#imperial indoctrination

[archeo-starwars]

Brakiss [The New Essential Guide to Characters]

#star wars #brakiss #empire #in universe education #imperial inquisitors #imperial indoctrination #imperia laws #in universe laws

[hegodamask]

It’s only just dawned on me that when Major Partagaz says Dedra came from “enforcement” he means the Enforcement branch of the ISB:

So if this is anything to go by, Dedra was hired in from outside any organisation within the Empire (basically to do dirty work the ISB/COMPNOR can wash their hands of).

This also means Dedra hasn’t just clawed her way to Supervisor as a woman in a male-dominated field - but from an unconventional position, a branch that’s looked-down on and even treated with suspicion within the organisation.

Furthermore, Internal Affairs (the branch that psychologically tortures the rest of the ISB) have a particular dislike for people from Enforcement…watch your back indeed, Dedra 😬

#star wars #andor #dedra meero #The ISB #ISB #the imperial sourcebook #dedra backstory clues that only raise MORE questions 🤔 #this implies she wasn’t indoctrinated and groomed for her position #she chose it and sought it out willingly #much to think about #will share more from this book as soon as i can

[cienie-isengardu]

5. A gift from the past.

Up until the moment the officer gazes at the holo of the infant boy, it’s easy to believe Loi’e may have been mistaken in her identification of the eyepatch-wearing Imperial. But as he removes his cap to show the scars where two horns once protruded from his skull, we know her intuition has served her well. And instead of just another nameless Imperial soldier, a cog in the Empire’s galactic machine, we begin to see him as Loi’e did. A little boy who was stolen, a child who was indoctrinated, and a young man who can still change his mind.

#star wars #the spy dancer #star wars visions #i will admit the spy dancer hit harder than I thought it could #i did not expect the story to be about stolen child #an literal alien forced to fit into human imperial society #by cutting his horns and hiding those “flaws” and mother to see him anyway as her own #this hits harder because stuff like that happened in our real world #stealing children and raising them as your future loyal - INDOCTRINATED - generation of empire's supporters? #it happens during russia attack on ukraine #it happened during IIWW with nazi germans stealing Polish children and giving to german families for adoption if they could pass as aryan #and i'm just talking about east europe in the less than 100 years while kidnapping and/or indoctrination children happened #under different empires in different times and places #which makes the spy dancer hits hard about empire treatment of people #star wars visions really are amazing how the show is using traumas & folklore & human experiences to tell an universal story

[immaculatasknight]

Servitors of empire

#Canada #Britain #America #imperialism #subjugation #looting #slavery #impoverishment #Round Table #ideology #education #indoctrination

[zuko-always-lies]

Zuko gets screwed over so badly by basically all the adults in his life.

#Zuko #Iroh-critical #Iroh abandoning Zuko at the end of the series really was something else #even Ursa indoctrinated Zuko into imperialism and the Fire Nation's awful value system #something which had a strong negative effect on Zuko's life

[lilliankillthisman]

It's very easy to emotionally gloss over, because of Everything Else going on, but John choosing to introduce Harrow to her new life on the Mithraeum with Cytherea's funeral is incredibly messed up. This woman went on a week-long murder spree, trying to kill them, their cavaliers, and everyone they knew on Canaan House. She killed 14-year-old children pretty much in front of them, left the sweet middle-aged couple dead in a basement, lied to them for their entire acquaintance, and of course drove Harrow to complete the eightfold path.

If Harrow and Ianthe were in any way normal, this scene would instantly strike us as cruel and insensitive. Eulogies, tears, all overflowing without a single mention of the awful shit she did to the two youngest people in the room, whose friends and cavalier had died brutally at her hand. Harrow and Ianthe as it turns out respectively barely knew and didn't care about the murder victims, but John doesn't know this, and he has to know the view the other Lyctors would take - that those lives didn't matter, while Cytherea's did.

