Conservatives PROVE Satire is DEAD (The Babylon Bee/Starship Troopers)

Starship Troopers, Helldivers 2, GTA 4, The Onion - all media properties and an outlet that is known for satire. But does everyone understand that it is satire? Well Conservatives are increasingly proving themselves to be incapable of media analysis with their stance on Helldivers and Starship Troopers which they insist are not actually satire at all.
Lets look at the differences with Leftist Satire and Conservative 'Satire'
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.00:00:00 - Conservatives Can't Understand Satire
00:03:00 - Is Satire up for debate ?
00:06:18 - This is GOOD Satire (GTA 4)
00:13:00 - This is BAD Satire (The Babylon Bee)
00:18:31 - Helldivers gone woke now???
00:21:10 - Conservative think Starship Troopers is not SATIRE
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[@afterhourscinema782]

FAILED screenwriter Ben Shapiro FAILED actor Michael Knowles FAILED musician Tim Pool Not understanding media is MANDATORY to be a conservative 😂

[@ycleptprof.5249]

I have a crack theory that that's what makes one conservative. Lash out at the world for not accepting your talent. I mean, what else do you do when you fail art school?

[@easternequinox9324]

You might as well include Brett Cooper on the list.

[@tomfrombrunswick7571]

You mean Michael Knowles is not acting on his show he believes that stuff?

[@gur262]

FAILED painter 😅..... As a failed painter myself, kinda sorta , and worse , German. Not all failed painters. I hope. For y'all

[@insiranomecriativoaqui6480]

Seriously, why does the far right seem to attract so many failed artists?

[@patangman2117]

Rightwingers cannot do satire because they're unable to make fun of themselves.

[@dmwalker24]

Yeah, and I think that is because they either lack the ability, or have no experience evaluating themselves from outside their own perspective. They see everything from their subjective POV. That makes comedy, satire, drama, empathy, etc very difficult.

[@lesslycarthan956]

😅A+

[@SavorySmegma]

I think the fact that they aren't intelligent enough to grasp nuance might also be a factor.

[@targaghjj]

@@SavorySmegmaI was just going to say they are dumb, but I like your phrasing better.

[@CarysCantDance]

When the Babylon Bee recently reposted a spoof article from 2017 about white supremacists (the headline read '"The White Race Must Maintain Our Genetic Purity" Says Inbred Man'), predictably their fanbase felt attacked and tweeted angry complaints about The Babylon Bee "going woke".

[@AxeMan808]

"How can this movie be a satire of fascism, when I agree with everything the fascists are doing in the movie?"

[@DanteRatto]

You're going to be waiting a really long time.

[@EmoBearRights]

Are we the bad guys?

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

More like "how is this movie a satire of fascism, when there is no fascism in it?" It's not just that the Federation in ST is unironically awesome (and very, VERY different from the Super Earth of Helldivers) - it's that nothing the Federation does is in any way fascist. When you join, you swear an oath to uphold, and protect the constitutional liberties of all citizens, and other lawful residents of the Federation. Civillians enjoy all of the same liberties as citizens, except for the franchise (right to vote), and there's a reason for that - the ability to exert influence over the state, is matched with one's responsibility for it, as power without responsibility leads to abuse, and tyranny, while responsibility without the power to acomplish it is an excercise in futility - and that's not a fascist idea. Note that no one is discriminated in the Federation, there is no division into classes based on one's loyalty to the state - the only point of contention is the franchise, and if you don't wish to be responsible for the state, the Federation will not force you. In fact - the idea of "going the distance", and forcing everyone to serve to earn their full citizenship is discussed, and rejected in the book, on the premise that someone who does not wish to have that responsibility heaped upon them will resent it, and will not become worthy of the authority. In very stark contrast to fascism, the Federation's philosophy is "if you don't want to be a part of it, then do your own thing, and good luck".

[@thedarter]

​@@jakubfabisiak9810it's almost as if fascism allows freedom for a certain group of people while deeming others as not even worthy of being called people. It's almost as if humanity as a whole is a stand-in for the so-called "superior" race.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

@@thedarter when your "superior group" encompasses the entire human race, any argument about advocating for "x supremacy" loses all meaning. That's just it about the Federation in ST - it doesn't discriminate, and doesn't even consider itself that much "superior" to the bugs - it boils down to the fact that both species want the same real estate, and if we make the mistake of becoming pacifistic, some aggressive race like arachnids is going to come along, and put an end to our entire species. I know it's kinda hard for lefties to reconcile the idea of si vis pacem, para bellum, but there it is. And the key difference between the Federation, and totalitarian regimes that "allow freedom" for the ruling elite is in the process of becoming part of the privileged group. In fascism - you can't. Not unless you got an "in" with someone at the top, or murder your way to the top like Stalin did. In the Federation, doing federal service to win your franchise is your constitutional right, and no one has the authority to turn you down. You can fail, but you cannot be denied a chance - even if you showed up at the recruiting station in a wheelchair, and blind in both eyes, they'd have to take you in, and find you something you were capable of doing.

[@tylerhackner9731]

Conservatives take satire and make it weirdly literal

[@mr.ashenfire2624]

They think its purposely glorifying what they think they are advocating for.

[@wellersonoliveira5334]

But whats funny, when you call them out, they happen to remember what satire is. They basically pull off a "Lol bra was jokin' 😅"

[@LegendWolfA]

@@wellersonoliveira5334 The repackaged "its just a prank brah"

[@MandyMoorehol]

The Bible is satire

[@monopolizedopamine]

The only explaination is their audience can't tell the difference. They take it just as literally.

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

"Your woke propaganda can't fool me because I can't read!"

[@CaptainBollocks....]

Conservatives are now complaining that there's not enough blk people in the new Cvl War movie - ie, it's not woke enough 🤣 (note - I saw the comments under the trailer, not an actual stance, yet)

[@AlbertoGarcia-wd7sc]

The Babylon Bee is not satire. Conservative comedy consist of saying snarky things with a stupid voice

[@InzidenzPanik]

Its just 1-Say messed up stereotypical crap 2-Namecalling those who dont find it funny

[@2thRiteFREESPEEisAVirtueSignal]

Comidy

[@2thRiteFREESPEEisAVirtueSignal]

@InzidenzPanik when you name a thing, you can chip away at it's power. I call the right's transparent bleating of JUST JOKES!! "Humoristic censorship". Definition: The practice of halting, banning, or otherwise prohibiting opinion or criticism behind the guise of a joking manner. Ex: "the disingenuous faction often deployed humorisitic censorship to advance their sociopolitical agenda and claimed any challenge was hypersensitivity." *Example In Practice* Klansman- "What do you call a black man with an MBA or a PhD? $%&&÷#" MLK- "Uh. I think that's kinda messed up and a little racist." Klansman- "Wha- no. It's Comedy. Yeah, the guys down at the lodge loved it. See Comedy so Free Speech so Shut Up About It. Aw hell. Just meet us at the pepper tree out back in the dead of night would ya, Dr. King? Love ya. Thanks for the quote we bleated and misused to cosplay as victims of racism til they got rid of affirmative action in schools but not the military. Next up, diversity in the workplace!!"

