Media/Journalism Cringe Megathread - Hot off the Presses

C

Cherico

Well-known member
f1onagher said:
Credit where credit is due she contextualizes her near expulsion as her fault and admits that anger at Biden has moved beyond just Trump supporters. Its not much, but I want to recognize when journos at least attempt to do their job honestly.
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the afganistan pull out is a fall of saigon moment its one of those moments that sticks with you and fundamentally guts the party in charge of it. The vax shut downs and the logistics and monetary issues it causes creates a problem you can visibily see which is empty store shelves, and when you ask people to belive you over your own eyes on that most people will tell you to fuck yourself. Then you have the audit in Arizona which proved there was enough voter fraud in a single county to give Biden the win which is bringing up the call for more audits which means that Bidens legitimacy is being chipped away at.

This is just the first year, next year is the global boomer retirement tipping point, thats when the boomer money sloshing around the system starts vanishing forever.

So yeah Biden is dealing with a lot of anger and its if anything going to get worse next year and if he fucks things up enough and causes a depression he's done.

But build back better you say?

No it wont work, the party that rules the presidency during a depression gets the blame, if a depression happens under his watch biden becomes the next hover.
 
GoldRanger

GoldRanger

May the power protect you
Founder
This is how hatred toward Israel is engineered under the cover of "trying to understand" Israel.

www.camera.org

NY Times Sells Comical Account of What It Means to be Israeli

The New York Times promises to show readers what it means to be Israeli. Instead, it curates, conceals, and contrives an ugly land of
www.camera.org www.camera.org

A journey across Israel in which all the interviewees are skeptical of Israel's existence, in a country where it's an extreme fringe position, and this is portrayed as a typical example of "what it means to be Israeli".

Recommended for anyone who is interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how subtle Palestinian/Leftist propaganda factors into it.
 
Bassoe

Bassoe

Well-known member
This Quartz essay by Jane Li about how fans fear Netflix's adaptation of Three Body Problem will be terrible and its hilarious skirting around the point.


The Chinese sci-fi phenomenon known as The Three-Body Problem has so far defeated numerous attempts to turn the universe-spanning story into a big-screen blockbuster or a streaming hit. Some in China have even gone so far as to call such endeavors “cursed.”

Which is why the book’s Chinese fans praised Netflix’s courage when it announced this week it would give it a go, roping in the showrunners of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and Alex Woo, another HBO veteran, to bring it to life. But whether the US production will be able to do justice to the sprawling tale—especially against the backdrop of US-China tensions—is a question that’s already worrying fans in China, where it sold more than a million copies.

Over three books, author Liu Cixin tells the story of the ultimate betrayal of humanity by a group of people who invite an alien invasion of Earth. The eponymous first book in the series was published in China in 2008, while an English translation appeared in 2014 from Tor Books and resonated with readers globally, including former US president Barack Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It went on to win sci-fi writing’s most prestigious prize, the Hugo Award.

The trilogy’s success is due to its ambitious sweep—plot threads involve people from world history, global scientists working together to prevent the invasion, and fears over the environment that would be familiar anywhere—coupled with a plot whose momentum comes squarely from China’s past. The Cultural Revolution provides a character-defining moment for a key protagonist, astrophysicist Ye Wenjie, who sees her professor father beaten to death by teenage Red Guards in the 1960s. This leaves her so disillusioned she later initiates contact with extra-terrestrials hoping their arrival will redeem a planet that needs moral awakening.

Some on Chinese social media are already speculating that a US production will use the plot’s Chinese elements to “sabotage” China. The decade of the Cultural Revolution, meant to purify China’s communism, saw hundreds of thousands persecuted and killed for perceived ideological infractions—and left lasting trauma.

“Given the sensitivity of the book’s setting, I am worried China will be attacked thoroughly based on American values,” said another.

It’s certainly possible the production could draw on the tensions between US and China, and their battles over technology, to depict the central struggle between Earth and the more advanced planet of Trisolaris.

“As the rivalry between China and the US intensifies, the Western producer will definitely find ways to insert their beliefs in the series… Adding elements like gay people, ethnic minorities, freedom and democracy as well as American-style heroism,“said another user (link in Chinese) on Chinese social media Weibo, commenting on the adaptation.