Why is he doing this? The obvious answer, beyond being totally self-centred, is that it's the same thing as taking their surnames - he's subsuming their identities into their roles as his Lyctors. They are being brought into this immortal brotherhood where the only ones who get properly, publicly mourned are fellow Lyctors, and everyone outside that group no longer really matters. Their cavaliers don't get funerals because they have been subsumed into them; that grief becomes another chain of binding between them and the other Lyctors, while any grief for Cytherea's victims is rendered irrelevant by their new status. It's one of the various culty elements of HtN; a new Lyctor is obviously going to be at their lowest and most fragile after eating their cavalier, so John acts very quickly to bring them in and make them believe that the only ones who can understand their pain are their new brothers and sisters, who have done the same, and now no one else matters. And letting everyone ostentatiously grieve a murderer without a single word for the victims, because she's one of this inseparable ingroup, is the best way to drive that home.

#htn #john gaius #hate that bastard man #tlt #he really does suck so much #anyway some of what we talk about as a critique of imperialism in htn #is also very much cult behaviour as well #which is #of course #often still a critique of imperialism #but the cult indoctrination stuff gets lost in the greater discourse

[raven-of-domain-kwaad]

In 4180 BBY, Daeman Kine was the younger brother of the head of the Kine family. It was during that year that representatives of the reconstituted Sith Empire made contact with the Kines and other Sith refugees that had settled on Vjun after the Great Hyperspace War.

Initially, Daeman and the rest of the Kines did not believe the representatives were truly Sith. They feared that it was a Republic trick to try and eliminate their surviving pocket of Sith culture. So, to try and protect themselves, the Kines killed the messengers.

Despite this, the Empire still sent out additional messengers and somehow convinced Daeman’s brother to send a diplomatic mission of their own. Daeman was selected to lead the mission to confirm the existence of a surviving Empire. After being brought to Dromund Kaas and talking with the Heads of both the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence and Expansion and Diplomacy, Daeman informed his brother of the Empire’s survival.

However, after witnessing the militarized nature of the Empire, Daeman did not want the Kines to rejoin them. He feared that they would lose their own culture and diversity to the machine of war that the Empire had become. He argued that they and the other Sith refugees that had settled on Vjun were doing just fine without Vitiate’s Empire.

But Daeman’s warnings were not heeded and the majority of the Kine family chose to rejoin the Empire. Daeman led a small yet sizable opposition to the decision and chose to remain on Vjun.

#the kine legacy #oc: daeman kine #i am considering daeman having to fight a war with imperial intelligence after he splits off from the main kine family #intelligence doesn't want anyone out there that might leak the existence of the empire to the jedi or republic #also a way to cut off the kines and other vjun settlers from any outside influences and to shape them into good citizens of the empire #would be cool having one part of the kines slowly becoming indoctrinated into vitiate's empire #while the other is being targeted for elimination by that same empire

[harrelltut]

