The PC and Perpetually Offended Brigade

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I don't get where there is an argument. On the one hand, it's obvious it's a totalitarian, Lebensraum "ideal" Germany-inspired society, even down to the decomplexified co-ed nudity. On the other hand, Verhoeven has said it himself many times. I don't think he's said that if you "approve" of the Federation (whatever that means) you're a Nazi, but he most definitely modelled them on Nazis in order to satirize the latter.

[hellfire]

  surely a joke?

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Which part?

For example, on the shower scene:

The idea I wanted to express was that these so-called advanced people are without libido. Here they are talking about war and their careers and not looking at each other at all! It is sublimated because they are fascists.

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/paul-verhoeven/

[boozegeune]

...I'm learning that a lot of people maybe didn't understand Starship Troopers.

Perhaps they think Robocop is about how megacorporations are good, actually.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Exactly the same thing came up only a couple of years ago too. It seems the movie serves as a pretty good audience sorting filter, separating those who accept a certain brand of real world foreign policy propaganda at face value and those who don't. This turned out to be the case to a much greater extent than Verhoeven--with his life experiences including growing up under Nazi occupation of Holland until the age of 6--ever expected. I think he believed that by dressing up something which looked like US foreign policy, "geographically" far flung desert territory and everything, in directly Nazi inspired trimmings, insignias, uniforms, etc., that this would be unsubtle enough a way of connecting the two regimes that even pro-US-style imperialism individuals would grasp, and as a result possibly criticize, that this comparison was being drawn. From various interviews with him over the years, it seems he was quite stunned by how shallow the mainstream US reception of the movie was. This apparently persists now via social media. Though I guess that element is unsurprising, since US foreign policy is still identical.

[Dark Stranger]

It directly says in the movie that the bugs didn't attack until the humans did - the Federation is absolutely the bad guy. It's moronic to derive racist undertones from the terms used though, some twat is seriously fishing for offence there.

[astfgyl]

I'd always assumed it was a parody of US military policy and propaganda

[Skott Furys jizz rag]

I'd always assumed it was a parody of US military policy and propaganda

It is that too, it's a great movie.

I've given up altogether.
Between the "left" being hysterical over TV shows older than I am being "problematic"
and the "I'm not right wing I'm centrist" crowd having aneurysms over fucking Eurovision it's enough to make you want to punch people

[Sworntothecans]

I'd always assumed it was a parody of US military policy and propaganda

It always was.
Another example of Verhoeven taking the piss out the yanks.
The whole Media Break thing in Robocop was added due to his first experience watching American TV when they were in pre-production.

Starship Troopers is trending now due to that Helldivers game on the pS5 which borrows heavily from it

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Re the tv spots in Robocop, when we were watching it the other night we were saying it now plays as almost a mid-way point in the same universe as Idiocracy 

[Sworntothecans]

Re the tv spots in Robocop, when we were watching it the other night we were saying it now plays as almost a mid-way point in the same universe as Idiocracy 

They absolutely nailed that movie. It's timeless (and check out the RoboDoc that came out last year. It's fantastic)

[Caomhaoin]

Captain of the Australian women's soccer team gets called out and charged for calling a police officer a 'stupid white bastard'.

Hang on, it wasn't, in fact racist

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/10/craig-foster-apologises-to-sam-kerr-after-arguing-her-alleged-remark-to-uk-police-officer-was-racist

[Eoin McLove]

Madness. There is another interesting case going on over here at the minute where one rugby player called another black player a monkey. But the guy who said it was, himself, an islander, which is to say, "of colour". It was interesting that both of these cases came up together and it was "marginalised people" or "people of colour" getting into trouble for being racist. There is an even-handedness to it that I found surprising. It's easy to bash the white fella for being racist, even if only by association or merely by heritage, and tempting to turn a blind eye to racism going in the other direction. But if racism is the worst thing in the world, then it has to be taken seriously whichever direction it is coming from.

The logical contortions in that article highlight a massive double standard in modern progressive thinking. But sure...

[Caomhaoin]

Yer man apologising after his 'reeducation' is so cringe, and, surprise surprise, The Guardian straight in there, no messing, to wheel him out and show everyone that he has now recognised his thought crime.

[John Kimble]

This has worked out well for this Kerr one though. She was caught behaving badly on a night out (the gist is that she basically gawked all over a taxi, cops were called and she gave them abuse), and now miraculously she's the victim. Ordinarily this might attract a reprimand from her club but no, full support. Bit of adverse attention what with being a role model for kids etc...nope, not a word.
Not gonna bother getting into a discussion whether her actions were racist or not (personally I think the CPS could have just gone with a straightforward public order charge without reference to the racism bit) but y'know, this is where we're at.