The consumption is the point. They just want candy not a meal. They want fucking marvelslop not Cinema.

Inb4 let people enjoy things, the mindset on display is a perfect member of capitalist society. A mindless consumption machine.

    • TraumaDumpling [none/use name]
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      72 years ago

      the media people consume influences/reflects their personalities and attitudes. if you are consuming something ‘just because others are consuming it’ it betrays a lack of critical thinking, and a kind of bandwagon effect attitude. if people are ‘literally addicted’ to Marvel then it is by your own admission very problematic. the solution to addiction isn’t to just keep letting the addict use without any effort to control and reduce usage. that 60% of their conversations could ideally be used for something beautiful or useful, but instead is squatted by bland, meaningless, corporate garbage with zero artistic integrity or cultural value. corporate slop is, let me be perfectly clear, a weapon of psychological warfare forced upon the masses by corporate media campaigns. media isn’t some kind of utopian democracy where the ‘best’ thing or ‘naturally/objectively most popular’ thing ‘wins’ the grand popularity contest; media attitudes are manufactured by marketers and inflicted on the public via expansive and expensive propaganda campaigns.

      its not that these are ‘bad people’ (as if the opinion of random internet posters would matter in that regard), its that they exhibit what some leftists consider to be problematic behavior and thought processes. and since they are not on this board to have their feelings hurt we use the format of ‘dunking’. this is a trait not unique to hexbear but common to english language, where the fundamental misattribution error is basically baked in to the syntax and grammar.

      like yeah, we’re not going to write a marxist essay for every marvel enjoyer analysing their plight and oppression. these treats are mostly for rich white suburban kids and their parents, marvel enjoyers are not some oppressed minority yearning to be free of the yoke of hexbears telling them they like silly mindless shit. we are going to dunk on them like we do for EVERY SINGLE OTHER example of problematic thought or behavior.

      just like we don’t pearl-clutch over nazis or cops or liberals that support genocide, who were ‘just victims of propaganda and society’ (which is true!), we don’t pearl clutch over this kind of problematic mindlessness either.

      media consumption is not some kind of sacred event that cannot ever be criticized in another, we are allowed to draw conclusions, even critical and negative ones, from the behaviors and attitudes of others.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
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      2 years ago

      Edit: I’m just tired.

      reactionary-tasting anger

      Your treat will be safe without your totally-not-reacting-with-anger blowing up all over this thread about some particular treat of yours being criticized. The treat will still be there in the morning, no matter what mean things were said about it.

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
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          2 years ago

          I just replied to your other post and I did respect the vulnerability you showed. My reply up there was before I read that from you.

          Chronologically, yes, I was upset those minutes ago because you were dodging things you had already said and at the same time were calling me “really stupid” and later on accusing me of “reactionary-tasting anger.”

            • UlyssesT [he/him]
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              32 years ago

              I didnt try to dodge any of it.

              I have no idea what you think I’m dodging.

              The difference between insulting people and insulting media is like super clear and conflating the two is really stupid???

              which is people insulting randos over random shit

              reactionary-tasting anger

              This is not “treat defense”.

              There’s a lot more already in this thread if you just scroll up what you’ve already said to me, but insulting me from the start in your very first reply and then dodging that insult while making accusations and presumptions about what I said in the worst possible light makes it hard to generously interpret things at this point.

              I didn’t know you were angry at me over the three question marks specifically

              Being called very stupid from the start was the issue and it got worse when you did rhetorical backflips to simultaneously say you didn’t insult me from the start while continuing to insult me while framing what I said (or presumably, previously said because it’s not even in this thread) in the above quoted ways.

                • UlyssesT [he/him]
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                  32 years ago

                  Between this post and the other one you just made:

                  WHAT TREAT!??? WHAT TREAT!???

                  I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO MARVEL, I’VE SAID THAT SO MANY TIMES?

                  WHAT FUCKING TREAT AM I DEFENDING??

