The Existential Modern Dystopia of Arcane and Squid Game | Hello Future Me

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Tim Hickson
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[@hal.v.a]

Here people talk about war and it's consequences. However, the war in the Arcane wasn't real. But now I'm living in a state where it is. I am an ordinary Ukrainian girl from Kyiv. And people are dying here. Civilian people! And each day I'm afraid to find out that my dear ones are hurt by missiles. I even don't want to think that I can lose them but I can, because there is a real war in my country. My uncle is a soldier and he is defending my city now. My city is a capital. Invaders want to take it in a first place. But we are strong people and we defend our land! Support us please! Spread the information! We need you! We need your voices! Stop the war! Everybody can do at least something! #stopwar #stoprussianaggression #standwithukraine

[@HelloFutureMe]

Here are links to support/donate to Ukraine 🇺🇦 savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ - “Come Back Alive” fund armysos.com.ua/pomoch-armii - “Army SOS” fund facebook.com/1554490484835854/posts/2953630548255167/… - fundraising for the medical battalion "Hospitalieri" facebook.com/groups/MyrotvorciUA/?ref=share… - "Peacemakers of Ukraine" fund Ukraine will stand.

[@MrZonehawk]

You got it! Long Live Ukraine!

[@hal.v.a]

@@HelloFutureMe Thank you very much!!! Your support is really valuable!

[@hal.v.a]

@@MrZonehawk Glory to Ukraine!

[@truthseeker7815]

@@hal.v.a, Arcane's war is not real?

[@lisan9517]

I wonder if the use of competitions in dystopias has anything to do with our sense of community. Anything that pits us against each other is a good fit for a dystopia.

[@davidegaruti2582]

I mean , i guess it's about the fact that currently humans are our greatest treat , both directly and indirectly : Be it trough wars , policing , competition for a job , Not putting the blinker and running you over , And even indirectly : heart diseases are the main cause of death iirc , and those are caused by improper diet , wich is again caused by advertisment and fastfood making us addict to higly caloric food ... Same for depression or anxiety , those are caused by interactions with other pepole , Currently almost by design the greatest treat is put up by other pepole

[@PineappleLiar]

In a terrible system that no one person can ever hope to fix, there has to be some kind of outlet for the individual to vent that need for change. You may not be able to make the world better for everyone, but there is a possibility (or at least a perceived possibility) that you can make it better for yourself.

[@cfalde]

Rich whites convinced poor whites to hate blacks so they wouldn't join forces against rich white. Despite poor whites having more in common class wise with blacks. Yes the competition created by the rich is deliberate.

[@amievenrosie4866]

@@cfalde to add on time and time again do governments pit people against each other to keep control. governments, prisons some schools in america, divided we fall

[@Strogman25]

I think he's reading too much into it. If you have a game with unwilling participants, you need a massive, heartless/evil institution. Dystopias have those. That's why the corolation. Simple as that.

[@heywhat6676]

I once heard a quote that said 'No dystopian fiction is a warning for the future. They are all reflections and criticisms of the present.' or something like that

[@nenmaster5218]

This video makes me wanna raise Awareness for all Sorts of Problems on Planet-Earth. So excuse the ''Randomness'' but i think Some More News, Belief It Or Not, and Telltale Atheist are my Duty to recommend, so im not willfully-ignorant. These KZbinrs, just like Illuminaughtii, tackle Issues. What will you do now with this Info a random Comment gave you?

[@Adamant_Adam]

@@nenmaster5218 Telltale is actually pretty awesome. Glad to have seen him grow so much over the years to see him mentioned in a rando- comment section.

[@nenmaster5218]

@@Adamant_Adam :)

[@F1rstWorldNomaD]

Not sure I agree with that. Its probably true sometimes. But Im not sure how e.g: Bladerunner, Alita Battle Angel or Armitage III reflects the present. There is also 1984 which was written in 1948 and is eerily close to our present today but the inspiration for that book was Russian communism so even if it wasnt necessarily accurate to reality back then I guess it was still a critique of the then present.

[@mannmoon2465]

Sadly most people don't have enough critical thinking to understand that.

[@house0paine535]

"Ignorance isn't just something we have, it is something we craft for ourselves" Love this quote!

[@SimplyStuart94]

I think the quote was "...isn't just something..." And I think that's an important distinction

[@house0paine535]

@@SimplyStuart94 Good catch. Fixed.

[@PureSniperWolf]

Willful ignorance is exactly a choice. Bittersweet thought.

[@88XD-88]

Arcane is probably the best example I can think of regarding how terrible circumstances can arise from apathy rather than malevolence. After all, the leaders of Piltover aren't actively evil, moustache-twirling villains who see Zaun as a playground for their wicked fancies. Instead Zaun is made to be worse and worse for its residents simply because Piltover's council doesn't care about what happens to them. And that actually strikes me as terrifying because you know full well that's what you're more likely to find in real life. Not supervillains, but just a lack of care 😟

[@babywasabi]

this 100%!!! it’s what makes arcane soo good and the conflict between zaun and piltover feel so well written and nuanced.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

I have a different take; doing nothing to resist an oppressive system is in fact evil.

[@landonbrawe6865]

Boy you've got more history to go through than I do... Even the US has "super villains" if you read project defuse it details a proposal from the ecohealth alliance to darpa a plan to engineer a virus if you look on project veritas you'll find someone's statements from the military referring to the connection as concerning

[@Nuntuny]

Yea thats probably why we all love these kinds of villains

[@Nuntuny]

@@dashiellgillingham4579ye sam🙂 good to know i amnt the only one😅

[@joellafleche8021]

"No plastic straws, no plastic bags. Yay good for us!" Drinks out of a plastic bottle in the next frame. Well played!

[@karolinakuc4783]

It is still a step ahead. Plastic bags are made out of plastic that cannot be recycled

[@AshtonPyr]

I'll be honest, I did notice the dominos stacked against a picture frame; just didn't think it was that important until you said it was intentional, what I thought was it was a weird thing to decorate a shelf with.

[@XxjeffersonDkidxX]

yeah he didn't hide that too well.

[@Odiumiumium16]

I noticed the dominos slowly piling up in the background. At first I thought he just had eccentric decorating tastes. Then I noticed more. The ending was also beautiful. anyone wanna count the amount of times he had to restart the chain?

[@TexasSnyper]

@@XxjeffersonDkidxX they weren't intended to be hidden. They were intended to be in the background.

[@frienda7736]

Same and i thought he was going to take a step even further and mention how he was using a plastic waterbottle and we probably didn't notice but it is still a contribution to the world's plastic overproduction and help make it slightly more quantifiable in terms of how morally responsible each individual is for their contributions towards ruining the planet.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

Same!

[@IceDevine]

"[Squid game is] about people trapped in debt competing in deadly childish games in hopes of winning money. Like the American health care system, but with marbles." I about choked on my coffee, I laughed so hard.

[@LuisSierra42]

He is right you know

[@paz1514]

@@LuisSierra42 No, farthest thing. Our health care system has absolutely nothing in common with Squid games. But hey, I mean if you work and make the smart choices then health care shouldn't be an issue

[@Padtedesco]

@@paz1514 You are right.... . . . ... If you are not speaking about USA.

[@supremeplatypus7192]

@@paz1514 "If you work and make smart choices then health care shouldn't be an issue" How do I say this politely? Hm, how about "Fuck off"

[@LuisSierra42]

@@supremeplatypus7192 why is it that the people who are always telling other people that if they work hard enough they would not have financial issues are the same people who get everything done for them cuz daddy has money and connections

[@flamingsword7341]

Tim I’m gonna be honest, I only voted yes on the “Is Arcane a dystopia?” tweet because I wanted you to talk about it in a video

[@unosamiX]

You're a monster!

[@Karanthaneos]

@@unosamiX a monster you created (?

[@house0paine535]

^

[@mathies3598]

@@Karanthaneos you ripped out all my parts

[@flamingsword7341]

@@mathies3598 and worst of all, for me to live

[@sharkrancher282]

The domino thing absolutely got me. The execution at the end actually made me audibly gasp with its strong visual metaphor. But I also laughed so hard at the IMMEDIATE subversion of that cool moment by showing us the unsuccessful attempts to pull off the shot. That sort of thing is incredibly endearing to me.

[@ezracohen6020]

I actually kept noticing the Domino’s throughout the video, but I agree that the metaphor at the end was very well executed

[@mariefryzelkova7927]

@@ezracohen6020 me too but I first notice the cat :D

[@alanuchiha]

i just sat there like “🙂” bc i had been paying attention to them the whole time

[@Deadflower019]

@@alanuchiha yeah basically, though I only saw them in one shot and fixated on that for the following five minutes.

[@johnteets2921]

All power to the Soviets ! What did that get anybody ? Besides powerful Soviets ?

[@Pteriidae]

One point about the comparison between Hextech and Shimmer: while yes, technically the former is the "cleaner" version of the latter, as far as Runeterra's lore goes so far (which of course can be changed in the future or not taken into account in Arcane, but I think it'd be a great shame if that's how they handled it), hex crystals aren't ethical in the slightest. It's a bit of a long story, but: long ago, in the desert there lived a peaceful race of crystalline scorpions called the Brackern, who possess "namestones" which are essential to a Brackern's survival, they basically face death without one. Those namestones allow the Brackern to hold a mind connection among all of them, so one Brackern can experience what the others are going through across incredibly large distances. When a great, worldwide war happened (the same you see in Heimerdinger's flashback in Arcane), they decided to hibernate under the earth for safety, only to be awakened once Piltoveans came around, found them and harvested the namestones (so committing mass murder of the Brackern), renaming them to "hex crystals" and in the future ended up using them for everything from machinery to insignificant trinkets. The clan who got their high status in Piltover through discovering the crystals is very much aware of what they are and don't want others to know their origin (the clan is not present in Arcane, but is highly suspected to appear in season 2 given their incredible significance to Hextech). They do develop a synthetic version of them later on, but it is not as powerful, so Brackern-originating crystals are still very much in use. I suspect at least one person already mentioned this in the comments or you're already aware of all that, in which case sorry for the rant. But, as a tl;dr: Piltoveans nearly wiped a race of peaceful crystalline scorpions with a rich culture and a strong bond for the crystals found in their bodies and nowadays use their souls to power anything from an artificial heart to a proverbial coffee maker.

[@KseRes]

THAT'S A BIG SPOILER!

[@Pteriidae]

@@KseRes Hardly a spoiler considering how long that piece of lore has been out for and even less so considering Riot seems to not be all that keen on following through with the story, which is a real shame.

[@KseRes]

@@Pteriidae Not if you don't read LoL lore...

[@Pteriidae]

@@KseRes As far as it stands, Arcane is taking things from League's lore, changing aspects and building up on them. The two are not one and the same, as much as they should be. Same case applies here, we do not even _know_ whether Skarner's lore is going to stay the way it is now, let alone be explored in Arcane. This is not his original lore, either, it used to be much different. I cannot spoil you something that we do not even know if it has a chance of happening. That's like me telling you future Cait and Vi are going to spend their days playing cat and mouse with Jinx across Piltover and Zaun. It could happen, sure, but something entirely different could happen as well and we don't know that. Runeterra does not have a singular, complete and finished overarching story as a whole, let alone for all of its regions and characters, it is fluid. What I said could only be considered a spoiler if I knew for a fact it was going to be an aspect of the future season(s).

[@KseRes]

@@NC-247 Because I have eyes and I wanna know what people think?

