usa

History Repeats Itself

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

I’m sorry, but after seeing shit like this, I can’t support Israel at all. I apologize for invoking Godwin’s law, but they’re acting as evil as the Nazis did, getting back for the Holocaust the way black Americans are trying to get back for slavery. I support one country called Palestine, where Hebrews, Arabs, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all coexist, not in apartheid (and Palestine’s flag doesn’t even have a crescent moon on it the way Israel’s has the Star of David, which to me is today to the Palestinians what the swastika is to the Jews and the Southern Cross is to black Americans). America needs to stay the hell out of international affairs, pissing away trillions on international conflicts that have nothing to do with us, and focus on its issues. Putting the interests of foreigners above residents of your country is called treason, similar to Abraham Lincoln’s illegal invasion of the Confederacy. I’m no isolationist, but I believe that containment while working for peace is the best policy towards warring nations.

Daily Prompt, 4/16/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Daily writing prompt
What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?
View all responses

Washington, DC, because America’s terminally-cancerous political “culture” and “system” have been really detrimental towards my mental health, and just even the slightest exposure to US politics gives me suicidal thoughts, since American politics has pretty much been the story of my life. Having a politician as a father who can’t shut up about the subject doesn’t really help in that regard, either.

RIP Joe Lieberman

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

I read about the former Connecticut U.S. Senator’s death in the Retro Swap gaming newsletter, given his role in creating the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). I didn’t agree with him on everything, though given things like what occurred in the 2006 midterm elections, I find his experience then relatable today, even more so in recent times. It seems that every American politician has “controversies,” “scandals,” or “skeletons in their closet” (but 99.99% of the time, such charges are from their political enemies within the government and media), and while I know he had his, I’m no different, and in most respects, he has a place in my heart. In pace requiescat.

International Women’s Day

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

March is Women’s History Month; today is International Women’s Day. Sorry, but the very idea of those things is sexist. Men don’t have their history month, and whites don’t have theirs like blacks, which is racist as well. Being of an “ostracized” group does not make one untouchable (as I’ll freely admit as an autistic), which is still a problem in America and the rest of the world, which falls in line with Paulo Freire’s warning that “oppressed” groups risk becoming oppressors themselves, as has often been the case throughout history (like various communist dictatorships, even Nazi Germany since the Nazis themselves were an oppressed political faction during the 1920s). I support the equality of everyone, not the favoritism or supremacism of specific groups, and from what I’ve seen, said groups are often full of hateful bigots themselves. If you educate a man, you educate an individual; if you do so with a woman, you’re just educating another person, nothing more.

Art Dump, 3/7/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Also, I’ve decided from now on to upload my AI art, since I’ve done a ton, in batches to my DeviantArt Stash, since it’s a real pain trying to get the links and everything to them on my main gallery, so here’s what I’ve done lately:

https://sta.sh/22c2iouqikbd

A lot of themes in recent days such as the Alamo, a day involving remembering veterans, and Alexander Graham Bell Day today (hence all the furs talking on telephones; I tried to get real old-school wall and candlestick phones, but even Bing Create seems to be alien to those types).

Art Dump, 2/22/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Today was Tex Avery Day (which is different from his birthday on Feb. 26, the 22nd being said day in his Texas hometown) and World Scout Day, so I did some Avery-style Boy Scout Corgis:

I also did this retro scouting-themed art for a friend’s birthday on DeviantArt:

Art Dump, 2/16/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Today is the first day of Girl Scout Cookie Weekend, so I did a Girl Scouting theme with my daily AI art:

There were two others, but they only featured humans, so I ditched them.

Now for the artwork that I did myself on FireAlpaca:

Basically the female equivalent of my MC (hare/cat hybrid) in a retro Girl Scout troop leader uniform. I listened to ragtime music, popular in the 1910s, while I was doing this.

Daily Prompt, 2/16/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Daily writing prompt
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
View all responses

No, for several reasons. First, no one gets to choose their country of origin, so I think it’s foolish to be proud of nationality. Second, any country in the world, America included, their histories, and all their leaders and policies, past and present, are just as subject to criticism, judgment, and review as in any other nation on the face of the Earth. Third, I think pledging allegiance to any country or their symbols such as their flags are forms of idolatry, which goes against my faith.

However, the true definition of patriotism can be flexible. For instance, given that America was founded upon defiance and treason, there is the quote, largely attributed to Thomas Jefferson (though it hasn’t been confirmed), that “Dissent is the highest form of patrotism.” Malcolm X further had the warning “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” In general, I don’t believe in “my country, right or wrong,” but rather, “my country, only when genuinely right” (not ideologically speaking, of course).

Daily Prompt, 1/31/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

Probably give fuller attention to American politics. U.S. politicians actually behaving like civilized humans, and the media both acting like not everything is black and white and actually presenting genuine, objective, verifiable facts.