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jackfarris1 · 1 month

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Unleashing the Power of Asset Tokenization Companies

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, asset tokenization companies are revolutionizing the way we perceive and interact with traditional assets. Asset tokenization refers to the process of converting rights to an asset into digital tokens on a blockchain, enabling fractional ownership, liquidity, and increased accessibility. In this article, we delve deep into the world of asset tokenization companies, exploring their role, benefits, and impact on various industries.

Understanding Asset Tokenization

Asset tokenization involves representing ownership rights to real-world assets, such as real estate, artwork, stocks, and commodities, as digital tokens on a blockchain network. The underlying asset backs these tokens and can be bought, sold, or traded with ease, eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing transaction costs.

The Role of Asset Tokenization Companies

Asset tokenization companies play a pivotal role in facilitating the tokenization process and providing the necessary infrastructure and services for asset owners and investors. These companies leverage blockchain technology to tokenize assets securely, ensuring transparency, immutability, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Benefits of Asset Tokenization

1. Increased Liquidity

Asset tokenization unlocks liquidity by allowing fractional ownership of assets, enabling investors to buy and sell tokenized assets on secondary markets with ease. This increased liquidity opens up new investment opportunities and diversification strategies for both traditional and non-traditional assets.

2. Accessibility

Asset tokenization democratizes access to investment opportunities by lowering barriers to entry and enabling fractional ownership of high-value assets. Investors can now participate in asset classes that were previously inaccessible, such as real estate, private equity, and fine art, thereby promoting financial inclusion and wealth distribution.

3. Transparency and Security

Blockchain technology ensures transparency and security throughout the asset tokenization process. Immutable ledger records provide a tamper-proof audit trail of ownership and transaction history, reducing fraud and enhancing trust among stakeholders. Smart contracts automate compliance rules and enforce contractual obligations, streamlining asset management processes.

4. Cost Efficiency

Asset tokenization eliminates the need for intermediaries, such as brokers, custodians, and clearinghouses, reducing transaction costs and administrative overheads. Smart contracts automate transaction processes, such as settlement and dividend distribution, further enhancing efficiency and reducing operational risks.

Industries Impacted by Asset Tokenization

Asset tokenization has the potential to disrupt various industries and create new business models and revenue streams. Some industries that stand to benefit from asset tokenization include:

Real Estate

Real Estate NFT Marketplace Development fractional ownership of real estate properties, allowing investors to diversify their portfolios and access lucrative real estate markets worldwide. Property owners can unlock equity and liquidity from their assets without the need for traditional financing or property sales.

Finance and Investment

Asset tokenization democratizes investment opportunities by providing access to a broader range of assets, including private equity, venture capital, and alternative investments. Institutional investors, family offices, and retail investors can benefit from increased diversification and liquidity in their investment portfolios.

Art and Collectibles

Asset tokenization transforms illiquid assets, such as fine art, collectibles, and rare assets, into tradable digital tokens, enabling investors to buy and sell fractional shares of valuable artworks. This democratization of art ownership opens up new avenues for art investment and curation, making art accessible to a wider audience.

Supply Chain and Logistics

Asset tokenization enhances transparency and traceability in supply chains by digitizing physical assets, such as inventory, raw materials, and products. Blockchain-enabled tokenization improves supply chain efficiency, reduces counterfeiting, and enhances provenance tracking, ensuring product quality and authenticity.

Conclusion

As asset tokenization continues to gain traction, asset tokenization companies are poised to play a crucial role in shaping the future of finance and investment. By harnessing the power of blockchain technology, these companies are unlocking new opportunities for asset owners, investors, and stakeholders across various industries. The benefits of asset tokenization, including increased liquidity, accessibility, transparency, and cost efficiency, are reshaping traditional asset markets and paving the way for a more inclusive and efficient financial ecosystem.

#asset tokenization company #Asset Tokenization #Real Estate Tokenization #Blockchain Development

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newjerseyprelawland-blog · 1 year

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Held v. Montana: Youth Race Against Climate Clock

By Anika Ponni, Rutgers University–New Brunswick Class of 2026

June 14, 2023

The picturesque state of Montana boasts awe-inspiring landscapes that encompass the majestic Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, and a wealth of unique wildlife, including bison and grizzly bears. Montana’s natural beauty is so vital to the state that its Constitution guarantees and protects the right to a “clean and healthful environment.” Moreover, the Constitution requires that “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” Yet, the so-called “Treasure State” has also become a climate warzone in recent years due to its booming fossil fuel industry. In addition to housing numerous natural wonders, the state possesses some of the country’s largest recoverable coal reserves. Thus, a significant portion of Montana's economy relies on fossil fuels including coal, oil, and natural gas [1].

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Montana’s climate has rapidly deteriorated which has led to “snowpacks melting… more frequent heat waves and increased risk of wildfires.” Furthermore, Montana’s 2015 climate assessment reports that the annual average temperature has risen somewhere between 2 and 3 degrees Fahrenheit in the period from 1950 to 2015. The climate report also concluded that Montana’s average winter precipitation decreased by “an inch and the number of days exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit in any given year grew by an average of 11” in the period from 1951 to 2010 [2]. To further contextualize the severity of the issue, federal data puts the rise in Montana’s average temperatures since the beginning of the 20th century, at more than twice the global average [1].

Despite these alarming findings, Montana’s Republican officials have made it impossible for the state to institute any real measures to protect its delicate environment. In fact, Montana’s Republican lawmakers have passed aggressive anti-climate legislation “that bars state agencies from considering climate change when permitting large projects that require environmental reviews, including coal mines and power plants” [2].

Yet, despite the destructive and dangerous approach taken by state leaders towards Montana's environmental future, young Montanans have been advocating for change as proponents of more environmentally conscious policy making. On Monday, June 12, 2023, 16 of Montana’s youth are doing just that by taking the State to court in Held v. Montana. The youth aim to create more accountability from state’s leaders in matters involving the future of the environment.

According to the plaintiffs, Montana’s continued and enthusiastic support of the fossil fuel industry within the state violates residents’ “constitutional right to a clean environment.”

Prior to Monday’s case, lawyers defending the state, including Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, incessantly tried to have the case Held v. Montana thrown out. But their attempts proved to be futile; since, a June 6th ruling by the State Supreme Court rejected the latest attempt to dismiss the case. Justices refused to intervene so close to the case’s scheduled trial date, especially one that was “literally years in the making.”

Held v. Montana will rely heavily on witness testimony which will highlight how “wildfire smoke, heat and drought have harmed residents’ physical and mental health” [3]. For example, Grace Gibson-Snyder, a 19 year old plaintiff from the case, recounts how coal trains plowed through Missoula—scraping away pieces of her beloved hometown in the process.

Grace Gibson-Snyder: “Smoke chokes Missoula every summer…It matters acutely for everyone’s well-being.” Her town regularly experiences heavy plumes of smoke as a result of neighboring wildfires, drought, and decreasing levels in local bodies of water [4]. According to Grace, “The question is not only can we create sustainable policy, it’s how can we dismantle the policy that’s actively harming Montana?” [3]

Montana’s youth are being represented by Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit law firm geared towards climate centered issues.

According to the Trust’s attorney Phil Gregory, by the end of this case, Motanans will understand that they “have a substantial role in causing the climate crisis, and will be dramatically affected by the climate crisis unless something is done.”

Other experts like advocate and executive director of Families for a Livable Climate—Winona Bateman wonders “How much of the summer will they [Montanans] be able to enjoy?” “Will they be able to ski? Will they be able to hunt and fish?” as Montana’s landscapes continue to decline [4].

Additionally, Cara Horowitz, director of the environmental-law program at the University of California, Los Angeles law school predicts that “Depending on how this trial goes, maybe Montana will push the bounds of climate leadership. It could show what it means to take responsibility for future generations seriously as Montana’s constitution requires it to do” [5].

As the case unfolded in court on Monday, Rikki Held–a 22 year old plaintiff from the case, led the testimonies with an emotional plea as she discussed how extreme weather, droughts and wildfires had ravaged her family ranch.

Rikki Held: “I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana needs to take responsibility for our part of that…You can’t just blow it off and do nothing about it.”

Roger Sullivan, a lawyer for the young residents, said in opening statements: “Montana’s warming climate will have cascading environmental and economic impacts” [6].

Thus far, Held v. Montana has already served a purpose by further underscoring the urgency of more environmentally conscious legislation. Regardless of the outcome, this case holds the potential to shape future climate litigation.

______________________________________________________________

Anika Ponni is currently a student at Rutgers University - New Brunswick, pursuing a finance degree in the Honors Program. She hopes to attend law school upon graduation.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Burga, S. (2023, June 11). 16 Montana Kids Are Suing the State Over Climate Change.

Here’s What to Know About the Trial. Time. https://time.com/6286358/held-v-montana-trial-starts/

[2] Tigue, K. (2023, May 17). Montana GOP just passed an aggressive law to thwart climate

science. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/05/montana-republicans-pass-anti-climate-science-law/

[3] Brown, M., & Hanson, A. B. (2023, June 11). Youth environmentalists bring Montana climate case to trial after 12 years, seeking to set precedent. AP NEWS.

https://apnews.com/article/youth-climate-trial-montana-18e301a701fcf4badc904984455406fc

[4] Dance, S. (2023, May 19). Why Montana is emerging as a must-watch climate battleground. Washington Post; The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/05/19/montana-climate-bill-gianforte-youth-trial/

[5] Timms, M. (2023, June 11). A Bellwether Climate Case in Montana Seeks More Action Under State Constitution. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bellwether-climate-case-in-montana-seeks-more-action-under-state-constitution-88847825?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1

[6] Baker, M. (2023, June 12). A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Begins in Montana. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/us/montana-youth-climate-trial.html

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costoflivingaotearoa · 2 years

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TikTok Advocacy: Aotearoa Liberation League

Wealth is like bread - at least, in the eyes of Aotearoa Liberation League (‘ALL’). Their depiction of the cost of living “rich are hoarding all the money” crisis in one Tiktok video makes it clear that Aotearoa’s wealth distribution gives the rich loaves upon loaves, while leaving 2.5 million to survive off the crumbs. What is more, the crisis cannot be blamed on one event - like bread ingredients, there are multiple components that go into the resulting crisis.

ALL is a stakeholder: as creators, they want to create content that grows their presence, and shares ideas with an increased group. However, as citizens, they face the growing cost of living, and are actual stakeholders in the crisis. Further, ALL represents one indigenous viewpoint, and is especially interested in decolonisation, stating that “ALL is a space to discuss how we are living under a colonial trance”. This viewpoint is important in the context of the cost of living crisis, as “the majority of the Māori population belongs to lower socioeconomic classes in New Zealand”. As socioeconomic inequality is a form of structural injustice, because it is not attributable to individual fault, unjust policy or sheer bad luck, Māori are disproportionately affected by the crisis. Because “[f]or Māori, disadvantage is intertwined with the impacts of colonisation and racism,” it is imperative that decolonisation is part of how the crisis is addressed. It should also be noted that the viewers, too, are stakeholders, facing the rising cost of living. However, some viewers may risk their privileged positions in society if the system is disrupted, which can inform responses to civic action.

