It’s not worth splitting up with your sister over this stuff. There’s more to life than politics. You need to both calm down, sit down and figure out each other’s red lines, and then avoid stepping over them.

I’ve tried it. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t.

Yeah, that’s what I ended up doing

It’s 125 KB, jpeg, and resolution around 600x400 so it shouldn’t be an issue

I don’t think Villeneuve did it to paint China in a bad way. There’s a point to be served for making China “the bad guys” (although they aren’t). Watch the movie to the end, and we can discuss it.

Also, bear in mind that the US military might have interfered with the script, since that’s their term for lending assets to make a film.

What’s that?

Stop using it for long amounts of time, and don’t try to replace it with other social media.

Books might be hard to get into, if you feel you can’t keep focused more than a few minutes. Other media, like films (NOT playing in the background) might be a good way to keep yourself focused.

I have mild ADHD and something that helps me stay focused while doing anything, is to have something in my hands to play with. Like a rubber band, a pen, anything.

The very way you just described is how they make you ignore his resistance.

I’m not saying it’s some sort of Marxist masterpiece by the way. I just think it was the intention.

Yeah, that’s my point. Gomer Pyle doesn’t resist for shits and giggles. He has no choice but to resist. And they portray his character the way they do so you’ll disregard him.

I always assumed this was the case, no?

Joker intentionally disregards authority to be funny. Gomer Pyle disregards authority because of who he is. By happenstance, the only one who is caught is Gomer Pyle, and he gets punished. Joker gets away with it and ends up getting rewarded later on too.

Gomer Pyle is the hero who resists authority and ends up dying for it. He is portrayed the way he is, so the audience disregards him, which is what the public often does with actual symbols of resistance.

Joker thinks he resists authority from within, but really, he is just getting assimilated and by the end of the movie, becomes just another soldier of the empire, perfectly willing to kill Charlie. He becomes just like the rest (or everyone deteriorates into a killer together, which is why they all sing at the end, while marching through fields on fire).

If you die from hunger, while food rots in garbage dumps, it’s democracy. If you die from diseases, when medicine costs an arm and a leg, it’s freedom. If you die from a firing squad, for facilitating aforementioned deaths, it’s evil communism.

That’s a lot of assumptions to make an argument.

Ok, so Zelensky has banned opposition parties, arrested political opponents. And furthermore he cancelled elections that were supposed to happen next month. Will you be condemning Ukrainian conscription then, since the government will neither be democratic or legally elected?

So the 15000 civilian deaths caused by Ukraine bombing its own provinces before Russia intervened, the constant efforts by Russia to resolve the issue diplomatically, the naked refusal of the West to even engage with Russia, the West openly backing a fascist coup in Ukraine, and then arming it with the explicit dictate of provoking Russia, the West pressuring Ukraine to not accept the generous settlement offered by Russia in May after the war started, all that doesn’t count?

It’s not like Russia has never done any of those things individually.

[citation needed]

Meanwhile, Robotino, the village that got “liberated” by the counteroffensive, is about to be completely encircled by Russian forces.

You need to be smart about this, but there’s plenty you could do with a simple complaint that your professor wastes class time to talk about irrelevant things.

If you are in the US or UK, you should remember to include that class time is paid at a premium rate by you or your parents.

Also tell them you do not feel that the material being delivered adequately prepares you for exams. Or the time spent on these comments could have been utilized for revision or new knowledge instead.

And that these kinds of rants create a hostile learning environment. Especially to people from countries targeted by your prof’s rants (i.e. Chinese students). Also mention that your prof’s empassioned attitude during these speeches makes you feel unsure about discussing the issue with him directly, since he might perceive you as an ideological enemy and make achieving your academic goals difficult for you (and then stress that you make your complaint anonymously for this reason).

Use a couple examples to demonstrate how his rant was irrelevant to the curicullum supposingly being delivered, and emphasize the time spent on these things.

I dont think the issue is “freedom”. Let’s take it case by case:

Jazz and blues - resulting from black culture, and was the new thing after ages of classical music dominating.

Rock and metal - started as an outlet for people reacting to the capitalist system for the most part. The US government tried hard to criminalize/suppress/regulate these music types. Also an evolution from blues.

Rap - same as metal, but later became heavily commercialized and promoted

Pop - basically industrialized music. Very little creativity involved in most cases. Mostly made to appeal to as many people as possible and is heavily promoted as the “default” genre.

The US censors its culture the same as any country, perhaps even more. It just does it more covertly and with soft means.

Another thing that is needed for a cultural expansion is prosperity and stability. China hasn’t had that for nearly as long as the US. The US hasn’t suffered a war within its borders for more than 140 years. The most critically acclaimed cultural projects in the US happened in the 20s, 50s, 60s, 80s and 90s, which is when the US population was prospering the most. China on the other hand has had wars and internal strife up until the 60s-70s. It has only started offering a comfortable life to the majority of the population in the 90s and 2000s.

1. Between the 1920s and 1950s, the US was seeing a massive influx of immigrants from all over the world. This allowed it to develop simultaneously a multitude of cultural genres and forms, which were influenced by the backgrounds of all the immigrants and their melding together. Especially WW2 saw a bunch of artists and artist-related professionals (like technicians needed to make a film) leave Europe and head to the US.

2. Vast sums of money and resources were invested to various culture industries (in the purest capitalist sense), especially film and music, over a course of many years with the aim of profit and cultivating propaganda.

3. The Hollywood golden age of the 40s, 50s and then the 80s shaped the likings of people all over the world to be more akin to what Hollywood wanted to produce.

4. The introduction of psychological manipulation tactics to advertising and the creation of films, music and later video games (e.g. Lowest common denominator, focus groups, etc) made American cultural export even more potent.

Simply put, the US had a headstart over everybody else, which it capitalized with big investements and then properly utilizing the advanced technical know-how that was developing regarding complex productions of culture.

Their culture will leave its mark for decades to come. Perhaps for ages. But others will eventually catch up and surpass them. It is a matter of time.

Following the footsteps of IBM