W-what are you saying??
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by Bakery Hill » Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:56 am
by Shofercia » Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:49 pm
FRESNO, CA -- Well, I did it, took one for the team, jumped on the grenade, offered my belly to the bayonets--in other words, sat through 300, the comic-book movie about Thermopylae. The only reason this thing got made is that it makes good anti-Iran propaganda, because as every war fan knows, at Thermopylae "300 brave Spartans held off the entire Persian army."
Zack Snyder's movie is the "Hoo-ah!" version of this story. Every time the Spartan king Leonidas makes a "rousing speech," his warriors yell "Hoo-ah!" like the Rangers in Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down. Actually the Spartans had a rep for silence, but we're not dealing with great historical minds here.
What had me really wanting to puke is that this movie tries to make Sparta into some kind of Land of Hallmark Card-givers. There's about an hour's worth of perfume-ad scenes where Leonidas and his lovey-dovey wife, a feisty lady in one of those bondage-lite Greek dresses, cuddle and make eyes at each other and say patriotic stuff by way of foreplay. Yeah, that's why you see those bumperstickers, "Sparta was for lovers."
Fact: Sparta was about as romantic as North Korea. Give or take a little egalitarianism, Sparta WAS North Korea. Spartan laws did everything they could to break down the family. Sparta was more anti-nuclear family than any Hollywood liberal could ever be.
Wanna know what a Spartan wedding night was really like? It's pretty hilarious, in an insane way. As soon as a Spartan girl got her first period, they grabbed her, shaved her head, dressed her as a boy, threw her down on her new husband's bed, and then, well, he had his way with her. What way was that? Since hubby had been in an all-male dorm since age seven, I'm betting that that night of lovin' was more like a skinny white boy's introduction to San Quentin after lights-out than it was like a chick flick. So when this movie shows the Spartan hero saying to his wife, "Goodbye, my love," I just had to laugh.
No Spartan ever told his wife he loved her. That would've been like treason, because the Spartan rulers wanted family ties snapped, so the only bond left was to the state. They left room for folks' natural urges by letting the women drink, which they did non-stop, and the men form what you might call close comradely bonds with their fellow soldiers.
In the ancient world, gay was a matter of who was on top. If you were a topper, that was fine; if you were the one getting in the ass, not so cool. In other words, prison rules. Sparta's leather-bar ways were a running joke to the ancient Greeks. The Spartans were stone killers - but they also preened like teenage girls before a battle. They grew their hair long, and before a fight they'd comb it, oil it, try out fetching new styles, put little baubles in their ears, anything to die young and leave a beautiful corpse.
None of that in this movie. Just the opposite. The script even has Leonidas taunt the Athenians calling them "boy-lovers." Athens, the true hero of the war against Persia, gets dissed time and again in this movie. You won't hear a word in 300 about Salamis, the real decisive battle of the war - because it was Athens, not Sparta, that destroyed the Persian fleet at Salamis. The Spartans wanted to run away from the Persian fleet and wall themselves off in the Peloponnese (you wouldn't believe how many times I've messed up the spelling on that damn word). They didn't have a clue about combined-arms operations (which the Athenians handled durn well). In fact, the Spartans, who are called "the finest soldiers in history" over and over in this movie, were a mediocre, one-dimensional, inflexible military force.
Sparta understood only one kind of fighting: land battle, the hoplite shield-wall - a Big Ten offense from the old school, "three yards and a cloud of dust." In any shield-wall vs. shield wall battle, the bigger offensive line will break the opposing team's wall, leaving them open to massed spear thrusts. Once the opposition's wall was broken, the citizen-soldiers would scatter to fight another day - a totally sensible reaction, since the alternative was annihilation. In battles like that, psycho varsity offensive-line types like the ones Sparta bred did just fine. But vary the conditions of battle in any way, and they were as helpless as Woody Hayes' Ohio State teams were against a team that could stop the run.
So it was actually fairly easy to stymie the Spartans: just put them in a situation where they had to think for themselves. Imagine a Spartan army up against a Mongol scouting force. Even if the Spartans outnumbered the Mongols by, say, 4-1, I'd have no hesitation betting on the Mongols. They were truly tough, not artificially hardened by sick PE games but by life in the saddle, on the steppes. And they were smart enough to realize that smarts count on the battlefield, that negotiation and alliance-building, scouting and propaganda are all important aspects of war. Only amateurs are dumb enough to think that being dumb, mean and inflexible like the Spartans is the route to military success.