This video is an educational civic action, as it seeks to change the hearts and minds of viewers, so they recognise the issues of wealth distribution and the power of the people. They have the power to do so through their TikTok account with 36.3K followers. It is also institutional; the comments advocate voting for specific parties, engaging with a formal institution. Their theory of change is therefore interesting. Because of the educational aim, they believe change can happen from citizen to citizen. However, it is also between citizens and government institutions, because they encourage voting This makes sense, as “youth who engage in digital participatory politics are much more likely to engage in institutional politics such as voting”.

Aotearoa Liberation League comment section

TikTok allows for “connective action”. Digital media is an “organising agent,” which “builds information from messages disseminated publicly by individuals, which increases visibility, helping more people to protest and mobilise”. ALL’s TikTok had this effect, garnering 309.1K views, 1618 shares, 29.5K likes and 2072 comments. Indeed, ALL have stated that “TikTok is an amazing place in terms of its algorithm; we’ve found that it's been really easy to connect with others about our topics”. One commenter stated that “there should be a limit on how much profit people can make, everything about should be redistributed.” Therefore, the action has potentially educated one viewer, but has also generated new ideas. Conversely, the video also attracted negative comments. One commenter stated “we have a “people are lazy” crisis.” The civic action therefore polarises the issue, but also demonstrates how individuals acting “according to normal rules” maintain structural injustice. The commenters seek to blame individuals instead of recognising systemic issues.

ALL’s TikTok is exemplary of how young people are well placed to advocate for change. While ALL fall into the category of “millennials,” they noted how “people [on TikTok] are so much more receptive, and I think it’s because it’s a younger demographic”. Indeed, “for young people today, creating and sharing content… is an inherent part of how they communicate”. Navigating the digital world therefore feels natural to young people. This technological literacy allows them to lead connective action. This is summed up well by Graeff: “Digital activism represents a space in which youth practitioners are uniquely positioned to serve as civic and political leaders by repurposing existing platforms for new civic purposes and capitalizing on the democratic opportunities available to those with the requisite skills and technology access”. Anecdotally, too, ALL states that TikTok is “where all of our [younger] Māori people are”. It may therefore also be argued that TikTok can allow young people to make change in a way that draws on diverse perspectives – something that is crucial in addressing the cost of living crisis, as mentioned earlier.

It should also be noted that there are challenges to TikTok activism. Censorship, accessibility, online harassment and “slacktivism” may hamper the effectiveness of civic action. Videos also rely on an algorithm to recommend them to other users. Here, ALL was successful, receiving 309.1K views. Creators also may face ‘echo chambers’: the video may only be presented to those with similar views. Education may not result as those who already understand the issues are the ones who engage. However, the content could generate community and mobilise further action because viewers understand they are part of a collective. The level of polarising comments in ALL’s video indicates this was not the case here.

Overall, young people are well placed to use TikTok as a tool for civic action in regards to the cost of living crisis. ALL provides an effective ‘blueprint’ for how young people can address the cost of living crisis by harnessing social media. Because they do not rely on TikTok, but also use other strategies (such as through institutions and creating longform content), they can mitigate potential challenges of digital civic actions. As our future continues to be shaped by social media, we must learn how to use its power in order to create change.

We've had a go at implementing our learnings in the TikToks below!

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nabilla3 · 2 years

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My Response to The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

Modern society is a consumer society. Marx believed that modernity was brought upon by the new relationship between the rich and poor, and “the rise of the new class on top of society.” (Marx and Engels, 1849) The rich are the bourgeoisie who are those who own the means of production. The poor are the proletariat who are the labourers. The bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat to boost production and increase capital. In Marx’s Manifesto he seems to praise the rich, while despising them. He emphasises on the aggression of the cyclical system that is in place. Marx believes that there would be a revolution that turns the exploitative capitalist sosicety into a socialist one and theen eventually a communist society. I think that he used hyperbole to almost inspire the reader and persuade them into believing his text.

The advancement in technology has meant that companies can work on a global scale. Coca-cola is in every country, (except North Korea) this gives them more potential to invest and increase profit.

Society is built by the bourgeoisie in order to benefit the bourgeoisie. For example in education, school is built to teach students values that would make them the perfect worker, like following the rules, and teaching them to be docile. This system helps the cycle to repeat and for the bourgeoisie to stay in power. Although we are taught that school is meritocratic, there are many factors that can influence an individual's success, like the community in which they have been raised. Studies show that lower-class households prioritise instant gratification over delayed gratification, which means that they are more likely to drop out and get a job. Even if an individual who is not in the upper class succeeds, it is unlikely for them to gain so much wealth that they gain any political power.

I think that one of the main differences between the change in the relationship between the exploiter and exploited is that the exploitation was more explicit and obvious however now the drastic difference in power is overlooked. Although we are taught in school about marxism, people are still passive and do not have enough power to make any difference.

An example of this is the media. Most major media sites in the US are owned by Rupert Murdoch but having many companies that go by different names, gives off the illusion of choice but in the end, people are consuming the same media over and over. Ex-workers of some of these companies have come forward about how the writers and editors had to have the mindset of “would Murdoch write this.”

One of the criticisms that I have of the ideas put forward in the manifesto is that due to the increase of globalisation and global culture, society has become so fragmented that people are harder to generalise and control. The concept of fragmentation really interests me and I would like to look further into how I can explore this visually. Furthermore, another criticism that I thought of while reading the text was that with rise of the internet, there is an easier access to social media platforms that allows individuals to voice their honest opinions and engage in communities that think the same. Although there is censorship, in general people are free to say what they want online (in the west).

Marx, K. and Engel, F., 1848. Communist Manifesto. Moscow: Progress Publishers,

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peter-author · 2 years

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An Open Letter to the Richest Americans

The very people you rely on to produce your wealth will be used to bring about your downfall and the demise of the democratic freedoms you enjoy. If the repetitive lessons of history teach us anything, whole systems of government are ripped down and shredded by a disenfranchised populace – a populace more than often lead by unscrupulous leaders taking advantage of the disparity in lifestyle of the poorest among us.

You can turn the clock back to Greek, Roman, Middle Ages to see these lessons played out, or you can take a look at America’s own history starting with our revolution; a revolution caused by the disparity of wealth, prestige, and power over those working to secure a new land. Turn the clock forward and look at the Russian Revolution or the rise of the National Socialist Party in Germany in the ‘30s. Oh, yes, I can hear you groan, not that Nazi argument again… but what have you actually learned that time in history or do you assume you know it all? To reduce the rise of the Nazi powerbase solely based on anti-Jewish sentiment and vilification is to misunderstand the poverty of 90% of the population, currency devalued through rampant inflation, and squalid hunger for 25% of the population when seen against the prestige and wealth of the upper class at the time – that disparity became an easy target for Hitler claiming to represent the common man. After all, “Nazi” is the shortened version of National Socialism (actual socialism which it never was). Nazi industrialists used that pretense of caring to further their own grip on power and wealth, sided with the Nazi party under the guise of providing paid work to those in need and cemented German fascism that took a World War to stop.

Are not the Farber, Krupp, Thyssen, the Frick family, Bayer, Siemens, Daimler-Benz, and BMW’s Quandt families and companies still leading entities even though they were the pillars of funding and support of the Nazi regime? Oh, no, they claim they “learned” their lesson… but the wealth of those at the top now exceeds the ratio in earning comparing richest to poorest of 1933.

The greater the disparity of wealth between the richest in a country mirrors the slow demise of the middle class and reduction of earnings for all laborers. After the US Supreme Courts disastrous ruling that “Corporations Are People Too” thereby unchaining their financial limits for contributions, America has seen a sudden rise in evangelical-like politicians claiming to want to “uplift” the common struggling families. Trump’s supporting elite included health companies, casinos, real estate moguls, most on Wall Street, oil and gas owners, big pharma, and since he claimed to represent “real Americans” (just as the Nazi party represented “real” Germans, meaning not Jews), Trump raised and still raises small donations from millions of the poorest Americans desperate to reclaim what they felt they had lost.

Have they lost anything? Absolutely. Take the average GM worker. In 1980 the pay was $21 per hour on average. A sedan cost back then $6,000 (Chevy Citation). The same worker today makes $35 on average per hour, and a Chevy Malibu costs $24,000 today. Wage went up 65%, the cost of a sedan went up 400%. And the same inflation is reflected in housing, clothing, food, energy, and so on. See those middleclass workers tumble down the financial pecking order? Any wonder they are feeling disenfranchised? Oh, and meanwhile the head of GM made $250,000 in 1980 and the same job today pays $2,300,000, an increase of 920%.

The issue is not how much the CEO makes, it is about the disparity, the powerbase afforded by that disparity, the political meddling towards fascism and corruption that such disparity breeds. However, I am sure if you talked with the CEO of a company like GM or Walmart, you would learn they are proud Americans, believers in democracy and the Constitution. Why wouldn’t they as that system made them and Wall Street wealthy? And so it did also for the Farber, Krupp, Thyssen, the Frick family, Bayer, Siemens, Daimler-Benz, and BMW’s Quandt families.

Are the 2022 disenfranchised still easy pickings for a fascist scoundrel who will lead them on an anti-democratic path? Absolutely – and remember they have followed several for 6 years now.

How can we change that course of our future and save the democracy?

Until the very wealthy realize that the wealth they command comes from the workers, that all the money in the world cannot save them or their industry or their families with the coming upheaval as another crazier, less inept, leader steps into Trump’s shoes – well, until then we can only observe as history repeats itself again.

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myafterlifeisbetterthenyours · 3 years

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Stella and Stolas with the male Imp Overlord

Stella and Stolas with male Imp Overlord

When you, an Imp achieved your overlord status, lets just say that was something of an issue in the world of nobility.

Imps have always been the Hells servant class, every great dynasty and empire have been built off their backs. They were always meant to be ruled over, Not rule themselves.

But with your ascension to Overlord-ship, the pair found they had a very difficult desicion to make.

They could publicly oppose you. They were sure many of there fellow nobles would follow their lead, doing the same and under their banner, they could form a formidable opposition.

The only problem with that, is while they and there allies may oppose you, their enemies would be more then happy to support you. Whether that be directly or in the shadows.

And give the fact you, an Imp, had already achieved Overlord status, the last thing they needed was you against them, with the backing of disgruntled nobility.

So they did only other viable option. They got closer to you.

They formed an alliance with you in hopes of discovering what made you so unique. As well as ensuring you weren't an enemy.

You would initially be very suspicious of the pair.

Royalty had kept Imps down there entire existance, exploiting and enslaving them sing lucifers rebellion.

So you'd naturally have little, to no trust in the pairs intentions.

But as much as you distrusted the two, doing business with them was jus too beneficial to pass up, something the two went to lengths to ensure.

As the couple expected, in only a short period of time, you became even more powerful, amassing further wealth and territory.

And with this development, the two were quite happy there gamble had paid off. With their family becoming your largest business partner and as such benefited greatly from your prosperity.

As your business with the two increased, you'd slowly find yourself trusting the pair more, the two eagerly wanting to build on that.

And well, stolas being stolas, we all know he just couldn't help himself.

Being around such a domineering male Imp, one that spoke his mind and took shit from nobody. The way you didn't care in the slightest about his title and would tell him as much to his face.

Well, I think it's safe to say, he'd become Very interested in you, very quickly.

You wouldn't really mind Stolas.

You could tell he really didn't care much for politics, or the divide between hellbornes and royalty. He was just in it for a good time as well as securing his families continued survival. You could respect that.

Really the problem would be Stella.

It's fairly obvious she isn't too fond of Imps, likely having been raised to despise anyone she doesn't deem worthy.

And while your power and status would put you far above most every other Imp in her eyes, it would take a fair amount of time before she'd develop any kind of real respect for you.

But, given the chance to see just how capable and scrupulous you could be. A part of her would come to respect your cold-blooded you could be.

The truth was, Stolas had lost his blood lust when they were married. But you, you were a beast. Untamed and seemingly unstoppable.

While she initially wasn't fond of the idea of forming an alliance with you, doing it more so out of practicality over any genuine want to associate with you. She couldn't have realised just how good an idea it would turn out to be.

You were exactly what they needed, someone who could do the more 'dirty jobs' royalty often required, not only doing the job in a timely manner, but you always did it exactly to there expectations, never letting them down in the slightest.

The two held a party not long after your alliance began to prosper.

It was a fairly standard gathering of the Goeatia families allies and vassels families, the party working to both appease there egos and allow them to raise any concerns they may have to the couple.

Of course they had invited you, as despite the more recent nature of your power, you had quickly become an important business partner and asset to the Goetia family and they wanted to continue fostering that.

You had arrived fashionably late, clearly unhappy to be around so many nobles, a faint scowl across your features.

Despite your clear disgust, you still paid your respects to the two, thinking them for the invitation.

Leaving the pair you did what one does at such a gathering, you drank, partook in small talk and generally hung about.

But even with your invitation, it wasn't long until some asshat, decided to test you.

He attempted to publicly humiliate you. Pretending you were a servant and telling you, you were at the wrong area, or should be in the back serving drinks.

The asshole ran his mouth. You could handle that, you'd delt with plenty of loud idiots in your time, it was nothing new. But when he put his hands on you, attempting to push you about.

Well. You couldn't allow that.

It was in this moment that both Stella and Stolas saw why they had made the right choice in befriending you.

With a single brutally efficient strike, you dropped the noble like a sack of rocks.

Watching his body fall before calmly walking away, going about the party as though you hadn't just incapacitated one of the most powerful demons in hell.

Needless to say, no one at the party messed with you after that.

When it came to their relationship, she had little affection for Stolas.

She was still very committed to her marriage and family, of course but the once strapping, ambitious and blood thirsty Prince she had once thought she could love, had given way to an unambitious, soft hearted, stay at home dad.

And she just wasn't attracted to that.

But you... you were everything she saught in a mate.

Ambitious. Relentless. Dangerous and insatiable. You had no limits and seemed near unstoppable.

So, against her better judgement, she found herself falling for you. Something that was quite frustrating for the noble woman.

Stolas, would have absolutely no qualms about falling for you. He of course still cared for his family, but you were something else, something he desperately wanted.

The only problem unfortunately, was his family.

But with his wife being so close to you as well, both demons would be at something of an impass.

They couldn't pursue you in fear of there better halves finding out.

You, of course, where not blind to all this.

You could tell the two were slowly gravitating towards you, Stolas being particularly unsubtle about his pull.

And you found it was surprisingly easy to play the two off each other, Stolas was practically drooling over you and while she may try to hide it, you could tell Stella was very much attracted to you.

Stolas would be the easier of the pair to control.

A kind word here, a suductive touch there, a frustrated complaint about something over there and you could get him to do just about anything you wanted.

Stella would be more difficult, as It would take a considerable amount of time to have her overcome her ingrained discrimination towards Imps.

You likely needing to do so gradually, showing her how you were just as good as any snob with a royal title.

You'd need to be careful at first, ensuring that she truly did fancy you. But once you knew for sure, it wouldn't be difficult to seduce her.

All you'd need to do was appeal to her ego and show her your more dominant side.

Unlike stolas, it wouldn't be a physical dominance, it would a dominance of the mind. The owl princess finding your ability to dominate a room without lifting a finger, quite... intoxicating.

So, finding yourself in a love triangle of your own creation, you had a very specific plan.

When the pair of them first approached you, you knew, deep down, it was done out of fear.

Imps were nothing in Hell, and for you, an Imp to become an Overlord, that scared the BlueBloods.

And it should.

But if you were going to enter a relationship with these royals, they were going to be the ones who proposition you.

You'd be damned if you were gonna be the one begging for a relationship. They wanted it, and you knew they wanted it, they'd have to beg for it.

And beg they would.

The two came to an agreement. They both wanted you, but also didn't want to split up their family, so they would approach you together.

It was an awkward affair, in part due to you playing dumb to there intentions.

Stolas, being something of a bird brain, would draw it out, trying put their decision into words, but failing miserably.

Stella would just step in, opening the proposition of a relationship.

You would playfully think it over, already knowing the answer but you enjoyed watching the pair squirm.

You'd accept, the pair releasing a deep sigh before you pulled each of them into a passionate kiss.

However, much to Stolas' annoyance, you wouldnt sleep with them that night, choosing instead to just share there bed.

With a relationship like this, you'd have to spend the first few weeks ensuring there was a solid foundation to it.

Youd mostly do this through spending time with them, getting to know them on both an emotional and personal level.

Youd definitely sleep with Stolas first, taking the prince in his office.

Pushing him onto his desk and taking him rough and passionately, just how you knew he wanted it.

Youd do something more romantic for Stella. Likely having a simple, yet majestic diner before taking her to your now shared bedroom for a night of passionate fornication.

Despite there royal status, you would be the one wearing the pants in the relationship. As you could easily dominate each of them with words alone, Stolas even easier then Stella.

Of course you understood the importance of there image and would take a more back seat role in the relationship when needed.

Youd have a surprisingly intimate relationship with the pair.

Stolas was always open to anything you suggested, often initiating them himself. And while not nearly as common as stolas, Stella would often initiate intimacy with you.

Despite the two being married, Sex between all three of you would not be very common.

As both Stolas and Stella had quite different wants and needs in the bedroom that didn't quite mesh well.

Stolas wanted to be utterly dominated in the bedroom, completely at your mercy. While Stella wanted someone who could keep her pace, if not take control in the heat of passion.

Romance would be a priority for you, often doing your best to sweep them off there feet.

Luxurious dinners, dates on the town, the theatre. Nothing was ever too much.

Octavia would be a rather large bump in the relationship, as on one hand, you were essentially a whole new person intruding on her family, on the other hand, you were a wanted third partner in Stella and Stolas' marriage, you weren't tearing the family apart by being with them.

It would take a long time, and an even longer term strategy, but she would eventually warm up to you.

Never really coming to see you as a parent, but still part of the family.

While life wouldn't be without its problems,

The balance of power being a major source of arguments, as while Stolas was easy to tame, falling completely under your sway, Stella was far more head strong.

As such she'd often but heads with her rather submissive husband, saying he didn't do enough to keep up there family status.

She would often compare him to yourself, something you would always dismiss, having to step in and calm her down.

While you could dominate her husband easily, you'd need to control her in a more subtle ways. Appealing to her ego or planting ideas in her subconscious. Having mentioned when you forced her submission, likely in bed.

So, While it would certainly had its ups and downs, your life with your royal love Birds would be an incredibly love filled one.

Having the royal pair wrapped around your lottle finger, your power and status would grow exponentially. All the while the two would willingly give themselves to you, smothering you in there love and affection.

Thanking you as they made you stronger.

#helluva boss #headcanon #x reader #helluva boss headcanon #helluva boss x reader #helluva stolas #helluva stella #stella x reader #stella #stolas x reader #stolas

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nxmuzluv · 3 years

Text

mexican empire — trivia

The empire (that is more formally known as the Second Mexican Empire) was started in 1864 by Emperor Armando, Jacqueline’s great-great-great-great grandfather. He was a lieutenant general within the Mexican army, and after he forced French forces out of Mexico and ordered their surrender, due to his wealth and influence (as he hailed from a Cuban-Mexican old money family), he declared himself emperor of Mexico due to his desire for the Mexican empire’s restoration.

During the reign of Jacqueline’s great-great grandfather—Emperor Gustavo Hernando—a socialist and wannabe dictator named Álvaro Angel Hernandez created an anti-monarchy “party” that wished to abolish the Mexican empire due to seeing the (then current) imperial family as corrupt. The party gained members, notoriety, and infamy throughout Mexico, and Álvaro had even gained some power over Mexico City and its neighboring territories. Álvaro seemingly went mad and randomly decided to storm the palace in an attempt to overthrow Emperor Gustavo. That attempt was unsuccessful, and Álvaro was tried with heavy treason and sentenced to death by hanging. His execution sparked the Guerra del Palacio (the War of the Palace), and the conflict lasted for three and a half years.

With the empire’s power, and with the help of Brazilian, Cuban, and later American troops, the Mexican empire defeated Álvaro’s party and prevented being replaced with an authoritarian, socialist regime. Since then, the War of the Palace has been the only civil war that the imperial family has had to face.

Mexico has one of the wealthiest imperial families in the world, having a net worth of $10.5 billion, and placing them at 5th on the list of wealthiest monarchs in the world. All of that money belongs to the emperor, and it stems from Mexico’s investments in the oil industry and agriculture, their various exports (such as beer, chocolate, chilis, and tomatoes), the support from the Mexican citizens, and from the emperor’s own investments into large scale banks around the world. The $10.5 billion will be split between the emperor’s immediate family (his daughters and his eldest daughter’s three children) upon his death.

Mexico became the first monarchy in the world to implement absolute primogeniture (meaning any child can assume the role of heir apparent to the throne regardless of their gender) in 1914. It was proposed by Emperor Gustavo after the birth of his three daughters after the birth of his eldest son. He was worried about the potential extinction of the dynasty if his son either died or was unable to marry or produce a male heir, and Gustavo’s own lack of another male heir only increased his worries. To ensure that the dynasty would live on, he proposed the idea of absolute primogeniture to the Mexican government.

His proposal was taken into question, as back then, women were seen as “unfit” monarchs and were seen as incapable of ruling a country. However, due to much pushing by the emperor over the course of eight months, by a vote of 71–63, absolute primogeniture was officially adopted in Mexico in regards to the empire’s line of succession. The empire received its first female heir apparent upon the birth of Crown Princess (now Empress) Victoria in 1967.

Since 1873, the empire of Mexico has also been known as the United Empire of Mexico (or the Imperio Unido de México) due to the numerous conquests ordered by Emperor Armando. Countries under the United Empire of Mexico include the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. From 1891 to 1959 (68 years), Cuba was also a part of the United Empire, and monarchs and their consorts held the titles of Emperor and Empress of Cuba.

The Second Mexican empire started off with a rather large amount of wealth, as its founder, Lieutenant General Armando José Enrique Velasco, hailed from a Mexican-Cuban old money family that was worth $16.4 billion ($302.5 billion in today’s money) by Armando’s father’s death in 1867. Upon his father’s death, the money was split between Armando and his brother, with both of them receiving $8.2 billion ($151.2 billion in today’s money). That fortune has been slightly diminished and restored over the years.