                  BECAUSE RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE THE ONLY “TREAT” IM DEFENDING IS MY OWN FUCKING DESIRE FOR INNOCENT RANDOM PEOPLE NOT TO BE INSULTED AND IF THAT MAKES ME A TREAT DEFENDER THAN IM FUCKING PROUD OF IT

                  IF HAVING FUCKING EMPATHY, EVEN FOR RANDOM FUCKERS WHO LIKE SHOWS I HATE, MAKES ME A TREAT DEFENDER, THEN I’LL BE A TREAT DEFENDER AS MUCH AS I FUCKING WANT, AND YOU’LL FUCKING DEAL WITH IT

                  I don’t think anything I say after this point is going to help. I’m not changing my position, especially not now. While I still respect what you admitted and showed previously, almost immediately after that you started all-caps demonstrating more of the same hostility you had replied to me with, in this thread, from the start.

                  Does “treat defense” mean something other than someone vehemently defending some sort of piece of media?

                  I suppose the definition can be expanded to outright reactive hostility toward even the idea or possibility of media criticism and taking it up as a personal cause, as if one is in personal danger if that entertainment product is criticized. Calling me “really stupid” because I posted an edited webcomic you clearly didn’t like and going on and on from there, all because I do believe people should let people not enjoy things (and yes, criticize them).

                  You apparently didn’t like that the edit used the term “thought police.” I didn’t make the edit, I just used material on hand. But this exchange so far has in some ways only hardened my position about how unfortunately and excessively defensive some people can get at even the idea of their entertainment getting criticized.

  • Hohsia [he/him]
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    2 years ago

    When is the “let people enjoy things” struggle session?

    antelope-popcorn

    But tbf, I understand where the criticism comes from if you have a deep belief that media partially shapes reality

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
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    2 years ago

    Honestly agree with the second comment because modern trailers basically spoil movies, and a ton of reviewers just write complete trash. Like sure I’ll look at rotten tomatoes scores just to check that what I’m going to watch isn’t complete nonsense, but I’m not going to read a review written by someone that might not even understand the movie themselves. See the original reviews for Starship Troopers, the reviewers completely missed the entire point of the film. Media literacy has never been great, and it’s honestly been at an all time low in the past few years.

    The difference is that I probably won’t find superhero slop or Prestige TV slop entertaining/fun though. Honestly tuned out of the superhero movies after Age of Ultron. They’re not really movies anymore, just really long series episodes with a large gap in between.

  • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
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    122 years ago

    No, everything has to be serious at all times and we cannot find any humor in the absurdity of hell world. The last time I smiled was on August 19th, 1991. I wear a dirty ushanka at all times, do not shave, and only take cold sponge baths because hot running water is bourgeoisie decadence. Every day at exactly noon I have the same meal of an expired Maoist MRE I store in a pit covered in old issues of a revolutionary newspaper. I sleep in a bed made of flags from every failed revolution so that they are never forgotten. In the evenings I stare at a picture of vodka by candlelight, but I do not allow myself to drink because there is nothing to celebrate. Every local org has banned me after I attempted to split it by assassinating the leadership. There is no plumbing in my house I shit in a brass bucket with a picture of Gonzalo and Deng french kissing in the bottom of it. My house is actually an overturned T34 in an abandoned junkyard in Wisconsin. I have a single friend in this world and it is a tapeworm named Bordiga that I met after ingesting spoiled borscht on 9/11 in the ruins of building 7 (I blew it up after finding that a nominally leftist NGO inside of it wasn’t sufficiently anti-imperialist, the attacks on the world trade center were a perfect revolutionary moment for me to enact direct praxis against liberalism). My source of income is various MLM schemes in the former soviet bloc that have been running for so long no one remembers who I am, they just keep sending money. I have not paid taxes since McGovern lost the Democratic nomination for president and my faith in electoralism died more brutally than my childhood dog after it got into an entire jar of tylenol. I own 29 fully automatic rusted kalashnikovs and three crates of ammunition entirely incompatible with them or any other firearms I own. My double PHD in marxist economics and 18th century Swiss philosophy (required to understand Engels) sits over the fireplace of my home, my fireplace is a salvaged drum from a 1950s washing machine that was recalled for locking children inside of it. I chose that washing machine model on purpose because I am anti-natalist. During the latest BLM protests I firebombed a Nikes outlet in the middle of a peaceful candlelit vigil. William F Buckley and I wrote hatemail to one another for 47 years until my final letter gave him an aneurysm. The only water I drink is from puddles. George Lucas and I dropped acid together during an MKULTRA southern baptist summer camp and he went on to write the movie Willow about our time together. The best way to test whether an electrical wire is live is to drool on it and shrimp salad is racist. You can make an IED out of potassium and the instructions are online thanks to Timothy McVey, who was actually a committed antifascist communist slandered by the deep state as part of operation condor. Every time a liberal files a restraining order against me, I carve a mark into the wall. I am running out of walls. When Amerika finally collapses I will be ready to lead the revolution. I am very smart and people like being around me.

