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submitted 11 months ago by UlyssesT@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net

Yes, he described Palestinians as "the bugs" and said some other really fucking ignorant quotes from that movie without the slightest understanding of Paul Verhoeven's intent (his effort may have been doomed from the start; he even scolded actors on set for "not getting it" and just enjoying the fascism).

I have some license with what I say because I'm moving and transferring out of state in a few weeks but I also don't want to have a bad mark on my record by saying something particularly scary about the IDF, so what should I tell him on Monday?

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[-] BeamBrain@hexbear.net 59 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"The humans were the good guys in Starship Troopers" + "Israel good" = "Israel is like the humans in Starship Troopers"

Huh, turns out two wrongs do make a right.

[-] gramathy@lemmy.ml 20 points 11 months ago

Jesus Christ

[-] sloth@hexbear.net 45 points 11 months ago

Ask him if he remembers how Doogie Howser was dressed at the end of the movie.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 47 points 11 months ago

That did come up. He wore irony armor, however, and remarked that he "looked cool" but that he wasn't a nazi; "it was just a cool uniform and he was doing it for the human race. He cared about human life so he wasn't a nazi." morshupls

[-] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 48 points 11 months ago

it was just a cool uniform and he was doing it for the human race. He cared about human life so he wasn't a nazi.

Ya know, the nazis thought the same exact thing of themselves.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 25 points 11 months ago

They sure did.

How do I even argue with him? I know I didn't reach him yesterday.

[-] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 23 points 11 months ago

the-doohickey

Honestly though, just tell him that he isn't engaging with art in anywhere near an intelligent way. That it's very surface level. If he's like most libs that will offend him and he might need to reconsider how he interpreted it.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 16 points 11 months ago

Honestly though, just tell him that he isn't engaging with art in anywhere near an intelligent way. That it's very surface level.

He's the chemistry teacher so he gleefully shits on the humanities. debord-tired

[-] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

oh then why's he even pretending to understand a movie, ask him if you can fuck around in his lab despite not being a chemist

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 20 points 11 months ago

He believes that he can do a non-STEM job just as well as a non-STEM person because only STEM degrees matter and everything else is, quoting him, "children's puppet theater."

Good fucking luck putting on a children's puppet show without knowing anything about children's puppet theater, by the way.

[-] sloth@hexbear.net 12 points 11 months ago

Maybe if "Starship Troopers" was presented in 'children's puppet theater' format the themes would be more apparent.

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[-] MorelaakIsBack@hexbear.net 37 points 11 months ago

ask him if he understand, really understands, why dougie houser shows up wearing a full nazi uniform at the end

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 34 points 11 months ago

Narrator voice: "He doesn't. He insisted it was just a cool uniform and that looking further than that is 'seeing something that isn't there.'" morshupls

[-] sloth@hexbear.net 15 points 11 months ago

hah, I am slow

[-] ProfessorAdonisCnut@hexbear.net 31 points 11 months ago

Sounds like one of those guys whose takeaway from American Psycho was that being obsessed with business cards sure is cool

[-] comrade_pibb@hexbear.net 20 points 11 months ago

"Tyler Durden has it all figured out, man"

[-] DayOfDoom@hexbear.net 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Torn between acceptance that the Buenos Aires attack was obviously a false flag and my hatred of the perfidious bug.

[-] FourteenEyes@hexbear.net 28 points 11 months ago

Send him the Red Letter Media Re:View of the movie

They explain this in detail in a way even morons can digest

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 20 points 11 months ago

That may be a good idea. I may very well actually do that and hope he actually watches it. Thank you.

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[-] Mindfury@hexbear.net 28 points 11 months ago

tell him service guarantees citizenship and convince him to fly over there

however, put a gps chip in his fucking shoe or something and provide HAMAS with his location data

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 23 points 11 months ago

If he wasn't seeking tenure and wasn't an all-talk coward I'd totally enjoy reading about his adventures in the Reddit Brigade like what happened in Ukraine. sit-back-and-enjoy

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[-] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 26 points 11 months ago

take him to the vet and euthanize him

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[-] ChaosMaterialist@hexbear.net 26 points 11 months ago

If he's really gung-ho about Starship Troopers, and with the Israeli troop buildup, how exactly the first invasion of Klendathu went?

Why was Humanity's military intelligence at the time of invasion caught so flat-footed, both during the Buenos Ares asteroid and the first Klendathu invasion, especially in light of the Israeli intelligence failure?

Would he accept being a sacrifice to learn about the bugs? If he does not, then he's just a civilian and not a citizen. Does he disapprove? "Well too bad. [Politicians and the military] have to make decisions that send hundreds of people like you to their deaths."

And, finally, military recruitment is down in the US. Why not join up? "We have the ships. We have the weapons. We need soldiers! They'll keep fighting, will you? Service guarantees citizenship!"

cue Klendathu Drop

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 23 points 11 months ago

My prediction is that he'd get dreamy-eyed and just remember the spectacle, scene by scene, if I cited the movie in the way you suggested.

He's one of those very uncurious "smart" types. The curtains are very fucking blue to him and the fiction is both great wisdom on the surface and is just fiction when challenged or when interpretations are made.

[-] ChaosMaterialist@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago

I would act pretty slack-jawed golly-gee-darn-that-makes-no-dern-sense ignorant, and bring up those questions and ask how the Israelis should be any different? Like really make him explain it step-by-step. Use it to appeal to his logic side as you twist it in knots. Lead him into interesting conflicts of logic with "stupid" questions and a bunch of Whys. Be that dork in the movie that can't believe bugs think if you want inspiration and make him try to be the "smarter" commentator.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 14 points 11 months ago

That sounds very challenging to put into practice, but it has potential. I'd have to resist not exploding while playing ignorant for much of the time.

[-] ChaosMaterialist@hexbear.net 12 points 11 months ago

It is so very hard. You have to put on your best Confused Tucker live-tucker-reaction face and "explode" into another question. It's easier said than done lmao!

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 12 points 11 months ago

It's an impressive rhetorical martial art.

[-] ChaosMaterialist@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago

You also don't have to debate this dude. You could just fuck with him. Conveniently forget scenes and make him describe it. Rinse, repeat. Confuse characters and plot elements. Have him constantly remind you about Who and What. Bring in entirely different movies, and then act confused when he tries to correct you.

The possibilities are endless with live-tucker-reaction

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[-] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 24 points 11 months ago

Tell him that the Buenos Aires attack was obviously a false flag operation by the humans to declare war on the bugs. Show him this map and ask him how a bunch of bugs who don't even have basic vehicles let along spaceships was able to propel a giant rock halfway across the galaxy to precisely fit a major city and not just miss the solar system altogether. Not-so-subtly insinuate that only the most clueless rubes would fall for this in-universe bullshit and that said clueless rubes who totally bought an in-universe narrative that's even implausible by WH40k standards are even more clueless about the complexity that is real life which does not benefit from a film director hitting said clueless rubes repeatedly over the head with the themes of the movie. Do all this in the most smug voice imaginable.

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[-] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 22 points 11 months ago

Start calling him Goebbels

[-] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 21 points 11 months ago

if he called brown people the bugs it sounds like what you should tell him is "HR wants to talk to you"

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 12 points 11 months ago

I was considering recording him saying that again by baiting him into repeating himself.

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[-] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 21 points 11 months ago

Really trying my brain of how to tell this moron to get stuffed without you losing your job.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 17 points 11 months ago

I'm on my way out but yeah I want to be employable where I'm going. sweat

[-] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 20 points 11 months ago

Lol this is one of those "my red is your blue" moments, because I also think the vibe is reminiscent of Starship Troopers but guys like him will never understand why

[-] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"If you think the curtains are blue now, wait until you see which primary color they are when we're done with this conversation!" twisted

[-] GriffithDidNothingWrong@hexbear.net 17 points 11 months ago

I don't think it'll help this guy, but when more reasonable people talk about Starship Troopers I like to bring up Norman Spinrad's novel The Iron Dream. Its a meta fiction story in which an alternate history Adolph Hitler immigrated to America and became a science fiction illustrator and then author. He wrote the post-apocalyptic novel Lords of the Swastika where, to us anyway, the evil aliens are obviously just a stand in for jews and the freedom fighters are clearly nazis. It was hugely popular and people loved quoting it and wearing the uniforms at conventions.

Spinrad never comes out and says he's referencing Heinlein but its pretty clear that was the intent. I think this dude would benefit from reading it but he doesn't sound that self aware.

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I know about The Iron Dream and for those who can be reached, it's a powerful thought experiment with many contemporary parallels.

[-] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 15 points 11 months ago

free klendathu

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

What he said was spoken in the break room; I was considering recording it if he repeats himself but I don't know if I want to get into some kind of legal slapfight (which I wouldn't necessarily win; administration isn't exactly comrades here) when I have a foot out the door.

Considering that I live in California, I could be pedantic and tell him that it is like he lived continents away from the Buenos Aires attack in the movie and was still screaming for blood as if he was personally aggrieved by the attack instead of just craving blood and waiting for a justification. That was my running idea.

[-] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 14 points 11 months ago

recite the shahada to him

[-] SerLava@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago

Tell him the director grew up in Nazi occupied Netherlands and that he has directly stated that everything in the movie is a parody meant to show that the humans are fascist bad guys, like I'm pretty sure it's on the DVD commentary

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[-] kristina@hexbear.net 13 points 11 months ago

Tell him to eat a Glock? Idk

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this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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