The Second Mexican Empire is an absolute, hereditary, and self-proclaimed monarchy. It was originally a semi-constitutional monarchy during Emperor Alphons’ reign, and during Emperor Fernando’s reign, it became a complete constitutional monarchy. The empire only became an absolute monarchy after its restoration. It is a self-proclaimed monarchy due to Emperor Armando declaring himself the emperor of Mexico after defeating the French.

Emperor Alphons—Armando’s eldest son—had the shortest reign of any Mexican monarch ever, as he only reigned for 11 years. He was known to be somewhat sickly from birth, and his sickness worsened later in his life, resulting in his early-ish death. Alphons was also said to be attractive during his youth and was quite the notorious playboy before he met his wife and consort, Josefina Ivette Isabel Correia, Lady Salvaterra, to whom he was distantly related to.

In his youth, Emperor Gustavo had quite the large selection of noble and royal ladies to choose from for marriage (or rather, for his parents to choose from). From that selection, he had wed Princess Helena Dorothea Maria Anna of Greece and Denmark, Viscountess Württemberg, a member of the Greek royal family and of the German noble House of Württemberg. However, they’re relationship was rocky and they seemed more like acquaintances than husband and wife, and just a year later, Gustavo and Princess Helena divorced. However, their marriage did bring the Mexican, Greek, and Danish royal/imperial families closer together, and it solidified their relationship for the next four generations. Princess Helena was never given the title of empress. A few months later, Gustavo married Agustina Natalia Sophia, Baroness of San Luis de la Paz, and the daughter of the Duke of Guanajuato.

Emperor José Manuel established the most international connections for the Mexican empire, ranking just below his son, Fernando. His marriage to Yoo Hyeryun, a middle class Korean native, was one of them, as well as his ally-ship with India, his friendships with the British, Greek, and Spanish royal families, and his push for exports and the offering of support to foreign allies. José Manuel also has the second longest reign of any monarch in Mexico, placing behind his son.

Emperor Fernando became the first Korean-Mexican to ascend to the imperial throne after his father’s death in 1960. He also has the longest reign of any Mexican monarch, and will uphold that title until his daughter can manage to surpass him.

Empress Victoria became Mexico’s first female regent in all its 139-year history, which caused her to also have the most viewed coronation since her father’s in 1960, amassing a total of 81.5 million people in Mexico and 24 million people worldwide. Meaning, a total of 105.5 million people had watched Victoria’s coronation. She also became the second mixed Korean to ascend to the Mexican throne.

Empress Agustina was known for introducing a lot of foreign customs to Mexico during her husband’s reign. She was known for her love of travel and for her interest in other (specifically European) cultures. She introduced the Scottish Lomond waltz to the Mexican imperial court, and had also introduced the concept of debutante balls to the country, as she established Empress Agustina’s Debutante Ball (Baile de Debutante de la Emperatriz Agustina) after attending Queen Charlotte’s Ball in London.

Dowager Empress Consuelo Teresa (or Yoo Hyeryun) became the first Korean woman to assume the title of empress (consort) of Mexico upon her husband’s ascension to the throne in 1928. She achieved massive notoriety due to this (and also due to her beauty), and further established positive connections between Mexico and South Korea. She also became known as the first commoner to marry into the imperial family, and became the first commoner to assume the title of empress consort. She is also the longest living empress in the empire’s history, being 102 years old by the events of Trigger Happy Havoc.

There had actually been a empress regent of Mexico prior to Victoria, although she wasn’t officially counted as a reigning empress like Victoria. Her name was Princess Josefina Maria Lupita, and she was Emperor Alphons’ older sister, and Emperor Armando’s first born child. Due to Mexico’s male preference primogeniture at the time, Josefina was misplaced at heir to the throne once her brother was born. She didn’t see it as an issue until she was in her thirties. Just a few months after Alphons was crowned, Josefina secretly mobilized a part of Mexico’s military, and had ordered them to storm her brother’s apartments within Chapultepec Castle

A few dozen were injured during that attempt of a “coup,” and two had died due to their injuries. Alphons originally thought that the attack was ordered by anti-royalists, but he later found out that it was ordered by his own sister. He was quick to declare war on Josefina, who was forced to flee to Costa Rica with the remainder of her troops. The war—which was named the “War of the Chrysanthemum”—lasted for only seven months, before it eventually came to a stalemate due to the intervention of the siblings’ mother. Alphons wanted to keep Josefina in Costa Rica, but was advised not to. After the war, the siblings never even looked at each other again, and Josefina moved out of Chapultepec Castle and into a separate estate

During the war, Josefina had triumphed over her brother for a short period of time (about a month or two) and had become Empress Josefina, and was “ruling” from Costa Rica. However, as she had never had a formal coronation and as she had an incredibly short reign, historians do not count Josefina as a true sovereign, and the title of “first empress regent of Mexico” officially goes to Victoria. Technically, however, it goes to Josefina

Emperor José Manuel’s brother, José Ramón, Jacqueline’s great-great uncle, had married Princess Alexandra-Beatrice of Battenberg, the youngest daughter of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, and of Prince Louis of Battenberg. Alexandra-Beatrice—Jacqueline’s great-great aunt—was the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, making the former queen of the United Kingdom Jacqueline’s great-great-great-great-great grandaunt.

Jacqueline’s great-aunt—Princess Valentina of Spain—is married to Prince Georgios of Greece and Denmark, Jacqueline’s uncle, and her title upon her marriage became Crown Princess Victoria of Greece and Spain. Crown Prince Georgios was formerly King George III of Greece, while Princess Valentina was Queen Valentina of Greece, the country’s first Spanish queen consort. However, Georgios only ruled for two years, and he abdicated the throne in favor of his younger brother, the now King Constantine II of Greece. Due to the marriage between Valentina and Georgios, however, that makes the Mexican imperial family relatives to the Greek royal family.

King Constantine II is Jacqueline’s great-uncle and his wife, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece and Denmark, is her great-aunt. Crown Prince Pavlos is Jacqueline’s second cousin, once removed/uncle, and his wife—Crown Princess Marie-Chantal—is her aunt. Pavlos and Marie-Chantal’s five children are all Jacqueline’s second cousins. Furthermore, that makes Crystal Bienvenu (Jacqueline’s classmate) and her siblings Jacqueline’s third cousins (and they had no idea that they were that closely related).

The Mexican imperial family is incredibly popular among its citizens, and is said to be well loved. They are known to be a very progressive, casual, down-to-earth, and friendly family to the Mexican public, royal watchers, and to foreigners. They are also known for their close relationship despite their large number of members.

Despite their close relationship now, the Mexican imperial family was known as very rigid, somewhat cold, and had a nearly distant family life up until Emperor Gustavo’s marriage to Baroness Agustina Natalia Sophia.

Although the empire was previously abolished in 2003, after society was restored following the events of The Tragedy, Mexico was significantly affected by the world’s societal collapse and by a devastating war between the country and Cuba caused by The Tragedy, and in an overwhelming 125–9 vote, the Mexican empire was restored, the imperial family was allowed back, and Emperor Fernando got his political power restored. However, six months later, he abdicated the throne in favor of his eldest daughter and Jacqueline’s mother, Victoria.

During the holiday season and before Christmas, the imperial family sends out cards with a portrait of the entire family—both the Mexican imperial family and the extended Bourbon-Perez/Spanish royal family—on the front. 1,000 cards are sent out to random households in Mexico and around the world every year, and all of them are personally signed by the emperor and empress. Only 50 cards are signed by other members of the family. This tradition started during the reign of Emperor Alphons in the late 1800s, and had increased in popularity during the reign of Emperor José Manuel.

Christmas portraits of the emperor’s immediate family and individual portraits of members of the imperial family are also released before Christmas, as well.

The children of the family also make Christmas cards, write messages in them, and sign them for the palace staff. The messages usually thank the staff for their hard work throughout the year. Jacqueline is known for tying each of her cards with gold, red, or green ribbons, and she’s known for gifting the staff with homemade cookies, as well.

There is a Christmas tree located in one of the imperial family’s winter residences, and before Christmas, the family makes decorations to hang from the tree, and they also hang home baked cookies—that are mainly baked by Jacqueline—from it, as well. Additionally, the oldest or youngest child gets to place the star/angel on top (it depends on the year).

On Christmas Eve, a formal dinner is held at the family’s winter residence and includes only the family members and their close guests (such as friends and government officials with close connections to the imperial family).

Also on Christmas Eve, the imperial family usually plays soccer/football on the grounds of their winter residence. This tradition was started by Emperor Gustavo in the early 1900s. Currently, Prince Alejandro and Empress Victoria have won the most games. The imperial family also plays Monopoly on Christmas Eve, which was started by Prince Alejandro.

Alejandro and Jacqueline also skate on the pond on the grounds of the family’s winter residence on Christmas Eve, which was turned into an ice skating rink at Emperor Daniel’s request when his children were young. Additionally, the imperial family also plays ice hockey. In regards to that, Jacqueline and her teams have won the most games.

The Mexican imperial family usually attends church service at the Catedral Metropolitana on a Sunday before Christmas. On Christmas Day, they attend church again, no matter what day it is, and that service is a much more public event due to it taking place on Christmas Day. During service, the emperor and empress’s Christmas speeches are broadcasted throughout the country, and tens of millions of Mexican citizens either watch or listen in. After service, the imperial family has a carriage procession through Mexico City, and that night, a final Christmas ball is held. Following the ball, the family usually watches Christmas movies at their winter residence, as well as a late night rerun of the emperor and empress’s Christmas broadcast.

Christmas is one of the imperial family’s favorite holidays, along with Independence Day, Day of the Dead, and Chuseok.

The imperial family combines a lot of Christmas traditions from different countries during the holiday season. Of course, there are mainly Mexican, Spanish, Korean, and British traditions, but there are also German and Scottish traditions mixed in, as well.

Mexico is known for sending numerous equestrians, sailors, surfers, soccer players, and runners to the Olympics, most of which have medaled. Members of the imperial family who have competed in the Olympics include: Emperor Alphons’ second son, who competed in equestrianism and won bronze, Emperor Gustavo’s youngest son, who competed in sailing and placed fourth, Empress Victoria, who competed in equestrianism and tennis and won silver and gold, Princess Luisa, Victoria’s younger sister, who competed in swimming and won gold, Prince Alejandro, Victoria’s eldest son, who competed at both the summer and winter Olympics and won gold in figure skating and gold in equestrianism, Princess Jacqueline, who competed in figure skating and won gold, as well, Princess Isabel, Victoria’s other younger sister, who competed in snowboarding and won bronze, and Princess Catalina Anita, who competed in gymnastics and track and won gold and bronze.

Like the United Kingdom, the Mexican empire has an established social season as well. It starts on February 1st with the state opening of Parliament, and it ends on December 9th with Empress Agustina’s Debutante Ball. In between, events like flower shows, opera performances, sports tournaments, society galas, a dog show, and an imperial derby are held. A five month break also occurs in between July and December. The social season was also introduced by Empress Agustina, but it didn’t become widespread until Emperor José Manuel’s reign.

