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The never-ending battle against woke Hollywood and SJW infused entertainment media [trigger warning]

I don't judge you for liking it. I don't think it was trash. A combination of little things marred my enjoyment of the film.

1) I thought that that Harrison Ford was a bit old to be doing an action movie.

2) Karen Allen/Marian Ravenwood was old to be the center of a romantic B-plot. Maybe I'm shallow but I don't generally like seeing old people romance unless Jack Nicholson is involved. I liked Something's Gotta Give and the The Bucket List (it's a bromance, but he does play wingman to his buddies struggling marriage) and I really liked As Good as it Gets.

3) I didn't think aliens meshed well with the pre-existing mythos of the franchise. It might have worked but I think it could have been handled well.

4) I don't think Shia LaBeouf is a bad person, but don't think is a good actor.

5) The first three movies used the Nazis as the institutional bad guys, but they couldn't really do that in a movie set in the 1950s. The Soviet Union was a natural stand-in and it could have worked but I don't think it was handled well by the writers because they frequently put in anti-capitalist barbs while still having Communists as the villains. Imagine if the first three Indiana Jones had characters periodically bringing up the upsides of fascist government systems?

Really the ancient Crystal Skull aliens would have not been conceptually if Nazis were trying to find them in the 1930s or if Soviets were trying to find them in the 1950s or black ops Americans were trying to find them in the 2000s. If you are going to use alien technology, it should have been worked into the Cold War and/or Space Race better to reinforce the setting/villains.

6. A lot of the best and the worst movies mix genres. The first Indiana Jones reflected George Lucas' and Steven Spielberg's love of the adventure serials when they were kids. Crystal Skull tried to work in GL's love of 1950s B-horror movies and it was an awkward fit here.

7. Like just about every old franchise that was dusted off and repurposed in the 21st century, this movie had interfering committees had a "Too Many Cooks problem".

8. The original Indiana Jones movies had a lot of gritty 1980s style violence. This movie was tamer and it's not what I expected or wanted to see.
... and of course you can't survive a point-blank nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge.

I don't think it was trash.
Compared to what came before it was trash. Compared to what is about to be released, it will look like a masterpiece.

Why, out of interest? I personally enjoyed Crystal Skull as much as the original three.
You always do. You always prefer the weaker installments of any franchise. Star Wars, The Matrix, Indiana Jones, The Hobbit... Beastmen :p. If we all went to compete at the Olympics you'd be the one who sets out with the endeavor to win the Bronze medal, because the gold is too gimmicky and played out. :D
 
In another interview he basically said that Taiwan should capitulate to the CCP to avoid bloodshed and he said they could get a one country two-systems policy and the Taiwanese would get more leniency than mainland Chinese. He said this after all the oppression went down in Hong Kong and he said the CCP would probably not be that harsh in Taiwan.

Basically, the CCP has him over a barrel because they control his supply of batteries for Teslas.
Maybe his reliance on China for batteries sways his opinion, or maybe not. I think his argument has enough merit that he might genuinely believe in it completely independently from the battery situation.

Upfront, I disagree with the viewpoint. I don't think the world should allow it to happen. I think the world must draw a line in the sand, and if China pushes forward anyways, we must economically cripple them.

That said, militarily, it might be nigh impossible to stop China from taking Taiwan if they choose to pursue it. Taiwan is in perfect striking distance for them. On the flip side, stepping in militarily to defend them would be immensely difficult. It's so far removed from everyone else's supply lines. Projecting power so far from one's home base is a practical, logistical and technological nightmare. Only the USA has the Naval force to even attempt it, and even then, it would be an uphill battle to say the least. So if Musk believes that China is intent on taking Taiwan (which they are) and it might not be feasible to militarily defend them (which it may or may not be) then it is not completely unreasonable to arrive at Musk's stated conclusion. I don't agree with him, but I can see where he is potentially coming from. He might simply believe that it is not worth fighting a war that you can't win.
 
That said, militarily, it might be nigh impossible to stop China from taking Taiwan if they choose to pursue it.