The Thebans under a really brilliant general, Epaminondas, crushed the Spartans in the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.) because Epaminondas just plain out-thought those lummoxes. He knew exactly how the Spartans would stack their forces in battle order, because they always did it the same way. So he tinkered with the conventional phalanx-stacking set-up and those Thebans, most of them ordinary Greek citizen-soldiers, mere amateurs by Spartan standards, kicked Spartan ass right down the line. The Helots, the locals the Spartans had enslaved and terrorized for generations, finally got a chance for payback and Sparta withered away to nothing. Game over.
Only amateur fascists admire Sparta guys; they're still pissed off because people like me dared to warn them the Iraq war was going to be a disaster. Now the neocons have gone so over the deep end of delusional thinking that they've resorted to fantasizing about Sparta, where nobody ever argued, where everyone yelled and stabbed and otherwise kept their mouths shut.
It's downright hilarious the way this movie punishes every smart character. Every time someone wants to argue with the war party in this movie, he's evil. Everybody who talks in a normal tone of voice is evil. Snyder shows two scenes where the Spartans murder Persian envoys arriving under a flag of truce. And both times, you're supposed to cheer.
Since when do Americans cheer when truce parties are murdered? Well, that's pretty easy to answer, actually: since Iraq. These diehard neocons have gone insane because there's no way they can argue for an invasion of Iran any more. But they still want it, bad. So they've taken a crash course in fascism, jumping all the way to cheering for Sparta and booing for Athens - because Athens stands for brains and flexibility and talking things out. They can't win the argument, so they want to kill anybody who tries to argue. That's why Leonidas kicks the Persian envoy down a well.
The film only approves of two things:
1. Yelling
2. Bashing.
I say "bashing" because you can't call his view of military operations "strategy" or even "tactics." It's just close-ups of Leonidas's teeth while he yells about "freedom." He talks about "freedom" non-stop. I'm serious. A Spartan! Talking about freedom! Leonidas actually says, and this is a quote, "Freedom isn't free"! I thought I was back watching Team America: "Freedom isn't free/It costs a dollar ninety-three..."
And since the ham playing Leonidas has this thick Scottish accent, and teeth like an old horse, it was like some Clydesdale doing an impression of Mel Gibson in Braveheart at the same time. Left me woozy, I tell ya.
But here's what's really interesting about Leonidas's "freedom" speeches: every one happens just after he's thrown some envoy down a well or stabbed somebody who advocates talking strategy. That's the real fantasy here: wouldn't it be great if we could just yell "Hoo-ah!" non-stop and just kill the naysayers? You can almost see the pitiful dweebs behind this movie jacking off every time his musclebound Spartan hero kills another envoy or politician. That'll shut'em up!
Well, it might be fun but it's not war, fellas. If there's one thing we shoulda learned from Iraq, it's that in asymmetrical war, the following items are totally useless, in fact worse than useless, because they get in the way:
1. muscles
2. "Hoo-ah!"
3. killing anybody who points out the flaws in your plan.
Contrary to what amateur fascists think, the really successful military elites encourage discussion, train mid-rank officers to react independently, and discourage yelling, steroid use and macho bullshit in general. Hell, even the Wehrmacht was filled with calm, polite and cultured men. We could use a few of them now.
Petraeus seems kind of like that, but by this time the situation's so awful I'm not sure how much he can do. At least maybe it'll shut up all the "Hoo-ah!" jocks, make them realize they're not fit for theater command, and get them back to their true calling: coaching high-school football. In this movie's case, Junior Varsity.
by Kubra » Fri Jul 28, 2017 3:11 pm
yooo you also read war nerd?Shofercia wrote:Bakery Hill wrote:W-what are you saying??
https://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-319163.html
by Bakery Hill » Fri Jul 28, 2017 3:28 pm
Shofercia wrote:Bakery Hill wrote:W-what are you saying??
https://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-319163.html
by Shofercia » Fri Jul 28, 2017 3:52 pm
Bakery Hill wrote:
This is a good read.