[@Zoroasterisk]

Don't forget about the Apache "joke". They really, really, love that one

[@apriljk6557]

​@@Zoroasterisk The most disturbing part is that they laugh.

[@spantigre3190]

Conservative satire is almost entirely self-parody. They're not using comedy to attack and critique, they're using it to defend themselves.

[@52flyingbicycles]

Like Nick Adams (Alpha Male)

[@grantoden8242]

It's best encapsulated by that Gutfield asshole smugly sitting on a couch and insulting people.

[@MarcillaSmith]

Yes, I agree. Who typically _already_ spends more time than average at Texas Roadhouse: Lizzo, or right wingers? Who _already_ spends more time than average feeling the bruises of their man-egos while prying into the personal lives of women and abusing them: women who are trans, or right wingers? They're always taking about themselves, even when they say it's others.

[@radschele1815]

It's mit really self parody. It's just saying something they think is normal, "but the leftists don't get it." And expect applause for... existing, I guess.

[@mathewwilliams6801]

Satire 10yrs ago is becoming reality today

[@semichiu]

Idiocracy's almost 18 years old...

[@dmwalker24]

That's the true observation here. Verhoeven was holding up a mirror in front of the audience with films like Starship Troopers. When the audience cheers for the bugs to be killed, they are becoming active participants in the fascism, but many never noticed. Now those films are almost entirely believable as a plausible future.

[@linagreenlyfe6705]

@@dmwalker24 You do have to give the Federation props to achieving equality and a good standard of living for the humans, though. I mean, they don't have to worry about being one paycheck away from homelessness.

[@dmwalker24]

@@linagreenlyfe6705 Hitler kept the trains running on time too... If your comment was a joke, it's hilarious. I'm hoping it was, given the conversation about satire taking place here.

[@cashnelson2306]

The word satire died a solid decade ago when internet morons started calling anything remotely resembling a joke “satire”

[@subcitizen2012]

🧐

[@IshtarNike]

Absolutely. I remember that time. It was infuriating. Any shitty take that they wanted to excuse would be called satire. I think they think satire is the highbrow way of saying joke. Which considering their levels of media illiteracy it tracks that they'd also be illiterate when it comes to word usage as well.

[@jojomont4713]

Satire isn’t dead conservatives are just stupid to be subtle and then everybody clearly sees their hatred and racism in their supposed jokes so when called out they have to say it was satire as a defense.

[@jojomont4713]

Don’t underestimate how stupid conservatives are, they just have a lot of money but they are dumb as dirt.

[@LPno.9]

Yall give up that easily?

[@vsmith1688]

The writer of that Lizzo article wanted to say fried chicken so bad.

[@charisma-hornum-fries]

I think he was just hangry.

[@korayven9255]

I was legitimately impressed in how long it took for me to realize that the Virgin Radio guy was doing a bit and not being absolutely sincere about every word he was saying. Holy hell that is good satire. In comparison, conservative 'satire' just vents at you about something they think is 'funny' with no set-up and expect you to accept it as 'humor.' There is no turn, no punchline, no moment of comedic relief; it's just straight-up vitriol and personal criticisms from beginning to end. That's not satire, that's a sermon.

[@subcitizen2012]

The cruelty is the point, and then they laugh at the perceived weakness.

[@christopherschneider2968]

'When Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize, satire died' - Tom Lehrer

[@mmm-mmm]

...ugh, don't remind me. trump's still doing a discount nixon.

[@austinluther5825]

I was 12 when I first saw Starship Troopers. I didn't have the exact words to call it a satire of war propaganda and fascism; my initial takeaway was that it was making fun of the military. The newsreels, the recruitment process, the training, the rivalry between different branches, and definitely the glorification of war and brutality. I grew up military so I was surrounded by that culture, which made the movie absolutely hilarious. I think I was in high school when I noticed all of the direct fascism stuff and told my dad. He said, "No shit it's making fun of fascism. Obviously. Their damn insignia is a direct nod to the Reichstag."

[@gaderson]

When I watched the movie, I didn’t get the satire, but understood the Facism. So was suspicious of anyone who really liked the movie for the pro-military ideas. Reading the book was more into the story, but, less aware of the politics.

[@AndrewH1994]

I didn’t understand any of the political or social commentary when I first watched the movie. Luckily, I watched it with my dad, and he did a bit of explaining to at least make me understand that it’s making fun of the military and the government. I didn’t understand him very much at the time, but I rewatched it before watching ST3 and I finally understood it. Then I watched ST3 and was like: “Ohhhhh so this is the ‘mask off’ movie!” Sing it with me! “It’s a good day to die, when you know the reasons why…”

[@ichaukan]

The thing with Conservative Humor™ is that it follows the same pathos as the entire idolatry: We make up the rules for everything as we go and anybody who doesn't understand our impromptu rules is the enemy.

[@2thRiteFREESPEEisAVirtueSignal]

You have to admit conservative comidy aka silo comedy aka agenda comedy is very fun to mock. The problem is how dangerous it often is when paired with their abuse of the free speech principle in order to push their sociopolitical ends and warp the world.

[@shadenox8164]

Not just for themselves, they make up rules in their heads that they think other people have and then get upset or try and use it as a gotcha when those people don't follow the rules they made up for them. You see it for example with that "So much for the tolerant left" when they get called a shithead or something, like no leftist would tell you tolerance means you have to put up with an asshole they literally made that up in their own minds.

[@noxe6413]

Ngl this sounds exactly like the other side as well 😂

[@kezia8027]

@@noxe6413 I dunno, usually conservatives get scared off when a sentence contains that many syllables. Clearly it must be a woke agenda if I don't understand what it means!

[@LlywellynOBrien]

​@@noxe6413I was going to say the same thing. This just sounds like a description of whoever you don't like.

[@grapeshot]

It's says something when the Sparta has always been admired by dictators and fascists.

[@wellersonoliveira5334]

Ironic how bi that society is. But to be fair, being closeted bi and also in the far right seem to be very linked, some of these communities often "joke" around about asian lady boys and such...

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

And romethey glorify it

[@DrinkTheKoolAid62]

I wonder if Spartans considered themselves as the most moral army in the world?

[@SarastistheSerpent]

@@wellersonoliveira5334not only were the Spartans an incredibly homoerotic society (at least for men), but they also gave women an unusually large amount of power for Ancient Greeks, to an essentially unheard of degree. Women in Sparta were as free as Persian women, and only slightly less free than Egyptian women. They were fed the same as men, were educated just as men were, could exercise publicly and roam freely without their father’s consent, wore revealing clothing, and could even own their own property. The Spartans also practiced polyandry, where an older man would allow his wife to have sex with younger men in the hopes that she would become pregnant. Literal cuckoldry.

[@ReluctantWarrior]

The idea that Sparta itself was fascist though is a pretty big misunderstanding, perpetuated especially by Frank Miller's comic and his comments in the following years. Granted, it was far from paradise, there were aspects of it that certainly should remain only in the history books (their treatment of the helots, their training regiment, leaving weak or deformed infants outside to the mercy of the elements - though that last one goes for Classical Greece in general, not just Sparta.) For those more interested on the topic, the channel AMO Pankration has an excellent video on 300 which tackles the attempts to appropriate the Spartans and Thermopylae by fascists.