[@Necrapocalypse]

18:54 I just want to comment that Seong Gi-hun's PTSD flashback when everyone starts attacking each other in the bunk bed room is a reference to a real world 77 day strike in South Korea. Ssangyong Motors laid off 43% of its workforce, who then holed up in the factory demanding their jobs back. The police assaulted them with batons and water cannons, and helicopters dropped tear gas. Ultimately, the police took over the factory and the strike failed. If we extrapolate the events of that real world strike to Gi-hun's life, he would have been blacklisted from working, making gambling and loan sharks the only way he could get money. With that context, I suggest the situation is less his fault then it seems, i.e. with him just being a deadbeat gambling addict.

[@fikamonster2564]

Thats interesting. would have liked to have that context more obvious to me as an western audience: i never found him that sympathetic, none of the participants really except for the Old guy-pretwist, The North Korean girl and the immigrant. It was still fascinating to watch all of them.

[@Temperans]

@@fikamonster2564 Remember Squid Game was not made for a western audience. It was made by koreans for koreans. The west got access to it because of Netflix, if not 90% of people would not even know about it. This is honestly part of what was talked about in the video. We currently act as if everything should cater to our own little corner but that is not how the world works. The current Dystopia work because there are too many entitled people that forget that they are not the only ones living in this planet.

[@fikamonster2564]

@@Temperans Er. i know its a korean with show with different unsaid rules. Its sortoff impossible and way to time consuming to learn about every culture on earth. im not faulting the show exactly here, im just saying that learning that would have increased my sympathy levels. maybe saying it outright would make the show hammy, idk. I watched parasite last year, and doing 2 hours of cultural research for that afterward WAS interesting, but doing 2 hours of research for every movie or media you consume becomes a ridiculous amount of time that makes it hard to live normally.

[@Temperans]

@@fikamonster2564 Considering how good squid game is, in my personal opinion it would have become hammy to insert that info in since it would break the flow of the story. Having said that, I think that a good show does not need to have the full context to be good. In fact, to me if you need outside resources to enjoy a show then the show failed to do the number one thing that defines the medium: SHOW don't TELL. If I want to know more about a show because I thought it was interesting, I'll look it up. But if I have to look things up to even make sense of it than that is just homework, and I am not in school to be doing that.

[@fikamonster2564]

@@Temperans i never said the show was bad: just that i didnt sympathize the majority of characters. they were still interesting to witness and watch.

[@alecchristiaen4856]

Quick note on Hextech: in the lore, the crystals are from a species called the Brackern (sort of giant earth elemental scorpions). What's worse, is that these crystals are important to the species' growth and survival, and that they apparently contain souls of past brackern. Essentially, hextech is as if the IRL industrial revolution was built up around ivory, except using it would also torture long-dead elephants. Hextech is the perfect technology for Piltover, since it's clean, neat, aesthetically pleasing, and unknowingly built upon the suffering of beings nobody bothers to think of.

[@ChinKiAye]

Well the one Brackern character in the game is now scheduled for a full rework, so Riot might just quietly sweep this part out of cannon like they've been trying to do

[@vysharra]

If you want to draw a parallel to the Industrial Revolution, the near-extinction of the Minke Whale or American Buffalo seems to be a closer parallel. Whales were hunted to near extinction to create whale oil, which lubricated the machines of Industry and whale lamp oil illuminated the desks of engineers and intellectuals and artists. Buffalo hides were turned into the massive leather belts that connected engines to machinery, literally making massive scale industry possible. Both species will never recover and reach their old population numbers as long as “advanced” humans exist, if at all.

[@rlpn6710]

Not only that but the Brackern are highly intelligent and had a whole civilization

[@timothymartin4759]

heard that, okay let's release Seraphine!

[@anonymousfellow8879]

“Die Hard isn’t actually a Christmas Movie.” I see you’ve invoked the ancient rites for summoning OSP Red xD

[@ValhallaAMV]

The only thing in the video that made me say "How fucking dare you?"

[@AlasKenn1]

I expect a 4 minute video of 'how dare you's and at least 2 tweets.

[@Apfeljunge666]

he lost me there, NGL

[@yaircook1619]

Angry red noises

[@ktefccre]

I am going to pretend he didn't say that just like how I pretend the socio economic problems in the world don't exist.

[@PhotonBeast]

To all the folks wondering "But how can I do anything?" the question is not "How do I personally take down systemsm of oppression and injustice?". Because the answer to that is, you can't. The question you should be asking is "What power do I have and how can I wield it?" You can organize people to demand a community garden. You can take a moment to help an elderly neighbor with something. You can speak up, speak out, speak about your experiences. You can talk to a friend who is scared. You don't even have to do this every day. Dystopias happen when we are torn apart and turn a blind eye; because we learn to never do a thing at all; because all they need to do is to grind us down so we stop doing anything and we stop caring at all; when we start to believe that we can do nothing and so just to accept what we are given... that's when it happens. So look up, look out, and take one step every so often. You do have power. We can do something.

[@tourmelion9221]

You can also not buy things from companies with bad practices

[@catharticreverie]

I feel like this is what the character Ekko in Arcane is doing, being in the present to help the people around him right now.

[@Circusmaid]

i feel like this should be told to kids ať school everyday. And enforced in workplaces. Pat on the back for people who do these things everyday. The fight for a better future is never over - hope! Noone is powerless

[@orngjce223]

There's a really good talk by Toby Fox about why being an indie game developer still matters, even in the middle of the literal apocalypse that 2020 was. It's because it gives people hope, it gives people something to live for. Emma Goldman: "If I can't dance, it's not my revolution."

[@seanimo8579]

@@tourmelion9221 if you have the budget to do so*

[@fhz3062]

I came here the first time to learn about hard/soft magic system. I learned about the concepts or worldbuilding in writing. I keep coming back because the worldbulding's concepts are not constrained to fictional worlds, they are about our own world. The Dominos were brilliant. The extra footage too. I would argue something like: "We may destroy a lot of 'dominos' while trying to fix them". But that's a metaphora for another day.

[@thomascannone3111]

how come no one ever mentions that Vi is also willfully ignorant in that scene with Jayce? Like she's completely right to call him out for saying that he's a part of this NOW, but the first thing she said when she saw the dead kid was "he knew what he was signing up for." justifying his death to Jayce and herself by saying that the kid chose to work for Silco and so he shares the blame, even though Vi should know better than that since she's from zaun herself and should know how difficult it is for the children down there to avoid getting involved with the criminal elements down there. Vi herself technicaly worked for a crime boss even though Vander was kinder than Silco he was still a criminal, so imagine if in act one marcus had actually managed to shoot one of the kids when he tried to in episode 2 and he justified it with "they knew what they were signing up for." no one would buy it from him but they buy it from Vi cus she's the main character and we like her. just wanted to say that both Vi and Jayce are wrong about different points in that scene imo.

[@Duiker36]

She's not willfully ignorant. She's just wrong.

[@sydneydunaway5618]

Well said. She then follows it up by going on a destructive bender in the last drop. The story of arcane is about the downfall of both sisters, not just Jinx, surprised so few people see that.

[@ShiftySetax]

I felt that Vi was deluding herself and Jayce. Trying to justify her violent rampage however she could. Of course, dead kid is hard to justify, so Vi fails to convince Jayce. Plus I could see the emotion in her face as she said it. I don't think she truly believes it, think she's just clouded by vengeance.

[@Temperans]

Well there is also the fact that she spent quite a long time in jail. Time and nostalgia have a way to make the past seem nicer than it really was. That combined with the fact that she views anyone's associated with Silco as part of why her father died and why she lost her sister. From her point of view the kid is inconsequential if it means the cause of her suffering will finally pay. Which is obviously misguided and is coming from a person with a thrist for vengeance.

[@artloveranimation]

I think, that might still be intentional. She has issues, and she lives by a false truth. That all the people in the upper city are bad and deserve to be punched. She barely meets Katelyn in episode 5, so her opinion on one person isn't gonna change her mind on that false truth that she's lived by every day for the last decade or so. I haven't finished watching season one yet, I haven't seen that scene with "the kid" yet, but if she is in season 2, I hope they explore that more.

[@erikohman2294]

"The good place" speaks of the complexity of choices in one of the early season finales. Not a dystopia, but touches on a similar issue.

[@HelloFutureMe]

Damn I wish I touched on that! You're right. They talk about how everyone is going to the Bad Place because decisions are too complicated now. ~ Tim

[@TheLogicMouse]

Yeah, just what occurred to me as well. In the second half of season three, the episode "Don't let the good life pass you by" they find a guy who accurately hallucinated the point system on magic mushrooms and has spent the rest of his life trying to live by it in order to get into the good place, but one of the demons claims that he'll go to the bad place too, so they have to try and figure out why.

[@erikohman2294]

@@HelloFutureMe Exactly! Thanks for answering! As a long time listnener also thanks for doing some seriously entertaining, interesting and thoughtprovoking stuff.

[@michellesteimle9969]

I would love a follow up video adressing The Good Place ethics and also I was surprised there was no mention of ATLA episode of the Painted Lady. Even though Katara destroys the refinery that was leeching out sewage and waste into the river the problem was not solved. First the consequence looked like they would blame the villagers and exact punishment on them and that too is a consequence of us trying to change/destroy the system--innocents who are victims of an abusive system still suffer from the destruction of it through loss in in economy and stability even if it was a terrible one... on top of that it still fell on the shoulders of the victims to clean up the mess caused by the tyrannical government. They needed to clean the river; clean up the mess they inherited that they did not cause or give consent for at all. Unlike ATLA we don't have an objective outsider to champion the change and to intercede for the consequence immediately following and to help us with the clean up. It is fun to read about revolution in a dystopia in an afternoon but the real world is so much more complicated and awkward to deal with even a Monkey Wrench like throwing Trump into our political system doesn't look like it made much positive difference depending on which systems are connected to it. Now that I think about it, I think I understand why our system vacillates so much between extreme left and right binary thinking. Because each candidate is trying to set him or herself up to be the champion of some revolutionary change to the most dystopian "hot topic" trending in our social media feeds. 🙄 but those "changes" frequently take more than 4-8 years to actually have impact. Ugh

[@mathies3598]

I wish I was more like Caitlyn, willing to go down there and see for herself, willing to face the consequences of her living conditions. But... how? And even if I do, how would I even attempt to make a difference? Is Caitlyn gonna be able to make a difference (for more people than just Vi), or is it just gonna be a noble attempt stopped in their tracks? I can't help but feel if Arcane goes the truly realistic route in season 2, the efforts of one person will never be enough.

[@SparkBlazeWarriors]

Caitlyn also has a lot more opportunity to try and do something about the situation and it’s still a challenge to get as far as she does. She’s an officer of the law which gives her some authority, she likely had the best education and training money could buy, and she has personal connections to two council members, which allows her to get Vi out of prison and also secures them an audience with the full council.

[@missylarsson3517]

@@SparkBlazeWarriors She chose to become an officer because of Grayson. To do something for the citizens. Even though she is shielded and a bit naive she still chose the rougher path instead of a cushy position. I don’t know you nor your circumstances, but in my country, becoming an officer is not particularly well paid. For someone who is physically/mentally stable it is not particularly difficult to become either (studywise). It is however lots of hard work, mentally taxing and often times ungrateful and unglamorous. There are many other jobs where you can make differences for people, but they often are not comfortable and very much less paid - some even volunteer based. Sure maybe Caitlyn has more opportunity than many with her connections - but she made an active choice to become an officer to help. But the point the video is making is not that others can do it better, but what are we doing with the little power and choice we have? Most of us do nothing. When we can do something.