And it goes into better detail on the point I made. "Homosexual" as we know it today wasn't really a thing in the ancient world. It was all about top and bottom.
by Sovaal » Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:02 pm
Improved Werpland wrote:http://www.newsweek.com/first-lgbt-unit-created-fight-isis-syria-its-name-queer-insurrection-641148
http://bianet.org/english/militarism/188567-queer-unit-formed-against-isisnternational Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) has announced that Queer Insurgency and Liberation Army (TQILA) has been formed to combat ISIS in Syria.
Being a component of the International Freedom Battalion, the IRPGF was formed on March 31, 2017. The IRPGF, which is an anarchist group, consists of volunteers coming from various countries to fight ISIS in Syria.
The IRPGS in its statement issued yesterday to announce the TQILA said that “Our resolution in our struggle against authority, patriarchy, oppressive heteronormativity, queerphobia, homophobia and transphobia has strengthened with revolutionary advancements and struggle of Kurdish women”.
Jesus...
In all seriousness this is good work on their part. Ideally they wouldn't be fighting on the side of a group affiliated with terrorism, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose.
Edit: be sure to visit the source, there are some pictures there I couldn't fit in this post.
by United Muscovite Nations » Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:16 pm
by Kubra » Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:18 pm
They probably won't be.Sovaal wrote:Improved Werpland wrote:http://www.newsweek.com/first-lgbt-unit-created-fight-isis-syria-its-name-queer-insurrection-641148
http://bianet.org/english/militarism/188567-queer-unit-formed-against-isisnternational Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) has announced that Queer Insurgency and Liberation Army (TQILA) has been formed to combat ISIS in Syria.
Being a component of the International Freedom Battalion, the IRPGF was formed on March 31, 2017. The IRPGF, which is an anarchist group, consists of volunteers coming from various countries to fight ISIS in Syria.
The IRPGS in its statement issued yesterday to announce the TQILA said that “Our resolution in our struggle against authority, patriarchy, oppressive heteronormativity, queerphobia, homophobia and transphobia has strengthened with revolutionary advancements and struggle of Kurdish women”.
Jesus...
In all seriousness this is good work on their part. Ideally they wouldn't be fighting on the side of a group affiliated with terrorism, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose.
Edit: be sure to visit the source, there are some pictures there I couldn't fit in this post.
I just hope they don't get captured.
by Kubra » Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:20 pm
lol most of his exile era stuff is str8 up ranting, it's part of the brecher characterShofercia wrote:He was one of the first to point out how the 2006 Lebanon War reshaped the War Calculus of the Middle East. While I don't always agree with the specific points he makes, generally speaking he does a great job finding the trends and showing their progression. Plus his CNN bashing is both, beautiful and well deserved. He was also one of the first to call out the potential Jihad Bombings after the Spanish Terrorist Attack. He's definitely a must, (as is Ames,) if you want to stay informed of the current trends.
The 300 article was more of a rant than hard core History, but it does a great job of taking the Spartan fanboys down a notch. I remember (on NSG) when someone said that the Pittsburgh Steelers were America's team, and the response of an NSGer was "dude, they're not even Pennsylvania's team!" Ouch!
by Shofercia » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:05 pm
Kubra wrote:lol most of his exile era stuff is str8 up ranting, it's part of the brecher characterShofercia wrote:He was one of the first to point out how the 2006 Lebanon War reshaped the War Calculus of the Middle East. While I don't always agree with the specific points he makes, generally speaking he does a great job finding the trends and showing their progression. Plus his CNN bashing is both, beautiful and well deserved. He was also one of the first to call out the potential Jihad Bombings after the Spanish Terrorist Attack. He's definitely a must, (as is Ames,) if you want to stay informed of the current trends.
