It's the 80's all over again.
I'm playing Battletech, Star Wars is in Theaters, and the president hates the poor and wants them to die. We want to go to war with Russia, and The US is busy laughing at the idiots who are fighting and dying in Afghanistan. The poor have it extremely rough, but the vast majority of people don't even acknowledge their presence.
It's the 80s all over again.
I feel like Johnny trying to explain to the kids what happened back in the past and how it REALLY happened, not the bullshit story that the media wants to sell you.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZxhX_nOoiQ]
Hell, we've even got the same damn politicians, minus those that had the decency to die and no longer inflict their greed, hypocrisy and cruelty on the rest of us. They're holding nice little hearings, while the bombs drop, we vilify the Middle East, and keep dreaming of the ultimate super weapon to end the cold war.
Yes, this sketch also runs through my head every time I think of the US Military. It's a question we need to be asking ourselves.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU]
So, yeah, we've even got the modern equivalent of Reagan in the White House. That in particular I keep having to explain to young kids, because all pop culture wants to remember about the Reagans is a guest shot on Webster and Just Say No. Oh and Just Say No is making a come back, and now has the rough double standard of saying that Drugs are Bad because they're illegal... and legal drugs are bad too, unless they're made by big Pharma... (Yes, infinitely more obviously hypocritical.)
Course it's not all the same. I admit I like the 90's Star Wars Better than the 80s, so my opinion of the new movies is definitely tainted by that. Battletech now can OPENLY have the LGBTQ characters that they had to Hays Code for the exact same reasons that Hollywood had to code their characters. And Reagan at least had the decency to pretend to give a shit.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn3dCIJ91Nw]
The question to me is if the kids are gonna listen. Mine seem to be, and I have hope in a lot of them. Of course, the media and politicians are going to try to coopt them into throwing their energy away... So with that in mind, here's a video about what I use to cope, and a piece of music that fits the mood.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYtGYKjrnII]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20aMVSdZu3Y]
Comments
The bit with the skulls is hilarious!
Who are those guys?
My exposure to the 80's was actually rather limited. I graduated from High School, spent a year trying to learn FORTRAN while waiting tables, and then ended up locked into the Colorado School for Wayward Boys for 4 years, pilot training for another year, and then exile to North Dakota (NORTHERN North Dakota) for the next seven years. I started hearing Talking heads and such some time in the 90's, and thought, how did I miss this?
So I probably missed a lot of comedy, too.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Mitchel And Webb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_and_Webb
And yeah, they're great, and totally my Generation.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Part of the hilarity
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
And they make some DAMN good points.
I think... we might be the baddies here.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
The more things change, the more they remain the same
Israeli military? The T-shirt controversy from 2009:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7960071.stm
More sickness.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
It's a lot worse than the 80's
Reagan actually raised taxes in 1982. Republicans hadn't gone entirely insane yet.
The Democrats hasn't completely sold out the working class yet.
Labor unions still had power.
We hadn't deindustrialized yet.
Wealth inequality was much less of a problem.
I fully expect Trump to Raise taxes.
Sigh...
But yeah, worse than the 80's I can see. And we're only in the first couple years of this.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWME4d1BRCk]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@gjohnsit Also, it was possible to
One big difference: we actually had a political system back then. Not a very good one, but a political system.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Yup. It's the 80s all over again.
Except this time, instead of the Satanic Panic, we've got the Cuck or Racist Panic. If you saw a movie and liked it (Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Black Panther), you're a cuck. If you didn't go see it or didn't like it for any reason, you're a racist/sexist. Hell, even Cobra Kai adoped the Injustice Collector/Red Pill/Alpha bullshit to some degree as demonstrated when Johnny told the kid why he picked on Daniel.
I've deleted every social media account I had, save this one and my email because of this crap. People are whining about the stupidest shit while the world is burning, decent jobs have gone the way of the dodo, and the idiots insist on blaming the victims.
We really don't have anywhere to go.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
I honestly gave up on most media.
Reason I liked Cobra Kai so much was that it portrayed a flawed person who was wrong, but was capable of getting better and learning from his mistakes. He's never going to feel that he was in the wrong in "The Karate Kid" but he finally was able to move on from it and do better. (Sorry, first show that I've seen in a long time that really spoke to me and I admit it's probably because I was a blonde kid from California in the 80s at the time... we were dumb as shit sometimes.)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
You made me watch it today
Maybe because I was a blonde CA kid too...Riverside, circa 78-79:
Funny coincidence that you and I are neighbors once again, in Portland
Portland feels like California 30 years ago.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I believe Portland was only urban center Reagan did NOT win.
But more important than the electoral victories, Reagan became the god-father of the new democratic party that went full speed under Clinton.
Oh and Glad you liked Cobra Kai. *SPOILERS*
Another thing I really liked about the series was how it portrayed bullying. I know from experience with my children it is the "Popular" kids who do it. They delight in tormenting kids with that "You can't PROVE I did it" smirk. Unfortunately the system seems designed to stop people from confronting their problems directly. The scene with Johnny getting maced and arrested for defending a bullying victim struck me as the most realistic scene ever in sports movie. (Let's be honest, the Karate Kid IS a sports movie.)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I felt there was so much going on in those episodes
You mention the efforts to disallow direct confrontation, and that scene with the school admin, basically making everything worse for the future "Hawk" was a classic...addressing everyone, essentially identifying and describing to a "T" for everyone to know, and "everyone please stop and respect, OK?" as somehow a plan to "fix" anything, certainly reflects the useless, weak tactics of how current schools deal was fitting. I've seen myself, with what my kids have described for me, that schools avoid action in bully situations these days, instead suggesting weak words will suffice as solution.