[@Pluveus]

As someone who hasn't watched Arcane, but has paid league, I'm going to say you make a difference with a big gun, 3-5 bear traps based on level, and a net shooter.

[@nielskorpel8860]

you don't need to see everything for yourself. Try to see some things for yourself. If lots of ignorance is willful, it shouldn't be effortful to push through it once. You don't need to be enough to make a difference. Other people are trying too. You could make a difference together. Consider that Tims video has 40.000 views, every one of which is now contemplating the consequences of willful ignorance, including you and me. Does this not count?

[@nikkibrowning4546]

In reality few of us will make life better for more than a handful of people, but isn't that handful enough? Sure I would like to help a large group, but if all I can do is help a few then I have done the greatest good I can.

[@nicholasharlan6504]

"Humans are really good at assigning blame on an individual level," might as well be considered one of the worst things undermining current society as a whole. The obsession of the "me"and no concern for We as a society, frankly as a species. Wonderful content as always, thank you. 💙

[@shadowgamer4306]

This is what liberal ideology did to people.

[@kwintinjohnson459]

Arcane is one of the best shows ever. And your breakdowns and analysis of this show and avatar are spot on. I mean the way powder turns into Jynx is jus crazy to wrap your head around

[@thatonekidism]

[*feels proud of myself for noticing dominos in background well before they were set up*] [*feels bad for recognizing I'm inevitably not noticing real world applications the dominos are a metaphor for*]

[@maesterdanteamadeus444]

I noticed them halfway through when they got tall and was like "Who stacks dominos as a decoration in there home?".

[@renoutlaw8371]

@@maesterdanteamadeus444 I was sitting there out about 20 minutes in wondering how they weren't falling off the picture frame

[@Krusesensei]

@@renoutlaw8371 In the LATEST when the cat was touching them :D . And, right, from 10:48 onward, there are other numbers on the right dominos :)

[@VerityCandle]

As someone who lives in the US, as a member of the lower middle class - enough money to be part of the problem, but not enough to be part of the solution, I always feel these deeply uncomfortable feelings when I think about this. Because I know that the clothes that I'm wearing now and the phone that I'm typing this on are probably made by people working for less than a living wage, and that every time I drive somewhere when I could have stayed home, I'm helping kill the planet I live on. But if I try to live without harm, I have to stamp out just about everything in my life that gives me joy because I can't afford the more "ethical" versions of that. So what can I do? Do I have an ethical obligation to suffer in protest of a system that my suffering won't change? And how much guilt should I feel for the suffering needed to manufacture my joy, if that suffering was just going to happen anyway? And is that all just an excuse for me not to change anything because I'm comfortable where I am right now? It's so frustrating when it feels like the people who feel the most guilt are the ones with the smallest impact. Maybe this is deeply selfish, but sometimes I think: why is it my fault that people have to work in slave labor conditions to make my clothes because I can only afford $30 pants - isn't the fault of the CEO who makes millions of dollars a year, and could take a pay cut to pay his workers more and let people like me still afford their damn clothes? Or maybe it's the fault of the governments who allow their companies to outsource work from countries that allow their people to work for slave labor wages? Or maybe it's those countries faults for not caring for the wellbeing of their citizens? Why does it have to be my responsibility? Why, when everyone who is powerful fails in their duties does it fall to those with only the smallest amount of power to carry all of that on their shoulders? There is something in me that screams that it isn't fair. But maybe that too is just an excuse. And so I continue with my financed cell phone and my $30 dollar pants and my driving to the store or the park or to eat a hamburger - which is yet another thorny source of guilt and ethical discomfort. Because I still don't know how to really create change. And I'm too selfish to let myself suffer for nothing.

[@roobtube6707]

Beautifully written.

[@piercebradley5074]

I can't stop reading this

[@LupusSolitarius590]

The message that I wanted to send, better written then I could write it.

[@Theroha]

Amen. Those who have the power to change these things refuse to accept the slightest discomfort, and those who have the will are kept with their heads just under the water. It's only by working together that any change can be accomplished.

[@Duiker36]

If you had enough clout to have an impact individually, then your guilt would be that much greater. Culpability comes in proportion to the ability to redress the problem. People are convinced that, in order to fix the world, they have to cast the magic spell that mind controls 7 billion people into being better. Except that that's evil. That doesn't fix the world. That makes it worse. You can't take responsibility for the entire world unless you have the wherewithal to be an authoritarian over that entire world. Your obligation isn't to suffer. It's to support, thoughtfully and intentionally, efforts at change. If you can do more, like initiating or enacting change yourself, then do so. But if you've no ambition or ability to be a legislator or corporate executive, then stick to ways in which you can assess whether or not something will move things in the right direction and support those. Educate yourself as best you can, so that you can be more correct when making those assessments. Be available to explain what you've learned to others, when they're ready to hear it. Look at what Tim's done. He's cultivated an audience, and he uses it to fundraise for deserving charities. Is that enough to stop suicides or battered women? Of course not. But it's proportionate to what he's able to do. What you might consider is supporting walkability initiatives, or increased funding for public transit, to help you get to the store or the park without needing to drive: or indeed, help other people do those things without needing to drive.

[@Raven_Black_252]

As someone living in Turkey, I have a lot of internalized hate and rage about this topic and it hits really differently. It is something else to be on the other end of this problem as opposed to those who are watching this from rich first world countries. Ignorance is really a bliss; being priviliged to be ignorant unless it happens to you is a luck one is born into.

[@cryoshakespeare4465]

It's pretty interesting being in the opposite situation. Personally, I feel so powerless to change anything about the way the abuse structures are set up. Afraid of giving up what I know, ever uncertain about whether it would achieve anything. Since I'm not currently being super active in solving these problems, I can't speak with any certainty, but I have a feeling we all have to be able to tolerate grief and a sense of purpose in the same package. The shitty sadness of the world is something each of us experiences differently, and I definitely can't speak to the way it impacts your life, but I think being able to see how things are bad and how they could be made better should be accepted in one's life as an honour. But that said, even though I can say this in theory, I have no idea if it could work in practice. We avoid what feels bad and are driven towards things that feel good. Even hate and rage has its own motivators. I won't wish you luck, because it doesn't do anything. And I would say I'm sorry, but that won't do anything either. I'm not even sure if writing here will do anything to change my own behaviour. But I have the power to try and improve things, even if I am almost guaranteed to get it wrong. Focusing on that is the only way to not succumb to despair. The state of the world is not under our any of our individual controls, we only have our actions, and even then, we do not get to decide what we are and aren't able to do. But to focus on the will to do well, is the only way it will get better. That's at least my current understanding, of my own situation anyway.

[@morningstarcollective4671]

As someone who grew up in a horribly shitty area, who could take the bus to the nice pretty first world richness and then go back home to where I'm surrounded by rubble and violence and a complete instability and unreliability of basic utilities, I can understand this very well. Like, people would look at my neighborhood and blame me for living there, or blame all of us for the state of things. It's still potentially better than what you deal with, but it was definitely far from any amount of safety or security, all while being shat on for lacking many of the luxuries richer people saw as normal. "Oh you just aren't trying hard enough" kinda shit.

[@lizker9887]

Same the place where I live seems so familiar to Zaun, here in Mexico city you have places that legit look like I would imagine a first world country would and just with a ticket in the pubic transport (that also is shittier in the poorer areas) you can go to places full of poverty with people inhaling glue to get high drugged out of their mind dirty and with more pollution (thanks to the fabrics) and much less green or plants where if you don't look poor or suspicious you may get mugged

[@TheRandomzcookie]

honestly i live in a first world country and i still have a lot of anger for this topic just coz of how many people's first responses to it are "well, the problem isn't *me*-- *I* can't do anything about it!" which, is really pretty funny, yeah? coz we all seem to repeat it like we're robots when this topic comes up, yet still act like it's a conclusion that we came to through our own individual logic, even though the fact of the matter is that most of us unquestionably have more political power than someone living somewhere else. which doesn't mean i think we could just snap our fingers and magically make everything better if we really tried; it's just frustrating, because it's not even self-serving so much as it's serving the interests of those in power, making everyday people feel chronically powerless, despite that the reality is so much more complicated, dependent on factors like class, location, communal or cultural connections-- factors that are different for everyone!

[@nielskorpel8860]

​@@timoth4529 Anger, like all feelings, does not have to make sense. If you want a target, you can be angry at the reality of the situation. Sure, there will still not be anyone who you can demand to fix it, but it can be your fuel to push for some improvement. Secondly, you can be angry at a group, if you are prepared to explain yourself when needed. You do understand that not all people in a group are to blame, so you can be angry at "only those who...". You can be angry at ones actions, even if you do not hate them, even if you can understand their possible ignorance or misguidedness. Hateless anger can be a means to hold wellmeaning people to account for the actions that have (inadvertently) hurt others.

[@jeffreyhill1011]

Arcane was so well voiced and just done so well in general. I havent had my "oh crap I better keep that safe" switch flipped so aggressively as I had with young Jinx since my freaking daughters were born. Jinx Vi and Jayce all feel like honest to goodness real people it's awesome. Caitlyn is well done also but the other 3 are crazily well done. Snowpiecer has my vote for show I wish I more often had time to watch, so good

[@gingy2959]

As someone who wants to write a dystopian graphic novel, this really opened my eyes to themes I had already planned, and what I could possibly add to make it even better. Very insightful, love your videos.

[@sabikikasuko6636]

"You've always been a part of this, you just never had to look it in the eye" is such a raw dialogue and O think summarizes the entire fucking video SO WELL.

[@DomTze]

As a Brazillian, this hits differently. We who live in the good part of town are sometimes a few blocks away from people starving, we see mothers picking food from our trashcans to feed their children but we also don't see any of this We ignore the reality in such a way that verges on the ridiculous. Differently from the US, our racism is unspoken but just as cruel, we don't have white people saying the n-word when we are alone but the concept of the state-funded university moved from "the brightest minds in the country" to "a bunch of stoners, lazy communists that undermine our culture" after we introduced racial quotas. Pretending not to see how the other lives could be considered a national sport

[@arthurfortes8398]

As a brazilian, I can confirm that, sadly. Just yesterday, I saw two men looking at trash, one of them even got inside a trash container. That is reality.

[@linkkenni]

This. This exactly.

[@afasdfasafd314]

im from argentina, the part of from "the brightest minds in the country" to "a bunch of stoners, lazy communists that undermine our culture" is actually 100% correct, if universitys have a quota of any kind you go from having trained profesionals to people that are there just to fill a quota and not because they deserve to be there or because they have the necesarry skills, is pretty much basic logic.

[@TalesZuliani]

Yep. Realmente acerta bem diferente pra gente. Sem palavras com esse video

[@axelhstrand3121]

But, what are you going to do about it? It doesn't matter that we're aware, we must act

[@corruptedhelios3731]

I'm used to you producing quality videos, but damn this was a cut above!! Engrossing analysis with great points. Left me with a lot to think about.

[@amandaherbert4194]

Agreed, the videos on this channel are getting better each time. Keep it up 👍 *chef’s kiss*

[@jaimeerindy4573]

Wonderful analysis! I definitely feel and agree that the "games" aspect of modern dystopia comes from the idea of willful participation. All of the "games" are a metaphor for life, and it's something we're all just playing to survive. We have to follow the rules the oppressor places, and yes we could try to rebel but is it worth the risk? In both Hunger Games and Squid Game, the players say they don't want to play, but they have to. They have no other choice -- if you can't beat them, join them. I think it reflects the idea that we are constantly beaten down by the systems we're born into, and we're all just trying to make the best of the situation we're in. Of course, these modern dystopias point out that the longer we participate in the systems as they are, the more drastic the disparity, and the harder they are to dismantle, and the murkier the placement of blame becomes.

