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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   28904 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

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It's common across all scifi-mediums for symbolic representation of racial struggle to be depicted as relations between alien species rather than tension among the actual human races of the actors within-species. This was true for Star Trek as well.

Halo is fascist because it depicts racial struggle, an actual race war, and celebrates the heroism of the warrior who saves the world. It pits the pagan-coded Spartan against the Abrahamic-coded Covenant.

The Humans in Halo are not at war with The Covenant because they wanted to "Purge The Xenos!" they are at war because the The Covenant attacked them first.

They are at war because the Covenant is a coalition of aliens fighting a Holy Race War against humans! And they apparently name their capital ships after racial justice courts!

A true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, he fights because he loves what is behind.

Well one thing is fascists tend to love their race, which would be represented by Master Chief: racial self-defense against alien hostility. Halo pulls off the "fight for your race" vibe which people just love naturally as much as they will deny it.

I mean by such standards, just about any science fiction series ever written (and probably fantasy fiction as well) is fascist. It seems a bit odd to suggest that any time an action adventure genre piece depicts a war between factions it’s fascism. The negative version isn’t even possible.

I'm getting to the point where I interpret SecureSignals as "Everything is Fascism, and Fascism is awesome because Da Joooos!"

And they apparently name their capital ships after racial justice courts!

I'm not surprised that someone who is Jew-obsessed sees Jews in every piece of media, but I'm really curious as to what you think "truth and reconciliation" means.

I'm not surprised that someone who is Jew-obsessed sees Jews in every piece of media

I correctly inferred the symbolic meaning of the word "Covenant" not that it's cleverly coded or anything. Wikipedia verifies the interpretation for what that's worth.

The "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" was essentially the post-apartheid kangaroo courts. Pretty interesting for Halo to symbolically associate that with the Covenant.

How many people were convicted by these "kangaroo courts"?

TBF I didn't know the exact definition of "kangaroo court" when I made that comment, my sense was that the term referred to the appropriation of the pomp and circumstance of law courts to enforce social narratives. But after reviewing the definition of the term I think I got it basically correct.

Apartheid was a racial conflict. Truth and Reconciliation was the codification of a particular social perspective of that racial conflict, and one which was in my view fundamentally hostile to white people and false and highly damaging. Much like it is in Canada today where they also call those initiatives Truth and Reconciliation.

It's interesting we look at history and the absurdity of Stalinist propaganda and think- "we would never fall for that! They call their blatant lies Truth, but that wouldn't work on us!" and unfortunately it does.

I do think unequivocally the association of Truth and Reconciliation with the Halo Covenant is a social critique of that racial conflict from a right-wing perspective. There's not really a coherent alternative explanation, there's a reason the writer associated the Covenant with Truth and Reconciliation, particularly in the context of an alliance of Aliens fighting a race war against Humans. And Truth and Reconciliation destroyed the Human colony at Reach, didn't they...

Apartheid was a racial conflict. Truth and Reconciliation was the codification of a particular social perspective of that racial conflict

Namely, the social perspective that racial conflict is a Bad Thing, and that it would behoove us to try to learn to live together, that we not all die alone.

I have seen too many of my own family members, and friends, die surrounded essentially by foreign medical workers who only notionally speak their language, can't imagine their values, and don't seem to care about them as human beings at all.

And I suppose this is only going to get worse by the time it's my turn. Not clear whether robo-nurses might be an improvement.

I'd like my end of life care-givers to be young, earnest, hopeful members of my own ethnicity.

...But then I see the kind of things white nurses post on TikTok and...

Hmm. Seems like I have some kind of block when it comes to thinking past that point.

If it helps any, I've worked in aged care, with heavily Asian staff and a lot of white residents, and in my experience the staff have consistently been kind, caring, and have shared the values of those they care for.

Perhaps ironically, what those same staff tell me is that aged care in China is far worse and more neglectful, and that they are very glad to be here caring for a population that include both their own families and Westerners.

My point is that the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa cannot have been a kangaroo court in any definition because they convicted zero people. That was very fundamentally not their concept or purpose.

Wikipedia:

A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. Truth commissions are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship marked by human rights abuses.

Argument by Google/Wikipedia is obnoxious and low effort. "What do you think that means?" is generally not a request for a literal definition and you know that.

I thought it was a request for a literal definition. I personally had never heard of these "racial-justice courts" before, and had to look them up myself.

My point was that SS thought they were "kangaroo courts", which was ironic (and displayed his ignorance on the subject) because they convicted no one.

Speak plainly, What are you saying?

I was just relaying the results of a simple Google search before SecureSignals himself responded.

Halo does NOT depict a racial struggle at all, it is portrays a religious struggle. The Covenant are very notably not only a multi-racial but a multi-species empire. They are multiple species/tribes united by a shared belief, a shared covenant, that is why they are called "The Covenant". (Again, I told you that names in the Halo series tend to be a bit "on the nose"). Frankly, you should know this given that you brough up the definition of Covenant in your OP.

Furthermore our hero, the Master Chief, is neither pagan-coded (see @RandomRanger's comment below), nor does he "save the world". He destroys the Ring, and while he does manage to save mankind from extinction, he doesn't do so through force of arms but rather by exposing the malicious forces acting behind the scenes and convincing his counterpart on the opposing side that he is amongst the righteous.

Straight question, have you even played the campaign?

Halo does NOT depict a racial struggle at all, it is portrays a religious struggle.

Yes, you might as well say that Stargate is fascist and about racial struggle.

In fact, both stories aren't really a religious struggle but a struggle of science against blind superstition and plain lies. The stories don't really grant respect to the opposing side as theories or moral systems.

The Covenant are just provably wrong because they've sacralized what are scientific instruments and their credulity has led them to not only kill their own gods but get used as tools by the Prophets (who know some of the doctrine is false but refuse to collapse the business model).

The Jaffa/servants of all of the Goa'uld in Stargate are also just wrong (and terrorized into submission): their gods are not only technologically advanced aliens masquerading as such, they're not even the original inventors of their technology! The actual inventors are, while effete, durably in the scientist-humanist camp.

(Stargate did have to wrestle with the inevitable power creep taking them to a place where their enemies could make a good case for being gods and their religion was at least somewhat efficacious though)

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