I’m not trying to snap at you here, or anyone in general, but…
I think Mike’s a black American with some experience watching the way “hey can things get less shitty please” is fought against by trying to turn it on itself. I think he could read *the present.*
SoresuForm
Neoliberal political ideology has been around since the late 60s with opaque groups serving the ultra wealthy’s agendas driving much of what we’re seeing in current day politics, so having an understanding of this in the 80’s just means he was attuned to what was going on in the background of politics when it was taking root.
OneSaltyStoat
What exactly are you trying to say, OP?
HotSpicedChai
I think it’s probably more of a reflection on the untouchable attitude to which some people act based on their own “special” rights.
Especially when you consider the era it was written, in the 80s-90s, all the special interest were alive on day time TV then as well. Division isn’t a new thing. It’s always been a hot seller. If you convince someone to accept a label, and that label then defines them, they’ll defend it violently. All without ever wondering, does this label really make me all I am, all I can be?
Insanity_20
He was a black man in the 80s and 90s. No surprise to see he understood this. It’s the same reason everyone carries iron in night city, because he drew those same parallels.
somedumb-gay
I think Mike could understand that a lack of understanding of intersectionality among minority groups inevitably leads to infighting and nobody getting what they want
MikeMars1225
Just listen to the recording of Lee Atwater’s Southern Strategy from 1981 and you’ll realize that this sort of thing has been around in the US for a long, long time. Pondsmith wasn’t being prophetic so much as just observant of contemporary times.
The game has always been the same in the US. The only thing that’s changed is the method they use to play it.
Edit: I feel it’s appropriate to mention, that recording has him saying the N-word A LOT
joshuaaa_l
Someone is gonna read this and start saying cyberpunk is meant to be anti-DEI or some shit
mrmisterw
Nah, he just Black✊🏿
MacintoshEddie
I mean, lots of people have been warning about the course America has been going for a long time.
If Mike has seen farther than others, it’s because he stood on the shoulders of giant assholes.
Lots of the policies being fought over today, this very day, are direct continuations of the same civil rights protests being fought over in the 80s, 60s, 40s, 20s, and like…basically every single generation since Ogg met Bogg, noticed he looked a little different, and decided to hit him with a stick.
There’s a lot of the “original” punk culture from the 60s-80s which explored these ideas because they were standing there at the advent of the digital age when the internet was a wild and new thing and some people looked at it and saw freedom from tyranny and others saw the freedom to be tyrants. Some people looked at things like insulin and were relieved because it’s a lifesaving medication, and other people looked at it and said “I wonder how much we could charge for that?”
Things like the corpocracy of America was being discussed back at the turn of the century when some companies were on the verge of taking over the country, and then in the 30s-50s when the Americans were recruiting as many scientists as they could, even if it meant waiving war crimes, and then selling guns to stoke further international conflict.
This shit has been brewing for a long, long, time.
11 Comments
I’m not trying to snap at you here, or anyone in general, but…
I think Mike’s a black American with some experience watching the way “hey can things get less shitty please” is fought against by trying to turn it on itself. I think he could read *the present.*
Neoliberal political ideology has been around since the late 60s with opaque groups serving the ultra wealthy’s agendas driving much of what we’re seeing in current day politics, so having an understanding of this in the 80’s just means he was attuned to what was going on in the background of politics when it was taking root.
What exactly are you trying to say, OP?
I think it’s probably more of a reflection on the untouchable attitude to which some people act based on their own “special” rights.
Especially when you consider the era it was written, in the 80s-90s, all the special interest were alive on day time TV then as well. Division isn’t a new thing. It’s always been a hot seller. If you convince someone to accept a label, and that label then defines them, they’ll defend it violently. All without ever wondering, does this label really make me all I am, all I can be?
He was a black man in the 80s and 90s. No surprise to see he understood this. It’s the same reason everyone carries iron in night city, because he drew those same parallels.
I think Mike could understand that a lack of understanding of intersectionality among minority groups inevitably leads to infighting and nobody getting what they want
Just listen to the recording of Lee Atwater’s Southern Strategy from 1981 and you’ll realize that this sort of thing has been around in the US for a long, long time. Pondsmith wasn’t being prophetic so much as just observant of contemporary times.
The game has always been the same in the US. The only thing that’s changed is the method they use to play it.
Edit: I feel it’s appropriate to mention, that recording has him saying the N-word A LOT
Someone is gonna read this and start saying cyberpunk is meant to be anti-DEI or some shit
Nah, he just Black✊🏿
I mean, lots of people have been warning about the course America has been going for a long time.
If Mike has seen farther than others, it’s because he stood on the shoulders of giant assholes.
Lots of the policies being fought over today, this very day, are direct continuations of the same civil rights protests being fought over in the 80s, 60s, 40s, 20s, and like…basically every single generation since Ogg met Bogg, noticed he looked a little different, and decided to hit him with a stick.
There’s a lot of the “original” punk culture from the 60s-80s which explored these ideas because they were standing there at the advent of the digital age when the internet was a wild and new thing and some people looked at it and saw freedom from tyranny and others saw the freedom to be tyrants. Some people looked at things like insulin and were relieved because it’s a lifesaving medication, and other people looked at it and said “I wonder how much we could charge for that?”
Things like the corpocracy of America was being discussed back at the turn of the century when some companies were on the verge of taking over the country, and then in the 30s-50s when the Americans were recruiting as many scientists as they could, even if it meant waiving war crimes, and then selling guns to stoke further international conflict.
This shit has been brewing for a long, long, time.
And your point is…?