• 1 Post
  • 9 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: July 7th, 2023
  • TheShadowKnows@lemmy.worldtopolitics @lemmy.world•A doctor tried to renew his passport. Now he’s no longer a citizen.
    101·
    1 year ago

    You are correct that the US is more xenophobic than the government depicted in StarShip Troopers. That being said the US isn’t the government on display in either the movie or book, it is the Terran Federation. The Terran Federation also isn’t fascist. It is a secular militaristic limited democracy. Every single person who wishes to become a citizen may do so through voluntary service. Unlike our current military recruitment which limits based on country of origin, physical ability, and other qualifiers anyone can join. Stephan Hawkings would have been turned down for service in America, while the Terran Federation would have found a place for him. There are also harsher judicial punishments for those who gain citizenship if they break the law than non-citizens so that citizenships is a privilege and a duty. This hierarchy diminishes the strength of oligarchy, because money has no bearing on voting. Only those who display and demonstrate their true public service affect how the federation operates. Many people who read the book come away thinking that Heinlein was some fascist militarist, but they overlook his criticism of the hypothetical system of government he proposes in the book. He was a Navy officer before being a writer and his righting reflects his admiration for his families long history of public service. There are thinly veiled critiques of the military throughout that my go unnoticed by non-veterans. The psychological manipulation of Rico is definitely something that Heinlein hammers. The movie recast the Phillipino Rico for the hyper Caucasian Casper Van Dien, so while the movie was trying to critique the book if fell flatly on its face white washing the diversity on display in the book, it also more than the book enhances the glory of blind militarism, while is not the type of militarism from the book. All in all both the movie and book’s Terran Federation are forms of government that are better than the shadow fascist oligarchical governments that we enjoy across multiple countries in 2023.

  • TheShadowKnows@lemmy.worldtoAndroid@lemmy.world•So, what's stopping you from getting a foldable? [Poll]English
    61·
    1 year ago

    I have a galaxy flip. It is a great phone. I do though, have many creases in the center fold which have developed over about a year and a half’s use. They don’t generally inhibit any aspect of its functionality, but as unsightly. When the screen is lit with bright content they are not really visible if I’m not looking for them. If it is dark content I see them and it is bothersome. I have the phone because I want the smallest form factor in my pocket. I’ll probably have to upgrade soon as the creases get worse. I will probably try to get a phone without a folding function. Possibly a dumb-phone so further scale down the size of my mobile device. Increasingly phones have become avenues for direct advertisement instead of functional use. I no longer need a device that buzzes every ten minutes with some esoteric notification. Folding was novel and useful in size, but it highlighted my motivation was to reduce use.

  • TheShadowKnows@lemmy.worldtoMovies and TV Shows@lemmy.film•Oppenhimer review: 3 out of 5 starz. Go see it in theaters, but lower your expectations.English
    2·
    1 year ago

    The movie’s nonlinear story telling is the worst part of the film. Oppenheimer’s security clearance hearing was a good place to anchor the movie, but it did not even attempt to set up its antagonist until the last quarter of the movie. Why should it have been a ah-ha moment that Strauss was against Oppenheimer. A better editor would have more effectively placed all of the scenes into a coherent narrative.

    The sex scene was just bad. “Christopher, how do intelligent people have sex?” “Well, they can only be aroused by reading ancient languages that foreshadow their grandiose future achievements.”

    When Oppenheimer, allegedly poisoned Blackett’s apple, it should have been a scene about his mental health issues at the time. Rather than a completely fabricated suspense scene. People who were aware of the incident questioned if it ever really happened. It would have been more impactful to have a scene where Oppenheimer meets with his analyst from that period. The movie decides to simply say that it happened and for some reason interjected Bohr.

    The portrayals of characters was a highlight of the film. Most of the acting was great. It was, however, overly stuffed with high profile actors, which turned the film into a distracting cameo bingo game.

    The physical and psychological aftermath of the atomic booms dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not adequately portrayed. It did not show well enough the psychological toll it took on the scientists on the project or portray the horrific physical toll it inflicted on the Japanese people. The slide reel scene not showing a single image of the attack was a poor choice. It demonstrates that Hollywood is completely ok with an R rating for showing nudity, but not for confronting people with the horrors of human cruelty.

  • TheShadowKnows@lemmy.worldtopolitics @lemmy.world•It Was Inevitable That the Book Ban Wars Would Reach Book Stores
    2·
    1 year ago

    I agree with your sentiment, but would ask that you reflect on how you are fighting it.

    Vote, confront the opposition, protest… These are all options for fighting on a micro-scale. They all affect very little.

    Run for office, get elected, write legislation. These are other ways to fight. But they are time consuming and a single platform candidate rarely gets elected. Still small scale.

    So how do we fight?

    We have to fight in the same way we fought reddits attempt to control its userbase. We have to jump ship and create a network of federated library databases which serve to make book bans impossible.

    That in part is what Anna’s archive is. It’s a search engine of these databases.

    The last refuge of this knowledge is within ourselves. You may or may not be a big reader. Idk. But you should begin reading in ernest to become a repository and deceminator of knowledge. Many people that say they are fighting, really mean complaining on the Internet void. They hardley read the books they say they are protecting. Do more than these people. Read, retain, disseminate, and fight in ways the people who want to take away your freedom don’t understand. I guarantee you the people who want this are not computer litterate. Use their illiteracy against them. Fight on the macro scale with technology and reading.