An alternate worry is almost the opposite—the US adaptation could dispense with or downplay Chinese elements in favor of concerns closer to home for a US audience. What if, some fans wonder, the producers insert Black Lives Matter as a plot point into the story? For example, the scientist who invites the alien invasion because of her disillusionment with humanity could be cast as a Black woman who has lost her father to police brutality, rather than the Cultural Revolution. Or sociology professor Luo Ji, one of the four male protagonists who shoulder the task of saving humanity, could be cast as a white academic instead.

In some cases, the discussion over casting and plot changes devolved into mockery over US “political correctness”—references to Black Lives Matter on Chinese social media can often be pejorative for a combination of reasons. Racism or a superficial knowledge of US racial history is at play, coupled with an online narrative that describes US social justice movements as political extremism, comparable to, well, the Cultural Revolution.

For those who’ve read the books in the original Chinese, and imagined the scenes in their head, the reality that the Netflix production will be in English is another disappointment. Many will inevitably compare that with The Wandering Earth, a Chinese movie based on another story by Liu, in which China is the leading force in rescuing the human race from an unstable Sun that could soon engulf the Earth, while the US is irrelevant. The patriotic element of that movie, increasingly key to doing well at the Chinese box office, helped it to rake in around $650 million last year.

Yet the trilogy’s fans should take heart from the fact author Liu Cixin and translator Ken Liu will be consultants on the series so the trilogy’s spirit does not get lost in translation. In fact, noted translator Liu in an interview with Wired, the book’s English translation is in some ways closer to the writer’s vision than it could have been in China—that version begins with the Cultural Revolution, which is what the author had originally wanted to do, before burying those scenes deeper in the book to avoid controversy in China.

And for one contingent—Chinese women fed up of entertainment’s sexist tropes—drastic changes from the Chinese original could only make The Three-Body Problem better. “Female characters in his novels are either too vulnerable or trouble makers, as a woman, I really find it hard to like the [works],” wrote a user on Weibo. “Borrowing a sentence from someone else on The Three-Body Problem’s content: ‘Women create troubles, while men save the world.'”

The English translation of the books tackled some of this. Among the more than 1,000 edits to the second book in the series, The Dark Forest, the translators removed a description of the UN secretary general as a “beautiful woman,” and several references female characters as “angelic.” Many women say they didn’t go far enough.

“If the film version of the novel does not get rid of its sexist content, I really won’t able to watch it,” warned another female Weibo user.
The author can't just come out and admit that the whole point of Three Body Problem is demonstrating that thinking of outsiders as friendly, refusing to let some do something if not all have the opportunity and making decisions based off a nebulous universal greater good rather than the actual greater good of your group is something civilizations either outgrow or get killed by, and that Netflix, being Netflix, is unlikely to follow through with that morale. And their hilariously bad example, they do realize Ye Wenjie is the greatest traitor and mass murderer in human history and any ideology which motivated her actions would be justifiably blamed? Right?
 
Urabrask Revealed

Urabrask Revealed

Let them go.
Founder
Bassoe said:
And their hilariously bad example, they do realize Ye Wenjie is the greatest traitor and mass murderer in human history and any ideology which motivated her actions would be justifiably blamed? Right?
Click to expand...
Frankly, in any realistic outcome, the agony of Ye Wenjie would be the stuff of Legend. They would livestream her slow and torturous end everywhere as a warning to other wannabe species traitors. And you know what? It would be a good thing imo. Because if anyone thought they could get away with selling out everyone for superficial reasons, then we would be doomed.

EDIT: It's hilarious in an enraging way how "people" like Obummer and Zucc the Cuck admit that they love the trilogy. They are practically rubbing it in our face that they are part of a cabal. I bet they even think Wenjie was in the right.
 
Last edited:
Bassoe

Bassoe

Well-known member
An alternate worry is almost the opposite—the US adaptation could dispense with or downplay Chinese elements in favor of concerns closer to home for a US audience. What if, some fans wonder, the producers insert Black Lives Matter as a plot point into the story? For example, the scientist who invites the alien invasion because of her disillusionment with humanity could be cast as a Black woman who has lost her father to police brutality, rather than the Cultural Revolution.
Click to expand...
They unironically think this is an argument in BLM's favor.
 
V

Vaermina

Well-known member
Bassoe said:
This Quartz essay by Jane Li about how fans fear Netflix's adaptation of Three Body Problem will be terrible and its hilarious skirting around the point.
The Chinese sci-fi phenomenon known as The Three-Body Problem has so far defeated numerous attempts to turn the universe-spanning story into a big-screen blockbuster or a streaming hit. Some in China have even gone so far as to call such endeavors “cursed.”
Which is why the book’s Chinese fans praised Netflix’s courage when it announced this week it would give it a go, roping in the showrunners of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and Alex Woo, another HBO veteran, to bring it to life. But whether the US production will be able to do justice to the sprawling tale—especially against the backdrop of US-China tensions—is a question that’s already worrying fans in China, where it sold more than a million copies.
Over three books, author Liu Cixin tells the story of the ultimate betrayal of humanity by a group of people who invite an alien invasion of Earth. The eponymous first book in the series was published in China in 2008, while an English translation appeared in 2014 from Tor Books and resonated with readers globally, including former US president Barack Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It went on to win sci-fi writing’s most prestigious prize, the Hugo Award.
The trilogy’s success is due to its ambitious sweep—plot threads involve people from world history, global scientists working together to prevent the invasion, and fears over the environment that would be familiar anywhere—coupled with a plot whose momentum comes squarely from China’s past. The Cultural Revolution provides a character-defining moment for a key protagonist, astrophysicist Ye Wenjie, who sees her professor father beaten to death by teenage Red Guards in the 1960s. This leaves her so disillusioned she later initiates contact with extra-terrestrials hoping their arrival will redeem a planet that needs moral awakening.
Some on Chinese social media are already speculating that a US production will use the plot’s Chinese elements to “sabotage” China. The decade of the Cultural Revolution, meant to purify China’s communism, saw hundreds of thousands persecuted and killed for perceived ideological infractions—and left lasting trauma.
“Given the sensitivity of the book’s setting, I am worried China will be attacked thoroughly based on American values,” said another.
It’s certainly possible the production could draw on the tensions between US and China, and their battles over technology, to depict the central struggle between Earth and the more advanced planet of Trisolaris.
“As the rivalry between China and the US intensifies, the Western producer will definitely find ways to insert their beliefs in the series… Adding elements like gay people, ethnic minorities, freedom and democracy as well as American-style heroism,“said another user (link in Chinese) on Chinese social media Weibo, commenting on the adaptation.
An alternate worry is almost the opposite—the US adaptation could dispense with or downplay Chinese elements in favor of concerns closer to home for a US audience. What if, some fans wonder, the producers insert Black Lives Matter as a plot point into the story? For example, the scientist who invites the alien invasion because of her disillusionment with humanity could be cast as a Black woman who has lost her father to police brutality, rather than the Cultural Revolution. Or sociology professor Luo Ji, one of the four male protagonists who shoulder the task of saving humanity, could be cast as a white academic instead.
In some cases, the discussion over casting and plot changes devolved into mockery over US “political correctness”—references to Black Lives Matter on Chinese social media can often be pejorative for a combination of reasons. Racism or a superficial knowledge of US racial history is at play, coupled with an online narrative that describes US social justice movements as political extremism, comparable to, well, the Cultural Revolution.
For those who’ve read the books in the original Chinese, and imagined the scenes in their head, the reality that the Netflix production will be in English is another disappointment. Many will inevitably compare that with The Wandering Earth, a Chinese movie based on another story by Liu, in which China is the leading force in rescuing the human race from an unstable Sun that could soon engulf the Earth, while the US is irrelevant. The patriotic element of that movie, increasingly key to doing well at the Chinese box office, helped it to rake in around $650 million last year.
Yet the trilogy’s fans should take heart from the fact author Liu Cixin and translator Ken Liu will be consultants on the series so the trilogy’s spirit does not get lost in translation. In fact, noted translator Liu in an interview with Wired, the book’s English translation is in some ways closer to the writer’s vision than it could have been in China—that version begins with the Cultural Revolution, which is what the author had originally wanted to do, before burying those scenes deeper in the book to avoid controversy in China.
And for one contingent—Chinese women fed up of entertainment’s sexist tropes—drastic changes from the Chinese original could only make The Three-Body Problem better. “Female characters in his novels are either too vulnerable or trouble makers, as a woman, I really find it hard to like the [works],” wrote a user on Weibo. “Borrowing a sentence from someone else on The Three-Body Problem’s content: ‘Women create troubles, while men save the world.'”
The English translation of the books tackled some of this. Among the more than 1,000 edits to the second book in the series, The Dark Forest, the translators removed a description of the UN secretary general as a “beautiful woman,” and several references female characters as “angelic.” Many women say they didn’t go far enough.
“If the film version of the novel does not get rid of its sexist content, I really won’t able to watch it,” warned another female Weibo user.
The author can't just come out and admit that the whole point of Three Body Problem is demonstrating that thinking of outsiders as friendly, refusing to let some do something if not all have the opportunity and making decisions based off a nebulous universal greater good rather than the actual greater good of your group is something civilizations either outgrow or get killed by, and that Netflix, being Netflix, is unlikely to follow through with that morale. And their hilariously bad example, they do realize Ye Wenjie is the greatest traitor and mass murderer in human history and any ideology which motivated her actions would be justifiably blamed? Right?
Click to expand...
The Three Body Problem itself was terrible... So i'm not sure how anyone could think the Netflix show would be good...

