Just watched one of the overtly political episodes of the wonder years
Just like kevin I didn't really understand anything back then but now man the entire conversation made me cringe and sick in the stomach
The "strawman" radlib boyfriend that his sister is dating was still a chad who answered the opposition without being too much of a wuss but man I really hope irl such conversations go much better if I ever encounter something like this.
I fancy myself to be a good communist talking combative, and I think for some things optics really matter, especially such words.
Words like "brainwashed" seem to be very touching" and reigning back and clarifying yourself comes across even worse I think
Of course the episode itself seemed to be neutral or whatever. Sure, It ended with the boyfriend being a cheater but I'm willing to take that not as them demonizing his character and just meant to be about the episode being no matter who you are at the end of the day, you're human.
Radlib, Hippie, Well meaning but naive archtypes and tropes are very shit in media. Like sure they're well-meaning in that they could be trying to teach people about how you can't solve everything at once or fix the world alone and things aren't perfect and that sometimes progress isn't a full falst march forward and sometimes you can get set back
But MAN, these lessons always end up on the most right wing tone, of capitalist realism
"Oh well things are shit in capitalism, Just forget about those things because you're privileged to and don't be grumpy anymore with those problems, sweetie"
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