#MeToo and Cancel Culture: Friday is bring your own torches and pitchforks day!

[BlackDragon98]

The Russia-China Eurasian Axis don’t even have to lift a finger, we’re doing all the work ourselves, to ourselves.

Russia is no longer allied with China.

The long conversations between Putin and Trump indicated that something was up.

Seems like the old KGB colonel doesn't want a return to communism.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

If they keep pissing off the right, then they may very well morph into the Reich.

This would require a 'right' that doesn't buy into the 'morality' of diversity, inclusion, and equality. Wake me up when 'rightists' stop mewling about 'dems are the real racists'.

Russia is no longer allied with China.

The long conversations between Putin and Trump indicated that something was up.

Seems like the old KGB colonel doesn't want a return to communism.

I strongly doubt this, as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is still a thing and remains the cornerstone of Strategic Deterrence against the Atlantic Empire for both Russia and China. Also, while China maintains the imagery of her communist past, she no longer operates according any sort of Marxist-Leninist dogma, not even a Maoist variant. She is now a Nationalist-Bolshevist state with Confucian and Chinese characteristics. I fully expect the CCP to slowly morph into a Mandarinate and the General Secretary to likewise slowly transform into a ceremonial emperor. Just like Putin appears to be laying the groundwork for a restoration of the Tsar.

 

[Bear Ribs]

In additional Yay! for the canceling of Dr. Seuss, Ebay is delisting used copies and preventing resale of his books as well. Because remember, this was purely a publisher making their own decision not to publish, it's not a ban or a canceling.

EBay will delist ‘banned’ Dr. Seuss books being resold for thousands of dollars

The Dr. Seuss estate recently announced it will stop publishing six books featuring racist imagery

www.marketwatch.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

DisneyPlus removed their Peter Pan and Dumbo films fom their services Children profiled because it reinforces negative stereotypes in children. Thankfully the Adult profiles can still access this lewd content (with content warnings)... for now.

Disney+ removes ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Peter Pan,’ from children’s profiles over negative stereotypes

The Walt Disney Company had previously placed content warnings on the films for “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people and cultures” in October.

www.wric.com

 

[gral]

You are confusing wokeness with socialism. So-called 'wokeness' uses the outward forms and terminology of socialism to promote global neo-liberalism. While there is indeed a cultural marxism, 'wokeness' can be said to be a kind of cultural capitalism.

I'm not(although there is the woke thing as well to contend with). Look at Brazil, Argentina, India. Before wokeness there was already a lot of socialist influence in politics and the way economy is conducted. Hell, you could argue that one of the reasons the military failed in fighting socialism in Brazil is because they were as statist as the people they claimed to be fighting.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

I'm not(although there is the woke thing as well to contend with). Look at Brazil, Argentina, India. Before wokeness there was already a lot of socialist influence in politics and the way economy is conducted. Hell, you could argue that one of the reasons the military failed in fighting socialism in Brazil is because they were as statist as the people they claimed to be fighting.

What even is 'statism' and why should I be worried about it when I live in a post modern cyberpunk dystopia?

 

[Navarro]

I strongly doubt this, as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is still a thing and remains the cornerstone of Strategic Deterrence against the Atlantic Empire for both Russia and China.

Meanwhile, China is eyeing thinly-populated Siberia and its wealth of resources while the neopagan lunatic Dugin rants incoherently and ineffectually about Russia conquering Xinjiang, Manchuria and Mongolia. Now Putin is too smart to actually pay attention to what that guy has to say beyond justifications for what he already wants to do (that is, increase Russia's influence over the areas that used to be part of the USSR) but the alliance is on shaky ground.

I fully expect the CCP to slowly morph into a Mandarinate and the General Secretary to likewise slowly transform into a ceremonial emperor.

Meanwhile in the real world, the CCP's General-Secretary is ruthlessly asserting his power over the bureaucracy, promoting his own cult of personality in the fashion of Mao, and pushing a return to Maoist "values".

Just like Putin appears to be laying the groundwork for a restoration of the Tsar.

Lol if you think Putin, the old KGB spymaster turned politico, cares about anything beyond his own power, wealth and prestige. I mean, say he brings the Romanovs and the old Imperial system back. He'd be turned from the "great leader of Russia" to essentially a spokesman for the House of Romanov. And if he declared himself Tsar ... ? Trololol, he'd just be making himself into a laughing stock for those who want the monarchy restored, having a noticeable deficit of any royal blood.

When he dies there's going to be a feeding frenzy among the oligarchs to assume his position, which will end disastrously for Russia as none are capable of actually filling his shoes.

"What you want to happen" =/= "what is currently happening".

 

[DocSolarisReich]

"What you want to happen" =/= "what is currently happening".

Please, what I want to happen isn't even close to what is happening.

 

[Navarro]

Please, what I want to happen isn't even close to what is happening.

Well, at the least your analysis of the political happenings in China and Russia bears no resemblance to reality. Unless you really do think Putin is going to give up all the hard-earned power he fought for to a family of painters living in America and the UK, or the founder of an EU lobbying firm?

