"If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species. As our collective consciousness expands beyond a crucial point, we are at last ready to accept life's fundamental truth: that life's only purpose is life itself."

    • PrincessMagnificent [they/them, any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I kind of like the Yang Gang because Yang is completely sincere about what he preaches.

      Usually, 1984 totalitarian dictatorship types are written so that the head is just a power-hungry asshole who snorts cocaine off prostitutes while his people starve, but Yang isn't like that. The ascetic values he imposes on his society are the value he himself embodies. He doesn't amass personal riches or have a luxurious palace. He doesn't maintain control by hating some minority or other. He is completely honest about what he does and what he believes is right, and he has no problem with applying the same standard to himself as to the rest of his society.

      Of course, the problem is that Yang is also an almost superhuman genius who isn't lying when he says that pain is just neural input that you decide to do with whatever you will. He really has trained his mind to do that. He just ignores that other people might not have the capacity to reach his level of self control.

      • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Of course, the problem is that Yang is also an almost superhuman genius who isn’t lying when he says that pain is just neural input that you decide to do with whatever you will. He really has trained his mind to do that. He just ignores that other people might not have the capacity to reach his level of self control.

        I know some "tiger moms" (gross) who would probably pull this shit. "Mrs Yang's son has already train himself to ignore pain as a mere neural input, and here you are complaining about piano practice because of a little carpal tunnel."

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Its not great but compared to other media of the era it was kind of a nice change to see any Asian man represented as a peer in anything.

      It also does kind of help that everyone is portrayed as a caricature of their ideology cranked up to 11, so this feels like a rare instance of "its not racist if it's done to everyone equally" is sorta true.

      Idk either that or I'm wearing my nostalgia tinted glasses.

    • panopticon [comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It was weird back then and its downright shitty now. I started a new game with all original factions and then had to start a new one (replacing hive with cybernetic consciousness) because the hive's strawman gommulism ideology is friggin garbage. But the cybernetic consciousness fits that niche much better anyway.