[@dairallan]

Arcane is the best show ive seen in a long time, maybe ever. But I never thought of it as dystopic. Because its so true to reality. That says a lot about our reality. Also, the double Consent in Squid Game always seemed to be fundamental to the story, yet so many reviews or essays regarding it never seem to mention it at all. Glad to see this aspect of the show getting the acknowledgement it deserves.

[@LiquidLucidLuke]

I feel this, I feel that I like a lot of people my age get a lot of anger and angst from this pervasive sense of manufactured consent. Growing up our parents were always telling us how gratefull we should be that we're growing in the "best" places in the "best" times and we were lucky that the "best" systems could take down us peacefully down the path pf progress. Yet expecting us to look at all the suffering and poverty in the world and just accept it as the way it is and be gratefull we're not among the less fortunate. Deny that we're clearly exploiting these parts of the world to enjoy our luxuries, and assume that "progress" will solve it all and these things are far too complicated. Instead we should cheer on the systems and institutions that created these imbalances and be gratefull for the ways they benefit us after all how lucky are we that "progress" has worked out for the "best".

[@mudkipmaverik7449]

Y’know, I’m glad you said this because fucking hell, this has been bugging me for ages and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one

[@nielskorpel8860]

i completely feel ya buddy, but let me put a more positive spin on this. whatever peeps call progress might not solve these problems. But ifever these problems do improve, it will be through progress of some kind. "Improvement" is, after all, a synonym of "progress". It'll just have to be a "progress" of our own devising. Ive learned in my personal life that improvement is a simple idea yet a complex action. One needs to pay attention to what things should be (even if unrealistic), AND one should attend to what things are (even if reprehensible), before one can start plotting a journey from here to there. You need both. Its not enough to reject thinking about the way things are, because they are bad and ugly and painful. And its not enough to reject thinking about the way things should be, because you've resigned yourself to the status quo, having let go of hope to protect you againts the pain of dissappointment. You'll somehow need to think about both of these ideas, despite the fact that they don't fit well together. Maybe this true for humanity as well. As so maybe the adults are right,... in the sense that we _do_ need to believe in progress and we _should_ be expected to look at all the suffering and poverty in the world. Because it is through _accepting_ that as our reality, WHILE _refusing_ for it to stay that way, that we can start to figure out what to do about it. Between the world we have, and the world we want, lies a complex maze. By doing the above, we can start to engage with the counter-intuitive puzzle of navigating it. It'll involve accepting the way things are for the time being, as you can't arrive at any destination within a fingersnap. Improvement will involve acting in ways that don't make sense for where you want to go. Some solutions only work to keep a good world good, yet we can't rely on them when that is not yet the case. Similarly, the sentiment that "people are just looking out for themselves in this cruel world" makes sense, but it won't make the world less cruel (on the contrary) . So improvement will also involve not acting in ways that make sense for where you are. And lastly, improvement will involve hope: the decision not to resign yourself to the world you live in. To keep seeing value in attemps to improve, to hold on to the world we should have, despite the fact that we don't live in it.... for the time being. best regards, someone who believes they've known how you feel, Niels Korpel, 22yrs

[@dodoboy465]

read some marx gamer you'll feel a bit better and start to understand that feeling.

[@komiccomik4796]

​@@dodoboy465 ah I knew I would find some comrades on this video, I honestly spent the entire time like "I want him to mention how capitalism causes and/or exacerbates these problems especially in the concept of manufactured consent and the feeling of being powerless against 'the way the world just works" and at the same time knowing how much of a cesspool the comment section would be if he did

[@dithaingampanmei]

Let me tell you a story. Of a tribe that lived on a giant ark. They grew their food on the deck and they fished. They sank their dead in the waters. They were not in paradise but they weren't suffering either. One day a little child climbs to the prow, a place forbidden even for the adults. And there's a crow's head carved into it. The child is admiring the crow's head sculpture, when the head suddenly comes to life. It startles the child, but she holds on and doesn't fall. The crow tells the child tales of the people who carved him. That they were terrible people, theives running from a king. The boat was too small for all of them, and chaos eventually broke out. The ones who lived were the Murderers. The Cannibals. And the child was a descendant of those very monsters. What is the right thing to do? Burn the ark down? Start another bloody mutiny to steer the boat back to a kingdom that may or may not remember them? Or maybe you should just live life as best you can with your copassengers. The child is you. What shall you do?

[@mudkipmaverik7449]

As a ripe teenager myself, I can confirm; we’re fucking pissed at this world. It stems from the fact that we grow up with access to the internet, and are keenly aware of how many problems the world has, the fact that there will be more, and most frustrating of all how little we can do. Furthermore, we are frustrated because unlike our anime of OP friend groups saying “I want that” and “I don’t like that” (looking at you one piece, MHA, etc.) and unlike our books of heroes making progress through individual effort, and unlike our movies with the big bad guys, we are humans in a human world. We are limited by our mortality and small role, limited by the lack of a target, limited in what we can do. Thus, we feel helpless. Some sink to despair and cynicism. Others try to ignore it, entertaining themselves in ignorance. Still some others are stubborn, defiant, and refuse to admit helplessness. Yet, for all their bravado, their defiance does not give them the power they wish they had. There’s only one way out: we need everyone to see, or be shown the problems we all face. Humans are weak individually, but can do a lot in mass coordination. It’s our true advantage over other life. Thus, mass analysis and discussion of these topics are the true first steps to fixing the issues we face. So thanks, Tim, for taking that first step, and trying to get others to do the same. The world’s not doomed yet. At least, no more than usual

[@seanbirtwistle649]

Yes and no. The problem isn't that people don't stand up and do something about it all, its that they're older. Yeah the little things really do make a difference but the older you get the more your potential gets spent with the choices you made and the you just work with what you've got. If you've got a mortgage and 6 mouths to feed you probably want to climb a corporate ladder regardless of any ethical decisions the company is selling. Real change, real action comes from the little collective actions born from empathy. Extreme change just causes people with power to capitalise on the change and leaves the little people fucked. Think of all the rich people to got richer because of the pandemic while the poorer struggle to hold onto what they have

[@mudkipmaverik7449]

@@seanbirtwistle649 I don’t see how our points conflict? The only way true change will happen is if people start being aware of these consequences. I didn’t say people don’t stand up, because many do. I am, however, saying that it’s easy for some to give up or ignore it despite knowing. It seems to daunting a challenge for a single human, and they’re right. The only solution is to act in mass. And to counter your pointed against older folks; if they did not slow societal movements then we would likely face revolution. The young of mind are easily manipulated by ideals and progress, which are easy concepts to exploit. Thus, the old people prevent this through being naturally stubborn. Not to say that all movements need that slowing (looks at civil rights movements, equality movements) but there are numerous cases where a country’s youth’s frustrations and idealisms have been exploited (literally the political foundation of the Nazis, Hitler played off of the German people’s frustrations with the Treaty of Versailles and post war debt, while simultaneously proposing an ideal German state run by his pure German paragons)

[@seanbirtwistle649]

@@mudkipmaverik7449 sorry if I came across as argumentative. I figured someone might read you post and jump to conclusions in these days of social action - it doesn't discount the idea of storming parliament and hanging positions to overthrow election results. Or read that you're a teen and just assume you mean the worst. Old people aren't just stubborn they don't have the ability to pivot with ideas because they've built a life they need to consider. They don't think they have time. Yes I agree with what you say, it just leaves it up to my imagination to decide on how change should happen

[@balabanasireti]

I know that every fandom is toxic but the Shonen fandoms are one of the worst ones

[@carso1500]

Here is the thing man For once you are not alone, every single teenager in the history of forever has had this same feeling of "raging against the system" is something that has happened millions of times before and millions of times in the future, in every country and in every culture the younger people are the ones who bring change, in the 70s it was the whole anti war and hippie movement, in the 80s it was rock and roll and anti corporate mesages, etc, every generation has it's own set of problems or ones that they identify but problems arent new, they werent invented in the last 10 years, they have always existed and some will continue to exist Now this doesnt means that they can't be solved, they can, and a lot of them have been solved, because it's not true that a single person can't do much, history is filled with people, great individuals who have managed to change the course of history with their actions, it's hard but it's not imposible, it has never been and it will likely never be Finally while identifying the problems that exist and searching for ways ti fix then is good you need to have some perspective, the reality is the next one no se don't love in a dystopia and in fa t our lives are better than they have ever been before, and while there is still plenty of death and suffering in the world there has not been a single period of time in human history when that wasnt the case, it's good to rage against the system and be angry that injustices happen but also you need to learn that not everything is bad and that many things have improved for the better, it's not sane to believe that everything is bad all the time that is not a healthy or useful mindset

[@sageoftheuniverse7274]

For more in this vein I'd recommend the Magnus Archives. It's about power, and identity under horrible systems, and wouldn't it be fucked up if there was a guy whose wife was made of beetles. It has basically all the themes touched on in this story and then some.

[@Wiz1800]

It’s interesting what you said about distance removing moral responsibility. There’s actually a psychology theory about it. Milgram did experiments on obedience which obviously isn’t the same thing, but he found that buffers like giving instructions over the phone rather than in person etc effected obedience. Then there’s also Latane’s social impact theory which specifically looks at distance. Idk it just reminded me of this. Really thought provoking video. I hope anyone reading this has a nice day :)

[@husaynbootwala1729]

Reminds of chidi from the good place, he spent his entire trying to take full responsibility of every decision he made. Thinking about every moral implications his choices have on the world. And yet in doing so, he made his own and others' lives miserable, resulting in him being sent to the bad place. The concept of assigning blame is further explored in season three, when Michael finds about the unintended consequences a good action can have, leading to a negative point total. Thus proving that assigning blame has become way more complicated in today's world.

[@luisandrade2254]

Maybe instead of playing blame game we should focus on what’s best for all

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@luisandrade2254 Speaking of Dystopia-Coverage: have you seen the new video of Telltale Atheist? The One about the Politican named Green?

[@АннаБондарец-д8щ]

Yep, in general I think it's a genius comedy

[@polifemo3967]

distributing responsibility is too hard. I prefer to focus on who needs help, and what needs to be changed. Everyone needs to change, whether they bear any blame or not, to make things better. Responsability is not based on what bad you have done, its based on what good you can do.

[@Duiker36]

It's right there in the word, after all: the ability to respond.

[@carso1500]

Everyone loses soo much time searching for who to blame that they don't realize that the real question is who to help and how

[@mrguy3678]

I wonder if Arcane is what LoK could have been. Its a picture of what happens when the "harmony" and "balance" is disturbed for the sake of "progress." Pilltover is a technologically advanced utopia, but any sense of culture and tradition and brotherhood has been lost. They aren't dissimilar to the Fire Nation from AtLA, only its almost more sinister because they aren't imposing their utopia through conquest but through ideology and material innovation and "progress."