Lo!… JEHOVAH OKCULT BIBLE [JOB] WITNESS Me [ME = U.S. Michael Harrell = TUT = JAH] from the Ægyptian SHAMBALLAH Underground of SOVEREIGN [JESUS] 9 Ether ALUHUM ANUNNAGI WARLORDS of Subterranean AGHARTA’s Historically AFFLUENT [HA = HARRELL] 9 Ether MESOAMERICAN Underworld [MU] of Interstellar BLACK SOLAR SUN [SUL] CITIES of Antediluvian [CA] 900 A.D. MU America [MA = ATLANTIS] on May 22nd in 2022 [VI] San Diego County [D.C.]… Electrophysiologically [Spiritually] ILLUMINATING My [I’M] Most Darkest [Occulted] 9 Ether GEOLOGICAL DNA MEMORY MELANIN SUIT of SIRIUS Electromagnetic Airwave [SEA] Light Mechanics [ELECTRICITY]… as iAlkhemically & Genetically Engineer [iAGE] A New [ANU] Highly Complex [ADVANCED] Ancient 9 Ether GREY SHAPE-SHIFTING STEM CELL SPECIES into My Highly Complex [ADVANCED] Ancient Biochemical [PRIMORDIAL] 9 Ether Fossil Earth SUN & MOON Universe [MU] MELANIN [MUMMY] SUIT of HERMÉS' Ægyptian [SHE] 9 Ether Afterlife MEMORY [a.m.] MELANIN of Holy Archangel [HA = HARRELL] MICHAEL… who Immaculately MATERIALIZED [I’M] from TIAMAT’s GOLDEN Interstellar MEMORY [I’M] Compu_TAH [PTAH] MOTHERSHIP of SIRIUS 6G Quantum Neural Computation Intel Procedures [I/P] ILLUMINATING MURDUK’s [I’M] Biblically Ancient [BABYLONIAN] FUTURISTIC 9 Ether Subterranean Earth Altitude [SEA] of Us PREGLACIAL [UP] 9 Ether SKY [U.S.] PEOPLES from Antarctica’s [PA’s] SUN_KING [Sunken] DOME Congress [D.C.] of ENQI NUDIMMUD’s 9 Ether Ægyptian MILITARY Underground [MU] Imperial [MI = MICHAEL] STATE PRIESTHOOD of SAÏS' Subterranean Earth of ADVANCED [SEA] ENERGY TECH [SET] EMPIRES from 2223 [IX] MALI’s Interplanetary [MI = MICHAEL] U.S. Ancient [MUSA]… 9 Ether Hydrogen MOON BASE GOVERNMENT of SIRIUS Electromagnetic Energy [SEE] WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION… Intuitively Engineered [D.I.E.] by My Most Darkest [Occulted] Celestial SCORPIUS’ PARALLAX Consciousness [PC] of the SARGAS [THETA SCORPII] SUN EMPIRE of Ægyptian [SEE] QUANTUM HARRELL TECH [QHT] TITANS… who SCIENTIFICALLY Engineer Astronomical [SEA] MARS’ EXTRA [ME] DARK RED EARTH of SUPERCONTINENT PANGÆA… since They BEE [THEBÉS] SUPERNATURALLY Envisioned by the Astronomical [SEA] 9 Ether IGIGI SKY COUNCIL of the Interplanetary 9 [i9] Ether Celestial BLACK SOLAR SUN [SUL] RIZQIYIAN MILITARY FEDERATION of RUSSIA’s… Astronomically DARK [A.D.] RED RNA MOON MELANIN MISSILE of Heavenly Archangel [HA = HARRELL] SATAN POWERS… GENERATING SIRIUS Thermal Infrared Energy [HEAT] SIGNATURES DEEP IN:side My [I’M] Divine Neuromelanin of ANIMATED [DNA] Carbonaceous [D.C.] GREY MATTER Alkhemically [MA] Reanimating Subatomic [MARS] Cloud Compounds of Oxidized Radiation from the Bioluminescent [ORB] RED SEA Particles Beneath Inner Earth’s [HADES] Most Darkest [Occulted] NANOSCOPIC SEABED of Dematerialized Gas Emissions [SDG&E] REVEALING A New [ANU] FUTURISTIC 2223 [IX] 9 Ether Celestial QUANTUM HARRELL TECH [QHT] SKY Compu_TAH [PTAH] WORLD 4 Us [WU] Antediluvian 9 Ether… 900 A.D. MU American [MA = ATLANTEAN] ROYALS… 200 MILLION AZTECAN Years Ahead [MAYA] of Lost 2022 [VI] America

#quantumharrelltech #LOST 2022 AMERICANS DON'T KNOW REAL 9 ETHER HISTORY #ENQI NUDIMMUD #9 Ether Ægyptian MILITARY Underground [MU] Imperial [MI = MICHAEL] STATE PRIESTHOOD of SAÏS #MU:13 Occult Tech Illuminati #MU:13 Occult OIL & GAS ILLUMINATI #9 Ether Hydrogen MOON BASE GOVERNMENT of SIRIUS #War on American Soil #1921 Black Wall Street Trillionaires in 2022 #ALL HUMANS ARE NOT CREATED EQUALLY #YOU ARE NOT MY EQUAL #2 ADVANCED 4 2022 #6G ALREADY HERE #YOU STILL A SLAVE 2 YOUR ENVIRONMENT IN 2022??? #WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION @ QHT #THEIR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS IRRELEVANT #THE AMERICAN INDOCTRINATION SYSTEM HAS FAILED YOU