  • Stylistillusional [none/use name]
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    222 years ago

    Everybody is sincere posting about people enjoying stuff. But nobody’s talking about how you could possibly feel satisfied after eating a whole bag of candy, instead of feeling like dogshit.

    Those small bags of crisps they have in Asia > disgusting Western 300 grams Lays.

    • CloutAtlas [he/him]
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      92 years ago

      Americans have way too much sugar, I was talking to a yank irl and he said he would have over a liter of soft drink a day. ??? I honestly thought he was joking.

      Also, I know Brits put sugar in tea (gross, but you do you), and then I had American tea. What the actual fuck.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
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        122 years ago

        Burgerland puts high fructose corn syrup in bread. Bread.

        It’s actually hard to find bread in Burgerland that doesn’t contain sugar that doesn’t need to be there. 🍞 sus-torment

        • charly4994 [she/her, comrade/them]
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          42 years ago

          Ever since I moved down the street from a local bakery, I’ve more or less stopped buying store breads, it’ll go stale rather fast but you can just freeze it or use the stale bread.

        • CloutAtlas [he/him]
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          92 years ago

          My god, giving people diabetes just from eating everyday food then milking every cent left to their name for insulin would be too ridiculous for a dystopian novel if it weren’t reality.

      • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
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        112 years ago

        Also, I know Brits put sugar in tea (gross, but you do you)

        you’re supposed to have sugar in tea proportional to the extent your job involves manual labour. It’s a weird custom that dates back to when tea replaced alcohol as the drink of choice and then loads of people suddenly were missing the caloric content of alcohol

        • @[email protected]
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          52 years ago

          That… sounds wrong but I don’t know enough about tea or history to dispute it. Just trying to imagine pre industrial manual laborers dripping with sweat, chugging hot tea out of fine China while complaining it’s not sweet enough.

          • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
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            102 years ago

            well they wouldn’t have had fine china. Tea in the UK is not a very fancy drink unless you’re posh.

            one of the big reasons tea was adopted is boiling water makes it safe to drink and it replaced using weak alcohol for that purpose

          • CloutAtlas [he/him]
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            2 years ago

            Brits drinking the tea equivalent of mids while China and India had dank chronic literally led to wars.

        • Dolores [love/loves]
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          52 years ago

          then loads of people suddenly were missing the caloric content of alcohol

          you mean to say the british drinking level presently is substantially lower than it used to be? stalin-stressed

        • CloutAtlas [he/him]
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          52 years ago

          That sounds off as a Chinese person since we A: did not add calories to tea via milk, B: did not add calories to tea via sugar and C: had just various famines from antiquity till the 20th century, and didn’t adopt sweetening tea for caloric intake

            • CloutAtlas [he/him]
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              I still feel like we probably would have adopted adding sugar to tea to fight caloric deficiency somewhere in the last few thousand years if that made a measurable difference. Especially considering sugar cane is native to India and south east Asia, it was more abundant and accessible in Asia than western Europe.

              I’m not saying sugar doesn’t add calories, I just don’t think it would be that big of an improvement.

              A parallel I can think of is how Turkish cevze coffee is traditionally most often unsweetened, much like Italians drink espressos after breakfast, but the UK/US will have sweetened coffee as the norm. The beverage which serves a social and almost ritualistic function has been adapted and turned into another marketable treat in the Anglosphere.

              Edit: either that or the working class in western Europe and UK/CAN/AUS had access to such shitty quality coffee and tea grit that they have to make it palatable with sugar, and then the claws of capitalism came along and turned it into a marketable treat

              • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
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                32 years ago

                well sugar does have a lot of calories. And China never had the specific situation of switching from a high calorie drink to a low calorie one suddenly

                also British tea drinking definitely has a ritual social function

      • IzyaKatzmann [he/him]
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        42 years ago

        I don’t put tea in green or black loose leaf, I find I kinda need to for English Breakfast or Earl Grey. It tastes off, the sugar really brings out the flavor I think.