[@wellersonoliveira5334]

Thing about conservatives, They know its satire, but can't help but identify with it. Also they can hide behind the satire aspect, saying, "hey its just a joke right?".

[@2thRiteFREESPEEisAVirtueSignal]

@wellersonoliveira5334 when you name a thing, you can chip away at it's power. I call the right's transparent bleating of JUST JOKES!! "Humoristic censorship". *Definition:* The practice of halting, banning, or otherwise prohibiting opinion or criticism behind the guise of a joking manner. *Ex:* "the disingenuous faction often deployed humorisitic censorship to advance their sociopolitical agenda and claimed any challenge was hypersensitivity."

[@FTZPLTC]

It's funny because right-wingers have spent decades basically saying that every creative field isn't a "proper job" unless you make lots of money from it. And since most people in creative fields don't make lots of money from their work straight away, I'd imagine a lot of conservatives who *might* go into creative industries give up pretty quickly. It's funny that the people who sneered at and mocked artists and writers and creators for decades now expect that creative industries ought to have just as many conservatives as non-conservatives. They're basically demanding DEI for themselves.

[@irondragonmaiden]

Granted, there is a survivorship bias in who usually makes money, since it requires having enough of a safety net (or not having dependents at all and living VERY frugally) to go years without getting paid or being criminally underpaid. It's a problem of how the arts are not supported.

[@xiniks]

Starship troopers isn’t “warning about the dangers of fascism”, it is making fun of the idea of fascism by showing how childish it really is.

[@driesvanoosten4417]

I'm not actually 100% sure about the book. The movie certainly is satirical, but a lot of that is Verhoeven being strongly anti-fascist. I've read the book a couple of times, but all of those times after I saw the Verhoeven movie. So I'm not sure it would be so clearly satirical for me if I hadn't seen the movie...

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

​@@driesvanoosten4417 The book was an argument for a strong military (Heinlein was appalled at a pause in nuclear testing) and an argument against conscription (Heinlein thought it was slavery). We know this because he said that was what the book was about. He also added an interesting political structure, but he did that for basically every book and no two are the same. It's just an exploration not advocating it. Personally I don't think the society in the book would work close to as well as it s depicted as doing, but I can't find anything actually unethical.

[@xiniks]

@@driesvanoosten4417 I specifically meant the movie. I believe Verhoeven even mentioned this intention in interviews. I can’t speak for the book as I like Verhoeven have never read it.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

@@xiniks you should give the book a try then. Be warned, though, it is nowhere near the action-packed space adventure the film is - roughly half the book is dedicated to explaining the moral philosophy of the Federation, and why on earth is the right to vote restricted to only those who have completed Federal Service, and why it was the right thing to do (boils down to making sure that everyone who wishes to wield political authority in the form of soverreign franchise, also accepts the responsibility for how he uses that authority - Massad Ayoob employed the same analogy when talking about the judicious use of deadly force in self eense - power, and responsibility must always be in dead-equal balance). As for Verhoven - he made a fun movie, but it completely fails as satire, because there is nothing wrong with the Federation. This is in contrast to Helldivers, where externally, they appear similar, but underneath that seemingly happy exterior, Super Earth (in Helldivers) is very different - you can't vote at all (you get to pretend, but it's only for show, while the "computer" tells you what to think), there's a "ministry of truth", and all the other state instruments of control, none of which are present in Starship Troopers.

[@mobiusbelts3607]

@@TwisterTornado In 2012, Verhoeven told Empire he stopped reading the book after two chapters, finding it "boring and depressing," and asked Neumeier to fill him in on the rest. "It is really quite a bad book. I asked Ed Neumeier to tell me the story because I just couldn't read the thing. It's a very right-wing book," Verhoeven said.

[@CraftyArts]

Another example of "where are the homeless" is Dubai, where it is illegal to be homeless. They will ship you out of the city if you are found to have no residence.

[@grimcity]

Also about Starship Troopers- the reason the bugs fought in the first place was because humans tried to colonize their planet (the Mormon encampment).

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

ehhhh kinda but also not quite but it was likely a manufactured reason by the government in the movie they sent them there knowing it might provoke a reaction but in the movie it doesn't make sense about the bugs sending asteroids unless they were actually in the solar system so that makes that even seem like a false flag. I think in the book which sadly plays it more straight with its fascism or military government as the author seems to like he was a weird meritocratic libertarian lol but anyway I think in the book they were in the solar system that makes a lot more sense.

[@TenebrusI07]

Helldivers 2 the bugs are used as fuel and all their attacks on planets are just escapes from farming pens. All these types of media have humans as extreme intergalactic colonizers. It's hard to make people feel the satire when they think something like that is super righteous and badass from the start

[@mikhaelgribkov4117]

Mormon encampment was mentioned breaking the protocol so it wasn't even federation fault.

[@efffvss]

@@jacksmith-vs4ct "it was likely a manufactured reason by the government in the movie they sent them there knowing it might provoke a reaction" This point is always brought up when ST is talked about as satire, but as far as I'm aware that is never even hinted at by the film. So no, ST doesn't get to claim that as part of a 'it's satire' claim. Hell, why even bother with the Mormon enclave in the first place if the Buenos Aries asteroid was a false flag (also not in the film) and always the plan (and that's what drives the Federation to war anyway)? That said, I can entirely believe that ST was 'meant' to be a satire of Fascism (because Verhoeven). But it kinda forgets to put any real satirical elements that hold the Federation society up to ridicule. One throwaway line about 'child licenses' (likely more evocative of Communism than Fascism, thanks to China's one child policy, in 1997) and dressing up one character in SS-style clothing just doesn't cut it across an entire feature film. Especially as the Federation is generally shown to be pretty prosperous and 'pleasant' overall, with little in the way of poverty, racism etc. that we tend to associate with Fascist and authoritarian regimes. So if ST is satire, imo it's a failed one. For Verhoeven doing satire effectively, Robocop is a far better pick. What the film 'is' (in addition to being entertaining action schlock) is parody. Specifically a parody of jingoist propaganda. It mimics the style of actual propaganda but it a ridiculous, over the top way. Tbh, even calling the book fascist is a stretch imo. Militarist? Sure, kinda (although it's made clear in the book that, while the Federation was established by a veteran's movement, there are non-military forms of Federal Service). But Fascist? I'm not sure a (limited) democratic society (the government is very specifically non-military, with serving personnel not being citizen yet, and so unable to participate in elections) with an aggressively volunteer military (they refuse to conscript at any point in the Bug War shown, and their training is full of trying to pressure recruits into washing out), no obvious underclass (non-citizens can't vote, but Rico's parents being pretty well off doesn't exactly scream 'oppressed group' either) and seemingly functional state services fits with most definitions of fascism I'm aware of.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

Watch the movie again. Mormons set up a colony on Dantana, not Klendathu. They did it after specifically being warned that Dantana is in the arachnid quarantine zone. And no, it wasn't "the innocent arachnids just defending themselves" - the whole conflict boils down to "both races want the same real estate, and if humans are unable to defeat the arachnids over it, the arachnids will win, and eradicate us, and that will be that".