 

[DocSolarisReich]

Well, at the least your analysis of the political happenings in China and Russia bears no resemblance to reality.

Yeah, your criticism of my analysis of events right in front of my nose will need to actually engage with something more than your strawman of me.

Russia and China cementing an enduring alliance

The following is the 10th and final installment of an extended report on one of the most important geopolitical developments of the 21st century: the

asiatimes.com

 

[Navarro]

Yeah, your criticism of my analysis of events right in front of my nose will need to actually engage with something more than your strawman of me.

Russia and China cementing an enduring alliance

The following is the 10th and final installment of an extended report on one of the most important geopolitical developments of the 21st century: the

asiatimes.com

Yes, Russia and China are allied currently (though China is clearly the more prominent part). It's true that their alliance is currently strong, but there are clear points that may cause the alliance to break, and circumstances may change in future.

I also haven't seen you provide any evidence other than wishful thinking that Putin will restore the Tsar (in fact, if anything he's promoting a cult of Stalin), or that Xi Jinping is passively being transformed into the figurehead monarch of a bureaucratic neo-mandarinate.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

I also haven't seen you provide any evidence other than wishful thinking that Putin will restore the Tsar, or that Xi Jinping will accept being transformed into the figurehead leader of a bureaucratic neo-mandarinate.

I have never said any such thing. At a historical scale, whatever they happen to want as individuals matters very little. I'm going to need you to actually engage with what I write not what you think I write, at least, if you want to, you know, have a conversation.

 

[Navarro]

I'm going to need you to actually engage with what I write not what you think I write, at least, if you want to, you know, have a conversation.

You said that the Secretary-General of the CCP will become a figurehead emperor. Under the current holder of that post, who looks set to hold it for the foreseeable near-term future, it looks like the opposite is happening. Now what you said may eventually happen, but likely not for many decades or even centuries - provided the CCP survives that long, which is about 50/50 in my estimation.

Now, with a lot less wiggle room, you said that Putin is preparing for a restoration of the Romanovs. This is also not happening, and in fact he's rehabilitating Stalin (why do you even think Putin would want to associate himself with the Romanovs, who presided over one of Russia's greatest military defeats, when it's clear that demonstrating military success is important to his self-presentation as a strong leader?).

Also, if you want to see how little Putin cares for monarchism, when the leader of the (tiny) Russian Monarchist Party tried to set up a building in Yekaterinburg as the "Romanov Empire", the Russian govt. went "lolno" and the guy had to try buying up land in Gambia and Kiribati, which also failed.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

You said that the Secretary-General of the CCP will become a figurehead emperor. Under the current holder of that post, who looks set to hold it for the foreseeable near-term future, it looks like the opposite is happening. Now what you said may eventually happen, but likely not for many decades or even centuries - provided the CCP survives that long, which is about 50/50 in my estimation.

So you concede my point on that then?

Now, with a lot less wiggle room, you said that Putin is preparing for a restoration of the Romanovs. This is also not happening, and in fact he's rehabilitating Stalin (why do you even think Putin would want to associate himself with the Romanovs, who presided over one of Russia's greatest military defeats, when it's clear that demonstrating military success is important to his self-presentation as a strong leader?).

No. I don't know what is so difficult about reading comprehension. What I said was this:

Just like Putin appears to be laying the groundwork for a restoration of the Tsar.

What about this requires any particular person acclaimed Tsar in any way?

 

[Navarro]

So you concede my point on that then?

No, since the present trends are going in precisely the opposite direction.

What about this requires any particular person acclaimed Tsar in any way?

"Putin is laying the groundwork for a restoration of the Tsar".

No, he isn't. At best he's looking to put a chosen successor into power before he dies (said successor will likely lack the qualities that Putin himself used to achieve his political success, hence the feeding frenzy I mentioned earlier).

Given the actual history of the post-Soviet Russian monarchist movement (which boils down to inane attempts to set up a micro-nation and some
participation in local elections, with little to no success); the seeming lack of interest of any of the living heirs of Nicholas II to take the throne; the bad reputation of the Romanovs as having led Russia to military disaster; and Putin's own focus on rehabilitating Stalin (not to mention the fact that the Russian Communist Party is five times larger than the monarchist one (though both are relatively small, having memberships in the tens of thousands)); it's greatly more likely that Russia returns to communism than monarchism.

Not to mention that the majority of even the monarchists do not want a return to the old autocracy, so even if the Tsar returned it would far more likely be as a legitimising figurehead for Russia's actual leader. Which is really a restoration of the Tsardom in name only.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

No, since the present trends are going in precisely the opposite direction.

Which doesn't matter a whit. Neither Human Nature nor China have been banished from the Earth. Sooner or later, the Chinese will solve their problems in the Chinese way.

No, he isn't. At best he's looking to put a chosen successor into power before he dies (said successor will likely lack the qualities that Putin himself used to achieve his political success, hence the feeding frenzy I mentioned earlier).