D-Day was bloody and the time of D-Day, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada collectively had a numbers advantage on Nazi Germany and the Germans were exhausted. Great Britain is pretty close to France and there is a wide variety. An invasion of Taiwan would likely require more men than D-Day. The boats have farther to travel, and unlike Nazi-occupied France, the local civilians are not going to treat landing troops as liberators.

Ukraine has shown that an underdog can prevail against a lumbering giant impaired by corruption and incompetence and Russia was right next door to Ukraine. Pretty much all the institutional problems Russia has, the CCP has. For decades top level military officials were promoted for their loyalty to the Dear Leader instead of for their merit and corruption bleeds the military's effectiveness on every level. Russia just faced a weird coup-like event and it just so happens that China is a veritable powder keg of domestic discontent and economic turmoil waiting for a match to light it. On top of all that, the PLA has not deployed their military outside their own borders in a meaningful way since their failed invasion of Vietnam while the Russian military (or parts of it) had some experienced veterans seasoned in foreign conflict.

Taiwan has a rugged coastline, and there is only a relatively small number of beaches where troops can be landed giving Taiwan a good bottleneck. Only about four out of twelve months is the weather conducive to a mass amphibious landing of Taiwan.

That said, I agree that economic actions are preferable. I believe if the CCP can be stalled long enough, they will internally collapse in about ten years. I don't think they are going collapse hard to enough to break the CCP forever (Scalenex stares off into the distance in a wistful dreamlike state) but I think they will collapse hard enough to make then unable to launch a major offensive.

The PLA's best time to invade Taiwan is RIGHT NOW because the United States and it's allies are funneling resources and attention to Taiwan. But the PLA is not ready right now. Among other problems, they don't have enough landing ships unless they confiscate civilian vessels which opens up a new can of worms.

Also, China has the second largest military budget in the world behind only the United States but they spend more money on their police efforts than their military. Because...

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On the Chinese Internet, Prigozhin's little rebellion broke one-day search records. Before the censorship apparatus figured got their marching orders, many Chinese expressed admiration for Prigozhin's and were impressed that a chef was able to challenge someone as seemingly invulnerable as Vladimir Putin.

The CCP top officials are probably soiling their pants right now. An Xi Jinping is going to extra paranoid and looking inward, watching his lieutenants for the slightest hint of betrayal right now. Rather than looking outward at Taiwan.
 
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You always do. You always prefer the weaker installments of any franchise. Star Wars, The Matrix, Indiana Jones, The Hobbit... Beastmen :p. If we all went to compete at the Olympics you'd be the one who sets out with the endeavor to win the Bronze medal, because the gold is too gimmicky and played out. :D

I wouldn't say I prefer the weakest instalments of any franchise... I despise the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and thought the Matrix Reloaded was significantly worse than either the first or the third ones (though I thought all three of those were some kind of mediocre). Not to mention that I would likely despise The Rings of Power and Dial of Destiny if I ever had the misfortune of seeing them.

Thus I would be the one going for silver because gold is too gimmicky :cool:... leave bronze for those mentally-damaged people who somehow like the woke stuff :shifty: ;)
 
I wouldn't say I prefer the weakest instalments of any franchise... I despise the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and thought the Matrix Reloaded was significantly worse than either the first or the third ones (though I thought all three of those were some kind of mediocre). Not to mention that I would likely despise The Rings of Power and Dial of Destiny if I ever had the misfortune of seeing them.
I said "weaker" installments not weakest. I know you hate all the woke trash released by Hollywood as much as I do. I would never try to pin that on you.

Thus I would be the one going for silver because gold is too gimmicky :cool:... leave bronze for those mentally-damaged people who somehow like the woke stuff :shifty: ;)
Fair enough. :D

Though for the record, I don't grant the woke films the bronze. They'd more likely be the skier who crapped his pants and then wrapped himself around a tree at a skiing event. I award them no medals!
 
It is noted that psychologically speaking, bronze medalists are generally more happy and content then silver medalists.