[@BlueBeetle1939]

They think entirely in black and white terms of course they dont get satire

[@monopolizedopamine]

Ngl the run-on lizzo is fat "joke?" almost broke something inside of me. I don't think I can survive another reading like that. Edit: I used to say an eternity of menstrual cycles was my personalized hell but an eternity of babylon bee readings got me ready to repent.

[@CarysCantDance]

Not only are the jokes about her over-eating and being unhealthy totally unoriginal, they're also laughably ignorant. Just the fact that she can perform hour long sets where she sings, twerks, and plays the flute, and do this several nights in a row shows that she's healthier than most of us. Plus she's vegan, rarely eats carbs and works out 6 days a week. Some people just have bigger bodies.

[@JordanJumpin]

i just remember GTA IV helped me overcome internalized homophobia surprisingly with the florian/bernie arc haha, despite florian being a gay caricature he was still portrayed in a positive light and niko literally beats up a homophobe for him, also we're just gonna ignore the DLC called ballad of GAY tony . imagine if gta 4 came out today, mfs would lose their minds about niko being a 'communist who supports sjw gays, and white men are emasculated' or some shit

[@mikaelste-marie1275]

Yeah Anti-SJW forgot the amazing DLC that is the Ballad of Gay Tony. Look, I am sure Anti-SJW have never play any games , watch any movie or read any comic/manga.

[@Canoby]

Conservatives having cringingly bad, dumb takes will never get old

[@2thRiteFREESPEEisAVirtueSignal]

@Canoby hard disagree. I'm over it harder than I'm over superhero movies. Both need to be joever🤣 Vote 💙 🌊

[@wellersonoliveira5334]

Recently here in Brazil, a clown duo invaded a leftist comedian show dressed as Homelander. They say it was for a meme, in reality I think they just identify with that character. Wich is not only ironic, but also scary...

[@Ironcorgi2]

Conservatives have always loved sociopaths it’s friggin weird. They like Patrick Bateman, homelander and ayn rand spoke admiringly about actual serial killers. It’s creepy as hell and the fact these characters should not be admired goes over their head.

[@ishisu_]

não esperava outro br no canal do kavernacle kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[@wellersonoliveira5334]

@@ishisu_ jskkkk tmj camarada

[@gundamzerostrike]

Conservatives see a Nazi character. They think: "I think he's a nazi" and then they: "And I love him".

[@j0j0dartiste21]

​@@gundamzerostrikealso then say "you people call everybody Nazis"

[@wimleybuckets]

Who's going to tell conservatives that the Spartans got obliterated by a bunch of gay dudes from Thebes?

[@FlyingFox86]

Or tell them that Spartans were no less gay than other greeks

[@ShitEatingGoblin42069]

​@@FlyingFox86 The Greeks were some of the gayest people in the entire ancient world, man. The fact people think they were manly-man womanizers just shows how little these people know about history.

[@billywiththebulgingbaloonb5105]

Who's gonna tell conservatives that the Spartans were a bunch of gay dudes?

[@Average_Brad]

Satire isn't dead it's just lost on the ignorant and those who can't look beyond the obvious.

[@Zoroasterisk]

Even the obvious is sometimes lost on them. IMO Starship Troopers is pretty on-the-nose about it. The intro is a shot-for-shot remake Triumph of the Will, ffs

[@mikhaelgribkov4117]

@@Zoroasterisk and who saw that Triumph of the Will? Not many. I always found Robocop way better at showing capitalistic failures of society than anything Starship Troopers did with fascism, because most of terrible fighting tactics can be explained by movie logic and just in general by troopes of figting monsters, where underestimation leads to death. Wouldn't Alien itself be about fascistic view of minorities in how they explain their hatred for them by hiding in ships and taking down the working class? How that reading would be more different than logic jumps you need to make to justify ST satire? With Helldivers there's pretty clear display of hypocrisy, self inflicted issues and you literally have missions where you take down any info about Super Earth being at fault and people of the setting pretty much admit of not really having a choice and being pre-determined in their elections.

[@cyber_rachel7427]

The sheer irony of a Catholic fantasy author saying 'well, it all looks very beautiful, and so that implies its good' St Paul - the guy who WROTE MOST OF THE NEW TESTAMENT - writes that Satan disguises himself as an 'angel of the light'. Lucifer IS BEAUTIFUL in any depictions of him as an angel That's *why* it works as satire; just because it looks clean and beuatiful, doesn't mean it is, and your gravitation towards it is meant to highlight how easily susceptible *YOU* - someone who doesnt think they could ever become fascistic - are to propaganda. Contrast it with something like Star Trek where everything is also clean and beautiful, but the system displayed is one wherein corruption and attempts to militarise the Federation are always shows as openly tyrannical and heavily restricted, even if it is to 'protect' the Federatiom

[@korganrocks3995]

I wonder how they'd handle a stealth remake of Lolita, with an innoccuous title and a handsome Humbert Humbert and an attractive Lolita... Would they notice that he's a child molester?

[@mikaelste-marie1275]

Well, at least the guy show that he can only use his eyes.

[@julietfischer5056]

@@korganrocks3995- Given that some reactionaries are fine with 'men' marrying barely-pubescent girls (literally young enough to be their daughters), they'd love it.

[@ShitEatingGoblin42069]

I would like to add regarding your point on Starship Troopers, the society, despite being clean and beautiful, is clearly not a utopia. There's TONS of blatant propaganda regarding the bugs and a man's execution was shown live on global TV. Like you said, it works so well as a satire because everything is clean and beautiful... on the outside.

[@korganrocks3995]

@@ShitEatingGoblin42069 This is the part that the "Verhoeven doesn't understand fascism" crowd don't understand.

[@adamshatwell]

Conservatives think 'Zone of Interest' is a wholesome family movie

[@tomwolfman]

Futurama did a version of Starship Troopers where the satire was even more on the nose, including having henry kissenger's head doing diplomacy negotiations, to invade and displace the homeplanet of the alien bouncy ball peolple!

[@jhcoverdrive9287]

All because Frye couldn't help but buy that pack of Big Pink, The only gum with the breath-freshening power of ham. It pinkens your teeth as you chew!

[@Lunch_Meat]

The key to victory is the element of surprise... SURPRISE!!

[@Michael-sb8jf]

Lower Lower Lower TOO LOW lower

[@Popsicle_Weeb]

Don't forget the episode "Bend Her", Bender undergoes a gender-reassignment operation and poses as a fembot Olympic athlete named Coilette. Bender does this to compete in the Women's Robot Olympics and win gold medals. This is making fun of men who pretend to be women to win/ be the best at something since they were inferior to other men.

[@lorcannagle]

THE ELDERS TELL OF A YOUNG BALL MUCH LIKE YOU. HE BOUNCED THREE METERS IN THE AIR. THEN, HE BOUNCED 1.8 METERS IN THE AIR. THEN, HE BOUNCED FOUR METERS IN THE AIR. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?