Mexico is also known for its classic original operas, productions, and various opera singers. The annual opera performance at the Gran Teatro Nacional is one of the most anticipated events during the social season, and it is one of Dowager Empress Consuelo Teresa, Emperor Fernando, Empress Catalina-Beatriz, Empress Victoria, and Victoria’s children’s favorite event during the season.

Mexico also has quite the large amount of painters and photographers. Two of the most renowned painters and photographers are Lady Magdalena de la Cerda, a member of the aristocratic la Cerda family and a famous landscape, surrealist, and portrait artist, and Guillermo Hernandez-Mendez, a photographer famous for his landscape shots and creativity. Both of them work for the imperial family, and they usually create the family’s portraits.

Mexico is also known for its incredibly strong military. It’s head is, of course, the current monarch of the empire. Emperor José Manuel had extensive military knowledge and training, which he passed on to his sons, the future Emperor Fernando included. Fernando passed that military knowledge onto his eldest daughter and heir apparent, the future Empress Victoria, who further strengthened Mexico’s military just like her father and grandfather had done.

Dowager Empress Consuelo Teresa introduced the Korean holiday of Chuseok and the celebration of doljanchi to the imperial family upon her marriage to Emperor José Manuel. Since Emperor Fernando’s doljanchi in 1937, almost every member of the imperial family has also had one. Unlike other holidays, banquets are not held for Chuseok. Instead, smaller family dinners/potlucks are held in the family’s summer palaces, and they also get the chance to speak to their extended family in Korea.

The family’s main residence—Chapultepec Castle—is lit up with colored lights for various occasions. Some of those occasions include Independence Day, the birthdays of members of the imperial family, the births of members of the imperial family, and coronations. The lighting of Chapultepec Castle was introduced by Empress Catalina-Beatriz and started after the birth of Empress Victoria in 1967, and it has been done ever since.

Other traditions include the public lighting of the Christmas tree in front of Chapultepec Castle, and the ringing of the Catedral Metropolitana bells once an imperial baby has been born and during an imperial wedding.

The title of Prince/Princess of Tijuana is a title given to the heirs to the throne of Mexico. It was created in the early 1900s by Emperor Alphons as an 18th birthday gift for his eldest son, the future Emperor Gustavo. Since then, there have been five Princes of Tijuana and two Princesses of Tijuana. The title of Duke/Duchess of Bourbon-Perez is a title given to the current monarch and their spouse, and it was created by Dowager Empress Consuelo Teresa upon her eldest son’s ascension to the imperial throne. The title of Earl/Countess of Bourbon-Perez was created by Emperor Fernando upon his eldest daughter’s marriage in 1988.

Upon Victoria's ascension to the Mexican throne, Prince Alejandro—Jacqueline’s older brother—became the new crown prince of Mexico, and he also received the titles of Prince of Tijuana (a title given to the heirs to the imperial throne) and Earl of Bourbon-Perez. Jacqueline also moved up a spot in the line of succession, going from fourth to third.

Most of the members of the imperial family have married/have been engaged to people with noble/aristocratic titles. Only five members have not done so, with those being: Emperor José Manuel, who married Yoo Hyeryun, a Korean woman hailing from a middle class family, Crown Prince Alejandro, who got engaged to Vivienne Young, a woman hailing from an old moneyed Peranakan family, Princess Isabel, who married Stephanos Alexander Onasis, a Greek commoner, Prince Maximilliano, Emperor Fernando’s younger brother, who married Bianca Rosalia Rodriguez, a Cuban commoner, and Princess Alejandra of Spain, who married Hernando Enrique Torres, an Ecuadorian commoner hailing from a wealthy oil family.

The Mexican imperial family has a total of 19 residences. They have nine residences in Mexico, and 10 residences in other countries (such as Cuba, the United Kingdom, and Spain).

#here it is !! a lil list of some things i came up with for the fictional mexican empire !!#i might add more in the future tbh !!#later on tho i’m gonna make a list of the past monarchs & a list of the family’s xmas traditions !!#n e ways i’m gonna go disappear for another couple weeks lol #monarchy #empire #fictional monarchy #fictional empire #royalty #royal family #imperial family #fake royal family #fake imperial family #royal family oc #royalty oc #cece writes :)#cece speaks :)

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warsofasoiaf · 3 years

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The theory and in practice but let me clarify, it seems that Communism and Fascism both advocate for state control over the economy, both have cult of personality dictatorships with semi regular purges of the military and ruling classes, and both are against liberal democracy/capitalism and individual rights. I mean I guess Communism didn't have the racism of Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy but aside from that are the two systems markedly different?

Alright - this will be a long and controversial answer that discusses some unpleasant topics. Any discussion of fascism, even academic, is bound to cause problems, so let me throw a cut in. Also, take into account where I'm coming from. I've studied these movements but I am strongly opposed to them, I consider them both to be movements that depend on a dictatorship that brutally suppresses dissent. So take into account that my reading and interpretation is likely to be vastly different than a supporter of either of these movements.

To understand fascism, you have to understand the theory of fascism. Part of the problems is that fascism is hard to pin down. Part of that is due to the politicization of the term - political tribal emphasize elements of fascism that coincide with their political enemies so that they can guilt-by-association and accuse their political enemies of being fascist or crypto-fascist. This isn't just no-name people on the internet, even historical scholars have used bad scholarship of fascism in an attempt to exonerate and promote their own desired ideological beliefs. Throughout the 20th century, capitalism, socialism, communism, social democracy, libertarianism, liberalism, you name it, it's been called fascist, and 99% of the time, the reason has been bunk.

Fascism has a core ideological belief that is unchangeable and inherent - a need for the mass mobilization of all resources of a society in order to address the complexity of the modern world. Liberalism and democracy were seen as too chaotic and too co-opted by the power elite, politicians, industrial barons, aristocracy, to pursue their own narrow self-interest instead of the good of the nation. A strongman was needed to save civilization (and this apocalyptic crisis is not hyperbole on my part, fascist thinkers frequently talk of those times as a civilizational crisis) and the nation by discerning the true interest of the people - the national will - and utilize their supreme control of the national resources in order to achieve it. Thus, the fascist unites all aspects of society under the national will, putting all forces at its command via the fascist party where all apparati are organs of the state - this is called corporatism and little understood in the modern day; I'd go so far as to say one of the chief reasons why fascism is misunderstood is a lack of understanding of corporatism. This idea of national will is important, fascism articulates a national rebirth in devotion to this national will, where all members of society contribute to the pursuit of the national goals. These typically but do not require the acquisition of territory and resources to further the strength and economic self-sufficiency of the nation. Autarky as an economic goal is a pursuit of national strength, to reduce the nation's vulnerability to trade disruption in the event of a war, since their foreign policy is likely as not to be quite hostile and nations would probably refuse to trade with them. Fascism possesses a cult of technological modernity that stems from the central premise of the dictatorship needed to address the technological challenges of the modern age, particularly in the era of mass mobilization of total war - the strength of the fascist nation is shown through its technological inventions and its industrial prowess - hence why Mussolini took great pains to express (and grossly exaggerate) the efficiency of Italian society in employment and productive output. Total war is important to the tenets of fascism, the industrial base that supported a war led to a belief in warfare that there was no such thing as a non-combatant, that the factory worker was as much a part of the military engine as the soldier. Taken to its extreme, the fascist ideology conceived that as fascism was the nation, all those who opposed fascism were not of the state and thus enemies of the state. Since there are no non-combatants, anyone opposed to fascism is an active combatant against the nation and thus must be removed for the good of the state. Since to be non-fascist is to be an enemy of the state, the fascist party is the only party permitted and permeates all elements of society - as if all of the resources are needed to be mobilized, the fascist must be everywhere to mobilize them. This central concept rationalizes and forms the understanding for fascism as totalitarian.

This wedded itself with the relatively new (1870's is when it started) theory of social Darwinism, an adaptation of Darwinian evolutionary theory into the realm of society and politics. Social Darwinism, in essence, posited that there were "strong" and "weak" groups and that the strong inherently displaced and eliminated the weak in a parallel biological phenomenon of evolution. The fascist ideology would prove its strength by successfully handling the crises that the weak liberal regimes were unable to solve and prove their societal fitness. Communism, with its articulation of the proletariat-bourgeoise conflict, was seen as counterproductive. Economically, fascism saw "productivist" forces as strong, which were workers, soldiers, technicians, entrepreneurs, inventors, and so on, while non-productive forces were primarily relegated to those seen as belonging to parliamentarian, individualistic, or otherwise non-fascist characteristics. So fascist societies saw the removal of all these undesirable forces as necessary to further the full mobilization of all national resources.

Similarly, the theory of communism needs to be understood in order to compare and contrast the two ideologies. Communism as a theory stems from ruminations and expansions on socialism and applying theories toward political science and sociology. Marx articulated that society was where it was largely due to economic forces and the relation of people to the means of production. According to the labor theory of value, the value of goods produced is equivalent to the work needed to produce those goods and the work needed to extract the raw products that went into the production of those goods. Thus, in order to create a profit, a capitalist must increase the price of a good to sell it - thus the capitalist has a parasitic relationship to the worker where it extracts surplus value and artificially increases their own wealth without providing any value, a classic example of rent-seeking behavior. As profits tend to fall over time, the capitalists continual pursuit leads to a constant instability, which will cause the workers to unite against their exploiters. This is not due to a social Darwinist outlook, at least, by Marxist standards (which were articulated decades after when Marx wrote), but as the continuing natural state of historical progression of people and their relationship with the means of production.

Marx articulated the necessity of a dictatorship of the proletariat, possessing an understanding of history and theory, to act on behalf of the workers to seize the means of production, protect the state from reactionary capitalists and other movements hostile to the new workers' state, and enact central planning to satisfy the economic and social needs of the nation. He cited the Paris Commune of 1871 as an example of this dictatorship. As the dictatorship collectivized the means of production and transformed society, the dictatorship would wither away as its coercive power would no longer be required by the transformed people, the new socialist man in a society absent economic classes and distinctions. No longer would the economy be driven by the selfish demands of private enterprise which does not seek to satisfy the physical and social needs of its people, but rather an economy driven by the needs of its citizens.

Perhaps the largest theoretical difference is in regard to the nation itself. Communism is, in theory, an international movement that transcends borders, while fascism is completely focused on the nation and nationhood. One of the largest differences in the theory is the idea of the dictatorship. In communism, the coercive apparatus of the dictatorship withers away as the transformation of society proceeds to full communism - it in essence makes itself obsolete and is abolished as a result. In fascism, the dictatorship is the point - the strongman is in power to discern the national will and to direct the mobilization of society as opposed to the chaotic and selfish desires of private individuals that results in inefficiency and pursuit of objectives contrary to the national renewal and goals. Another chief difference is the role of class in society. In a fascist system, the society is very structured and ordered into classes, that each have their own role for the good of the nation. In a system that has achieved full communism, social classes are a thing of the past - all men are equal to one another regardless of profession as all are workers. Property ownership is different in these theories as well, a communist state has no ownership and is defined instead by usership, while fascist societies have individual members of the party placed in ownership of facilities with direction from the state - not only does the party direct production for the nation's benefit, but this serves as a useful tool to reward high-performing members of the party.

