Another good one. It doesn’t convey the historical outcome and consequences of extreme inequality, but it certainly conveys the conditions and mechanisms of how it’s maintained.
1 Like
It was cut from all prints of the film. It wasn’t restored until the 80’s.
One story about why it was cut was that Boris Karloff insisted. He supposedly wanted to gently place her in the water, but director James Whale insisted otherwise.
2 Likes
If I was in charge, there’d be a blood-soaked, revanchist horrorshow that would dwarf all previous attempts, so I’d go with @gracchus on this, folks.
1 Like
To be clear, my opinion is that a blood-soaked revanchist horror show is something to be avoided. But you do you, man! (I can understand why Brexit might bring up those medieval feelings in regard to Rees-Mogg, Johnson, May, etc.)
I’d be happy to see the worst of the Sacklers thrown in the clink. Their name can be inscribed on the prison wing where they’re housed, since they like that sort of thing.
3 Likes
So, I decided to play with Sketch during one of my many attempts to procrastinate, and made this:
EDIT to add that it is public domain, free to use do with as you wish, change, remix, and so on.
7 Likes
I was asked to repost this from a private message, so here we go:
The phrase that keeps popping up in my brain when I think about this stuff is: perp walk.
I am so looking forward to the media images of every one of these dastardly anti-American criminals getting perp-walked from their homes, a la Roger Stone. It shows three things:
- The system is working;
- No one is above the law;
- Without their usual carefully-honed public image in place, they really are just like anyone else who gets rousted out of bed at 6:00am.
The guillotine was used on French royalty because it was considered more humane than hacking off their heads with an axe (which, for the right price, the executioner could have an unusually difficult time getting it right, prolonging the agony).
We don’t want the guillotine for these guys; we want a fair trial and then incarceration in a federal prison. We want our laws to work correctly, for all.
12 Likes
That is so cute!
1 Like
Sort of like how the role of Purdue and the Sacklers was cut out of the media’s opioid crisis narrative until very recently in favour of portraying their gentle philanthropy.
It does liberals and progressives no good to shy away from imagery or deny the history about consequences of genuinely unethical or selfish behaviour that’s as disturbing and unpleasant to us as it is to others, as long as we’re using it as a warning rather than as advocacy.
I truly believe that this is the spirit in which Cory offers the guillotine image. Disingenuous conservatives can try to spin it as advocacy, but that’s what they do and their accusations are easily de-bunked.
4 Likes
First of all, I am adamantly opposed to the death penalty for any reason, and I suspect I’m in the majority here, so any ideas I may offer are about choosing a suitable metaphor. (It occurs to me that this discussion is more fraught in the US, given that the death penalty there is not just an archaic memory.)
That said, I agree that the guillotine is an instrument of the state, and therefore a step removed from the expression of the will of the people. For that reason, I return to my preference of the lamppost as the symbol of the consequences of aristocracy.
Philosophically the lamppost is a better symbol of direct democracy, and it’s a little more thought-provoking for those who think they can hire lawyers to talk them out of anything the official justice system may throw at them.
In practical terms, as an Enhanced Karma Delivery System (EKDS) the lamppost has many advantages. Guillotines require skilled professionals for their manufacture, operation, and maintenance, and must be set up in the public square in advance, allowing the aristocrats time to get injunctions and tie up the whole process in the courts. While this does create some jobs, ultimately the expense will be reflected in the tax bills of hard-working citizens. Lampposts, on the other hand, just repurpose existing infrastructure without affecting its primary function, and hemp is reusable and ultimately compostable when worn out.
The guillotine, moreover, is a bottleneck in the whole aristocrat-processing system. Any hardware breakdown would shut down the whole line and lead to unacceptable delays. The distributed nature of the lamppost scheme would mean that any local failure could be shifted to a nearby venue with little or no impact on throughput.
Finally, any excuse to post an Edith Piaf link is a bonus.
(For those who haven’t the time to post images, I suggest simply posting “It’ll be fine” will come to be common shorthand in these forums, in the same way that “Late stage capitalism” is now.)
7 Likes
The intriguing new distributed paradigm of your proposal offers impressive potential for disruption in the EKDS space in terms of synergies and impacting workflow efficiencies.
(and now I’m picturing Eichmann presenting a Powerpoint deck at the Wannsee Conference)
5 Likes
I just knew that dildos could repurposed for something truly profound.
3 Likes
I’m pretty sure most of you know what happens next…
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