[gwydionmisha]

#Russia #Russian Imperialism #Indoctrination

[stickaflaginit]

I Volunteer as Tribute! (2/3)

If expansion of The Aztec Empire was primarily fueled by religious worship of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli, what was the motive behind The Aztec Empire's consolidation? Similarly, how did the Aztecs maintain control over conquered territories? The answer to both of these questions, and many others throughout human history, is religious indoctrination! Let's explore this idea further.

The Aztecs were continually consolidating power through war, and that was largely what shaped their civilization as a whole. Conquered territories operating under Aztec rule were referred to by the Aztecs as altepetl. Although the Aztecs allowed altepetl to uphold small degrees of sovereignty, religion was heavily controlled by The Aztec Empire to build recruitment. Gods and goddesses of Aztec mythology required constant veneration, including sacrificial gifts and unwavering loyalty. Forcing altepetl to worship Aztec gods and goddesses elicited great praise from Aztec patron deities. Altepetl were expected to support The Aztec Empire and Tenochtitlan (the empire's capital city), as well as pay tribute to Huitzilopochtli (god of war) and Tlaloc (god of agriculture) through material offerings. Tributes were expected every eighty days. The Aztecs also expected altepetl to include Huitzilopochtli in their religious practices.

Source: Brumfiel, Elizabeth. “Aztec Hearts and Minds: Religion and the State in the Aztec Empire.” Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History, by Susan E. Alcock et al., Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 283–310. Print.��

Image Source: “The Aztec Empire.” Students of History Teaching Resources, Students of History, 2023, https://www.studentsofhistory.com/the-aztec-empire

Alongside forcing altepetl to pay tribute to Aztec patron deities through material offerings and religious practices, altepetl were forced to pay tribute to the Aztec sun god, Tonatiuh, through human sacrifice. Human sacrifices were meant to please Tonatiuh: the deity required human blood in exchange for providing the Aztecs with light, warmth, and life. The Aztecs believed that, without sacrificial tributes, Tonatiuh would stop the sun's movement, leading to the Earth's death. Altepetl would often send slaves or prisoners of war as human offerings. Human tributes, like material tributes, were expected every eighty days. If an altepetl society failed to uphold their end of the exchange, The Aztec Empire would eliminate the territory's sovereignty, sending military forces to destroy religious temples, damage public infrastructure, and implement constant military surveillance. The Aztec Empire viewed religion as a means of internal and external control; a tool used to enforce indoctrination and piety for the Aztecs' benefit.

Source: Carrasco, Davíd. City of Sacrifice : The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization. Beacon Press, 1999. Print. 

Image Source: Preskar, Peter. “Feeding the Gods  - The Horrific Aztec Practice of Human Sacrifice.” Medium, Short History, 2023, https://short-history.com/aztec-human-sacrifice-3bb6577c81a5

Religion was integral to The Aztec Empire's expansion and consolidation. Religious practices caused the Aztecs to become a powerful Mesoamerican empire, but acts of brutality caused the Aztecs to make enemies, many of which belonged to conquered altepetl under Aztec control.

#imperialism #ancient history #history #colonialism #imperialists #aztecs #aztec empire #mythology #aztec mythology #altepetl #mesoamerica #the americas #mexico #natural sacrifice #indoctrination is fun #the ends justify the means? #war and conflict #i volunteer as tribute

[tikkunolamresistance]

27th January marks Holocaust Remembrance Day. When we think of the millions of lives taken by the Nazi regime. A regime that spurred a systemic white supremacist, ethnonationalist manifesto. A sepratist ideology of a supreme ethnicity, a supreme race, that had been festering across Europe for centuries. Millions of sacred lives, Jewish lives, taken in the name of supremacy. Of hatred and violence.