That's just theory, and it's truly bare-bones at that, it doesn't even articulate the differences between Mussolini's fascism with Hitler's Nazism anymore than it does Marxism-Leninism versus libertarian socialism - this is just high-level stuff and so much of those ideas go into implementation when the theory jumps off the page. There's so much that goes into it, and there's so much that goes into just the parts of where these ideas diverged from each other, as well as syndicalism and Sorelianism and other influences. In truth, there are entire reams of scholarship devoted to studying just one of these things and I'm abbreviating it to the point where I've missed a whole lot I wanted to put in. I can do some stuff in practice if you like.

Have a good one, James.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#fascism

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alistonjdrake · 3 years

Text

The Rusnak Party

Of Blood and Stone, The third book in The Saints’ Song Series, showcases the Escana Empire on the verge of crumbling as a murdered king and a divided government threaten to tear the country apart. As some grapple for power and wealth, others decide to jump ship.

Season One World Building Posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Season Two World Building Posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Season Three World Building Posts: 1

Bonus Episodes: 1 2 3

Main Wip Intro here

People are never completely sure where Vito Rusnak came from. Born in 1698 (after the fall of our Saints), he was likely of Abenian origin or raised in Palogne. Both are usually considered, sometimes a combination of the two, for his supposed education and for his future work and attachment to Abenland as a country. Most of what is known about him was provided by the man himself as backstory during his involvement in the late 1730s riots that eventually lead to the creation of the Republic of Abenland in 1743.

In Rusnak’s own words, he was raised partially in a Dackten conservatory, a minority sect of the Santivian church which preached for the dissolution of of the “aristocratic” hierarchies of the church as well as holding all properties in common and the collective ownership of the “charity of Santivian men”. Presumably talented in music, Rusnak would leave this conservatory at the age of sixteen to attend Doxseth College in Nomworth, Palogne. He took his Dackten ideals with him. Nomworth, often being dubbed the city of scholars and made up of a supremely diverse population for its predominantly foreign students. It was not long, according to Rusnak, until he switched out of the school of music and landed into a study of law after joining a literature group where they read books likely continuing the criticism of the Santivian church’s power structure as well as antique philosophers (an assumption made on Rusnak’s future proclamations about primitive society and the happiness and richness of cultures and societies that had not yet discovered poverty, a claim also found in some antique writing).

At some point, Rusnak began writing his own work. His early pieces were reflections of the Dackten sect and their eventual prosecution by the more dominant Santivian groups throughout the east, but he eventually landed on writing what would later be called idealized pieces about egalitarianism, communal ownership, and the redistribution of property behind the world of the church. Rusnak was very likely influenced by the amount of failed protests going on in the east that was fueled by anti-monarchy sentiments and the increase of religious prosecution as Oskyan Orthodox Santivians rose to prominence in the region.

Similar bodies of work to Rusnak’s work were outlawed by eastern governments in the aftermath of minor rebellions, but Rusnak sold his work as Utopian fiction and was able to bypass the book bans that targeted most of his colleagues, although any positive references to Dacktism had to be removed.

Rusnak graduated in 1721 at the age of twenty-three with a law degree and moved back to Abenland where he struggled to find a job and would eventually find himself working as a music teacher for another conservatory. Although by the time he would return to Abenland, the Dackten groups had all been removed and he would instead find himself under the employment of Oskyan officials. As the Abenian government weakened, Oskyan influence in the country grew greatly. Many of the dukes of Abenland were paying for their favors. This was the spark of decades of uneasiness in Abenland, as the weakened government and the advantages taken by Oskyan officials allowed ruling dukes to get richer and gain more power while the rest of the country was stuck in a stagnant struggle. One that would eventually lead to the dissolution of Rusnak’s job as the commodification of education resulted in private tutors for the children of dukes instead of more open institutions.

When the riots of the 1730s began, there was no such thing as the “Rusnak Party”. However, Vito Rusnak did become a prolific figure during them. It should be noted that while he was allied to many of the early leaders of the anti-duke and anti-Oskyan protests by the Abenian lower classes, he openly rejected armed revolution and instead advocated to “re-education” for the benefit of a classless society. However, due to the popularity of his writing at the time and the fact that he is credited with the messaging system rebels used to communicate, Rusnak is also usually to blame for the Kirdan Massacres.

The Kirdan Masscares is the term used for the event in which, as a reaction to the discovery from spies that many of the dukes had written for help from Oskyan forces (something that would surely squash the rebellion), so they planned a series of attacks on affluent dukes by smoking them out of their homes with controlled fires and shooting them down. Surviving members of noble families and those that fled the country in the aftermath of this event ultimately planned Vito Rusnak due to him being the most known rebel. As such, going forward all references to the rebels became dubbed as the “Rusnak party”.

The Kirdan Masscares are named after Arseniy Kirdan, the general of the Oskyan army at the time and the presumed receiver of the Abenian dukes’ letters. In the rebel party, they used Kirdan’s name to sign off all messages related to this plot. This event is also called “the Culling” by supporters and survivors on the rebellion side for obvious reasons.

In the aftermath of this, the ruling party was so scattered and weakened, it allowed for the creation for what would be known as the Republic of Abenland in 1743. Rusnak was quickly recognized as someone who would help reframe and rebuild the country.

It should be noted, that not all of the nobility left. In fact, what is known as the Abenian Republic was actually a relatively small collection of its states united under the former rebellion council. The massacres only weakened them and further pushed the nation into poverty as the Oskyans pulled out in fear of similar attacks as it was clearly apparent to King Niclas at the time that they had no insiders in the party and could not predict their movements, and he had no reason to help Abenland if they could not pay him.

With Rusnak’s familiarity with law, he was often called upon for insight on how to run the republic. It had its failings. The first being they had no money and the second being they were arguments about the future of governance. In the beginning, Rusnak wanted to turn to widespread Dacktism and political order based on popular sovereignty. He continued his criticisms about private property and in the injustices of unequal wealth and social classes, and while plenty agreed with him due to the bad taste left after the Oskyan Orthodox Consistory, there were few eager to back a movement fueled by religion.

The Republic also had many enemies since it’s creation. Many of the surviving dukes had fled to Oskya or Slovy and there were several attempted coups or the blocking of roads to isolate Abenians from much needed supplies. The remaining duchies also continually launched attacks in order to retake the Republic.

The Republic would crash in 1759 as a result of the failed assassination of Urs Felganhaur, a returned Abenian duke who had survived the massacres and had presumably captured someone with intel of the innerworkings of the Rusnak party. The shooter’s gunpowder would be too damp due to rain on the night of the plan and his capture would lead to the arrest of several of the republic’s key figures (including Valera de Martí, Rusnak’s mentee and then just sixteen going on seventeen). The invasion of Oskyan forces, now under the banner of King Vadik who took a much harsher stance against them, and the installation of dukes back to their abandoned duchies, killed the Republic and its leaders either went into hiding or continued to rebel in secret.

This would result in the continuation of bloody altercations, affairs similar to the Kirdan event, planned food shortages, and mass executions of those considered to be part of the party. Vito Rusnak at this point likely gave up his ideals of revolution without arms as it would be said that going forward Rusnak rebels usually carried guns or would be to blame of bombings and other violent forms of protests.

His books, along with the work of Valera de Martí, were banned and burned by the Oskyan forces. A jail sentence of four years was carried out on anyone to be found owning any of their writing, an increase of a year based on the amount of books owned. Rusnak himself went deep into hiding while his mentee spent much of his time in and out of Abenian prisons where he would write poetry, a brief history of the Republic, and further criticisms of the ruling class until he would be forbidden from having pen and paper during his repeated sentences.

Vito Rusnak would eventually be found and arrested in 1767 after an increased Oskyan presence and the slaughter of several other rebel groups. He had time before his arrest to warn his own daughter, Darya Rusnak, and Valera de Martí to flee the country and the east before he was taken in by Oskyan forces. Some months later, Darya would be arrested trying to cross the border and she would give out the names and presumed locations of all of her father’s allies in exchange for her own life.

in 1768, Vito Rusnak would be executed in Porsdal, Slovy in front of a crowd of Oskyan soldiers who would then take his head on a tour throughout all the major cities in Abenland to warn away any hiding or remaining rebels.

Likely unbeknownst to the Oskyans at the time, the execution of Vito Rusnak only sparked a continuation of his ideology.

Surprisingly, Valera de Martí escaped execution and was able to flee to Escan which exiled him instead of handing him over to the Oskyan government due to his being an Escana citizen. He is credited with spreading Rusnak Ideology to the west as he translated much of his mentor’s work and continued writing his own (before its eventual ban by the Escana government, much of his work was taught in schools due to his start in poetry). In fact, Valera was often more criticized for his open support of atheist beliefs. Much of Valera’s work was easier to swallow in the west, as even when he bemoaned about the things he thought was plaguing society the western (and importantly the Escana) powers saw it more as a criticism of the east instead of the inherent power structures carried by both nations.

Rusnak and de Martí were not the only people who were critical about private property, social classes, and wealth distribution but they quickly became the most famous to the point where most writers and speakers from this era (and beyond them) either get lumped under Rusnak or Valerist theory. At their core, both ideals are the same except Rusnak and people like him tend to take a stance rooted in religious idealism whereas Valera, born from the pioneers of the Escana middle class, and the people who came after him tend to focus more of plights afforded to working and lower class people as well as mocking individualism or earlier sentiments that stopped at “common good” and “common wealth”. Most Valerists are considered to believe that that the Rusnak party was not ambitious enough and that a further step needs to be taken for the advancement of society.

There is however, very little record of just how much de Martí may or may not have disagreed with Rusnak as very little is known about their relationship beyond what Darya Rusnak said about them when she was imprisoned, claiming that her father saw de Martí as more of his own blood than her. Although, de Martí himself would go on to reflect on the Republic years later and would not be very kind to its leaders while he talked about all the missed opportunities.

Even after Valera de Martí’s exile from the Escana Empire and the complete eradication of a rebellion in Abenland, the Rusnak party quickly spread throughout the continent and survives in much smaller but still active groups during The Saints Song series. All of the books outlining their early roots are illegal although a few are kept in university libraries in Palogne for the preservation of knowledge and it is also illegal for Rusnaks to assemble in parties larger than groups of four but whether or not that stops anyone is dependent on who you ask.

#my writing #worldbuilding #world building #guess how long this took me to write #a couple days to be honest #it's because Vito Rusnak is literally only a name mentioned in TSS whereas Valera has more of a fleshed out backstory #but Val's mentor had to have come from somewhere #tss trilogy #I'm not gonna go into the evolution of Rusnak and Valerist theory #in TNC Justyna has read some work by what she calls Valerist philosophers and I assume there would be shifts in the ideology especially #100 years after the riots and the failed republic but I'm not here to completely write all that out #this is just the stuff relevant to tss

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pianoperson · 4 years

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Ikerev Army Boys Playing Twisted Wonderland

After reading @valnyte’s HC with Ikevamp, I wanted to do one with Ikerev too.

Alice introduces the boys to Twisted Wonderland and is shocked to get them all hooked into the game. Let’s say they all understand the game.