[@Snarethedrummer]

I see some parallels, but I don't think so. Keep in mind the Fire Nation steam power and tech boom elevates and uplifts people from all walks of life, and it... equalizes... non-benders in a way that they wouldn't be, otherwise. The technology is shared with all the nations who want to use it, and it certainly does bring some spiritual imbalance, but there are growing pains for most new technologies and people who will use them for less than ideal/unintended purposes (look no further than The Internet and what it's doing for and against perceptions on vaccines and COVID, currently). IMO an ATLA sequel should've explored how harmony and balance would work in a period of reunification in a world with an obliterated Air Nation, a repentant post-war Fire Nation, and a less segregated Earth Kingdom. I suppose some of the comics touch on some of these topics, but it would've been nice to see a series of Aang+gang growing up and coming into their own, becoming adults and shaping this new world they paid their late childhoods on to help free. I don't hate LoK and it's not horrid, but it doesn't always tackle what I want and it's set far enough into the future for me to wonder about the middle years, up to Aang's death.

[@mrguy3678]

@@Snarethedrummer I think we fundamentally disagree on the virtues of "equality" and "unity" as well as material expansion. I don't think a "diverse" and "progressive" equivalent of New York in Avatar would be a utopia. I think there would be social strife, addiction, and materialism just like in real life. Peace requires that you accept that others are different, and that it is unwise/unfruitfull to try and impose your will on them. Progressivism does just that, unfortunately, which is why the modern equivalent of the Fire Nation (the US) insists on imposing its vision on the world. The truth is peoples and cultures aren't interchangeable, and forcing them to exist under one legal and geographic entity only benefits a few capitalists and technocrats while causing strife and the eventual destruction of unique cultures we witness today.

[@Snarethedrummer]

@@mrguy3678 I'm not convinced we do fundamentally disagree on a lot. Large and diverse cities are rarely utopias, and Republic City was no exception, until possibly convergence and opening the spirit portals bringing something new (and we don't exactly see what happens after). We do see crime, classism, poverty, waste, decadence, and using young benders for a spectator sport. I never said we'd see Aang succeed at unification, but we would see him make an attempt or start that work after a long period without an Avatar, and that would be interesting. We see Tenzin and many others fail over the course of the series, and there's no way even Aang could create a perfect utopia in his lifetime. It would also be interesting to see the Fire Nation under Zuko, comparable to Germany after WWII. All this to say maybe we agree on a bunch, but I'm not sure if Arcane's mostly dual-class city system lends itself that much to the Avatar universe/scenario. On the integration of real world cultures, there are some cities and nations that exist with many cultures living mostly peacefully together with at least a fair amount of cultural exchange, but the examples I can think of do include colonial conquest and a displacement of indigenous peoples, as unfortunate as that is common.

[@JanbluTheDerg]

Growing up, I heard a lot of "silver spoon" stuff and was (is, I suppose since I'm barely an adult and haven't moved it it hasn't quite stopped) constantly told I was privileged and fortunate and that I should recognise that there are people with less opportunity than me. All of this is true, but it hurts like hell to think about. Sometimes I feel like I'm more willing to throw myself under the bus because a lot of other people have it worse. And, I don't know how to help fix things, it all feels to big, too monumental. How do I help the kids in the slums who start walking to school at 4 in the morning? And then I'm here like "Oh crud I don't want to wake up at 5:30 to get a bus to get to uni", and I suddenly feel really guilt for just existing. Wilful ignorance then becomes a way to stop feeling so guilty for existing, for having what others don't, for somehow contributing to a system that pushes people down. I really hate this reality.

[@panasane]

buddy you are a long, long way from any kind of real silver spoon if some of those videos of your room or whatever are anything to go by. I'm not trying to shit on you here, it just seems like you don't fully comprehend the conditions so many people are brought up in. There are plenty of kids who get upset when daddy doesn't give them a private jet or a boat like all their friends got or when their parents get them the wrong colored $40,000+ car they throw a fit and kick a dent in it at the dealership. Then of course there's plenty of children starving and being worked to death all across the world. You can either try and do something about this or not, I'm not going to because it would be a pain in the ass, but wallowing in guilt over it is simply stupid.

[@PureSniperWolf]

I agree. This is a cursed and abandoned timeline. We have no Rick Sanchez because he abandoned us. Imagine trying to explain to Batman or Superman that we have no supervillains yet made our own Gothams. That said, we are still here. We can still do what is in our power to create change. Vote for people you think will genuinely improve the world. Don't buy the cheap overseas made stuff if you can get the locally made stuff. Try harder to recycle or reuse things. Donate stuff that is in new or good condition but you don't want any more. Foster family and community when you can (libraries are great for this! They are beacons for family AND community!) I think of the concept that one of us peasants alone won't change the world overnight. But enough of us, as well as the higher-ups, will make change noticeable. My throwing away a plastic straw isn't the reason Sea turtles and coral reefs are dying, but cutting up bottle rings and trying to use less tree resources helps, right? 😊

[@MrMarinus18]

But it's also a question of what real happiness is and if excessive material wealth really matters. If anything children growing up in the past 10 years have had a lot of soft cruelty put on them. Not things like pain and hunger but things like loneliness and lack of support. Many parents just take a "be yourself" approach which leaves children completely on their own to figure out their moral compass, their beliefs, their hobbies, everything. Before in school you just made friends with the person next to you or in church the same thing but that has eroded greatly. With faith you can apply those ideals to yourself and your parents and teacher will help you via encouragement, punishments, lessons, examples, stories and so on. Without all of those what can a child believe in? What is "good"? What are they supposed to admire about others or look down on? The internet is full of scammers, trolls and pedo's so it's a very hostile enviroment for a naive kid and cyberbullying, bad lessons and exploitation of children on the internet is rampant and it's an enviroment adults can't easily protect them. Many parents also tend to be both too lenient and too strict with them completely locked down their children and preventing them from exploring the world and even feeding them ideas of how dangerous the world is. I also have seen many parents that want to stop their kids from crying which gives them the idea that emotional exploration is not allowed or at least that they can't turn to their parents for that. We might have material wealth but children still are growing up in a world that feels cold, hostile, lonely, nonsensical, chaotic, unfair, hopeless and makes them feel powerless.

[@arianacarolina7110]

Once again, another incredible video and this time with a deep theme of conversation, which is amazing in itself. When you said that we tend to blame others constantly or find excuses to escape the responsibility of our decision, it reminded me of an idiom from my country (🇻🇪) that says "la culpa es de la vaca" which translates into "the blame is on the cow" (this was also turned into a book if you ever want to read it or if there's an English version), and it talks about how the blame is on everything and everyone except ourselves. And also, as someone who lives in a country that was considered (because it is a lie in a way) "a country in development", in recent years our economy is more of a bad joke than what is supposed to be that we have a strange mix of disparity just like in this modern dystopias that you talk about. Here the only difference between someone from an upper class or a lower class is mostly centre around on: " how many food products you can afford" and "how many jobs do you have to buy them", that's it. Here the average people are working at least 3 jobs just to buy food for 1 week. So every time I see these dystopian worlds, especially the ones referenced here, struck me too close to home. I still remember how it wasn't impressive and more like familiar that, for example, Katniss didn't have a shower and had to bath herself with a bucket filled with water because is something that I have done since we can spend 1 or 4 weeks without water in our home. So yeah, hahaha, is not only that it feels exaggerated but more like it is how it is in real life in some countries. Thank you for the video! 💕 (and I hope you can read this comment hehehe) until the next one!

[@HelloFutureMe]

I'd love if you could all keep telling me about how you saw the dominoes the whole time over at my patreon because things cost money www.patreon.com/hellofutureme

[@gentlemansgambit1018]

Love how you added more between cuts

[@earnestbrown6524]

So how many times did you have to set up the domino's?

[@stiliyandekov3072]

I noticed the dominos.

[@ms4eji0bek]

I've been asking myself why the hell are there random dominoes in the background the whole video. Then I've got to the point where you say "you haven't noticed them" in the most condescending tone. And here's your passive aggressive comment. Yeah, I like your content, but this is just poor taste, mate. Do you really wanna be the "clever guy"? Cause I bet you've felt so clever filming this dominoes piece. Just... Don't be condescending, okay? Something like "Some of you may have not noticed that I've been putting stuff in the background" is way nicer, and doesn't suppose your audience is blind. If it's supposed to be a metaphor on people ignoring stuff in plain view, well, we get the idea, but don't lump everyone in the "not seeing" bunch in advance.

[@RobinHood-qk9fy]

I noticed the dominos before you started setting them up, and as you were setting them up I noticed that we have the same brand of dominos

[@NotPublicAegis]

It is quite funny looking at Zaun in Arcane. After Zeri, who is based deep in Filipino Culture. The parallels of Arcane to the History between The USA and the Philippines are now painfully obvious. The tragedy of it all is that the people here (The Philippines) believe that the wounds are healed but Justice hasn't been served. More of our intellectuals move to America for better prospects. More and more of the kids here are divorced from the culture that brought them to the world. Even more so with people bleaching their skin. We have a term for this now, Colonial Mentality. The feeling of inferiority of one's own culture resulted from colonization. The cultural Hegemony of the USA's ideology is hypocritical just like Piltover. Providing a home for the largest thief in the Philippines whose son is now participating in the Presidential Election. Destroying democracies to crush opposed ideologies. Committing war crimes which only get a single leaf thrown at them. Calling to judge others with the ignorance of the role they played in the world. I am sorry if this is just me but this is dystopian-esque that we all just accepted it as the nature of things and not calling for justice. The Philippines was denied statehood simply because it is majority "Brown" besides being far away. I see a lot of people when I look at Vi's Family. Vanders' value of security and the need to keep the status quo to protect others. Vi's youthful frustrations towards the world who too have to lead others into a better future. Claggers' silent but willing to follow and help the best he could. Milo's distaste for failure and innovation. Powders' creative but progressively degraded mental state who have to deal with harassment for being too different. Where she who also has been molded by Silco, the idealistic madman who caused harm to innocent people. You can go so far as to say Caitlyn is a supporter from the other side. This, if you look closely is very cyclical. An every increasing destructive set of dominoes only calls on the destruction of the Family. I could go on with the minor details of Arcane to support my claims but I honestly doubt anyone would bother reading this. Also, CIA this is simply speculation. I have no power in this system so you don't need to waste any resources on one random person. Edit: spelling

[@kailawkamo1568]

The funny thing about dystopian fiction like Arcane and Squid Game is that they are lumang tugtugin for those living in the third world but entertaining blockbusters for the first world. Like yo, the disproportionate disparity between our lived experiences is so staggering.

[@FelisImpurrator]

And yet, on the flipside... Why is it that the specific way in which people here "resist" all that just happens to be reactionary nationalism? What's the use in seeking justice through embracing insecurity - desperately performing the idea of "Pinoy Pride" not by always striving to innovate more and better forms of culture, but instead by constantly chasing an imaginary, idealized past that doesn't exist and arguing pointlessly back and forth over what constitutes "real" culture, "untainted" by the specter of colonialism (as if that means anything)? What's the use in so much "activism" being about shifting blame to the US government (or the CIA in particular), to China, to anyone who isn't us - not just for the past, but for everything in the present, every asinine decision made by our corrupt oligarchs and aspiring fascist tyrants? Neocolonialism (and in some cases plain old colonialism) and economic exploitation are absolute fact in history and the present - our sweatshops still produce fast fashion to be discarded by consumers in the global north, Mainland Chinese military forces still build off our northern shores in defiance of international rulings. Of course that's an issue. But why is it that people often use these things as an excuse to completely ignore and divest the responsibility of our own home-grown tyrants, our oligarchs who are that precisely because they serve their own selfish interests rather than being mere "puppets" of foreign states? Why is it that reactionary politics and the same sort of false, idealized nostalgia that historically drives *fascism* get passed off as revolutionary? We need better than that. Solutions focused on systemic issues, on educating the common people and holding the oligarchs accountable. A focus on simply creating and expressing culture in healthier ways than the unthinking escapism and manufactured consent of the unending sea of telenovelas - more personal, more creative, less obsessed with proving Filipino identity and more focused on just doing and living it without chasing the perceived need for validation.

