Dystopian Science Fiction only reinforces the real world Status Quo

[hammerofglass]

Leftists and centrists are natural enemies. Just like leftists and liberals. And leftists and conservatives. And leftists and slightly different kinds of leftists.

Damn leftists, they ruined the left!

[Frustration]

Nah. Humans ruin everything.

[CharlesPhipps]

Bringing it back to the original, it's interesting to bring up DISCO ELYSIUM that was made by decidedly leftist Eastern European writers (Estonia) and wrote a Crapsack World (see TV tropes) in Revachol. One of the things about the game that was refreshing was that it was, in fact, intensely political rather than centrist. You could side with Communists, Centrists, Fascists, and Liberalism (Capitalism) as your political philosophy while being a drunk alcoholic cop.

One of the things the game was criticized for was the fact that it had a semi-pro communist bent but the nastiest shots it fired weren't at fascism (Which is treated as so pathetic in-universe as to be irrelevant) but at Centrism.

[CmdrKing]

I'd say that the game mostly expresses disappointment in a Fascist detective (if you look at trophy data, you'll see almost no one takes it, and it's probably because Kim (rightly) HATES you for it), while it holds nothing but contempt for a Centrist detective.

Mind, it's also worth remembering that no matter what you make the detective, he'll automatically become the worst version of that philosophy.

[hammerofglass]

Nah. Humans ruin everything.

You doing okay there bud? You sound like you need something with sugar and maybe a hug.

[CharlesPhipps]

I'd say that the game mostly expresses disappointment in a Fascist detective (if you look at trophy data, you'll see almost no one takes it, and it's probably because Kim (rightly) HATES you for it), while it holds nothing but contempt for a Centrist detective.

Mind, it's also worth remembering that no matter what you make the detective, he'll automatically become the worst version of that philosophy.

Ironically, Kim is the best character in the game and a Centrist too. Plus the villain is a hardcore communist ideologue.

So at least they did the unusual thing of presenting the opposite of their views.

[clearspira]

Centrists are the most close minded and that's why they aren't worth trying to reach. I went form being a type of Far Right to a type of Far Left, there was no transitional phase of me being a Centrist.

That's only if you believe nuance is a lie. Extremists tend to promise that X group is completely wrong in their policies and if you went entirely with Y, it would be a utopia.

And as much as I hate the GOP and their leadership, is just not true in my country or most others.

Centrism may be an enemy to progress but it's also a bulwark against fascism.

Yep. This exactly. I can see how extremists would hate Centrists because they are harder to fight. Its easy to fight someone that you can call a Nazi or a Communist. Its easy to fight someone who is trying to destroy you. But someone who is just ticking on with life with no opinions? Someone who is immune to the propaganda of both sides? Its those people who have to be stamped out by the regime because they are the one's most likely to be standing outside of the echo chamber and able to poke holes when the emperor comes asking for opinions on his new clothes.

[hammerofglass]

Centrists are the most close minded and that's why they aren't worth trying to reach. I went form being a type of Far Right to a type of Far Left, there was no transitional phase of me being a Centrist.

That's only if you believe nuance is a lie. Extremists tend to promise that X group is completely wrong in their policies and if you went entirely with Y, it would be a utopia.

And as much as I hate the GOP and their leadership, is just not true in my country or most others.

Centrism may be an enemy to progress but it's also a bulwark against fascism.

Yep. This exactly. I can see how extremists would hate Centrists because they are harder to fight. Its easy to fight someone that you can call a Nazi or a Communist. Its easy to fight someone who is trying to destroy you. But someone who is just ticking on with life with no opinions? Someone who is immune to the propaganda of both sides? Its those people who have to be stamped out by the regime because they are the one's most likely to be standing outside of the echo chamber and able to poke holes when the emperor comes asking for opinions on his new clothes.

Oh, centrists have their own echo chamber. They have to get their reassurance that everything is fine and totally normal no matter what is actually happening from somewhere.

[CmdrKing]

I'd say that the game mostly expresses disappointment in a Fascist detective (if you look at trophy data, you'll see almost no one takes it, and it's probably because Kim (rightly) HATES you for it), while it holds nothing but contempt for a Centrist detective.

Mind, it's also worth remembering that no matter what you make the detective, he'll automatically become the worst version of that philosophy.

Ironically, Kim is the best character in the game and a Centrist too. Plus the villain is a hardcore communist ideologue.

So at least they did the unusual thing of presenting the opposite of their views.

Not untrue, but I’d add that it’s a mistake to leave Kim at “aligns with the MoralIntern”. Fundamentally he’s with the centrists not out of ideological commitment but because his first duty is to his job, and the MoralIntern are the ones that incorporated his job and give it the functional authority to actually function.

In that way he’s a great foil to the culprit, an absolute ideologue who also has given up on achieving any actual good in the world and just wanted to hurt people who, in the moment, reminded him of his enemies.
(The irony of course being the woman he singled out here will be utterly blackbagged by the centrists if she’s detained for any length of time)

[KuudereKun]

Centrists are the most close minded and that's why they aren't worth trying to reach. I went form being a type of Far Right to a type of Far Left, there was no transitional phase of me being a Centrist.

That's only if you believe nuance is a lie. Extremists tend to promise that X group is completely wrong in their policies and if you went entirely with Y, it would be a utopia.

And as much as I hate the GOP and their leadership, is just not true in my country or most others.

Centrism may be an enemy to progress but it's also a bulwark against fascism.

Centrists always wind up siding with Fascists because when it really matter they always consider them the lesser evil to Communists but Fascists share their love of Order. Hindneberg and Papan willingly Hitler in power even after Hitler just lost an election.