*just want to say, the strategies I typed in these HCs are actually legitimate strategies I’ve heard from people, and if you have the cards for it, I suggest you try them out

Black Army

Ray Blackwell

He’s in mainly for the story.

F for him, his fav character is Che’nya.

He claims Heartslabyul is his favorite episode because it has the best story out of the currently released episodes so far, but the Black Army isn’t falling for that.

He’s not wrong though, in my opinion. Heartslabyul, along with Octavinelle, has the best story.

He had to make it a rule that no one should spend the Black Army funds for gacha after the one time Seth spent 10k lin for gacha.

He does assemble his team but only bases his assembling on favs and a bit from Sirius’ advice.

He can’t help but smile fondly at Ace and Deuce’s shenanigans and dumbassery; they remind him of him and Fenrir.

Sirius Oswald

Oh he’s gonna have fun with the strategizing part of the game.

He will write down in a notebook all the card information he has attained and would ask from other soldiers for their cards if he doesn’t have a certain card so he can note down their stats at max level groovied, their magic skills, their typings, their buddies, and even how they perform in battle.

He’s the first and only one in the Black Army who scored SSS on tests. Everyone was floored.

Listen, he probably discusses these strategies at dinner especially because some people ask him how he scores ridiculously high in tests.

“Fairy Leona may be a defense card, but if with Kalim and Rook, who are his attack buddies, his attack stat will increase to 5k+. If you have SSR Kalim, who boosts your ally, his attack stat will increase further, and it’s even better that Kalim’s attack boost is magic 1 and he is Leona’s duo partner, therefore strengthening Leona’s duo magic. If limit broken at a certain level, he can deal 10k damage per hit with duo magic. The only other SSR who can inflict the same amount of damage is Riddle dorm and even then, you need to have Cater on your team with max buddy to even experience such a boost.”

He may not have superb gacha luck and he is an f2p, but whatever cards he possesses, he can somehow make them work in his favor.

He has a spiritual connection to Trey Clover.

Luka Clemence

Hello, may I introduce you to Luka “I have 7 SSRs only, it’s not that much” Clemence?

No, I’m not kidding. This guy has insane luck as an f2p.

He snagged 7 SSRs in two weeks and when Seth was crying about his gacha luck, that was the only time Luka realized 7 SSRs was a lot?

“I JUST WANT AN SSR SO BAD, I ONLY HAVE MY TUTORIAL PULL ONE”

“Huh?¿ How can you only have one?”

“BECAUSE I’M THAT UNLUCKYYYYY WHY HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE”

“I only have 7...”

Seth’s screams could be heard from Red Territory.

Ok but Seth has every right to freak out. Luka has ALL dorm leader SSRs, biggest tank of the game SSR Trey, and tweels.

Luka dislikes Riddle and Vil for the fact they both bear similarities with his brother. He has mixed feelings with the former, though, due to his backstory.

When it comes to rhythmics, he laments about how he’s a musician yet he can’t get the timing right. Poor fingers are slow.

Rip him in hard mode, especially for Octavinelle’s and prologue 14. They’re h e l l.

Seth Hyde

Rip Seth, he just wants an SSR

His initial SSR was Ruggie and he was crying when he learned from Sirius that he could have rerolled.

His favorite character is Vil and he wants him to come home, but only his Rs arrived.

It’s a wonder how 10k lin wouldn’t bring robe Vil and lab Vil home.

And he still has less SSRs than Luka LMAO

He’s cried at almost every OB backstory except Leona’s.

His favorite rhythmic is the paint the roses one.

Fenrir Godspeed

Luck in battle? Yes. Luck in gacha? Who’s that?

Fenrir spends money on the game but he uses his family’s wealth. Don’t worry, he knows how to manage his savings, but that’s mainly because he accidentally inputted the wrong birth year when he first put it in, so it listed him as a minor.

He loves Ace because he felt like he could relate to him so much.

His first SSR was Riddle, so he really wanted Azul’s SSR when his banner first came out. He hit pity pull and got duped by Floyd.

It’s ok Fenrir, I feel your pain, except I never hit pity.

He loves the rhythmics. Often, he’ll be singing the tunes out loud.

He’s gonna sing the Magift rhythmic songs when he’s training with other soldiers.

Red Army

Lancelot Kingsley

It took him weeks to figure out where alchemy classes are.

He has 4 SSRs who duo with each other, so that’s lit af.

He doesn’t know why he keeps losing in certain battles, though.

He also spent money on gacha oof

Riddle makes him chuckle. He has such a huge resemblance to Jonah, after all.

Trey makes him think of Sirius too often.

He ends up laughing at the thought of Sirius being Jonah’s helper.

I mean hey, they could have at least been friends if things played out differently back in school.

His favorite is Malleus, though, for the fact that he is powerful and lonely.

Jonah Clemence

He didn’t touch on the game at first because he thought it was ‘a waste of time’. It didn’t help that Edgar teased him for having the same voice as Riddle. It was only when he found out Lancelot plays the game and looks so happy with it that he decided to give it a try.

He was surprised at how similar he and Riddle are, and he liked the little queen even more for his birthday, being the same as Luka’s.

He will never admit he likes the game, though, but the soldiers catch him humming some of the songs sometimes.

Another thing he will never admit: he felt a lump in his throat when he read Riddle’s backstory, but when he got to Azul’s, he cried for an hour. He found himself most impressed with Azul’s voice acting prior to the overblot, but the story about Azul’s past had hit him hard. They experienced the exact same thing after all (being bullied) but it was interesting how differently they both turned out afterwards.

Jonah isn’t too big on the meta gameplay. Sure, he strategizes, but he mostly takes into consideration the stats of a card, not so much with the performance of it in battle. He won’t ever say it to Edgar, but he does take Edgar’s advice into consideration, even applying it if he has the cards for it.

Jonah scoffs at spending on gacha. Ultimately, they’re just JPEGs. Why spend on something that can’t be touched? Anyway, he has 5 SSRs and several good SRs such as robe Jade, robe Vil, and lab Trey. He can manage.

He loves the rhythmic section of the game. He may not be the best in the battles, but he’s talented in the rhythmics. Sure, some rhythmics were difficult, but he always scores SS on one or two tries regardless of difficulty. His favorite songs are the fairy gala songs and he’s caught humming them.

Edgar Bright

Just like Sirius, he has fun strategizing in battle. He will blab to Lancelot, Jonah, and Zero about the different strategies he’s come up with.

“Did you know you can make SSR Jade an attack SSR? His magic 1 raises his attack stat, and if you max it, hm will it exceed 5,000? I forget. And if you put Trey in the same team as Jade, he will further boost his attack, and if their buddy level has been maxed, hm perhaps you might reach 6k+ for Jade’s attack stat?”

“Did you know Azul’s attack stat can surpass even Floyd’s attack stat? If you max his buddy with Jade, he can be as strong as Riddle dorm at lvl80.”

“I’m sorry, but after testing out fairy Kalim, his SR cards are still better performance-wise.”

He’s the first and only one to have SSS and just like Jonah, he aces the rhythmic section.

He finds himself most amused with Jade for his shadiness and is probably the one who goes, “Jade, don’t you just want to go apeshit?”

Kyle Ash

He tends to miss lessons often either because he has a lot of patients or because he’s hungover, so he tends to complain about how weak his cards are.

He doesn’t care much about the meta gameplay and plays by favorites. Somehow, he manages to use the good cards and hits rank S.

He doesn’t join the events and doesn’t understand the woes of gacha since he always manages to get the cards he wants.

Luckiest guy honestly, and some of the soldiers jokingly beg for his luck.

Zero

He also strategizes but he mostly follows Edgar’s advice since he tends to get to it first before Zero.

Zero doesn’t play too often because of work, but the game is addicting enough to make him catch the restored AP every 2.5 hours. Anyway, even if he didn’t want to, Alice would have tried to get his workaholic butt off of work.

Poor baby has given up on prologue 14 hard mode rhythmic.

His favorite character is Jack for his good boy nature and he found himself liking the Octavinelle chapter for his presence and rationality. Beans Day event was also fun for him because of Jack.

#ikerev #ikemen revolution #jonah clemence #luka clemence #fenrir godspeed #ray blackwell #edgar bright #lancelot kingsley #sirius oswald #ikerev zero #kyle ash #seth hyde #twisted wonderland #twst #god you have no idea how much fun I had when writing the strategies #I need to NERD with someone about the meta gameplay #:’)))

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betamaxburns · 4 years

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burnsmithers marxist analysis essay

truly the essay no one asked for

the core conflict of bsmits does not reside in my head as simple internalized homophobia, rather it is a more complex lack of communication and an alienation of the self. there’s marxist theory in here but i’m not going to cite my sources for simpsons men. read your theory.

monty is above society due to his wealth. never has he had to adhere to any strict societal rules because he can buy his way out of them all. his sexuality is no exception. but this freedom to love men and women equally comes at a cost, namely, how he views relationships. being born into wealth teaches you to view everything as transactional: power, wealth, and love. he forms no real meaningful relationships other than maybe recurring hookups because he sees anyone he beds as just a means to an end (be it potential blackmail or just hedonistic pleasure). i think he progressed through a lot of his life like this, maybe slowing down once he got older but never fully stopping. he still sleeps with people at his old age but to him it’s more of a game to stroke his own ego. he’s still got it no matter how old he gets. all the while he is alienated from his feelings, never fully forming bonds with anyone besides business partnerships and socialite acquaintances. he doesn’t know how to love because he’s never had to. love to him is a weakness that forces you to make irrational business decisions.

waylon is the petit bourgeois, he aspires to rise through capitalism to monty’s level by any means necessary. he fell in love with monty for reasons outside his money, yes, but that wasn’t completely it. waylon has always been attracted to power. he wants the luxuries of monty’s lifestyle, and being his assistant gets him close. though he is closer to the workers in terms of economic and societal standing, he is an active class traitor. he does not hesitate to put down or demote workers that get in his way of his goals. he looks for opportunities to make himself sound better, like discovering a rising employee is defrauding their paltry health insurance. he actively helps in union busting, strike repression, and hiring scabs. he would do this regardless if he considered monty a romantic interest- it is done as an attempt to impress a potential access point into that world of the rich.

at the core of it, we must ask ourselves this: why would waylon fall in love with a man repeatedly proven to be a ruthless capitalist? there is nothing forcing them together. waylon’s skills and experience as a sycophant are highly valued and his position with monty would allow him the connections to leave if he wished. the simplest answer is that waylon wants to be him. he sees burns’ ill gotten wealth as something to aspire to. smithers is fully immersed in the american capitalist dream of rags to riches and wants so desparately to achieve that for himself by any means possible. we must remember that waylon chose this path. he is not a minimum wage worker scraping by, he is a decently compensated office man. conversely, why would burns fall for anyone below his social standing? monty is attracted to waylon's capitalist desire for profit, enough to the point it drives out his worries of class divide. he is willing to accept waylon as a partner because waylon does not act like a member of the proletariat or even the petty bourgeois, he acts like a true exploiter through and through.