[@magnumslash]

Thank you for the lecture. It was very enlightening.

[@kailawkamo1568]

@@FelisImpurrator Neocolonialism and imperialism pretty much still are big influences in our society. The recent amendment regarding 100% foreign ownership of several public services supports this. There was also the Pemberton pardoning case and Duterte's passive response to the WPS conflict. While I agree that we should not let our local crocodiles off the hook (they should be held accountable at all cost), it is still important for us to not lose sight of the larger geopolitics that enables and supports our fascists and oligarchs. You hit the mark on Filipino identity for sure. It has long been and still being co-opted by fascist and neoliberal movements to manufacture consent from the masses (especially when looking at our 2022 election candidates lol). To criticize the government or any politician would entail being deemed not nationalistic, "salot", or even as far as being told "just go somewhere else if you don't like how things are run here". In effect, culture is being used as a weapon by the ruling class to coerce us to keep being servile to both them and the colonial forces that have a vested interest in keeping us a cheap labor and resource factory.

[@FelisImpurrator]

@@kailawkamo1568 I'm aware. All I'm saying is, we need accuracy and specificity in broader critique. My point is that our left is weak because it's embraced wholeheartedly, internalized, the reactionary tendencies the fascists want for us. I went to UP for my degree. Activism is a mess. All out of touch, tired old slogans based solely on demonizing and placing exclusive blame on the West or China, calling every president nothing more than just a placeholder puppet (of two rival superpowers, hilariously) with no agency in their own corruption. My degree program was a shitshow - compromising academic freedom purely for the sake of nationalistic dogma. And fuck me, so many of them are, of all things, Marxist-Leninist-Maoists. I don't have patience for that kind of nonsense anymore, honestly. It's all dogma, all elevation of bastardized Marxist thought to the level of religion. The rest, unfortunately, are liberals... All sensitive identity politics and culture war, but not a hint of praxis, and an obsession with importing American cultural ideas wholesale. I was too revolutionary (but also too insensitive) for the libs. Too un-dogmatic and pragmatic for the MLMs. I'm a writing major but a social scientist at heart; I like analysis, I like data, I like policy. I don't like nonsense gatekeeping of a culture these very people are allowing to stagnate. I don't like pale imitations of class consciousness that are little more than religious texts recited from memory. I'm an internationalist anarchist, a postmodernist, and a transhumanist. I think nation-states are an inconvenience, and that the real case for progressive socialism and beyond is one rooted not in dogma and faith, but in data and practical utility. Progressive methods work. We've known they work for decades. Positive freedom enriches the quantity, quality, and sustainability of labor. From each according to ability, to each according to need - it's just simple logic to me, a practical guide to smoothly operating the machine called society. So why do otherwise, if not for pride or greed or other such empty nonsense? I want to wake up in twenty or thirty or fifty or a hundred years and still have a world that isn't drowned or on fire. I support the most efficient path to achieving that. I don't really care about all the other crap, I just think it's stupid to do things incorrectly when we can do them correctly. Well, here's hoping Diokno makes senator. He seems to be one of the only ones who knows what the hell he's doing. Food banks on the streets? We should have had these years ago. Presidential is fucked though. Considering the least worst options are seemingly the milquetoast liberal and the Old Conservative cop types, and the alternative is fascists, theocrats, and mafia boss oligarchs, it's not a good year for electoralism.

[@Lashb1ade]

I would add to your thought on how easily ignored distant problems are by pointing out that ignoring them is also largely self-destructive. Globalisation led to the west getting lots of cheap goods, immediately followed by wave stagnation as industry left for cheaper places. It's a pattern that has repeated throughout history; slavery for instance is effective at enriching a privileged few whilst also preventing a nation as a whole from developing. By ignoring the problems is the lower city, Piltover was ignoring a valuable resource. How many more revolutionary scientists could have emerged from Zaun if it weren't for the poverty? How much more resources could Piltover have acquired had it, for instance, actually deployed the mining equipment that Jayce had developed? Mechanisation in our world simultaneously improved working conditions AND output. The city of progress was, ultimately, holding back its own progress.

[@thabokgwele5268]

spittin

[@biazacha]

Viktor, Singed and Jinx all play with different sides of this question, with Ekko being the optimistic middle ground where is not too late to start taking a positive stance.

[@orngjce223]

AIDS wouldn't have killed so many people who got blood transfusions if the politicians hadn't turned a blind eye in the earliest days of the epidemic when it was only killing the "deviants".

[@fernandaparraguirre5237]

thank you for your videos. i dont know how but they keep saving me so thank you. you make the noise in my head less loud and i remember why i have hope, you remind me of a quote about not giving up in the face of all thats wrong and brutal and cruel in the world cause some battles will never be over but that doesnt make them any less worth fighting. i hope youre having a good day, im sending you love from the other end of the world

[@cerebaton7625]

Damn. Your videos are always worded with precision and care. I truly enjoy hearing you talk about the stories you love and what you learn from them.

[@JSkiwipie]

Is it dystopia if it reflects the realities of society, rather than it’s fears? Also love your cat in the background xD

[@psychologymajorptsd62]

Usually what people fear is already a reality, even if they don’t consciously realize it. So, yes. The dystopia is one of many more palatable ways to talk about what is going on without talking about what is going on. My favorite line in V for Vandetta: Artists use lies to tell the truth and politicians use the truth to tell lies.

[@lizardlegend42]

No they're generally exaggerations of current socio-political trends depicting what the author fears would happen should these trends continue too far. Of course the fears of society at a given time are themselves reflective of the society so maybe that's what you meant?

[@WithoutFear804]

You could consider the 3rd world as the under-city as super power countries depend on them to keep up the appearance of a more advanced civilization. Paying them just enough to survive and produce for us while they have no way to rise up

[@FelisImpurrator]

Well, yes. I live in Metro Manila. Sup, we've been cyberpunk for the last, what, 20 years?

[@JakubWojciechowski933]

Aren't those connected?

[@OakenBlitheness]

To be honest, I don't think exploitation of people who don't truly have another choice needs to be that far away from us to remain ignorant about it, or even argue to its necessity. I think of Amazon as a prime example. There are entire cities around the world that are completely dependent on the jobs that Amazon provides to them and with no economic mobility those jobs become the only option. They are enduring atrocious working conditions all while people get irritated when something takes more that two days to ship. Having the exploitation be farther away certainly makes it easier to be ignorant of its happening, but so does that exploitation being tied into the foundations of our economies.

[@komiccomik4796]

and if anyone tries to criticize Amazon or heaven forbit Jeff Bezos himself, it's just a string of "find another job" "stop buying from them" "you're just jealous of his success" somehow choosing between working an underpaid, unethical job and staving is seen as a fair choice

[@tourmelion9221]

What if it's like marx, because so many jobs cropped up people took them and because all of them got tied to one entity and the other jobs disappeared as they moved, which makes standards lower, makes it harder for people to all get their old jobs without the business failing beforehand leaving them jobless. In a lot of areas factory's sticky paper tactics means that they decimate the original economy to a completely dependent one, and then leave everyone unreadily unemployed after siphoning money out of the local economy. Places where mica mines are used to be good places, but because of the business of mica they have worse living standards. It used to be less populated but as people caught wind they ejected a bunch of people without jobs towards it for money, making jobs more competitive, and cause wages are so much more shit they can't leave, honey trap, sticky trap, they are stuck and cannot return to what they once were

[@_vofy]

I have stopped buying from them.. at least what I can identify as coming from them... There's active effort in the world to obscure the origin of stuff and when you know something is legit, then you can't afford it...

[@useless_name]

"prime" example xD

[@luisandrade2254]

How is expecting a good service exploitation?

[@ClockMonsterLA]

Jayce didn't raid Silco's Shimmer plant in order to help the undercity shed the yoke of a crime lord. He did it in an attempt to remove a threat--a perceived clear and present danger--to Piltover. It was Vi who saw Silco as a cancer on the undercity that needed removing in order to save the undercity, or at least give it a chance to save itself. I think it is a mistake to think of Jayce as having any sort of epiphany with regard to his moral responsibility towards the undercity; his actions were firmly and exclusively focused on Piltover's security, not the undercity's welfare.

[@Proctor_Conley]

Jayce did it for both reasons & has multiple scenes of him explaining that, no?

[@mutantmagnet]

"I think it is a mistake to think of Jayce as having any sort of epiphany with regard to his moral responsibility towards the undercity; " While you are correct to say Jayce's initial motivations to attack the factory was to deal with a clear threat. It is wrong to believe he didn't have an epiphany. The deal he forced on Silco and the council is a direct consequence of his acceptance of having some responsibility and dealing with the problem before it escalates to the point that topside destroys the undercity.

[@louminouz]

@@Proctor_Conley didnt he want to go to war with the undercity because all he saw of them was dangerous and violent and its only until Vi encouraged him to target Silcos Shimmer plants specifically

[@timothy9393]

Tim, i always find your content so intellectually stimulating and it helps me both with my worldviews and my own writing. The effort you put into your videos and the quality of production is always high, and I appreciate that. Thanks!

[@juliatheodoro1929]

A great reflection on this "incidental" inequalities for me is on "Those who walk away from omelas" from Usula K Le Guin. As a social scientist and (most of the time) someone who tries to be hopeful on humanity and on the future, I always think that the best way to take responsibility on our little broken world is through collective action. Don't be afraid of politics and don't be afraid to manifest collective and politically. Every little voice, every little vote matters, I believe that some ppl from our generation sometimes fall in this pessimistic mindset that "there is no way to fix our broken world", but remember, we're a not alone in our fears. Get together and mobilize, talk about fears and hopes with those who are close to you and don't be afraid of politics. We are able to do great things together :)

[@Croutonium]

At the ending, when you mentioned the hiding of the dominoes, I felt a twinge of pride that I had noticed it in one of the earlier scenes. "Look at me, I'm not as blind as other people," my mind told itself. And then I realized how many more I most likely missed. We can sometimes take pride in the fact that we stood up and noticed something wrong, and spoke out about it. That's great, but we also need to realize that it doesn't mean our "good work quota" is complete. There is so much more that we should be seeing, but we can sometimes let our self-congratulating natures leave us blind to the other problems that still need to be addressed.

[@doctorhirst9302]

Squid Game and Arcane were my two favourite shows of 2021, and this analysis of them is just *chef's kiss* sublime.

[@tsukihime33]

I feel like the prevalence of competitions in dystopian settings is a very direct critique of the pulling yourself up by your bootstraps mentality. In the hunger games, careers get a leg up because they’ve been trained, and get more sponsors. In squid game, if you have a skill, like the glass maker, or like the doctor who can extract organs, you have a better chance of living. But the people watching never have to compete. They just get to pretend that the winners deserve rewards and use that excuse to avoid their culpability.

[@chaosmkmk]

I think this was your best video yet. I’ve been a fan for years, but the presentation, conciseness, and impact was amazing. Keep it up, we appreciate you.