Bronze medalists are roughly as contest as gold medalists are. They are just to happy to be on the winner's podium. Silver medalists often obsess over what they could have had.

I should note that American sport commentors usually focus on the entire medal count whereas most of the rest of the world.

My Taiwanese former roommate said they count how many times they beat mainland China. Even if China is last place and Taiwan is second to last place, they call it a win.

He keeps saying the Taiwanese hope billiards becomes and Olympic sport. Note to all, do not play pool against a Taiwanese man for money.
 
D-Day was bloody and the time of D-Day, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada collectively had a numbers advantage on Nazi Germany and the Germans were exhausted. Great Britain is pretty close to France and there is a wide variety. An invasion of Taiwan would likely require more men than D-Day. The boats have farther to travel, and unlike Nazi-occupied France, the local civilians are not going to treat landing troops as liberators.
The Chinese would go into that fight with a much larger advantage in terms of numbers. Additionally, technology has also come quite a long way since then. The fight would look and play out very different.

Ukraine has shown that an underdog can prevail against a lumbering giant impaired by corruption and incompetence and Russia was right next door to Ukraine.

Obviously the only reason why Ukraine is still in the fight is because of massive Western support (equipment, intel, money). While Russia is next door to them, so are friendly European nations across which supplies can freely flow. Supporting Taiwan will be significantly more difficult. Additionally, China is far more competent militarily than Russia. They have more troops, better organization, more infrastructure and better military tech. Plus the West has spent (and continues to spend) considerable resources in support of Ukraine. Those resources, though vast, are not limitless.

That said, I agree that economic actions are preferable. I believe if the CCP can be stalled long enough, they will internally collapse in about ten years. I don't think they are going collapse hard to enough to break the CCP forever (Scalenex stares off into the distance in a wistful dreamlike state) but I think they will collapse hard enough to make then unable to launch a major offensive.
I agree that they could be broken economically. However, only if we (the West) are willing to give up all the cheap goods coming out of China that we enjoy. Are the people willing to make such a sacrifice (as you have)? Are the politicians willing to implement such a strategy (with or without the support of the voter base)?

The PLA's best time to invade Taiwan is RIGHT NOW because the United States and it's allies are funneling resources and attention to Taiwan.
Plus Biden is an extremely weak leader.



Anyways, we've got bigger fish to fry on this thread (Kathleen Kennedy :p).
 
Obviously the only reason why Ukraine is still in the fight is because of massive Western support (equipment, intel, money). While Russia is next door to them, so are friendly European nations across which supplies can freely flow.

Pretty much.
Plus, Ukraine is BIG. no matter what, it's not an easy task to take control of large places.
 
Are the people willing to make such a sacrifice (as you have)? Are the politicians willing to implement such a strategy (with or without the support of the voter base)?

It is noteworthy that many Europeans took a noticeable hit to their standard of living in order to support Ukraine and support for Ukraine remains fairly high.

The only need to buy a little less to damage the CCP.

If I end up talking to a stranger about this for any reason rather than try to sell them on a total "Made from China" (which even I cannot do because the light fixtures in my house are not made anywhere and I was tired of literally dwelling in darkness). Since most people have heard of Uighur oppression, I point out that most textiles in China come from the Uighur region. Maybe that will convince people to think twice about where they buy their clothes.

The Bud Light boycott didn't result in no one buying Bud Light. Sales went about 30% but that has caused huge turmoil in Anheiser Bush and has caused other companies to scale back woke marketing. A 10% drop in Chinese exports would be a crippling blow to the CCP and this seems to be happening more or less though it mostly because of supply side issues, not because of consumers like me. A lot of foreign companies either moving their facilities outside of China or cancelling expansion plans in China.

I am cautiously optimistic about the future. When it comes to the CCP and wokeness in the media, things seem to be moving in the right direction. Not as fast as I like, but I think we stopped losing ground.

I also think these things woke and the CCP are linked. It is very clear the CCP's propaganda and espionage apparatus is trying to signal boost woke messaging in the West to sew dissension and encourage Westerners to make themselves weaker.
 


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