Exactly. He is wearing a Tsar-shaped hole into the hearts of Russians and the State itself. Just like the problems of China require Chinese solutions, the problems of Russia require Russian solutions.

 

[Navarro]

Which doesn't matter a whit. Neither Human Nature nor China have been banished from the Earth. Sooner or later, the Chinese will solve their problems in the Chinese way.

You see, cultures aren't exactly static things (one would think a person constantly decrying the cultural changes of the past few centuries would recognise this). They also, unlike humans, don't have immortal souls, nor are they passed down by physical descent. Considering that a communist totalitarian regime spent a whole generation doing its utmost to extirpate traditional Chinese culture ...

Now, there are certainly geographical influences on culture but even in the most extreme cases there are great differences between Afghan, Caucasus and Scottish Highlander cultures, so I don't see any geographical reason why Chinese mandarin culture would spontaneously revive (especially given that its greatest remnant is actually the ROC government on Taiwan, i.e. enemies of the CCP).

I'm also not sure a return to mandarinism is a "solution" for China given that when they had power they oversaw China's humiliation by the Western powers via their refusal to engage in foreign trade and adopt modern technology. If anything given that track record ... they would be a solution to China's current status as a rising power from the point of view of the West.

Exactly. He is wearing a Tsar-shaped hole into the hearts of Russians and the State itself. Just like the problems of China require Chinese solutions, the problems of Russia require Russian solutions.

What you're more likely to see is a continuation of raw power-politics or a return to communism.

 

[LordsFire]

Which doesn't matter a whit. Neither Human Nature nor China have been banished from the Earth. Sooner or later, the Chinese will solve their problems in the Chinese way.




Exactly. He is wearing a Tsar-shaped hole into the hearts of Russians and the State itself. Just like the problems of China require Chinese solutions, the problems of Russia require Russian solutions.

Human nature does not change.

That does not even remotely mean that cultures are eternal or unchanging.

Let's take Russia. It hasn't been ruled by the Tsar since before 1920, which means there isn't a single living person in Russia with memory of what living under the Tsar is actually like. They do have plenty of memory of various strong men leaders, and a very corrupt democracy in the 1990's.

Why would these people feel the particular need of a Tsar? Especially when there's what, one or two Tsars total in the entirety of Russian history who are looked upon favorably in regards to doing well by the common Russian people?

Now, it's entirely possible that someone who has strong charisma and is very sharp could run a PR/Propaganda campaign that heavily focuses around Tsar Peter, but that's a possibility, not some kind of inevitable thing that Putin is building towards. More likely, we'll either see another strong man replace him, or the current political system in Russia collapsing completely, after which who knows what will come out?

Certainly something in accordance with human nature, but Imperial Tsardom is not the only option there.


Then let's look at China. The 'Chinese way' of solving things?

China of which century? Of which dynasty? Qing? Ming? Zhou? Kuomintang? Maoist?

The culture changed over time, and while many common threads remained, not all of them did. And of course, Mao deliberately shattered a great deal of cultural continuity from the past, particularly of note destroying the bureaucracy that had managed the nation for thousands of years. Of course, he didn't manage to destroy everything, but decades of brutal totalitarian rule and millions dead certainly resulted in substantial changes to the culture.

Just look at the institutional and cultural differences between mainland China and Taiwan!

So, what 'Chinese way?' are you referring to? Because there's a great variety of them.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

You see, cultures aren't exactly static things (one would think a person constantly decrying the cultural changes of the past few centuries would recognise this).

Cycles. Thigs come and go with a startling regularity once you know what to look for. After Winter, Summer and after Summer, Winter.

They also, unlike humans, don't have immortal souls, nor are they passed down in the blood.

False. Nations and Peoples do have immortal souls. They're called Angels.

Considering that a communist totalitarian regime spent a whole generation doing its utmost to extirpate traditional Chinese culture ...

And today the CCP persecutes MMA practitioners for embarrassing Wing Chun and Tai Chi masters in no holds barred matches. The directionality of the Cultural Revolution has reversed.

What you're more likely to see is raw power-politics or a return to communism.

'Communism' is dead. No one cares about Marx or Lenin, not even members of the Russian or Chinese 'Communist' parties. Yes, power politics. What do you think monarchy actually is?

"Find in any country the Ablest Man that exists there; raise him to the supreme place, and loyally reverence him: you have a perfect government for that country; no ballot-box, parliamentary eloquence, voting, constitution-building, or other machinery whatsoever can improve it a whit." ~ Thomas Carlyle.

 

[DocSolarisReich]

China of which century? Of which dynasty? Qing? Ming? Zhou? Kuomintang? Maoist?

This is like pointing at individual trees and asking 'which forest?'

I'm not particularly interested in teaching a course on metahistory at the moment. Try Arnold Toynbee's 'A Study of History' and get back. Or better yet, read some poetry, it's a quicker way to break through the particulars into the universals.