[@gamingidiots7495]

I hate the fact that the more i watch you the more it expands my veiws and makes me see stuff in a different light and not be so reactionary. Thanks dude i appreciate it

[@Garcian_Smith]

Not only have conservatives killed satire but also irony as well...

[@eddymonies8302]

I don’t think there is a single functioning brain cell left on Twitter. Haven’t been on there for over a year and I genuinely believe I haven’t missed a thing.

[@xponen]

Journalists can post uncensored videos there, for example, Jon Elmer's postings of military content from Hamas.

[@SpartanJoe193]

Satire is basically misused beyond the absurdity, which is sad.

[@vetreas366]

It's sad and provokes ire. Hence: sadire - satire's evil twin. Stuff that was conceived as satire but is taken at face-value by its audience.

[@dancoroian1]

"Wait guys, this joke with me as the target isn't actually a joke, it's really more of an aspirational story when you think about it..." 🤣

[@starslayer2438]

The simple truth of the matter: Right wingers don't find left wing jokes and memes funny because right wingers don't understand humor. Left wingers don't find right wing jokes and memes funny because right wingers don't understand humor.

[@82Jaster]

Verhoeven knew this was going to happen with Starship Troopers, which is why he said "I want to make a movie so painfully obvious in its satire that everyone who understands it lives in perpetual psychological torment inflicted on them by all the people who don't." This is much of modern satire in media since conservatives don't understand the movies, games, music, TV shows etc. are making of them. They think something like Helldivers 2 is anti-woke, despite it criticizing something they love like capitalism while also shining a light on a fascist government that constantly demonizes socialism.

[@cashnelson2306]

he never said that literally the only source for this quote is a random tumblr post lol

[@ChristopherSadlowski]

I think it's because conservatives have fully broken with all objective reality. They see things that aren't there and will take something the complete opposite way in which it's presented to them. Their ideology has become so crazy you can watch them distort reality in real time. It's scary to see people so invested in their ideology that they'd rather dissociate from reality than change their mind. They're dangerous and we can't forget that. It's one thing to have a mental illness that messes with your perception of reality, it's a whole other thing to do it willfully and purposely.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

to be fair, socialism does a perfectly good job of demonizing itself simply by being socialism. As for the Verhoven quote - it's fake. Verhoven never said that. He wanted to make a satire of fascism by showing what an ideal fascist society would look like, and how it would operate, but he failed, because he didn't read the book, and didn't realize the Federation is a polar opposite of fascism.

[@stonesoupstudio2348]

​@@jakubfabisiak9810 'Socialism bad because it's socialism.' Get out of here with that circular argument bullshit. You've not got a clue about the true value of progressive causes.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

@@stonesoupstudio2348 i was born in Poland, before the collapse of USSR. You get out of here, I have seen it firsthand.

[@maddiemajcher1640]

You can tell the Babylon bee writers do not consume any sports content with how those articles were written 😭

[@svodcat7524]

Damn neither do I because I after seeing that was thinking 'sports writing seems extremely silly and somewhat homoerotic..' 😂

[@sigmascrub]

"I want to kill this thing because it doesn't look like me" sounds like satire in itself

[@lonesavior]

Bro really said "my entire political views are based on who's sexier"

[@afterhourscinema782]

I still can't believe Sydney Sweeney's melons were an ACTUAL "news" item 🤣

[@82Jaster]

It was at least amusing to see her break their hearts. She somehow ended wokeness by showing her cleavage on SNL, but then showed she's woke herself by being a presenter at the GLAAD Awards shortly after that SNL appearance.

[@UberNoodle]

The idea that 300 is a satire just shows how little media literacy and critical thinking conservatives are actually capable of. Or alternatively it shows just how disingenuous conservatives are prepared to be in order to "own the left" ... or to post-rationalise certain thoughts and feelings that they have that even they understand are indephensible or unpalatable.

[@OhNotThat]

We have murdered Satire and now we sit atop its corpse like it's our throne.

[@FTZPLTC]

I think it's safe to say that a lot of conservative "satire" is not satire. Because satirists want everyone to realise that what they're doing is satirical - that it's presenting something that they know *isn't* true in order to mock something bigger. So much right-wing "satire" just seems to be them writing headlines that they wish *were* true, and I think a lot of that is down to them wanting their audience to be "fooled" by them and share them unironically.

[@KamenRiderFinn]

The way I love to explain it, when the left does satire, everyone knows they are being satirical. When the right does it they have to explain it left and right.

[@godocs11]

I got distracted and then tuned back in when I saw Jason Sudekis' face and was crushed to hear what was coming out of his mouth. I literally thought he was serious which proves your point, I think. Not that I represent average Joe but the fact that I believed his obvious satire says that either I'm gullible or Conservatives have become more ridiculous than satire.

[@subcitizen2012]

Hence the phrase beyond parody.

[@MoeHasubandoAbsolver]

The Lizzo bit reads more like an advertisement for Texas Roadhouse than actual commentary or satire.

[@dancoroian1]

230lbs. for a person who is 7' tall would be dangerously underweight -- far from the athletic build they were shooting for. I know it's far from the most glaring issue, just stood out to me...

[@MasterOfBaiter]

The main problem with satire is that it works via subtext. It heavily anchored in the historical context of the time and a core part of conservative is being politicized. A common feeling among them is "you made this political" because since Conservatives are often the benefactors of unjust systems they are blind to the costs of said systems till they are made aware of it. So they invert the message it isn't that you were harmed and thus are speaking out, it's that you spoke out and now there is harm. Because they only felt harmed and threatened after your started speaking out. Satire doesn't work because of that, to understand the message you have to be politically aware and conservatives refuse to be politically aware and thus are not simply unable to spot subtextual references they are full on unaware of the context you are trying to reference. A satirical reference is basically equivalent to an inside joke in that it requires people to be in on it to understand. Personally I am a bit cynical about satire's alleged power to change people's minds.

[@justwentfullchuu2]

what's really funny is how the DW's failure of a comedy, according to Benny boy, was supposed to be a "documentary", but they found out that, hey, women leagues actually have rules and trans women do go through a lot of things to be able to play alongside cis women and its not like some dudes can just pretend to be women and that's it.

[@julietfischer5056]

We should make this clear to all the people bitching and moaning about 'men' on women's teams. And that, just because a biological woman came in 8th after a transwoman placed 7th doesn't mean the transwoman had any inherent advantage.

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

I've seen Conservatives on Facebook absolutely OUTRAGED by an ONION Article.

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

It won't be long before conservatives start praising this wonderful recipe book written by Johnathan Swift, and claiming that anyone telling them they shouldn't do that is canceling them. And they'd still claim to be pro-life.

[@julietfischer5056]

I don't recall any recipes in _A Modest Proposal,_ but then I doubt the reactionaries would even be able to read it. 18th Century diction requires an attention span and reading comprehension.

[@UberNoodle]

I think the issue was Starship Troopers is that the satire, despite being pretty obvious, was also quite subtle in announcing itself. The movie doesn't explicitly turn to the audience and wink to let them know that they're watching a satire. And this was clear when the movie first came out. There were so many articles saying that the movie was glorifying fascism. So it's not a new thing that conservatives and performative liberals don't understand what the movie was doing. The director famously did not like the novel and purposely set out to do his own thing with the concept and to subvert what he thought the novel was doing. So rather than make a fourth-wall-breaking audience-winking satire, he played it straight and made a wartime propaganda film from the future. He then showed it to us in the present And simply asked us to contextualise it and reflect on what it was showing us. Obviously plenty of people have failed at this. This is confusing To conservatives who lack even a modicum of media literacy, and are enculturated not to exercise critical thinking and scepticism to authority. And it's confusing to performative liberals who live in terror of saying the wrong thing and ruining public image.

[@delo77]

Except it DID wink at the audience. Those ridiculous commercials of children stomping bugs. The prime time public executions. That scene where Doogie Howser figures out the bug has feelings and everyone cheers

[@UberNoodle]

The commercials did, yes. But that was probably the only time it explicitly winked. I was thinking about the story itself in between.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Similar to RoboCop, which is obvious satire of capitalism, too many people still don't get it.

[@mikhaelgribkov4117]

@@ExtremeMadnessX Robocop is better about it, as main plot pretty shows corporate incompetence and self perpetuation, with adds serving as great display in how morphs into everyday live and general critique about American culture. The ST doesn't really has any open fascism moment, which ironically was in the book, and dumbed down the bugs with ads being mostly the one joke "propaganda is wacky", even with children becoming soldiers, is that satire of fascism or actual display of stakes of the war? Because movie seems to drown in basic action movie troopes and not really does commentary beyond giving dudes Hugo Boss suit.

[@rotwang2000]

There has been a worrying trend lately : the reclamation of the condemnation of fascism and far right extremism as a celebration. The people on the far right are not idiots and they have seen things like gay people reclaiming terms like queer and gay that used to be slurs. There are films like American History X or Die Brücke who are being reinterpreted as being far right allegories. Die Brücke (or the more recent Stalingrad) are German anti-war films, they show that things are not glorious and war is bad, but it's being reclaimed as "Of course people piss themselves, but they do fight on, even when leftists and enemies of the people call everyone to quit." The kids who died fighting the bridge fought to preserve an ideal and were ready to lay down their lives to do so, the movie glorfies their heroism an condemns the defeatism of all the other Germans. They also try to control the narrative by using willfully bad faith arguments like "Lefists are racist because they want to see brown people as the bugs !!! They are irrational because they don't care about brown people they are driven by mindless hatred of all good things which they define as fascism." Don't for a second think they are making a mistake, it's obvious to everyone else that they are on the wrong track, but it's all about reinforcing their own, they never argue for the sake of being right, they argue to keep their own side in the vacuum chamber.

[@TrueYellowDart]

Good satire requires some amount of cleverness. That immediately excludes most conservatives because cleverness doesn’t mesh well with black/white thinking.

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

Where are the homeless encampments in Starship troopers? Well if history is anything to go by they are in concentration camps probably used as slave labour, and/or in unmarked mass graves, but either way they are kept out of sight of citizens.

[@julietfischer5056]

Or they all joined the service so they'd have jobs and homes.

[@Maya_Ruinz]

If you really want to see just how much conservatives fail at understanding satire and media literacy look up Lauren Chens video “Starship Troopers: Lefties side with BUGS??”. Her take is so bad even conservatives are laughing at her. 😂

[@82Jaster]

Conservatives seem really obsessed with the bugs and how ugly and they're. But the key part about them is that the movie establishes that people really do have psychic powers in that world. This is especially important because Carl at the end of the movie reveals that he can actually communicate with the bugs when he touches the Brain Bug and tells the soldiers that, "It's afraid!". But rather than choosing to communicate with them, that government instead wants to destroy and experiment on them. Imagine how insane it would be if we discovered life on other planets and we could communicate with them, but rather than doing that we instead just wanted to destroy and experiment on them. I'd hope pretty much everyone would be questioning what the hell we were doing in that scenario.

[@littleguy8714]

So funny, it’s more akin to the effects of colonialism than whatever brain dead take they have about “liberals” conservative brain rot is alive and well!

[@kevingriener7441]

I will say this: Texas Roadhouse does have really good rolls.

[@RomanticDrip69]

Media literacy is just really really terrible in general in the US. Even “left” liberals/social progressives are pretty bad but not nearly as terrible as right wingers.

[@link670]

"Where are all the homeless camps (in Starship Troopers)?" They were all shipped off-planet to die in a war they barely understood in pursuit of empty promises for a better life. Did this guy just not watch the movie?

[@X_TheHuntsman_X]

If you think the Spartans are the OG fascists, let me introduce you to the ancient Assyrian "empire."

[@rustkitty]

"The streets are clean. Where are the homeless encampments?" Out of sight and out of mind, as expected in any fascist system. Every civilian scene in both the movie and the book exists in Rico's rich boy bubble. The book (unintentionally) does a better job showcasing this by having his business magnate father as a character. The old man was against service simply because their family had big generational wealth so it was demeaning. Also Rico joined the mobile infantry because his expensive private school education prepared him for civilian life so he had no practical skills to score a better posting. We have no idea what's life like in the Federation outside of the 1%.

[@julietfischer5056]

His father ultimately joined the military, although you might miss that since it's at the end of the book. Rico is his superior.

[@rustkitty]

@@julietfischer5056 I know, but I don't think it's relevant to what I wrote in my previous comment. The novel brought Emilio back for the epilogue to make a point about the dignity of service and the emptiness of civilian life. I think it's a pretty hollow sentiment considering that he lived his entire life in upper-crust comfort before signing up. His testimony just sounded like rich people ennui.

[@feraljane]

In the audio commentary for the 1990s DVDs release of Starship Troopers, Verhoeven said that when they tested the casting of Denise Richards and Casper van Dien for audiences, they got booed. Test audiences thought the pair were awful and annoying. Verhoeven laughed as he related the incidents, and it was clear they were not supposed to be likeable.

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

That, and Casper was portraying a character who was Filipino in the book. Verhoeven didn't know because it's revealed in the penultimate chapter that Juan Rico has been narrating in Tagalog the entire time. He stopped reading after Chapter 2. It's kinda amusing how Ghost In The Shell got shit for white washing the protagonist, but Starship troopers doesn't.

[@korganrocks3995]

@@HALLish-jl5mo It's kinda amusing how you think 1997 and 2017 had the exact same white washing debate going on...

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

@@korganrocks3995 But we're not in 1997 anymore, and people are still talking about the film. Was there a cutoff date where white washing suddenly became okay? Like it was 100% fine in 1997, and 100% not fine in 2017, when was morality patched? If it's wrong now, it was wrong then.

[@korganrocks3995]

@@HALLish-jl5mo There's a little more nuance to this kind of thing. You have to judge things by their own time, otherwise you'll end up scrapping just about every piece of art that's more than a few decades old. Filmmakers in 1997 and filmmakers in 2017 were living in vastly different eras when it comes to that issue, and it's unfair to apply the exact same level of scrutiny. Besides, Rico's ethnicity, name, nationality etc have no actual bearing on the story. Heinlein could just as well have called him Johnny Smith and have him grow up in New York. Making a live action adaptation of a classic Japanese anime and casting Scarlett Johansson in 1997 would be suboptimal, but doing so in 2017 was absolutely braindead!

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

@@korganrocks3995 Im not judging the art, im judging the artist. People are praising Verhoven for being a genius satirist mocking conservatives. I'm pointing out that in reality he was lazy and did exactly the sort of thing the people praising him criticize other filmmakers for. The character was Filipino to make the reader consider their assumptions about what a space fairing hero would look like, and what language they would speak. Very forward thinking for 1959, Heinlein was very big on racial equality. Verhoven just made the assumption that the protagonist was a white American whilst trying to take the moral high ground over the book, which is so deeply ironic and makes him look like a complete idiot.

[@JhericFury]

I've not watched that season of the mandalorian, but I did see right wingers bitch about the mandalorian going woke for jack black and lizzos characters. That's sounds like a pretty good satirism of democracy without liberation for all peoples. Beautiful direct democracy for humans and slavery for robot underclass. And they the right wing I saw were just like "eugh, they shouldn't be in the show". Guys, this works for you, get some media literacy please

[@GazzaTF]

Conservatives' idea of genius satire is any comedy set by Jim Breuer.

[@swimmingmide]

It blows my mind that people don't understand that the humans were the bad guys in Starship Troopers, and are the bad guys in Helldivers. The bug war in Starship Troopers was just a push to increase the recruitment of people into the military. The Federation didn't even bother to train the troopers on how to fight bugs, they were trained to fight other humans.

[@l0rf]

How could the bugs from Klendathu launch a rock at Buenos Aires from across the entire galaxy and have it arrive before the heat death of the universe? And how did it bypass the defense station on the moon? False flag attack by the Federation to get people into the military.

[@mathiasbartl903]

I'd disagree with that, the point of the movie is that they are the same.

[@Michael-sb8jf]

The starship trooper book was a love letter to fascist beliefs. Movie was definitely a satire of it AND better than the book as entertainment

[@thejonner2036]

Neil Patrick Harris comes on-screen dressed like an SS officer and was dubbed Dougie Himmler by the crew of Starship Troopers. Anyone who doesn't get the point of the movie, made by a man who grew up under Nazi occupation is either a moron or just refuses to meet Verhoeven and his point in the spirit it was made. Its satire is SO savage that it seems to me that the targets in Verhoeven's cross hairs are made so uncomfortable by it that they simply refuse to acknowledge either it or the man's intentions. Starship Troopers is a satirical masterpiece that has its surface popcorn attraction, but once you start approaching it in the the manner in which it's presented to you, it becomes a profound work made by a genius of his craft, firing on all cylinders, warning you about the fascist totalitarianism. The bugs look cool, too.

[@noheroespublishing1907]

I really do hope the endgame of Helldivers 2 is that Super Earth loses terribly.

[@sarahcox1197]

You notice they only mock fat women, and not fat men? 🤔

[@chetmanley1885]

16 years since GTA 4 and I'm still laughing about Gruppe Sechs.

[@matthewhorrigan5848]

You'd think Neal Patrick Harris in an SS uniform would have given it away, but apparently not 🤣

[@korganrocks3995]

"Sure, he made their uniforms look nazi-esque, but everything else is amazing, so clearly he failed at satire". I've literally argued with half a dozen morons in the comments sections on Starship Troopers videos who say this kind of thing with a straight face.

[@julietfischer5056]

He's blond and has blue eyes. Of course they missed it.

[@AxeMan808]

Hahahaha! Yeah Verhoeven doesn't believe in couching things in subtext! He just puts it in TEXT. It's on a sign, camera center. The actor SAYS it.

[@Ironcorgi2]

Ya it’s like the first line of the movie when the teacher is talking about how democracy is a failure

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

​@@Ironcorgi2Conservatives actually agree with that. That's why they don't see it as satire.

[@lihchong2267]

I grew up with a cable tv subscription in our household, watching the fox kids cartoons among other things. I remember the starship troopers series being about a bunch of badass soldiers shooting aliens, with all the satire of fascism stripped away. It's amazing to think it aired right next to xmen, which was always unabashedly anti-fascist, and we knew it.

[@7thsealord888]

Imo, understanding satire requires well-developed self-awareness - which some people might THINK they have, but really don't.

[@andersonisowo9603]

Canonically the homeless encampments are on mars. A plot of one of the garbage sequels is that the supreme commander type (who is a woman) wants to blow up mars for ratings.

[@tomwolfman]

Sounds like Simpsons' parody of Rush Limburgh in that episode Sideshow Bob ran for mayor :p

[@subcitizen2012]

Different environment these days, and I'm jornsure when the last time there was a sideshow Bob episode, but the voice actor, Kelsey Grammar (I think is the name) is a notoriously conservative actor.

[@roachqueen1973]

I’m really enjoying your content. Keep doing what you’re doing. Great job!

[@RedSaint83]

I'll say this about Starship Troopers, as someone that watched it as a teenager when it came out: I was so distracted by the silly "teen" drama when they're in class early on in the movie, that I didn't notice a word the teacher was saying which was a pretty big 'mask off' moment.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

How so? Has he said anything that is untrue? Here's a quote for you, directly from the book, on why only citizens are allowed to vote: "Superficially, our system is only slightly different; we have democracy unlimited by race, color, creed, birth, wealth, sex, or conviction, and anyone may win sovereign power by a usually short and not too arduous term of service -- nothing more than a light workout to our cave-man ancestors. But that slight difference is one between a system that works, since it is constructed to match the facts, and one that is inherently unstable. Since sovereign franchise is the ultimate in human authority, we insure that all who wield it accept the ultimate in social responsibility -- we require each person who wishes to exert control over the state to wager his own life -- and lose it, if need be -- to save the life of the state. The maximum responsibility a human can accept is thus equated to the ultimate authority a human can exert. Yin and yang, perfect and equal."

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

You should read the book. That scene is in Chapter 2, the only chapter the director actually read that he adapted. In the book the idiology is expanded on later. I don't think that civilization would work, but there's nothing actually immoral about it. It was written to object to conscription in the buildup to Vietnam.

[@korganrocks3995]

@@jakubfabisiak9810 Once you restrict people's right to vote for a good reason, you open the door for restricting it for other reasons. The best system is actually the opposite; make voting mandatory, make it easy, and make it attractive. If that wasn't a good way to get proper democracy, why would the Republican party be so desperate to do the opposite? 😉

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

@@korganrocks3995 that was discussed in the book. Universal voting rights don't work if you don't hold people responsible for how they use that authority. It's not just that the average person doesn't fully grasp the consequences of what he's voting for, but doesn't accept the responsibility. The thing about the system in Starship Troopers is that the restriction is not at anyone's discretion - the crucial part is that if you want voting rights, the state can't stop you from getting them - as long as you're willing to accept the responsibility. Terry Pratchett makes a similar argument through Lord Vetinari - there is no true freedom, without the freedom to accept the consequences of your actions.

