it helps. If you can, yell along to the chants as loud as you can. Get fired up and use that energy to keep going and not despair!

Call and write officials: if you live in the US or UK this is HUGE. What I said above about how they count people at protests as standing for more people who didn't bother but agree? Same with phone calls for sure, it REALLY pressures them. Many orgs make this really easy- I get emails all the time with links to send a letter in a single click or click to call and all you have to do is read the script, get on some lists I guess? But many sites also have this feature, JVP does for example

Support BDS: the Palestinian led BDS have been doing the work of isolating and chipping away at Israel for 19 years and like I said, the actions of the masses only work if we are united behind a few strategic targets rather than all over the place; they have made this possible. It's good to avoid buying from the companies they target; even better to work on the big divestment campaigns. For example, student groups pressuring the big universities to divest from BDS targets echo the successful University divestment efforts that helped end apartheid in South Africa.

Send money: money helps, immediately and concretely, and again if we are many, each person doesn't have to do a lot. Do what you can spare, it all adds up. This has been painful with Gaza for sure, with millions donating but aid being blocked. I don't have The Answer but here's a group I found that actually seems to be getting aid in, and here's a spread sheet of gofundmes- note that people who have foreign passports do not have to pay the horrible border crossing fees, so you may wish to focus on funding those who don't have that privilege. this could maybe be better and there was some other stuff I wanted to say about doing activism to tie up the "activism as self care" thing from above and also bringing it back around to talk about Louis more but I'm tired and I'm hungry right now and this is a lot already. So. Bye lol sorry. send me asks if any of that is something you care about or want to hear

#yes the first Louis quote is kind of just me being silly I know he was referring to live music... but also he SAID IT #and those words have power regardless of the context and I believe it is an ethos he believes in #and the second thing is literally something he posted from an actual protest. my guy!! 🥰 #palestine #blah blah blah #starbucks discourse

[librarycards]

Nobody would dare to boil down Ursula Le Guin’s marvelous writing—all that fantasy, all that science fiction, poetry, essays, translations—into one idea. But in a pinch I’d pick two sentences from her 2014 National Book Award speech: “Capitalism[’s] power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings.” Fantasy and science fiction never meant escapism for Ursula Le Guin. The dragons of Earthsea and the reimagined genders of The Left Hand of Darkness were always lenses, lenses she ground in order to sharpen her readers’ focus on everyday life. Indeed, for Le Guin, there was no difference between the stories she invented and everyday stories about the institutions governing our world. The dragons of Earthsea and capitalism are woven from similar material: it is imagination all the way down. James Baldwin said not everything that can be faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed without being faced. The word for facing things in Le Guin is recognition, or you might even say re-cognition. Her characters—and readers—find themselves forced to think again. When they do so, what had seemed a fundamental truth about their universe turns out to be anything but. [...] Here is what I learned from Le Guin: Imagination is a beautiful and a shadowy builder. Over the generations, it supplied language, gods, music, arts, pretty much everything we sum up as culture. But imagination’s power comes at a familiar price: all power corrupts. Looking at those delightful surfaces painted onto the world by past acts of imagination, it can become hard to catch sight of what is really there, underneath. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein has a wonderful phrase: “a picture held us captive.” It applied to divine right of kings at one time, and may apply now to capitalism. Ending a picture’s captivity involves cracking common sense, and that is where some of my favorite writers come in. Jane Austen’s wit helped her readers peer beneath the surface of Regency England’s marriage market; Mark Twain’s Huck Finn tore aside the racial lies of 19th century America. During the Nixon era, Le Guin’s fantasy and her science fiction did the same: she pushed aside captivating pictures and let the light shine in. Then she returned to Earthsea decades later and did it all over again.

John Plotz, Dragons Are People Too: Ursula Le Guin’s Acts of Recognition.

#john plotz #readings #writing #imagination #speculation #ursula k le guin #speculative fiction #mine

[theburialofstrawberries]

The thing I am a little pissed at the writers room for -- though I can’t be too pissed, because it’s the genre they’ve selected and they’re executing it perfectly -- is that politically, pedagogically, we could use a little less “the cycle of abuse, like capitalism, is impossible to thwart” and a little more “its power seems inescapable; so did the divine right of kings” sort of energy

#I don't see any new beginnings at the end of this season but I would so so like to be wrong #succession

[fixing-bad-posts]

[Image description: a single-panel comic. A man in a coffee shop converses with the barista. The barista says, "I'll take care of you." The man responds, "It's rotten work." The barista says, "Not to me. Not if it's you." A random woman in line behind the man at the counter says, "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings."]

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original post

#i think this might only be funny to me #comic strip #anne carson #ursula le guin #absurdism #absurdist #fixingbadposts #fixing-bad-posts