    • GinAndJuche [comrade/them]OP
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      32 years ago

      Coming back to the thread later, I think you’ve identified it. The way they compared it to gross American dietary mentality is what puts it over the top.

  • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]
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    2 years ago

    I wonder if when Marvel introduces Captain Israel (I’ve no idea what her name is; she’s IDF too) if she’ll have as part of her backstory that she participated in the genocide of Palestinians happening right now; maybe she can attack a random brown family in America when she sees that one of them wears a Palestinian scarf (as some zionist person attacked a (Sikh) dad (who was wearing a Palestinian scarf) holding his kid, throwing hot coffee at him and allegedly saying she hoped his kid would burn in an oven).

    • GaveUp [she/her]
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      2 years ago

      The Palestinians will have superpowers provided by an evil god (Allah) and they need to feed off the souls of pure white Israeli babies for fuel

    • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
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      32 years ago

      tbh the latest quality of the marvel movies and the hate female superheroes are getting from the fanbase a captain Israel movie might make people like Israel less

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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    42 years ago

    That’s fine, though? A big part of relaxing is just turning your brain off and embracing your inner potatoe. There are certainly many people that deserve your criticism, but this one seems like a self-concious statement that the person just wants dumb slop, like 90s action movies or whatever

  • peeonyou [he/him]
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    182 years ago

    When did we all start “consuming” everything? I’ve never consumed a media in my life. I’ve watched a lot of movies and tv shows. I’ve read a number of books, magazines, and newspaper articles. I’ve played lots of games. But why do people insist on using capitalist slang to describe their own habits. It’s bad enough they call everyone “CONSOOMERS” for everything in state media, but why bring it on yourself too?

      • zed_proclaimer [he/him]
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        2 years ago

        I disagree, they are perfect words for describing capitalist commodities and our mindless absorption of them as a society. To use other words would be to conceal the fundamental truth of their use and our relationship to the world as capitalist subjects. Capitalist subjects consume commodities, they slurp the whole world up until nothing is left. Accept what we are don’t hide it

        • PapaEmeritusIII [any]
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          72 years ago

          I have never consumed a commodity in my life, akchually. RIP to the world slurpers but I’m built different

  • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
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    92 years ago

    I don’t care that he has a lack of artistic interest in film. I’m glad the movies make him happy

    that said I do hope that the recent marvel failures results in an end to the trend of everything being a cinematic universe

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
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      52 years ago

      that said I do hope that the recent marvel failures results in an end to the trend of everything being a cinematic universe

      The studios will probably give it a rest, and then bring them back with a plan to run them for the exact amount of time for a maximum profit - like all those Netflix shows getting dropped after two seasons.

      • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
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        62 years ago

        I don’t think it’s so easy. Marvel started the MCU in an exact right way the first time and every other studio that tried failed. I don’t think they could do it again

        especially with people already cinematic universe fatigued

  • Helmic [he/him]
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    62 years ago

    feel like people value their criticism of media as though it is any less slop than the media itself. unless the criticism actually matters in some way - criticizing sexist tropes, the CIA being the good guys, working conditions of animation studios, or just the overt politics being espoused by the media - i don’t really care whether someone else thinks the cinematography is fancy enough. the acting is unnatural? i’m autistic as shit, i act unnatural. a lot of this is really is just malding that other people do not value the same things in media, which gets sillier when its asceibed to some immaterial lack of fulfillment as though the only way to be fulfilled is to be obnoxious about movies.

    i have never watched an MCU movie. i have watched every niel breen film. the latter is a favorite because i enjoy it explicitly as a social activity.

    but yeah i also am generally critical of dunk culture as it seems to just further alienate people and i don’t see how this mindset doesn’t just further alienate someone from these lower-than-pigs subanimals that watch popular movies. and so i too get mired in the pointless dunks on people as we all get emotionally exhausted.

    • DayOfDoom [any, any]
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      52 years ago

      They’ve been left near-tasteless by the education system and the media. They don’t have the receptors in the metaphorical organ/brain to taste anything beyond the slop sadly. Like they only can taste salt, grease, and sweet. And everyone telling them the figurative McDonalds isn’t good enough is an alien to them.