[@korganrocks3995]

@@jakubfabisiak9810 Yeah, laws and regulations are never slowly warped into something other than what they were intended for... I'm not saying the system in the Starship Troopers book is bad per se, or that it wouldn't potentially be better than what we currently have, but then again, our current system brought us Trump, which would not have happened if voting was compulsory, so perhaps it'd be more accurate to say that I'd be up for trying out just about anything other than the current shitshow!😄

[@LifeCompanionDogs8083]

For helldivers 2 the fun part is you can listen to audio logs and you find out that the robots are sentient and mean us no harm and that the bugs were put there by super earth. Basically all the threats in the universe are pratically man made.

[@LlywellynOBrien]

For what it is worth, I don't think GTA exists simply as political satire. It is a game with a fair bit of satire in.

[@gnocchidokey]

It's almost like, by failing so completely to grasp Verhoeven's point, this guy has finally made that point himself.

[@nrincon96]

This isn't the Helldivers video I was waiting from you but its close enough!

[@creativerealms]

I am reminded of Babylon 5, the fifth episode of the third season, as its becoming clear that Earth's government is becoming more fascist and are trying to take control of the station. Sheridan has a conversation with the new political liaison with the Earth government. In particular their discussion about homelessness and how Earth gove doesn't recognize them as homeless anymore, just as lazy, criminals or mentally ill. Babylon five was a great show.

[@ZERO_O7X]

Paul Verhoven literally said that Starship Troopers (and Robocop for that matter) were both satires of right wing, fascist ideology I don't know much more how to explain that to conservatives?

[@julietfischer5056]

_Robocop_ is a better adaptation of _Judge Dredd_ than the movies specifically adapted from the comics.

[@the_babbleboom]

there needs to be a game with the same premise as helldivers, starshiptroopers and others that dehumanize the enemy, but then not actually have the "bugs" be actual bugs but very clearly humans. and conservatives would still refuse to understand it, because they are just fascists waiting for their time to come. whether capable of understanding it or not, they are to the core inhumane themselves.

[@julietfischer5056]

And both sides are peopled by Aryan wet dreams.

[@LoganBluth]

Holy shit, they're literally just doing the *"ME WANT FOOD!"* joke from 30 Rock. But as a *_real_* joke. Like, not as satire. They've taken a satirical joke from what they would call a "woke" TV show and are just using it as a straight punch line.

[@mshearn3198]

Ages back when Tucker Carlson was still on Fox. He had one guest ranting about how women shouldnt be in the navy and we need type A men who want to sit on a throne of chinese skulls. I thought this sounded like a GTA skit.

[@chaiwallah69]

I guess Isaac Young thinks Mussolini was great for making the trains run on time

[@ajjulien1812]

This also has to do with the lack of media literacy in general

[@korganrocks3995]

Ironically this is the first time in months where I've seen the words "lack of media literacy" from someone who isn't a conservative in the midst of exposing his own lack of media literacy. 😄

[@Sol-0T-hn5ro]

Wow, I have laughed at conservative comedians before, but they didnt hyper focus on their horrible politics, Left wing comedians, same if they hyoerfocus on politics and fulfill the stereotypical left winger mindset. But, the score is like 2 to100. And wtf is it about these idiots whom think that games like cyberpunk is capitalist propaganda?? I mean, does life IN night City seem fun? Outside? No, it's a nightmare, like the one we're having right now, but worse. Good video comrade and brother Solo - Sweden

[@Anonyomus_commenter]

I see conservatives liking Star Trek, so I’m starting to think they just don’t have any media literacy. Like, DS9 literally has a society that are parodies of capitalism, and the butt of like half the jokes in that series.

[@Peix-ee]

Never forget there are conservatives that liked RATM, if that doesn't tell you their level of media literacy then nothing else will

[@CaptainBollocks....]

@@Peix-ee I've also come across conservatives who love Pink Floyd, even though they're famously anti fascist and are all about tearing down walls and are anti war

[@Peix-ee]

@@CaptainBollocks.... I have seen that too but I understand it a bit better, lots of bands of the 60s-80s had beliefs conservatives would heavily disagree with but since they didn't straight up said those are bad many conservatives just ignored them

[@winetofive1464]

The most frustrating part is that you know none of these people even actually try to understand the works discussed here. In the first 5 minutes (maybe less) of the commentary track for Starship Troopers Paul Verhoeven says point blank the movie is intentionally made as a callout of fascist propaganda.

[@6dragondaddy913]

Right wing "satire": Make a joke out of something that the other side isn't doing at all and then hammer that into the ground, like the "eating bugs" thing.

[@justasplanned8023]

In response to that guy who said the movie fails to make you empathise with the bugs, and this is why it fails as a satire of fascism There is literally a scene in starship troopers where a wounded bug looks at one of the troopers with what is obviously the fear of an intelligent organism and the troopers responses to just execute it brutally. It’s also heavily implied that the bugs did not in fact, instigate the war seen in the film. The war is started when the bugs apparently launched an asteroid at Buenos Aires, yet the bugs are never shown to even have any sort of spacecraft or interstellar capabilities, let alone the ability to launch an asteroid across the galaxy. If you take a moment to look for the slightest bit of subtext, it becomes obvious that the bugs are engaging in a completely defensive war against the Federation. It’s actually hilarious, how Conservatives completely miss things like this and fall for the propaganda of a fictional fascist society instead Also to the guy saying that all the people in the movie are fit and strong and beautiful etc. The point the movie is making is that all of these qualities are completely destroyed by the society they live in. Many of the adults are scarred or deformed, including the protagonists teacher who is missing an arm, and his later ripped in a half by a bug. The recruiting officer the protagonist talks with near the start of the film is missing an arm and his legs. A woman is also seen with acid burns all over her face. Half of the beautiful cast is dead by the end of the film, and the implication is the ones that do survive will also inevitably die brutal deaths as they are thrown into the meat grinder

[@korganrocks3995]

Not to mention that the recruiting officer literally says "the mobile infantry made me the man I am today", shaking Rico's hand with a mechanical arm before rolling away on his office chair to reveal he's lost his leg(s)! Literally textbook comedy right there, yet some people managed to not get it... 😄

[@sectumsempra9837]

You are looking great not sure it's the camera, keep going

[@lmaololroflcopter]

If I, a really dumb person, can figure out that the point behind Starship Troopers is that it’s a Leni Riefenstahl style propaganda film made the Federation, there’s no excuse for anyone else to not get it. Paul Verhoeven isn’t a very subtle director.

[@GetOfflineGetGood]

Freeing myself from twitter is a decision i have never regretted

[@justaghostinthesea]

Good on you mate

[@amyb.2968]

Your audio is wonderful in this video.

[@Windrunner007]

I’m pretty sure a lot of them literally don’t understand the word “satire” and think it means like… being sarcastic, i think? They see it as a catch-all “opposite day” move - oh, this joke was bad? Reverse it, it’s satire, idiot, checkmate.

[@kyleellis1825]

Tolerance is a dirty word in my house... How have his kids not been taken away?

[@jays1198]

Sorry- not buying it- Not all conservative satire is genius, but "woke" is so deeply absurd that it's increasingly hard not to skewer it.