Open 854 | Eurybia's Curse | Game Over!

[Isis]

If I had the confidence that one was significantly more likely than the other, yes. I do not.

I'm inclined to think that the team is exactly Coral/skitter. If we're not going Coral, though, I'd probably rather go Meuh than skitter and see how fuckin wrong I am.

Nice try skitter's partner

[Faker]

if anyone wants me to respond to anything while I'm here for a few minutes please point me that way

Please analyze Craig Morgan's "International Harvester" from a Marxist perspective, paying special attention to representations of the proletariat/bourgeoisie conflict, the distinctions made between kinds of goods and those responsible for and controlling of their means of production, and the existing ownership of critical infrastructure by the state. Finally, take a stance and argue whether country music has any place in the revolution or the resulting society as a means of cultural education.

[Faker]

Also, please keep in mind the following excerpt and accompanying question, as you may find it helpful in crafting your response:

I'm the son of a 3rd generation farmer
I've been married 10 years to the farmer's daughter

Does this imply that the narrator is in fact married to his sister?

[Isis]

Half-sister?

[Faker]

Also while I'm shitposting with the above, I always find this snippet historically interesting:

Spoiler: Mao Zedong on the role of art in society/a revolution, particularly in the context of World War 2 and the war with the Kuomintang

"In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic. According to the political criterion, everything is good that is helpful to unity and resistance to Japan, that encourages the masses to be of one heart and one mind, that opposes retrogression and promotes progress; on the other hand, everything is bad that is detrimental to unity and resistance to Japan, foments dissension and discord among the masses and opposes progress and drags people back. How can we tell the good from the bad--by the motive (the subjective intention) or by the effect (social practice)? Idealists stress motive and ignore effect, while mechanical materialists stress effect and ignore motive. In contradistinction to both, we dialectical materialists insist on the unity of motive and effect. The motive of serving the masses is inseparably linked with the effect of winning their approval; the two must be united. The motive of serving the individual or a small clique is not good, nor is it good to have the motive of serving the masses without the effect of winning their approval and benefiting them. In examining the subjective intention of a writer or artist, that is, whether his motive is correct and good, we do not judge by his declarations but by the effect of his actions (mainly his works) on the masses in society. The criterion for judging subjective intention or motive is social practice and its effect. We want no sectarianism in our literary and art criticism and, subject to the general principle of unity for resistance to Japan, we should tolerate literary and art works with a variety of political attitudes. But at the same time, in our criticism we must adhere firmly to principle and severely criticize and repudiate all works of literature and art expressing views in opposition to the nation, to science, to the masses and to the Communist Party, because these so-called works of literature and art proceed from the motive and produce the effect of undermining unity for resistance to Japan. According to the artistic criterion, all works of a higher artistic quality are good or comparatively good, while those of a lower artistic quality are bad or comparatively bad. Here, too, of course, social effect must be taken into account. There is hardly a writer or artist who does not consider his own work beautiful, and our criticism ought to permit the free competition of all varieties of works of art; but it is also entirely necessary to subject these works to correct criticism according to the criteria of the science of aesthetics, so that art of a lower level can be gradually raised to a higher and art which does not meet the demands of the struggle of the broad masses can be transformed into art that does."

From "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art"

Obviously set the stage for much of what was to come, with the emphasis on a "unity of motive and effect"

[Coral]

if anyone wants me to respond to anything while I'm here for a few minutes please point me that way

Please analyze Craig Morgan's "International Harvester" from a Marxist perspective, paying special attention to representations of the proletariat/bourgeoisie conflict, the distinctions made between kinds of goods and those responsible for and controlling of their means of production, and the existing ownership of critical infrastructure by the state. Finally, take a stance and argue whether country music has any place in the revolution or the resulting society as a means of cultural education.

In Craig Morgan's "International Harvester", a stunning representation of class struggle in modern day rural America, Mr. Morgan brilliantly repurposes classic country tropes to fit more closely with the realities of the life of a farmer, and in doing so, he is able to bring Marxist ideals to those who need to hear them most in a form that is easily digestible. Instead of driving a truck down the highway, Morgan drives his tractor at 5 miles per hour down the state-maintained road. Instead of chugging beer, he's making hay. Instead of wailing about how his wife left him and his dog died, he sharply drives home a biting critique of how capitalism has failed both him and his fellow man, and how his hope for the American dream has died. By subtly replacing these classic tropes with this political messaging, he's bringing ideas that would ordinarily be outright rejected by his target audience and packaging them in a way that will result in them not "fallin on deaf ears of corn".

The song is filled to the brim with deep meaning and thought-provoking metaphors. One such example is in one of the key refrains of the song, where he is driving down the highway on his International Harvester, while those who want to go faster in their cars and trucks are yelling at him. This serves a dual purpose, to represent both the socioeconomic inefficiencies that lead to class struggle, central to Marxist thought, as well as the beginning steps of the proletariat rising up against both the bourgeois and the state.

A country song that only accomplished that much would be impressive enough; however, this is only one thread in the story that Morgan weaves. He doesn't simply state the problems and leave his fellow proletariat with no solution. In every verse, he juxtaposes these failures of capitalism with the answer: controlling the means of production. His International Harvester, his p-p-p-p-plower, is the true hero of the narrative, and is portrayed as the hero that it is in a way that tractors, unfortunately, rarely are in today's pop culture. By showing the power of ownership of the means of production, In doing so, Morgan plants the seeds of a revolution, beginning with the 4-H and FFA groups that he promotes, uniting farmers under a common banner of hope for a better future, and presenting them with an anthem: "International Harvester".

[Coral]

Also, please keep in mind the following excerpt and accompanying question, as you may find it helpful in crafting your response:

I'm the son of a 3rd generation farmer
I've been married 10 years to the farmer's daughter

Does this imply that the narrator is in fact married to his sister?

...yes, probably

[Faker]

I felt in my soul you were actually doing it, bless you

[Faker]

This is actually so good BLESS YOU

93/100

[Faker]

ANY TIME YOU NEED ME TO WRITE YOU A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION MAKE NO HESITATION TO ASK

[Coral]

thank you!

[GuiltyLion]

ah y'all I been reading and trying to catch up, through 152 I'm so sleepy I don't think I'm digesting information anymore

I will say I'm coming around on Faker town - I remembered the Gamma interaction Aristeia highlighted a while back where Gamma seems legit piseed off at Pav in a way that's non-parrtnery, I still think skitter is town, I'm re-evaluating on Coral though I def need to read the last 20 pages, and I still think decent odds of scum in Cakez

I will finish reading up tomorrow and start responding to specific things

[Isis]

Coral is bullying me for failure to altguess her

[Coral]

Coral is bullying me for failure to altguess her

i would never!!

[Isis]

Is coral just one of the people I like but have played 0-1 games with like lukewarm or sth

[Coral]

I'll probably out eventually but I plan to play a few more games at least first

you're welcome to guess and I will simply ignore them!

[Isis]

That's kinda rude

[Coral]

not as rude as voting me

[Isis]

You voted me

Or postured

Then you confed me town

[Coral]

i do have a bone to pick with whoever didn't conf me as town, actually. it would have been such a party

[Faker]

VOTE: Meuh

I am sold

[Faker]

Meuh: skitter30, SirCakez

Perhaps this is, in fact, a fucking stupid idea

YOLO

[Isis]

Bus skitter pls

[Coral]

i guess it could be meuh/marci? i was believing that to be possible earlier until cakez got me thinking about the faker/meuh idea

[Coral]

im going to think about this in the morning. my brain is too full of hay