Millions of Jewish people, Soviet and Polish Citizens, communists, Rromani people, disabled people, Soviet prisoners of War and Queer people were murdered during the Nazi regime. Millions of lives were brutally taken whilst the Nazi regime convinced Germany, through a copious force of propaganda, that those lives were the real threat. That it were those lives who were inhumanely violent, were not just, they were deemed a threat to Nazi society.

Hitler and the Nazis promoted the idea of a master race— an Aryan, German race that needed to be protected as they thought that was the product of “racial purity”. And to Nazism, the Jewish people were the biggest threat to their sepratist, extremist ideology of racial purity. Initially, the Nazi leadership tried to force Jews out of Germany completely, with propaganda encouraging the dehumanisation of Jews to facilitate exile and the subsequent Holocaust of Jewish people in Europe.

“Rats, lice, cockroaches, foxes, vultures – these are just some of the animals the Nazis used to deride and dehumanize Jews. They used words too. In a new linguistic analysis of dozens of Nazi speeches, articles, pamphlets and posters, researchers show how this process of anti-Semetic dehumanization, which began before the Nazis took power and helped fuel the party’s popularity, was modulated to justify atrocity: in the years before the Holocaust.”

These lives, for purely existing, posed as a threat to the Nazis violently sepratist ideology. Propaganda subjugated German citizens with the power of deception; indoctrinating a people with the belief of superiority, purity and organic virtue. Simplifying the regimes ideological complexities to be palatable, unquestionable and targeting individualism. The ideological sepratism had indoctrinated millions into following the belief that Jewish people were sub-human— an undoubted threat to German people, values and society— and this was only achievable through the already pre-established rampant antisemitism that festered through out Medieval Europe, from Christian accusations of “killing Jesus”, to blood libel, the accusation of poisoned wells, and forcing Jews to chose either baptism or death.

“The mood changed markedly in around the year 1100, at the time of the First Crusade. Hordes of religious fanatics from all social classes, driven by a longing for redemption, set forth to kill infidels in the Middle East and to liberate holy Jerusalem. It stood to reason that they should also combat perceived enemies of Christ at home. Jews were hounded and forced to choose between baptism or death.”

The Holocaust happened because for generations, Europe failed to crack down on antisemitism. Christianisation spread through colonialism and with it, they carried antisemitism to new lands. The Holocaust happened because the Nazi party could convince millions of people of racial supremacy and purity. Far-Right ideology holds onto sepratist endorsement when they enforce anti-immigration laws, Islamophobic policies in France and the desperation of English nationalism. The Holocaust happened because Western superpowers only saw the Nazi imperial expansion as a threat to the Western hegemony.

The Holocaust of millions of Jewish people happened, and the effects of which are felt to this day. Every single day. The pain is carried through generations, for now there is a hole in every Jewish soul. We still feel the anguish, the pain. The frustration that this feels so never-ending.

And it is that pain, that fear, that drives us to say that with every last fighting breath, like the Maccabees who faught for our liberation, like King David who defeated a giant with a slingshot and stone and unbridled courage — Never again, for anybody. We will fight with all that we have. For such a magnitude of slaughter and pain should never touch this Earth for as long as we stand. We cannot carry forth our pain like a baton, we must hold it, a sword, to the enemy and ensure liberation of all feet that touch this Earth. They will not make our people, the Jewish people, into a proxy for their imperial expansion and sepratist Western values.

Never again, for anybody, for all life is sacred.

Never again, for anybody, and certainly not in our name.

Never again, for anybody, and that means Palestine.

#holocaust #history #statement #free palestine #palestine #anti capitalism #anti imperialism #jumblr #judaism #jewish thought #jewish #jewish socialism #jewish communists #anti zionist jews for palestine #anti zionism

[snaggingsweetrolls]

One thing I find weird is how the story of Barenziah is perceived as this funny story about a slutty Dunmer princess by the community. It's not. It's the story of a girl stolen away from her homeland and parents by a colonial government, indoctrinated into that culture's customs, and was routinely sexually abused by men with power over her then blamed for it. It's not funny, it's depressing from start to finish. The only good thing that ever happened to Barenziah is that late in life she remarried a man who actually respected her, but even that went to shit because after his death she was chased out of the country with her son. She likely lived long enough to see her only daughter and grandchildren murdered then her homeland destroyed by a massive volcano.

