Obvious take of the century, but it's not at all implausible to read Will's story as an intervention for a trans woman on a path towards self-destruction, literal as well as metaphorical

I guess I could say more on the latter issue, but I think it's touched upon a bit in a later chapter, and I honestly don't feel like saying more about it

As for the more specific brainworms Will uses as a... shall we say, rationalisation of his position; well, you either eventually realise they're nonsense, and harmful nonsense at that. Or I suppose you try to incorporate them, live despite them, because they will do nothing but cause you pain

Letting go of that is generally better for you in the long run, *but* it does mean coming down from that fantasy of what-I-wish-I-had-been somewhat.

There are limitations to transitioning one must eventually accept and move beyond, lest the unresolved bitterness drives you into despair

Part of that is a process not unlike processing grief. The type of repressor Will (partially) exemplifies quite often sets impossibly high standards of what they would want out of their transitions - easier to wallow in self-pity if your goal is unattainable from the start

'How does someone like Will even learn not to be that way, absent basement fun-time struggle sessions? Blind luck?'

Some don't. They are generally not fun people to be around.

The more compassionate answer: those that do tend to move on to healthier communities and self-images

That is not to say that automatic generation of object, images and texts doesn't have other issues, or that it isn't pushed for other motives, but I think that fundamental disconnect goes a way in explaining the visceral disgust that some people have towards it and others don't

I don't know that there was a *good* way for them to tackle this issue, but what we have now is significantly worse than it was even before, and this is only the top of the iceberg

...rather than the 'we must have the German economy ready for wars of aggression in short order' that it actually was. Similarly, the whole 'economy of conquest' mechanic represents conquest as the prerequisite for a goal of economic development through rearmament, rather than the other way around

The thing that makes it stink even more is that the presentation consistently presents the Nazi aims as less intentionally imperialist than they were. Their representation of the Four Year Plan is 'we must develop the German economy free from capitalist interest'...

They could have chosen not to present outright Nazi propaganda in their presentation of Germany

I mean, tell me how the following snippet isn't full-blown Nazi propaganda:

"Entrusting [the SS] with the power they now have was a wise decision, going forward we must keep providing them with the means necessary for success."

Taken from the new German focus tree...

I basically stopped playing HoI after their Germany rework went waaaaay deeper into presenting the Nazi state in positive terms. Shit wasn't ideal before (also in relation to other playable nations), but there was a degree of handwaving that was fully let go off there

Schmittiaans denken in vijanden en (potentiële) vrienden komt denk ik aardig in de buurt

The logic being that if there are Muslims in a given country and they can practice their religion freely, that means the respective territory they're in must count as Dar al-Islam, and any justification for violence therefore becomes void.

Similar logic honestly

I can't remember where I read it, but I recall that one of the justifications for why most mainstream ulema reject violence under the moniker of 'jihad' nowadays is that most of the world already counts as Dar al-Islam in the relevant terms

'You're saying two men hugging, and touching, and maybe even fucking isn't gay?'

No, and if you do, you don't understand what 'gay' actually means in relation to patriarchal social organisation

At the same time, people have been desperate to read the homosociality of this type of masculinity as subversively 'gay', and it's not. It's just not.

So, when a critic says, “Ah hah! That app makes shit up!” A lot of people will nod politely. And then they will think to themselves, “Well, so does the newspaper, and so does Facebook, and so do politicians, and none of those help me do this task or say nice things to me when I ask them questions.”