It’s not that the entire mainstream media is in on it, only the billionaires that own it. The editors and journalists go against their best interests because they have no one else who will pay them. The liberal press isn’t profitable, so the billionaires are trying to make them accomplices in their own destruction.

Rotate the compass 45° clockwise, name the new vertical axis to state economy vs private economy, and name the new horizontal axis to left and right. At the far left(green) you have total destruction of hierarchy and flattening of power inequality, while at the far right(blue) you have absolute hierarchy and centralized power.

State centralized economies(red) lead to increased hierarchy by empowering government officials to become powerful lords. Privatized economies(purple/yellow) lead to increased hierarchy by empowering capitalists to become powerful lords. Trying to reach either the top or bottom tip of the diamond leads you the right tip.

Horseshoe theory kind of applies to Marxist-Leninists like its pro-capitalists creators imagined, but they didn’t realize that they were the other end of the horseshoe. This is because both capitalism and the state are the dangers. The problem with both stems from allowing the unrestricted accumulation of power.

Government officials use political capital, while capitalists use economic capital. They can feed off of each other, with the rich helping politicians and the politicians helping the rich. My preferred solution to both is to redistribute capital from the rich directly to the poor, growing the middle class by putting a ceiling and floor on the rich and the poor.

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The most foundational concept to America is economic exploitation and cut throat entrepreneurship. Selfishness is more foundational to American conservatives than the church or the state. Trump was openly a selfish asshole. One would think that open disregard for others would disqualify someone from the highest elected office, but the right thought otherwise. Being a bully meant that Trump was strong. A lack of empathy isn’t a vice, but a virtue.

As someone who grew up with the goofy Toho movies, I felt like the Americans used that formula more than the Avengers formula.

The human characters have little control over the monsters, relying on Godzilla or Kong to win fights and only being able to help them do what they already wanted to do. That’s fairly in line with what the Japanese movies did.

Marvel movies have more quipy heroes with emotional backstories who rise to the occasion and save the world. There are some comedic human characters, but they’re sidekicks to the monsters and aren’t self aware like in Marvel movies. The monsters sometimes do silly things, but they don’t quip and aren’t sarcastic because they can’t talk. There’s tragedy in them being the last of their kind, but that’s never the focus.

I really think the Monsterverse has carried on the legacy of Japanese monster mashes fairly well. They’ve actually been on the better end of the spectrum.

Not a fan of saying people only like something because they’re delusional. You can dislike something by your own personal criteria, but other people have their own.

Star Wars and superhero movies are often liked because people enjoy the characters, the world, or simply the action and artistry.

Not understanding that other people care about different things than you do is immature.

Most movies have always sucked. We remember the good and forget the trash, so the past seems better than it was. Social media and other forms of entertainment have changed things, but never underestimate survivorship bias and nostalgia.

Damn. This comment is more insulting than the first one.

That’s what most Japanese Godzilla movies are like if we’re being honest. If you’ve only seen the original, I get why you might think Godzilla is usually a villain, but even the direct sequel had him fight another, more evil monster. Let’s be real, the human characters in most of those sequels were awful and boring. Those movies exist mostly for the monster fights.

If you’re unaware, just look up Godzilla’s dropkick to understand what I’m talking about. That scene might be the pinnacle of the silliness, but it was by no means an outlier.

Compared to the goofy trash that encompasses 90% of Godzilla movies, the 2019 Godzilla movie where Godzilla goes super saiyan was one of the best Godzilla films ever made. Big fights, badass moments, and human characters that exist to compliment the monsters. The original Gojira, Godzilla Minus One, and even Shin Godzilla aren’t comparable to or representative of most Godzilla movies.

It’s the subjective experience of not seeing the wage growth themselves, combined with things not being acceptable for a longer time than Biden or Trump’s presidency. Things are improving right now, but haven’t caught up to people having economic security. When you’ve sunk deep enough, it takes a longer period of rising to finally catch a breath. Basically, the current growth must sustain for longer to get more people into a good position. If things continue on their current path, people will calm down.

It’s also true that necessities like housing have inflated in price far faster than other goods, again, for longer than a decade. Unnecessary goods might be cheaper than ever, but you NEED things like shelter and there are NO alternatives. Despite good competition, the demand is inelastic, so limited excess supply translates to soaring prices, plus, other factors are at play.

It also isn’t a good idea ignore subjective experiences in general. Not only are people almost always right to be unhappy on some level, invalidating their lived experiences isn’t a good idea. Democrats will not be successful if they don’t listen to people’s displeasure. Basic economic measures are essential, but not sufficient to make voters happier.

Leftists famously don’t have uniform views and bitterly disagree on important topics. Some leftists aren’t reasonable in my opinion, with many non leftists having better reasoning behind their beliefs. Too many leftists are purity testing assholes, treating leftism with the same elitism that people on Lemmy treat using Linux. I hate elitism, even if you want to limit how big a community is. It’s just an unpleasant attitude.

At least it makes sense when people say “I couldn’t care less.”

I mean, people in their 20s have done some pretty amazing things.

To the level that the corporation has control over your life, yeah. What do you think banana republics are? The more the company can control your life, the more its undemocratic nature becomes apparent. Working for a small company in a competitive market might not look like a company town, but it has the same fundamental structure as one. The main difference is that the small company has to offer a good deal to their employees compared to competitors. If the company is the only hirer in town, then they’ll suddenly not have as much motivation to treat you well. If they control the housing, means of travel, and cops as well, you’re basically enslaved.

Better question might be when did non Christians get involved. Before recently, it was basically all Christians of different flavors who even got to play a role in politics. Secularism was more about not valuing one version of Christianity over others, at least that’s the sense I have. The role might have changed but it’s always been a major force.

Reagan and Thatcher were both neoliberals, and notably not from Labour or the Democratic party. I’m not claiming the Democrats didn’t embrace neoliberalism in the Clinton years. The Republicans pushed it, and the Democrats went along with it.

There are still Republicans who push more neoliberal policies, and they disagree with the populist wing of the party. Trump and his ilk were a departure from some neoliberal policies, but not in a good way.

I get what you’re trying to do by saying all parties are bad because they’re capitalist, and that’s a reasonable point of view. However, it’s no good to just say something that isn’t true. Republicans and Tories were always more neoliberal than the Democrats or Labour, and they were the ones that pushed it.

First off, the Democrats only had a majority for two years during Obama’s 8 years. Second, they have zero leverage over Sinema who’s not even running as a Democrat in the next election. Third, the liberal and progressive majority of the party hasn’t had a majority in congress for over a decade. The democrats are a big tent party that currently has to appeal to all non fascists, so of course there are conservatives in the party.

There’s a solid grain of truth to your assessment, as far too many Democrats aren’t willing to do what is necessary to prevent fascism from taking over. They make numerous mistakes. However, to paint all liberals as being against raising taxes on the rich and funding social programs is inaccurate. Some do believe social programs are necessary to maintain the government, capitalism, or liberal democracy. It’s not great, but it is better than neoliberalism.

I have no idea what you think solely means.

Free will is a bullshit term

I’m going to attempt to understand this. Tell me where I’m wrong.

No idea what A or B theory means, but relativity kind of blows a hole in simultaneity, so I assume that B theory has other implications like determinism or something. Something about relationships defining everything.

Chairs only exist in our brains I guess. Brains also invented themselves. Spooky

Plato is silly?

This might have some implications about there not being underlying rules to reality, or that we can never really get anything more than a shadow of them.

Not sure about this one. It might be more epistemological than metaphysical.

The creation and end of existence aren’t as important as the rules and the observable state of things?

I could google these things, but I had fun doing it this way.