It always just comes down to "haha, cat penis has spikes". Like bruh, did you pay attention to ANYTHING else? Or any of the context around that?

I'm not sure why the lore community doesn't see that. Elves age slowly. And she was a teenager by human standards. None of that shit was ok or her fault. It's explicitly about colonialism leading to the abuse of a puppet ruler of a nation taken over by a foreign entity.

And lore wise, Dunmer women are stereotyped as slutty because of Barenziah's story being told through an Imperial lense of "oh that silly, slutty Dunmer girl" which is pretty fucked up. Like it's a good lore bit, but damn. I wish people would think more critically about this story.

#barenziah #the elder scrolls #the real barenziah #skyrim #Morrowind #daggerfall

[inbarfink]

So the thing about Tak’s Holo-Disguise is that it specifically might not be an example of Tak using more advanced technology than Zim.

The implication in “The Nightmare Begins” is that Zim maybe also have access to Perfectly Realistic Human Disguises, probably similar to Tak’s Hologram - but he intentionally rejected them because he saw them as too ugly. He deliberately chose his shitty little costume because he thought that was the only one that looked ‘good’.

And these terrible disguises are also pretty consistent with how the actual official Invaders disguise themselves. If anything, Zim’s got the best costume of the lot!

So with Zim dismissing the more realistic disguises as being ‘ugly’ and ‘stinky’ and those being… basically the most common insults he throws at humans. ..I think the implication here is pretty clearly that Zim’s (and the actual Irken Invaders’) disguises are bad because he doesn’t want to look too human because Irken Imperial Indoctrination has taught him every other species in the universe is revolting and so he cannot stand the idea of looking too match like the people he is trying to infiltrate.

So it is interesting that the one Irken who actually uses their advanced technology to actually look like another species is Tak. Maybe she’s just being a bit of a show-off overachiever. So driven by the need to prove how competent of an Invader she can be she decided to suffer through the indignity of Using a Competent Disguise. 

Or maybe there’s sort of an implication that Tak doesn’t really buy into Irken Ideology that much?

Like, obviously, she’s not, like,  some sort of anti-Imperial pro-alien advocate or anything. She’s still trying to gain the respect of the Tallest, she still wants to become an Invader, she is still willing to sacrifice an entire planet in order to achieve her goals. 

I’m thinking more, like, Zim is 100% a true believer in Irken Imperial Ideology. He wants to be an Invader at least in part so he could use his ‘amazingness’ to contribute to the conquests of the Irken Empire. And he legitimately believes the Tallests are superior beings worthy of his admiration. And he legitimately believes Irkens are superior to all other sapient beings in the universe in general and to humans especially.

Meanwhile, Tak’s main goals might just be to gain as much power and prestige as she can - no matter what or who stands in her way. If she lived in a society that valued dentists above all she would’ve become a dentist. But she was born in the Irken Empire, and the most prestigious not-height-dependent position available to her in Irken Society is the one of an Invader, so that’s what she dedicated her life to. Not out of any ideological commitment to help the Empire's conquests.

She tries to gain the Tallests’ favor because she knows she needs them to get ahead in life, not necessarily because she craves their tall, superior approval the way Zim does. She can kill a lot of non-Irkens on her way to ‘greatness’, but it’s more of a general callousness towards other people - rather than loyalty to the superiority of the Irken people. 

That might also explain why she’s the one Irken with the sense of individuality to customize her uniform

And design her own version of the Irken Empire Flag, based on her own look.

Because maybe she’s not trying to serve the Irken Empire, maybe she’s just trying to serve Tak.