The 300 article was more of a rant than hard core History, but it does a great job of taking the Spartan fanboys down a notch. I remember (on NSG) when someone said that the Pittsburgh Steelers were America's team, and the response of an NSGer was "dude, they're not even Pennsylvania's team!" Ouch!
now that he's Dolan and running a podcast it's a bit more mellow, still funny stuff tho
by Salus Maior » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:10 pm
by Bakery Hill » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:19 pm
by Improved werpland » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:22 pm
by Benuty » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:25 pm
by Ethel mermania » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:32 pm
by Bakery Hill » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:34 pm
Ethel mermania wrote:Never thought I would see the day the Kurds are more welcoming of trans folks than the us military.
by United Muscovite Nations » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:35 pm
by Yagon » Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:08 pm
by Shofercia » Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:16 pm
Improved Werpland wrote:Shofercia wrote:
You don't like him because he told the truth about the NYT and the Ossetian War. Crimea River!
I dislike him because he's an edgy bullshit grifter! All that man ever writes is stuff which is counterintuitive, and therefore gets him attention. Do you like the way he transitioned his brand from joking about forcing himself on his (probably economically-vulnerable) Russian employees to constantly framing everything around the "American-neoliberal-neocon rape of Russia" the minute he got kicked out?
His commentary on the South Ossetia War was the same. He twisted the situation to make it about popular American lefty themes like "deceptive MSM" and "Neocons!"
Up until now, this war was framed as a simple tale of Good Helpless Democratic Guy Georgia versus Bad Savage Fascist Guy Russia. In fact, it is far more complex than this, morally and historically. Then there are two concentric David and Goliath narratives here. The initial war pitted the Goliath Georgia–a nation of 4.4 million, with vastly superior numbers, equipment and training thanks to US and Israeli advisers–against David-Ossetia, with a population of between 50,000-70,000 and a local militia force that is barely battalion strength. Reports coming out of South Ossetia tell of Georgian rockets and artillery leveling every building in the capital city, Tskhinvali, and of Georgian troops lobbing grenades into bomb shelters and basements sheltering women and children. Although true casualty figures are hard to come by, reports that up to 2,000 Ossetians, mostly civilians, were killed are certainly believable, given the intensity of the initial Georgian bombardment, the wanton destruction of the city and surrounding regions and the generally savage nature of Caucasus warfare, a very personal game where old rules apply. But you don’t hear about this story from the Western media. Indeed, you hear little if anything about the Ossetians, who seem to hardly exist in the West’s eyes, even though their grievance is the root cause of this war.
I first started to notice something wrong with the Western coverage shortly after I arrived in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, in Russia proper. The few Western correspondents in Ossetia were gathered around a table at the Vladikavkaz Hotel, gorging on food and beer after a long, miserable tour into South Ossetia’s ruins. The A-list Western correspondents were reporting from the Georgian side of the conflict. They all stayed in Georgia’s capital, Tblisi, in one of that city’s two Marriotts or in the Sheraton Hotel, with its fantastic amenities, food and wine–leaving the squalid, Russian/Ossetian side of the war zone to be covered by the second-stringers or just plain stringers...
“We don’t want to be shown the same Tskhinvali ruins again and again,” Siegel complained. “We’ve already seen them, you know? You’re not giving us anything new.” A Brit correspondent from ITN–who, like all the TV correspondents, wore a bulletproof vest long after even their own cameramen stopped wearing them–suddenly perked up from his beer: “It’s a cover-up!” he shouted. “You’re trying to cover it up!”
The real problem was this: the editors at their desks in the home countries weren’t interested in Ossetian suffering; they wanted to exaggerate the Georgian suffering and vilify the Russians. To the second-stringers at that table, being shown the awful truth of Georgian culpability was equivalent to being handed a bunch of losing lottery tickets–because Georgian culpability and Ossetian grievances simply weren’t in demand back in New York and Washington...
On the long ride down to Gori via South Ossetia, Siegel loudly and busily counted up the burned houses in ethnic Georgian villages, excitedly telling everyone, “This is what my New York Times editor wants,” running up and down the Hyundai minibus aisle. When we’d pass through Ossetian villages, he was back in his seat, on the phone loudly reporting figures into his cellphone.
by Shofercia » Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:17 pm
by Trotskylvania » Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:24 pm
Your Friendly Neighborhood Ultra - The Left Wing of the Impossible
Putting the '-sadism' in Posadism"The hell of capitalism is the firm, not the fact that the firm has a boss."- Bordiga
by Bakery Hill » Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:36 pm
by Shofercia » Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:15 pm
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