Recent comments in /f/books

existential1 wrote

Interesting indeed, though Ziq's critique still holds true. This one tiny place did this. And it was of no consequence to the billions of people to be born and die under capitalism, state authority, or both. The masses remained as they always have. We can point at the Zapatistas and Rojavas of the world, but the reason they are so few and far between is because Ziq's critique again is factual for 99% of the human population.

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ziq OP wrote (edited )

[GOT finale spoilers ahead]

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This is why I'm so satisfied with the ending of the show. Because certain characters removed themselves from the authority loop and are free now.

People can call it a liberal ending all they want, but the reality is civilization will always be wrapped in authority. Feudalism begets Oligarchy begets Fascism begets State Socialism begets Liberalism begets Neoliberalism. Society doesn't go from feudalism to anarchy, the rich don't loosen their grip on the world that easily. The poor don't suddenly collectively realize they can just say no to the rich.

The only way to escape authority is to remove yourself from it entirely, after witnessing first-hand its many failures and realizing the system is bullshit. And the characters who got out (Jon, Arya, to a lesser extent Greyworm who turned down lands and title to sail away) learned to stop obeying authority after witnessing its destruction. Drogon destroyed the iron throne because of what it did to Dany, possessing her with the thirst for power and resulting in her much deserved death. A dragon might realize the throne is bullshit, but the average character in Westeros is still weighed down by generations of authoritarian brainwashing telling them they can't free themselves.

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ziq OP wrote

Interviewer: We talked earlier about your unwillingness to fight in Vietnam. The Ice and Fire books are shot through with the horrors of war. As Ygritte says to Jon Snow, “We’re just soldiers in their armies, and there’s plenty more to carry on if we go down.”

GRRM: It’s true in virtually all wars through history. Shakespeare refers to it, in those great scenes in Henry V, where King Hal is walking among the men, before the Battle of Agincourt, and he hears the men complaining. “Well, I hope his cause is just, because a lot of us are going to die to make him king of France.” One of the central questions in the book is Varys’ riddle: The rich man, the priest and the king give an order to a common sellsword. Each one says kill the other two. So who has the power? Is it the priest, who supposedly speaks for God? The king, who has the power of state? The rich man, who has the gold? Of course, doesn’t the swordsman have the power? He’s the one with the sword – he could kill all three if he wanted. Or he could listen to anyone. But he’s just the average grunt. If he doesn’t do what they say, then they each call other swordsmen who will do what they say. But why does anybody do what they say? This is the fundamental mystery of power and leadership and war through all history. Going back to Vietnam, for me the cognitive dissonance came in when I realized that Ho Chi Minh actually wasn’t Sauron. Do you remember the poster during that time? WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME? That’s one of the fundamental questions here. Why did anybody go to Vietnam? Were the people who went more patriotic? Were they braver? Were they stupider? Why does anybody go? What’s all this based on? It’s all based on an illusion: You go because you’re afraid of what will happen if you don’t go, even if you don’t believe in it. But where do these systems of obedience come from? Why do we recognize power instead of individual autonomy? These questions are fascinating to me. It’s all this strange illusion, isn’t it?

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JumpMan wrote

Cheap kindles literally show adverts on standby. It also requires a certain amount of technical knowledge to add books that aren't from the kindle store. As well as that you are directly supporting Amazon.

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asg101 wrote

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and the rest of the trilogy, along with Handmaids Tale. Atwood doesn't like having it called "science fiction" though.

I liked The Dispossessed also by Ursula Le Guin

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startrek wrote

Reply to by hasbrochem

If you look long enough, all your faves are problematic.

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Fossidarity wrote

I have an old Kindle Touch which I jailbreaked and put KOReader on. If you have a Kindle (please don't buy them) I would recommend doing this, it allows you to read ePubs and the interface has way more options than the default one.

I use it for reading most material as I don't like to buy paper books, but if someone has a zine to distribute I'll take it.

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