Daniel doesn't want his kids to become rich, entitled, spoiled brats...um, have you checked out your son? Denial much?
Daniel's comments to Robby toward the end of the final episode, about "fighting with honor," was rich, coming from a guy who has spent the entire season, using his power, wealth and influence, to crush Johnny's endeavors, without regard for anyone else...such as the rent thing that even his wife called him out on that one. Johnny's spiel to the council, a heartfelt plea, with what we later find to be backed by a fair amount of truth Johnny could relate to these kids, and Daniel still shouting BS, harboring a 30+ year old grudge, using his pull, attempting to defeat Johnny's project...honor, indeed. He won't allow any chance for any sort of scenario that Johnny might be able to prove things might have changed for the better, and only his rear-view look at his own reality is what will forever be the truth.
As for that cheese, I turned into a metal-head, but still have a soft spot for bands like REO...used to play that 8 track all the time, back then, and that comment in the car had me laughing..."what kind of man doesn't." LOL
The "Honor" concept is even more ridiculous...
"You will look back and realize that this is when you gained the superpower to tell when it's going to rain."
Even the set up for the second season has Daniel refusing to accept defeat, and instead plotting revenge. Honestly, it almost feels like the old Sasaki Kojiro/Miamoto Musashi duel, at least in feel, style and archetypes. Of Course, Musashi Won, and he was by far the more working class and "rough and tumble" of the two, so I'm hoping for a repeat of that narrative.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Exactly
I read a good review here: https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/cobra-kai-review-youtube/
The guy "gets it."
Even when Daniel catches Johnny's reaction to the "cheap shot," in the end, he still refuses to allow Johnny's possible redemption, success, or allow once again, any "good deed for Johnny to go unpunished" (his sticking up for the bullied meets police mace, tackle, arrest...his dojo to encourage and maybe help the bullied, etc.). Daniel refuses to recognize all his family and he is doing to punish a downtrodden Johnny and allow him to achieve some semblance of success and meaning (Daniel's family twice destroys Johnny's property, continually trying to block his dojo, at the expense of all other mall proprietors, kids/students it might help, etc.) Johnny must never succeed, is all that matters to Daniel, regardless of anything Johnny might be able to salvage of his own life, or that of others, similarly downtrodden, and any lessons they might be able to learn or how to cope at the hands of a cruel world; Daniel has now become a cog, helping to perpetuate that cruelty and won't relinquish.
If the media is talking about something
then chances are it isn't important.
Bernie said something a few months ago that I thought was brilliant. He said the degree of importance that an issue had was inversely proportional to how much press it gets. (paraphrased)
"Bernie's Law"?
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
you left out the part where we're again supporting
batshit loony islamic extremists because at the moment they're the enemies of some people who might stand in the way of our middle east hegemony.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Yup.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Yah, totally 80s.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
The first paragraph is spot on
It's like deja vue all over again ....
San Francisco’s Progressive Mayoral Candidate Jane Kim
She was interviewed about the increase of homelessness. This fact was stunning:
Reagan's trickle down economics has been proven to be bullshit, yet congress still tried to sell this to us when they passed their tax bill.
I just read these two articles about Russia Gate and why it's being pushed so hard and why it's not going to go away. I highly recommend reading both articles.
Past a point of no return: “Russiagate” and the reorientation of U.S. imperialism
Russiagate, the new McCarthyism
People who have bought into the Russia Gate propaganda are going to give their permission for this country to go to war with Russia even though it's total bull crap that Herheinous made up when she was going to be exposed as someone who had to cheat to win the primary. We know that if Trump was the one who was spreading Russia Gate propaganda after he lost to Herheinous her supporters would be laughing their little blue butts over it because it's just too stupid to believe. And as they love to tell us, Hillary received 3 million more votes than Trump did. But she only lost because Russia spent $100,000 on Facebook ads that a few said something bad about her. Well the ones that were placed before the election. Most of them were placed after Trump had already won. This is how silly Russia Gate is. But people believe it.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Wanting to go to war with Russia is insane.
Sigh... I was going to say all that's missing are the Jingoistic Movies that promote war to the kiddies... but then I remembered that kids don't watch movies and the PTB are promoting war with Russia in the places they are spending time...
Which is why I monitor my kids video game preferences heavily.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
So, yeah, we've even got the
Well, the thing is, Reagan never left office.
Let's look at the list of Presidents since Reagan:
H.W. Bush: Weak Reagan
Clinton: Jazz Reagan
W Bush: Dumb Reagan
Obama: Black Reagan
Trump: Orange Reagan
Reagan is basically a ghost that haunts the White House. He floats around and possesses the next President.
The Ghost of Reagan...
"You can't kill a ghost, so remember them right."
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Except this time
More people can't afford houses, more people aren't working at a living wage, we're all under constant involuntary and unwarranted mass surveillance, and our government is legally allowed to murder and torture people. Also, the idea of "wartime" and "peacetime" has been retired, and it seems to me that the music is worse.
Otherwise, yeah, pretty much.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver