To paraphrase Machiavelli, if no one can tell you the truth, you are never safe from flattery. I don't think that's ever been more relevant than with Donald Daffodil. You tell him he's a super genius who's just won the biggest and most beautiful deal ever, and he'll happily be distracted by the next thing.
And luckily for the EU, the current administration is so filled with incompetents, that it's genuinely mitigating much of the damage they would otherwise have caused.
IRC it's still freely available on the internet archive, although you should probably use do a quick google on how to stay genuinely private online if you're going to download it. Also, seem to remember there being some mistakes in it and far more interesting works out there.
My conclusion from some of much of what I read, and from talking with family who have lived under fascism, is that you're often better off working to rule, being a stickler, weaponized incompetence, malicious complaince, spreading gossip and dissent, and stuff like that. Less likely to endanger you or your family. Especially true if you're in a full blown authoritarian regime.
For example, blatant sabotage in Russia would quite probably result in your premature death. However, doing a sloppy job on maintenance, scraping stuff by accident, putting too much pressure on tools or wearing out the head and thread of screws and bolts, forgetting to lock a door, not oiling stuff properly so locks or machines seize, 'accidentaly' giving the enemy the location of important facilities, over tightening or under tightening screws and electrical contacts, letting the rain get in where it shouldn't, running engines full blast when they've not warmed up, and similar oopies might lead to a similar result without much of the risk.
US example: deliberately leaking files? Possible jail sentence or severe career consequences. Pretending to be an idiot who doesn't know how to properly censor stuff and simply uses a black highlighter or where they can easily be accessed? Likely you'll face far less issues.
Noncin' around the Christmas tree
At the Epstein party hop
Censored everywhere you can see
Every pedo just can't stop.
You will get a sentimental feeling
When you hear
Pedos singing "Don't be silly,
Deck the halls with boughs of holly!"
Noncin' around the Christmas tree
Have a creepy holiday
Pedos dancing creepily
In the new old-fashioned way
Maybe they could say they're AI. Apparently copyright infringement's legal then.
Relevant Andrea Dworking quote from Right-Wing Women:
“Most women cannot afford, either materially or psychologically, to recognize that whatever burnt offerings of obedience they bring to beg protection will not appease the angry little gods around them.”
And:
"Because feminism is a movement for liberation of the powerless by the powerless in a closed system based on their powerlessness, right-wing women judge it a futile movement. Frequently they also judge it a malicious movement in that it jeopardizes the bargains with power that they can make."
But crucially:
“Women intend to save themselves when sacrificing some women, but only the freedom of all women protects any woman.”
The critical thing is that you get to choose the time. So you simply schedule it for just before you get in the shower every day.
Close your eyes and hold your breath, quick 30 seconds plunge, return to find yourself in the shower so everything gets washed away. There are people with too much money, who'd pay for that kind of thing. Much of the ocean is completely empty anyway.
Or (and this is a bit dark) you donate 49.5 million to charity, take the 50 skip days immediately, have a very nice holiday with the 500k, then kill yourself on day 51 safe in the knowledge you've left a lasting legacy and done more to help others than most could ever hope to. Probably be able to cram a better life in those 50 days than many will be able to fit in 50 years too.
Sorry, I was making an insensitive joke about his target audience possibly being young girls.
It didn't work.
You're probably too old to be his target audience.
A while back patreon and itch banned a lot of NSFW artists under pressure from VISA/Mastercard. You know, porn comics and games. That kind of thing. I was reading about one creator who was forced to pre-emptively remove step-incest between consenting adults (who crucially were adults and also looked like adults) from his visual novel, after consulting patreon, so he could continue to receive money from them and publish on the platform.
Obviously, some of this stuff can be distasteful, but the tube sites are filled with porn of actual people and blatant incest plot lines. The porn industry also has a record of dubious consent, abuse, questionable ethics, rape, and child abuse. Apparently less of an issue for visa/mastercard, who continued to profit off those sites. IRC there was a recent complaint that VISA or Mastercard was still profiting off child sexual abuse material on OnlyFans, and were still recently facilitating advertisements on some of the bigger tube sites which had hosted CSA.
Pretty grim stuff, but I don't know what the solution is. I don't think forcing legitimate sex workers into illegality, because they can no longer use a bank account or credit card, is helpful either.
On a lighter note, back to the author of the visual novel. The author of the visual novel in question had removed all step-incest, but when he asked if he should also remove the bestiality, that turned out to be no problem at all.
Apparently there are some things money can't buy; but for cartoons of bestiality, there's Mastercard.
History rhymes.
In the run-up to the great depression, Herbert Hoover's presidency was marked by increasing labor unrest. The president often supported law enforcement violently suppressing labor strikes, because he prioritized the rights of businesses over those of workers.
He was also a huge fan of tariffs, because he thought it would protect American industry and jobs, when in reality it worsened the economic downturn, made everything more expensive, and caused a big decrease in international trade.
He also ran as an outsider, claiming his business experience would allow him to succesfully run the country. The opposite proved the case.
He also ran a campaign of mass deportations, the so called Mexican Repatriation. Two million people of Mexican descent, were deported, despite many of them being American citizens.
On a more positive note, Hoover ultimately became so unpopular, he was defeated by Roosevelt in a landslide. Maybe at least some of the next few elections will become too hard to rig.
It doesn't excuse current behaviour but it does explain it. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.
In my experience Americans are also similarly disinterested in foreign policy and the world at large, so are invariably surprised when the crimes of empire come back to haunt them.
On the plus side, this disinterest and lack of historical knowledge is severely handicapping the current regime and hindering its worst instincts.
To be clear, America isn't exceptional in this regard, it's just more of the same. Similar things happened to the British Empire and is happening to the Russians now.
Hell, IRC when the first crusade happened in the 11th century, the Muslim world was largely oblivious to the religious nature of the conquests and seems to have thought it was just another Roman army being Roman. Fun fact: the Thai word for foreigner, Farang, likely originated at this time. People in the middle-east refered to the crusaders as Franks, because many were from what is now France or spoke Old French.
I love how the censored segment was 'accidentally' published in Canada.
Feigned incompetence and malicious compliance is a great way to resist fascists and collaborators.