[@gen_li7725]

The ending felt so heartbreakingly hopeful…It’s already happening but maybe we can stop some of it

[@AlexAzureOtaku]

As someone on the other end of the supply chain, frustration and helplessness is common when we realise how the world looks to those on the opposite side. We'd like to be oblivious to the pain of knowledge too but for most of us, the power to turn away doesn't rest with us. I've watched Tim and the community grow for years now and am proud of it especially with the charity streams and stories from Tim's work with helplines. They've made an impact in the real world. But having access to such a helpline and local community itself a first world privilege not reaching the other end of the rope. Squid game was big in my country too upon release but i surmise the reason and experience was a lot different here.

[@libbyhyett6625]

What is your country honey? Libby, Australia

[@alenasenie6928]

"People in other countries have to resort to other ways to do the same as us" Me: remembering how I couldn't buy games, because they weren't available at all where I lived, then there where a few ones, very few, so, the only way to really play anything was piracy and emulation, I remember when with my brother we figure how to have 2 instances of vba running and we played kirby's mirror labyrinth, how we had to play in the same keyboard, it was very fun, I remember it fondly. Most people didn't had to go out of their way just to be able to play a game with their sibling, we did. Another example was Unreal tournament 2004, we bought that game, after install the disc had to be in the CD tray to start, when we had a second pc and could play we had a hard time because of that, but we were able to play. There are a lot of time we had to go out of our way just to be able to play a game, and now I have like 500 games on steam. I have played most of them, not finished all. But I don't have to go out of my way just to play a game with my brother anymore.

[@lilam7851]

I'm working on a sci-fi audio drama, that takes place BEFORE things go full cyber-punk. What I've found so hard, is figuring out how to manage all the things you've mentioned. This has given me an entire new pov on this. Thank you.

[@jameswaker3461]

I love the bloopers at the ending there's a sense of comfort in knowing that everything isn't always perfect

[@lolmaker777]

Part of the problem is that an individual you have little to no influence on the system. And are often dependent on it. Like I could chose not to own a phone to negate all the terrible work ethics that come with it. But that would also put me in some amount of social isolation in todays society. I have already experienced this first hand when I still had an old flip phone when most other people owned a smartphone. So at least it feels like I need to own a phone to be able to stay in touch with people. But when buying a phone it is not easy to see which phone is best to at least minimize the negative impacts from buying a phone. It requires a lot of research, and then extrapolate that to everything that one needs to buy to one extend or another. And that is assuming there is even good information available, because businesses don't like to brag about their bad labor conditions. And even if you find the best possible option, it is likely to be more expensive that other lest humane options. Money that you could spent on other much needed things. Sure some people have enough money that it is barely a dent, but a lot of people just cant afford to buy what is morally better over what is cheap.

[@tarandamalcheruvu4712]

Well it's not really an argument for individualism is it? Sure on some level we're all morally responsible for upholding the system via our individual day to day actions. Like he touched on, however, even a couple thousand people foregoing plastic straws really makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. I think it's more a plea for collectivism. In the modern democratic world its really impossible to hold the systems morally accountable. A lot of weight is placed on individual responsibility, so much so that's it's become a kind of conformity and robs us of our political power. But if we get more and more people to notice they benefit off of incredible suffering and make it socially unacceptable to the point of economic inviabiltiy (most likely through regulation), then there's a chance at change. You don't have to not participate in the system in order to change it. If that was true then activists would be forced to live as cavemen in the woods. It's about making sure everyone knows there's a problem and that they still have the ability to change it. That the systems, while seemingly too large to fail, still rely on people to make them work.

[@BIackstrength]

@@tarandamalcheruvu4712 Most developed countries are not democracies at all anymore : - You need to have enourmous amount of money to be a serious candidate, so the choice is restricted to the two sides of the same coin, people that already hold the power. - The electoral systems allow a candidate that does not have 50% of approval to still win the elections, just because he had more votes than his opponents. (In my country, France, for example, our current president was elected with 17,5% of approval). - And once someone has been elected, the people that have delegated their power to him cannot take it back if he doesn't do as he said he would.

[@Duiker36]

The point isn't to boycott. Boycotting doesn't work unless you actually affect things on the scale of at least a percentage point or two, as the recent streamers and influencers quitting WoW en masse did. The responsibility you have as an individual is to notice when a company says, "If we get regulated, that will mean higher prices for consumers," to say, yes. I'll accept _that_ additional pain and to support regulatory bodies who *do* have the power to change that. Demand better regulations on what gets produced in the first place and support the costs that come about in consequence.

[@FelisImpurrator]

@@tarandamalcheruvu4712 Broadly correct, although that's not quite the right use of individualism versus collectivism - minor nitpick. Individualizing responsibility for the harm done by institutions is the biggest grift of the capitalist class, absolutely. Not disagreeing there. But the truth is, there's a seeming paradox underneath a lot of this. The reason we should take collective action is actually to secure the positive freedom of the individual - the ability of each person to have their individual needs met and pursue what they find most fulfilling. Collectivism is actually what's demanded of us by the ruling class when they force the individual to take responsibility, to provide labor, for the benefit of some vaguely defined group - the Company, the Country, and so on. By working together for mutual benefit we actually make the individual more free.

[@alpharius1015]

@@BIackstrength I don't understand your second point. Why does a candidate need more than 50% of the vote? If the winner has 10% and all the other candidates had less people supporting him then why wouldn't he win. If you want more than 50% you are basically forced into a system where there are only allowed to be 2 candidates. That is what a representative democracy is. Also your third point is a little odd. It is very rare for an elected official to actually do what he wants because if we follow my example from before he only got 10% of the votes. He needs to compromise with the other people to gain the majority in the house. That's why democracy is such a slow system. It is built on compromise. But it also doesn't leave a person in control who has absolute power and can ruin the whole country. Also if the ellected officials decide that the leader of a country is actively harming the country and is failing in his duties they can force him to resign in most countries. Or force the ruling coalition to fall.

[@danielnoriega5200]

This question reminds me of the fact that the Spanish audiobooks of the way of kings and words of radiance are tagged as dystopias.

[@Briggsby]

I mean, kinda... But more just feudal reality.

[@belablanck]

@@Briggsby In the same way arcane is industrial reality or well capitalist reality, not good but it's where we were two hundred years ago and it's where we are are now.

[@gabriellloyd]

Wow that sounds crazy but it really works in light of this video

[@TheSuperRatt]

@@Briggsby Dystopias aren't some thing that exist only in a hypothetical future, or in the modern day. They absolutely existed in the past, too. Today sucks, but a hundred years ago? Two hundred? It was even worse, even more "dystopian".

[@Kenghym]

Thank you for this. I've been trying to tell people in the rich western world: we are the first district. We are as over the top and occupied with nonsense as they appear to us. Of course there is more nuance there like beautuifully shown in squid game. But if you indulge in fast fashion just to throw the rags away after a year, you are willingly participating in more current and future human suffering, than would be necessary.

[@basilg695]

Long time cyberpunk fan. I gotta say my favorite pieces of dystopian art center the human condition in a way that inspires me to continue caring about the things we typically keep out of sight and out of mind. It is very easy to get overwhelmed by everything happening in the world but we can not realistically change everything in the world anyways. I urge folks to start on something, be it local or a cause that moves you deeply... and keep going. Societal commentary is tricky to portray, but to me good media doesn't just make a statement- it inspires is what I'm saying.

[@bobbobby475]

I came here for writing stuff but was VERY HAPPILY enlightened by your talks on responsibility and the connection from classes, distances, etc. It is something I always knew but never connected the two sides and is VERY interesting, I'm at 19:30 but had to comment these thoughts now. To be specific its my own small self against the other but also the big business person against me, those connections.

[@Daemonworks]

A lot of the references to "other countries" kinda get me because... odds are rather few people watching this has to look all that far. I live in a beautiful affluent city in a country that's generally very modern, progressive, has healthcare, labour codes, etc... but there's those parts of town, the really old section of downtown tucked just out of sight of the popular tourist spots and business areas... "Out of sight, out of mind" is a frighteningly powerful and pervasive part of the human psychology. Right there along with NIMBY.... ---- That said... the "I've been hiding dominos in the background this whole time" thing works just fine even if you've been spending half the video wondering what's up with the dominos

[@pizzaagogo]

And hextech's not actually clean at all. That's something they haven't touched at all for now in Arcane, where the crystals actually come from, but it's a huge deal..

[@danielmarhuenda]

maybe they do it with the rework of Skarner

[@hajnahortobagyi690]

Nah, they said they actually want to write that part out.

[@petrsevcik5044]

The origin of the hextech is alrady changed, so it probably won't be addressed in Arcane. Nonetheless, it is clean *to use*.

[@jasminelee1909]

Which makes Hextech a big allegory of sorts for Piltover as a whole, it's nice and clean on the outside but it's built upon the exploitation of others

[@Sinewmire]

Maybe they'll cover it in a future series.

[@Nyzackon]

"And stick with me, because I'm gonna say it anyway. This is what you're here for. You're stuck with me on a beautiful ride. It's gonna be lovely. At the end of World War II..." That build up killed me. Thank you. Loving the exhausted, chaotic energy through the whole video as you unpack everything.

[@RoanWitchArt]

"bet you never noticed the dominos in the background" You sitting on the floor when there is a perfectly good couch behind you was on my mind the entire time it was in frame. I noticed those dominos immediately because of it, same with when you added the LED lantern.

[@MillieBee11]

I think this is my favourite video you've done so far. Brilliant work.

[@teradul2480]

Yes! Tim tackling Arcane! Been waiting for this!

[@Snarethedrummer]

I hope he does a more individualized review on multiple concepts and themes. I found the show very interesting so far.

[@lethalcheeseburger6792]

“There are things you are never going to notice, like the dominos in the background” Me who’s been staring at them throughout the video:”so about that”

[@Veritos777]

For me, I kinda feel perpetually guilty just by being alive. I can do all the little things that we get told help make things the tiniest bit better but the lack of power I have to generate an impact against the actual system just makes them feel pointless, especially when those that do have the power to improve things only keep the shitty cycle going. I am still hopeful for positive change though, that I can help build support with enough people that we get to have a chance at building a better world. Even if climate change has ravaged the planet to a worsened state by then, there's always hope for people to come together and decide on a kinder, fairer path. Without hope, change never happens. Videos that discuss all these dilemmas are certainly one vital way for cultivating a way towards change!

[@Srynan]

Know that you are not alone with this feeling. I've been struggling with it for about 10 years now... not sure if that knowledge is of any help but maybe it helps lessen the guilt? I still have no clue what to do. Maybe I will someday. Or maybe you will. Best of luck to you and everyone else who struggles, for whatever reason that maybe.

[@oliverc.karstark1950]

I'm right there with you. Born into a world we have no real power, no real voice in, seeing and recognizing problems and all we can do is shout and cry about them, not being taken seriously. I feel like we're just living in a version of existential dread and equilibrium almost. The coin has been flipped, and we can only watch t tumble around itself as it falls, ready to come to rest on either doom or salvation, and only time will tell.

[@MultiKarmacharger]

@Revolationification @Srynan @Oliver C. Karstark I'm sorry you all feel that way, and admit I feel it myself sometimes. One thing which has helped me overcome my living guilt - and I can't promise it will work for you as this isn't something with a simple bandaid solution - is to remember I never chose to be born. None of us did. Any good we can do - any time spent volunteering to help people in need, any time spent listening to people to help them overcome their problems, any time spent towards repairing or making a better world - is good. No amount of presumed guilt placed upon you because of how you were born or the circumstances by which you lived can take away from when you actively and consciously do charitable good for the sake of others. I have lost any hope of a brighter future, but that doesn't mean I'm not doing what I can to help people where I can. I may not control the world, but I can control my actions to some degree. And in a world where there is minimal to no good, let us move to make good ourselves.