Really... It's just a poor attempt to cater to the Chinese market that's doomed to failure because the rest of the world really doesn't want to watch everyone being stupid and dying.
 
A

ATP

Well-known member
Vaermina said:
The Three Body Problem itself was terrible... So i'm not sure how anyone could think the Netflix show would be good...

Really... It's just a poor attempt to cater to the Chinese market that's doomed to failure because the rest of the world really doesn't want to watch everyone being stupid and dying.
Click to expand...

All good horrors are about people dying,with possible sole traumatized survivor who nobody want belive.And people love it.
I especially love old horrors when american GI told big bad alien "you are not John" or " what did you do to John?" and die horribly.
 
GoldRanger

GoldRanger

May the power protect you
Founder
Vaermina said:
The Three Body Problem itself was terrible... So i'm not sure how anyone could think the Netflix show would be good...

Really... It's just a poor attempt to cater to the Chinese market that's doomed to failure because the rest of the world really doesn't want to watch everyone being stupid and dying.
Click to expand...
I've enjoyed it very much, although a lot of the science was iffy. But the premise was good, as well as the presentation of the concept through the VR game. The villains are completely irredeemable shits though, and the attempt to make the reader partially sympathize with them is laughable. At least they got what was coming to them in the end though.

Also, I think in The Dark Forest (I've read only books 1 and 2) the writer's views on Venezuela are... let's say "quaintly outdated" (for the sake of those who haven't read it, he assumed Hugo Chavez would turn Venezuela into a communist paradise that will shame the US and prove communism's superiority over capitalism. Ha!)
 
V

Vaermina

Well-known member
GoldRanger said:
I've enjoyed it very much, although a lot of the science was iffy. But the premise was good, as well as the presentation of the concept through the VR game. The villains are completely irredeemable shits though, and the attempt to make the reader partially sympathize with them is laughable. At least they got what was coming to them in the end though.

Also, I think in The Dark Forest (I've read only books 1 and 2) the writer's views on Venezuela are... let's say "quaintly outdated" (for the sake of those who haven't read it, he assumed Hugo Chavez would turn Venezuela into a communist paradise that will shame the US and prove communism's superiority over capitalism. Ha!)
Click to expand...
So basically you didn't actually enjoy it...
 
GoldRanger

GoldRanger

May the power protect you
Founder
Urabrask Revealed said:
What happens to them?
Click to expand...

*Spoilers for the first two books*

There was a huge operation to catch them. Their mobile base on a huge yacht got raided and virtually destroyed, many of them died by being cut up and beheaded by a monomolecular wire, and the few cells that survived were scattered.

In the sequel there's a timeskip, and we learn the entire organization was fully eradicated over that time offscreen.
 
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