miscommunication is a common joke between the two in the show, but why shouldn’t this extend further? monty is smart enough to operate under the assumption that his workers are straight to avoid any conflicts with ideology. passes at waylon could be too outdated, waylon might willfully ignore any attempts at closeness as wishful thinking, any number of reasons. though monty and waylon are both secure in their personal understanding of their sexuality, their communication together is woefully lacking. class barriers, attempts at performing heteronormativity for the other in a misguided assumption that the other is straight, all impact their attempts to portray their love.

how do you give to a man who doesn’t solely ask for wealth or sex like monty's other partners did? how do you cope with the fact that for once you want to give him something more than just empty presents? at first, monty doesn’t. he’ll fall back on a transactional view of relationships. a game of “you owe me a coke” taken to extremes, with more hedonistic iterations each time. but even while he puts a pack of coke on waylon’s desk and asks for something dirty, it doesn’t fill the hole in his heart. he’s too afraid to open himself up to a man who wants more out of fear of not having much more to give. he feels he’s always cold and cruel, and surely waylon deserves more than such a heartless old monster. waylon worries he’s not good enough, that monty will decide it’s just another fling and drop him. on and on this continues, trying not to seem too attached to the other for fear of heartbreak. eventually something snaps, they argue and get it all out in the open and realize how silly their fears were, how they truly do feel deeply for the other.

monty learns to be more human from waylon. he learns that relationships can be about much more than money and sex and there are lots of ways to express your love. but this transactional view is never fully demolished. over the years waylon became complacent in this viewpoint himself. working under monty he finally understands the value of treating human lives as simple commodities to use and dispose of when no longer necessary. they are both co-conspirators in worker exploitation and extracting as much wealth as possible from the masses. they are the perfect power couple, always plotting ways to increase their profit margin and cut costs after a long session in bed together.

and perhaps buried somewhere deep within both of them is how to ruin the other, how to completely take over the company and run it better without the other.

but as a wise man once said: dick too bomb

#betamax tapes #burnsmithers

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theculturedmarxist · 4 years

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For those that might not know, Grover Norquist is Washington’s anti-tax poster boy since the Reagan administration. Calling him an anti-tax lobbyist is missing the vast majority of other shit he’s responsible for or has had a hand in. He’s basically been integral in creating the immensely shitty situation in regards to a failed government and overpowered business lobby that we’re in today.

Anyway, I wanted to share the absolutely delusional bullshit these people say to each other, because it’s absolutely illuminating.

Grover Norquist On Taxes, Socialism And The Demonization Of The Rich

Grover Norquist is President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a taxpayer organization that opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle and has been leading campaigns for tax reductions since 1986. ATR was founded at the request of President Reagan and asks all candidates for office in the United States to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written commitment to vote against any tax hikes while they are in office. Rainer Zitelmann spoke with him:

Rainer Zitelmann: In Europe, governments are already looking beyond the coronavirus crisis and planning massive tax increases. In particular, there have been increasing calls for a wealth tax on the richest within society to pay for coronavirus measures and guard against future crises. Supporters of free market economics, on the other hand, are calling for tax cuts to get the economy back on track once the current crisis has abated. What do you think will happen in the United States? If Trump is re-elected, will he cut taxes again? And what will happen if Biden wins?

Grover Norquist: Once we’re looking back on coronavirus in our rearview mirror rather than having it flying at the windshield—then what? Little will happen before the November 2020 American presidential election. Democrats will demand higher taxes and massive spending, Republicans will propose tax cuts. But the Democrat-controlled house will block any tax reductions and the Republican-dominated senate and the Trump veto will block any tax increases or spending explosion. Should Trump win re-election, Republicans will move to enact their stated goal of reducing the corporate income tax to 15% from today’s 21%. They will push to index capital gains for inflation—so capital gain taxes would only be due on real gains, not inflationary gains. Should Biden win the presidency, and the Democrats capture the senate, Biden has promised $3.4 trillion of new taxes. That is three times what Hillary Clinton threatened/promised in 2016—and she lost for being too left wing. Spending will explode. Income tax will be increased, an energy tax will be imposed and eventually a Value Added Tax will be levied. Of course, this fork in the road would be exactly the same if there was no coronavirus. Republicans are the party of tax reduction and (modest) spending restraint. Democrats remain the party of endless tax hikes and endless spending sprees.

Zitelmann: In the United States, socialism used to be a dirty word—and it still is for many older Americans. In contrast, large numbers of younger Americans are committed to “socialism.” So why has anticapitalism become so popular in the United States, especially among younger people?

Norquist: The sad answer is that younger Americans do not know what socialism means. Millennials do not remember the Soviet Union. Or Stalin’s Gulags or the Warsaw Pact. They only know Russia. They could not even tell you what the initials U.S.S.R. stood for, or that Nazi is the abbreviation of National Socialist. Somehow, Bernie Sanders, who is well versed in Soviet history and Cuba’s tradeoff of “literacy” against political prisoners, has explained to younger Americans that “socialism” means Sweden and Denmark.

‘Sanders Had Already Won The Policy Debate’

Zitelmann: Sanders is now out of the race. However, you believe that his ideas have nevertheless prevailed. Why is that?

Norquist: You might think that Bernie Sanders’ withdrawal from the 2020 campaign and the likely victory of Vice President Joe Biden represents a move to the center by the Democrats. Sadly, no. I would argue that Bernie Sanders left the race not because he failed to get enough delegates to win but because he had already won the policy debate. Biden’s threatened tax hikes total $3.4 trillion dollars over a decade. That is three times more than Hillary Clinton threatened. Biden promises to ban fracking, plastic bags (he said plastic, let’s generously assume he meant only plastic bags), expand Medicare with a “public option,” meaning a door through which all Americans could be pushed into a one-size-fits-all, government-controlled health care system, and an energy/carbon tax. What is the difference between Biden and Bernie? They have the same Rolodexes. The same likely White House staffers. The same rhetoric.

Why The Rich Are Being Demonized

Zitelmann: In the Democratic primaries, all of the candidates seemed to be competing to outdo each in terms of their “rich-bashing” rhetoric. Even Michael Bloomberg, himself one of the richest men in the world, was forced to demand higher taxes on the rich before he was forced to withdraw from the race. Where does this hatred of the rich come from?

Norquist: The Democrats need trillions of dollars to buy votes to win the 2020 election. To do that they will require a great deal more money than the $3.8 trillion raised in taxes under the 2019 budget. And they can’t afford to admit that regular voters are the likely target of their new and additional taxes—an energy tax, a Value Added Tax and higher payroll taxes. So Democrat candidates, continuing the strategies adopted by Clinton and Obama, started by demonizing the rich and then promising to tax them—not you, the typical voter. Now, both Clinton and Obama did raise taxes on the middle class—but they talked so much about taxing the rich that even a well-educated voter could be forgiven for thinking that the new taxes were all on the rich. Every new tax voters heard about were announced as targeting the rich (or corporations which, of course, pass on their increased tax burdens to consumers in the form of higher prices and workers in lower wages). The left needs to demonize the rich. It is, after all, their justification for taxing them. Americans do not like the idea of taking money away from someone who earned it.

Zitelmann: A great deal of energy is expended on arguing that the “rich” did not earn their money.

Norquist: Yes, the logic is this: If the rich are only rich because they got lucky, then they never truly earned or deserve their fortunes. This is why Barack Obama told small businessmen in the 2009 campaign, “You did not build that,” when referring to their own small businesses. If you didn’t build it—it isn’t really yours. And, once Democrat logic is accepted, taking it away is not really theft. Nor wrong. Nor immoral. But demonizing the rich has a second advantage for the left. In addition to making it easier to tax the rich and trick voters/taxpayers into thinking they are not the true target of higher taxes, the war on the rich covers up the 50-year failure of the Great Society. The Great Society was launched in 1965 with the promise that the government knew how to help the poor become middle class and self-reliant. Government spending on housing, healthcare and education would instill the poor with middle-class values such as hard work, self-reliance and a willingness to work and save today for a better tomorrow, maintaining a long-term perspective. But the Great Society spent some $14 trillion in giving money to the poor, or more often paying well-paid government employees to “provide services” to the poor, and has little or nothing to show for it in terms of improvements in savings, income, education or work. So rather than admit that they wasted trillions of dollars and concede that they should shut down government job programs that only benefit the Democrat party’s base, the left pivoted to a new problem. Not that the poor are poor, but that there is a large gap between the rich and poor.

This new problem—inequality—can be solved without helping to lift a single poor person out of poverty and into the middle class. One only needs to reduce the wealth and income of the rich. That way we will be more equal. All worse off. But more equal. It is possible for modern Democrats to reduce inequality without doing anything to help poor people or communities. The middle class can suffer while we “reduce inequality.” That they can do. To tax the rich; first undermine their right to keep what they create. Demonize them. To avoid embarrassing questions about the failure of the left’s “war on poverty” you just need to shift the focus to inequality.

‘Immigration Is Our Strongest Competitive Advantage’

Zitelmann: Donald Trump has certainly done some positive things in terms of tax policy and deregulation. At the same time, however, he has increased what was already an extremely high level of national debt and is pursuing protectionist trade policies. I have the impression that Trump has no clear market economy compass. How capitalist is Trump?

Norquist: It’s not clear whether Donald Trump has ever read Hayek. But his tax cuts are straight out of the Ronald Reagan/Art Laffer/Milton Friedman playbook. His de-regulation goes further than all previous presidents combined. His judges will strengthen and repair America’s commitment to the rule of law for a generation. And his unwillingness to be dragged into every stupid idea some European intellectual thought up—windmills, solar to replace real energy that really powers a national economy—has been a godsend. Those who wish to embroil America in every war in every quadrant of the globe have no ally in Trump. Trump knows that war is the enemy of liberty and fiscal prudence. Free trade and immigration are issues where Trump departs from President Reagan and Adam Smith. But as President Trump said before the coronavirus crisis—we are running out of workers in the United States. And the higher wages and jobs growth he delivered reduced the grumpiness of American voters who no longer lash out at immigrants and foreign competitors suspected of stealing their jobs. Trump’s tax cuts, de-regulation, sound legal system and respect for property rights delivered growth to America before the virus and will return when the virus is behind us. Trump’s growth silenced the concerns that drive protectionism and tariffs and stoke fears of immigration. Yes, the wall will be built. America will gain control of its borders, but it will maintain large and open doors. Immigration is our strongest competitive advantage over China, Japan, Russia and most of the world. And yes, our trade agreements need to ensure that our intellectual property is not stolen and reduce the ability of governments anywhere to subsidize trade and disadvantage foreign competition.

Zitelmann: What are your thoughts on the Fed’s low interest rate policy? What does this mean for our market economy system?

Norquist: The danger of near-zero federal interest rates is that borrowing money is seen as “almost” free. The deficit is not the problem. Overspending is the problem. The deadweight cost of government is total spending. The deficit is one element of the problem—like the visible part of an iceberg. But it is the larger, hidden mass of the iceberg below the water line that ripped the Titanic apart. If deficit spending is held down, and taxes are not raised, then there is a limit on spending. That is good. But if deficit spending is “free” or “inexpensive” because interest rates (today) are low, then public opposition to more and more government spending is reduced and government spending will be allowed to increase and weaken the economy.

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