[@aweirdoandaphone4135]

I’m also struggling with the feeling of having to be rich enough to afford food to fill a pantry yet not being able to make change. I don’t actually know how to bring comfort in times like these without feeling like a hypocrite, but I guess time will tell whether they finally decide that they allow us to do so

[@amymalo748]

@@aweirdoandaphone4135 i understand this feeling, i sometimes feel paralyzed because Every choice i make as bad and good consequences, Like should I buy the clothes that were unethically made but are the ones i can afford or freeze to death, should i buy from this charity shop even if the owners are corrupt and not actually giving to a charity? And what do i do if there is not my size available? And if i don’t buy fast fashion what other options do i have? Is being pain 0.09$ an hour betting than nothing or is it perpetuating a corrupt system? All of the are true and depending on your financial situation you have more or less control on what you can afford, but even then in order to have the budget to buy ethical clothes did you unknowingly profited on someone’s back, depending on your location or your size you’ll have more options, so should i spend the gas to travel to a city whit better second hand store or buy what is available locally? Is it ethical to factor in personal expression when it comes to clothing choice or should you make do with clothes you hate? I could go on and on and on and that’s just one subject No matter the choice there is always unintended consequences and to see them to not be willfully ignorant makes breathing impossible without the gilt of being alive. And once you make all the necessary decisions to your survival should you not aspire to happiness and building a better life for yourself, because if you do you will negatively impact some people and positively impact others? I have no answer and my solution is probably not the “right” one, i try to accept that like every thing you’re actions and your existence itself will have positive and negative impact and the only thing I can do is to live, to be happy to build a life for myself and my family and to be as kind and bring as much possible comfort and happiness to the people that surround me and hope that my life and my actions will create more positive than negative but that’s not something that’s in my control. I often feel like I’m stuck on a web of intertwined treads and if i move some treads will break and if i don’t other treads will break, i cannot control the ripple effect of every one of my moves. I don’t know if it’s right, maybe it’s a selfish way of thinking, maybe I’m just rationalizing and prioritizing myself, but it’s the only way for me not to go completely insane, i may be one of the “capitol” but choosing to focus on the tangible things i do have control over is the only way for me not to spiral into endless despair and depression! Anyway sorry for my rambling, I think in the end, we are all just human trying to do our best to be happy, alive and healthy wilst also being a good person

[@FeralFomoTravel]

You are clearly on the correct side of history. Please keep teaching the world these ideas. It’s a marathon folks! Everyone keep going!

[@erichitchens6749]

Amazing video. You articulated all of the themes that are actually in the book I am writing. I had vague ideas of the plot and character arcs, but this really helped.

[@johntheicon1451]

I would like for all of you to think about a human lifetime.... and how we (like dominoes) all willingly perpetuate, generation after generation, the madness of control over one another. The answer to ending this rests in finally seeing each other as humanity... and not as commodity. Thanks Tim.

[@teradul2480]

Fuck, Tim talking about the intricacies of heavy topics through the lens of Arcane AND throwing in a Magic card? A green one nonetheless? Was this episode tailor made for me?

[@emmanuelboakye1124]

👍👍

[@jackwulfric8019]

Same! It's nuts

[@zoidsfan12]

This feels like it hits on the exact woes I have voiced a hundred times over, that feeling of inheriting a world aflame and knowing that I have only exacerbated it. I think knowing that this is a generational robbery it feels easier to deal with.

[@twotoohonest2907]

I'm inheriting a world aflame and all I have is a thimble full of water and a bucket full of gasoline and I can only pick one to use, I can use the thimble and achieve ultimately nothing and be forced to carry the weight of the bucket or I can use the bucket and add to the problem in a relatively small way and be rid of the weight

[@soulpunker3870]

Its like the story the ones who walks away from omelas. We are blissfully unaware or willlingly blind to the one suffering for the many to prosper.(also i thought i saw two dominoes and then five in the background then dismissed it lol) The ending brought tears to my eyes dude. Lovely work.

[@Dee2143]

I like the way you executed that video. Most of the time I felt like I'm siting with one of my friends and ranting about the society. Good job it was heartfelt!

[@alphaunicorn9035]

I'm from a third-world country and you cannot be more correct. People don't realize how much first-world countries and companies based there actually exploit us. For instance, in shoes, they get the rubber from us, underpaid child laborers make the shoes for cheap. The shoes get shipped to the US, then they put the logo. They ship it back here and sell it for an incredibly high price. Furthermore, our country is forced to turn to cheaper yet more questionable ways to "compete" or even "match" the progress of first-world countries. Newer and more renewable energy sources are not cheap either. We cannot afford those as much as first-world nations can. I did not even realize how much that is a huge theme in Arcane that resonates with our nation.

[@MissAnglewolf]

then go fix your country and people won't exploit it, people exploit because your laws allow abuse of children in that way.

[@michaelriverside1139]

​@@MissAnglewolf The problem runs deeper, first world countries and their corps have already bought most of our countries' lands and resources through corrupt politicians... "Our" supposed touristic zones have russian, german, american and canadian owners with deep links to the Drug Cartels, which they also give weapons to... Fixing our countries is not possible with the current system and those who literally stretch it to their own benefits.

[@alphaunicorn9035]

@@MissAnglewolf big "why dont u just get another job" energy lmao

[@alphaunicorn9035]

@@michaelriverside1139 yes not to mention these underpaid workers (including children) have no choice but to accept these jobs to feed their family everyday. Politicians themselves own companies and are connected to such practices so passing legislations against such working conditions is not as easy as it seems

[@TheSuperRatt]

@@MissAnglewolf What ignorance. Even if these nations did do that, you know what happens? people scream "Communism!" And they get sanctioned to hell and end up even worse off. Don't ask them to fix the problems that are being caused by citizens of your nation.

[@weirdwolf5032]

I kept on noticing the dominoes throughout the video and I was honestly convinced that you were leaving us a code of sorts that I just couldn't work out yet. YA dystopia was honestly a very informative part of my childhood, and I probably wouldn't have got into IR without it because it embodies a lot of what my degree is; to assess both the past and the present, so we may see a projection of a possible future, depending whether or not we choose to learn from the mistakes and make the needed changes. No matter how sad much of the content is, thank you for reminding me about why I loved it so much.

[@Calebgoblin]

Arcane act 1 is the most emotional media experience I've had in, like, a decade. I'm quite ready to hear your thoughts

[@KJ7Tillymann]

I’m subscribing, because of that genius domino illustration, the message, and the number of attempts it visibly took to do the domino illustration… even before the credits. Favorite video for sure. *Chef’s kiss*

[@Ignasir_]

This is one of your best videos you have ever made in my opinion. That ending gave me chills.

[@kayakat1869]

I'm sad that the YA dystopian phase mad me hate dystopian literature. I didn't give it a chance again until I watched A Clockwork Orange, and I thought, "Hey, that's actually pretty good." In school we had to read YA dystopias because it was popular, and our teachers thought it was so deep and meaningful.

[@LuisSierra42]

A Clockwork Orange is masterful, although tbh i was very disturbed the first time i watched it

[@kayakat1869]

@@LuisSierra42 yeah, it's the most disturbing movie I actually like.

[@CriticsCupofficial]

I think another piece of media that covers this well is The Good Place because as you say one way or another you are indirectly affecting someone else’s life and never think about it hence why no one ever makes it to the ‘good place’

[@Yvaelle]

I saw the dominos the whole time and I was annoyed by them, but I was powerless to stop them. And I thought maybe, if I watch to the end, the mess of dominos will resolve itself - and we won't just spiral into a sea of bones.

[@yordvandamme]

I haven't watched you in so long, and your quality has become incredible! The core was always great, but this is just so refined now, great job man

[@stefandruc2772]

This has got to be one of your best videos. I've watched all of them until now (i really hope i didn't miss any) but this is just a cut above them. Excelent video. Thank you for creating this.

[@nitev4407]

The moment you mentioned the distance between the USA vs. The Philippines... That just struck a cord to me since I work for a U.S. based financial company whose clients reap the benefits of the Filipino labor force but the difference in compensation between U.S. employees vs. Filipino employees is just heart breaking. And don't get me started on the whole Customer service situation (I'm looking at you "Karen").

[@TheRandomzcookie]

this really is one of the best vids you've ever made, tim. you always know how to get your audience thinking

[@dandanthedandan7558]

14:08 Your point about countries exporting their environmental costs reminds me of a 2016 sci-fi Indonesian novel by Tere Liye titled "Hujan" (TL: Rain) which is a disaster plot about climate change and a long-distance age gap romance in the midst of it. Spoiler alert but I don't think there's an english translation anyway so... (Minor spoilers) In the story, after natural disasters have struck the world, the inevitability of climate change got into the heads of the populace, demanding their governments to launch an experimental liquid that affects their country's atmosphere to reduce the temperature. However, with time, it was discovered that the surrounding countries who had not launch this solution into their clouds had a dramatic shift in temperature. Tropical countries all of the sudden began snowing and no one could do a thing about it. Eventually, even the main protagonist's home country started riots to launch their own solutions into the clouds. (Major ending spoilers) The novel ends with global temperatures dramatically rising once more, all over the world, and no solution can fix it because every country contributed to this new problem. The last thing humanity can do is launch a ship into space filled with people randomly chosen by lottery and the MC marries her lover in a doomed Earth under the unbearable heat, knowing that they both will eventually perish. It's meant to be a happy ending but the author expertly crafted the context in such a way to punch the readers in the gut.

[@fikamonster2564]

The "manufactured consent" idea is interesting. Ive heard it before, altough i never found it particurly compelling: still good to have a way to say the idea.

[@KydroxHD]

HFM, I appreciate your video essay making skills on this one. So much meaning, so much density, and its very coherent. I'd call this your magnum opus but i havent seen enough of your videos haha. in my eyes you perfected video essaying :)

[@AndaraBledin]

I noticed the dominoes and was wondering if they were going to be a code, or if they were an illustration of something to be explained later. It's worth noting that a person's culpability is tied to their power. To many people, living paycheck to paycheck, they don't have the financial power to be responsible. They have to take what they can get to get ahead as best they can. Walmart is a horrible corporation, but I don't look down on those who have no choice but to shop there; sometimes there simply are no other reasonable alternatives. Choosing better is only an option to those who have the choice in the first place. The way to solve the problem is to take the power (wealth) from those who hoard it and allow everybody enough of a slice that they have the opportunity to choose those options that cause less harm to societies, even societies that exist on the other side of the world. But we have to exercise the power we do have. If we can, we should look into the products we buy. We should look into the people we have the chance to vote for. And if we have the right, we should vote every chance we get to make the world a better place for everybody; not just for ourselves.

[@forevermore9431]

I am not gonna lie, the ending gave me goosebumps. I often feel frustration these days because while I know that issues like this exist, I can't see a way to make a helpful impact. I really wish that we could stop the dominos but when I look at the media, I feel so helpless.

[@sby60118]

“Die hard isn’t a Christmas Movie” lol, that shot at red.

[@cartoonishidealism582]

BUT THE WIFE’S NAME IS HOLLY

[@Eva-kl3fy]

the domino finale worked so great, damn the editing, the mind games, the symbolism, it's just * chef's kiss *

[@paaperman]

Fitting that I think your best video essay comes for the best animated television show... maybe ever. And as a die hard avatar fan, and as a long-time fan of your content, both of those statements mean a lot. Great work.

[@ollie2111]

I just love how he holds up a copy of Divergent for Hunger Games. Seriously hilarious.