Summer Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
somethingwithturquoise) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2022-01-11 03:33 am
somethingwithturquoise) wrote in fandomhigh2022-01-11 03:33 am
Entry tags:
Rage Against the Machine: Etc, Etc, Etc; Tuesday, Second Period [01/11].
It was a much more subdued Summer at the front of the classroom sim in the Danger Shop this week, looking almost apologetic as she waited for everyone to get settled in. "So welcome back, you guys," she began, "and before we get into anything else today, I just wanted to take a second to kind of apologize for last week. One of these semesters, I'm going to realize that sometimes it's not always best to just charge in and hit the ground running, but this semester? Was not that semester, and sometimes it's easy for me to forget what it's like to have a whole bunch of shit like that just thrown at you. So my apologies, and hopefully this gets us on a better foot, I've brought doughnuts, and going forward, please know that this class will be dealing with a lot of hard and senstitive topics. But I know some of that can be difficult, and not everyone really chose to be in this class. If you need to tap out, by all means, please do so, and there's nothing wrong with that. This is not an evil Galactic Federation. I hope you'll want to be here to learn, but literally no one will make you."
She nodded a little, still feeling like that wasn't quite enough, but it would have to be good enough, and gestured to the box on the desk.
"Now come get some doughnuts, and we'll get into today's topic: Why Evil Empire Bad?"
"Some evil empires are pretty blatant about it, actually, with rampant destruction and things like planet-destroying weapons like I mentioned last week. And other are more subtle, and those are the really insideous ones, and usually the origins of blatant ones. It starts out seeming like a good thing, really, and that's how they get you. They get their little trendrils all up in your business and make it look like they're doing a good thing, but underneath, something much more nefarious is lurking.
"Take, for example, this bit of promotional propeganda from the first Galactic Federation from my dimension:
For over 850 glaagnars, the Galactic Federation has helped quintillions of other sentient life forms assimilate into our vision of one united universe. We stand scrung in scrung with thousands of planets; perhaps yours will be next!
"And, to their credit, the GF did actually help out a lot of planets in their unification prospects. But not everyone. Take note of the language...this is very big in clocking baby big bads because they're really fully developed. Words like assimilate put an emphasis on conformity and obedience, which will end up being the major tennants of an evil galactic empire. They show up, promise to help your planet out by taking them into their system, but only if that planet agrees to adopt their principles and practices. Those that comply are welcomed into the fold; those that object, however, a summalarily crushed and destroyed and eradicated.
"So why not just comply? GF planets seem to be doing well technologically, economically, things are going pretty great for them, right? Well, not if you're minority they deem unfit. Not if you have a belief system that doesn't align with theirs. Not if you want the freedom to choose why you do with your life or if you don't want to spend your life eating a diet entirely of pills and having your age be forty-five. The Galactic Empire likes to keep its ranks homogeneous, too, for another example. Your basic standard humanoids are superior, good luck if you're a woman, too, and don't even get me started with rampant oppression and slavery, both actual and systemic, of those deemed to different to neatly fit into their idea of a perfect, cultured," yeah, that's right, Radchaai, she wasn't directly saying it, but she was coming for you in this class, too, "galactic society.
"Towards the end there," she continued, "it seems pretty obviou that these are the bad guys, right? But the trick is that it takes them a while to get there. They make it seem not so bad at the start, and, honestly, if you're in the preferred class, the preferred species, the preferred races, it's all well and good. But it's everyone else that either slips through the cracks or winds up deliberately crushed underneath their boots, that we fight for, especially those who can't fight for themselves.
"So today, that's what I want to talk about. We all come from different experiences and backgrounds, and so tap into your own experiences or from your history, to think of signs that you might be dealing with a growing or perhaps even fully formed evil galactic empire, and we'll compile a list on the board here. I'll start by putting up assimilation and promises of 'unificiation' in big fat quotes there, probably 'WMD - weapons of mass destruction' is a big one, too, and then I'll turn it to you guys. Who has something else they can think to add?"
She nodded a little, still feeling like that wasn't quite enough, but it would have to be good enough, and gestured to the box on the desk.
"Now come get some doughnuts, and we'll get into today's topic: Why Evil Empire Bad?"
"Some evil empires are pretty blatant about it, actually, with rampant destruction and things like planet-destroying weapons like I mentioned last week. And other are more subtle, and those are the really insideous ones, and usually the origins of blatant ones. It starts out seeming like a good thing, really, and that's how they get you. They get their little trendrils all up in your business and make it look like they're doing a good thing, but underneath, something much more nefarious is lurking.
"Take, for example, this bit of promotional propeganda from the first Galactic Federation from my dimension:
"And, to their credit, the GF did actually help out a lot of planets in their unification prospects. But not everyone. Take note of the language...this is very big in clocking baby big bads because they're really fully developed. Words like assimilate put an emphasis on conformity and obedience, which will end up being the major tennants of an evil galactic empire. They show up, promise to help your planet out by taking them into their system, but only if that planet agrees to adopt their principles and practices. Those that comply are welcomed into the fold; those that object, however, a summalarily crushed and destroyed and eradicated.
"So why not just comply? GF planets seem to be doing well technologically, economically, things are going pretty great for them, right? Well, not if you're minority they deem unfit. Not if you have a belief system that doesn't align with theirs. Not if you want the freedom to choose why you do with your life or if you don't want to spend your life eating a diet entirely of pills and having your age be forty-five. The Galactic Empire likes to keep its ranks homogeneous, too, for another example. Your basic standard humanoids are superior, good luck if you're a woman, too, and don't even get me started with rampant oppression and slavery, both actual and systemic, of those deemed to different to neatly fit into their idea of a perfect, cultured," yeah, that's right, Radchaai, she wasn't directly saying it, but she was coming for you in this class, too, "galactic society.
"Towards the end there," she continued, "it seems pretty obviou that these are the bad guys, right? But the trick is that it takes them a while to get there. They make it seem not so bad at the start, and, honestly, if you're in the preferred class, the preferred species, the preferred races, it's all well and good. But it's everyone else that either slips through the cracks or winds up deliberately crushed underneath their boots, that we fight for, especially those who can't fight for themselves.
"So today, that's what I want to talk about. We all come from different experiences and backgrounds, and so tap into your own experiences or from your history, to think of signs that you might be dealing with a growing or perhaps even fully formed evil galactic empire, and we'll compile a list on the board here. I'll start by putting up assimilation and promises of 'unificiation' in big fat quotes there, probably 'WMD - weapons of mass destruction' is a big one, too, and then I'll turn it to you guys. Who has something else they can think to add?"
Sign In - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Sign In - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Sign In - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Sign In - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Sign In - RatM, 01/11.
Listen to the Lecture - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Listen to the Lecture - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Listen to the Lecture - RatM, 01/11.
Discussion: Signs of the Empire - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Discussion: Signs of the Empire - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Discussion: Signs of the Empire - RatM, 01/11.
She also added theocracy to the board, but with a question mark, because she felt like that one could be worth some further exploration, perhaps.
Re: Discussion: Signs of the Empire - RatM, 01/11.
Re: Discussion: Signs of the Empire - RatM, 01/11.
Racist fucks.
Re: Discussion: Signs of the Empire - RatM, 01/11.
Talk to Summer - RatM, 01/11.
OOC - RatM, 01/11.