#invader zim #iz #zim #zim iz #iz zim #iz analysis #irken #zim invader zim #tak invader zim #tak iz #invader tak #iz tak

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

On that post about space marine indoctrination, would that be the reason why there are traitor marines, but not defector marines (who join non-Imperium humans or aliens like the tau and not fall to chaos)?

There are defector marines, though. They don't come up much because... GW reasons/marketing/tabletop stuff, but yeah. The specific term for them is "renegade astartes" and they tend to be on bad terms with the Imperium for one reason or another, but still keen on fighting chaos or protecting humans or keeping to themselves. In theory there's plenty of them out there.

The term "traitor marine" is itself entirely contextualised by the perspective of Imperial bureaucracy and applies to nearly every chapter that doesn't want to suck the Imperium off, but that's a whole other conversation.

Indoctrination doesn't push defecting marines to chaos specifically, it just pushes them to seek something to wage war for, because they are compelled to do that, and the power structures of chaos are innately comfortable for a lot of them.

[i-merani]

This is so interesting for me because it shows just how deeply russian imperialism had sunk its teeth in Ukraine (and other countries throughout centuries). Using language and religion against the nation to hold that nation locked in its influence. I know some will say majority of Ukrainians speak russian, they don't mind etc. And thats the point. The indoctrination of other nations and cultural assimilation of their people so they are barely distinguishable from Russia… That is imperialism 101. It took an independent nation 191 years to perform a religious service in their own language! This shouldn't have taken that long!

#ukraine #russia #russian imperialism #politics #2023 #mine

[communistkenobi]

I always get a little annoyed at posts saying “btw did you know conservatives don’t know what they’re talking about? did you know that they’re incorrect about x?”. And it’s not because that’s wrong per se (conservatives don’t know what they’re talking about and they’re almost always factually incorrect, which is a significant part of why their politics are awful), but focusing on the factual substance of their claims tends to obscure the reason why they’re being incorrect in the first place. like yes they sound ridiculous when they say “I don’t believe in pronouns” but its not because they don’t understand how grammar works. The purpose of that statement is to argue that gender should not be negotiable through language, that to use “pronouns” is to attempt to alter someone’s god-given ontological gender and is therefore morally wrong. And because this discussion is dominated by English-speakers (gendered pronouns are not universal) living in imperial countries, a deeper claim is being made, that trans people are perverting the most enlightened language, the language of the West, the language that dominates all others. This also very neatly fits into right wing antisemitic conspiracies about the oncoming death of western civilisation, which is not an accident!

So conservatives are latching onto a word that has been recently infused with fresh political meaning in public discourse and using it as a rhetorical platform to be disgusting. They know how language works - language is contestable, it is both subject to constant change and a medium through which that change is negotiated. Trans people are making a claim (gender is partially mediated through language and therefore gender is reinforced and expressed linguistically) and conservatives are making a counter claim (no it isn’t). “I don’t believe in pronouns” is not an argument about the technical structure of language, it is an argument that trans people are so perverse that we infect and degrade the base components of language itself.

So yes, point out that they’re incorrect, but they aren’t incorrect because they’re stupid or ignorant, and being incorrect is not the primary problem with their rhetoric. That is a strategic statement which is deliberately inflammatory, can fit neatly inside both tweets and headlines, and makes a very grand conspiratorial claim about reality (any mention of pronouns is evidence of a transgender plot to destroy western civilisation and indoctrinate children), and this is all accomplished with a 5-word sentence that can be repeated ad nauseum. So the issue at hand isn’t a failure to observe the basic components of language, it’s a violent call to action to remove trans people from public discourse, and eventually public life entirely.

Conservatives are incorrect for a reason. They are incorrect on purpose because they don’t care what the truth is. They are politically savvy and incredibly successful at gaining and maintaining power. They know what they’re doing, and if your only critique of them is that they don’t have their facts straight, I think that’s just a really weak position to hold. What happens when they saying something factually correct? What happens when they know more than you? What happens when they’re well-spoken, well-read, and reasonable? What will you object to then?

#effortpost