Annotated 16-4
Some of the hostility at play here is Ardaic shoving aside his growing, erm, fondness for Syr’Nj while it’s in direct conflict with his perceptions about what is good for Gastonia. That partly explains his otherwise ridiculously understated last line: there’s a bit of veiled concern for her behind it.
This is the last time that Syr’Nj will call Ardaic “sir,” and it’s definitely meant ironically here. But her respect for him will ebb and flow a good deal over the next thirty chapters. Like Dean Reynolds’ relationship with the other Heads, her relationship with Ardaic doesn’t follow a strictly linear progression.
Title’s meh. Seems like one of mine. I can see the thinking behind it: we’re starting to move the series back to a war footing, so when else should plans be made? But some reference to training for a big fight would probably be better, considering what takes up the chapter’s latter half.
Ardaic’s dickitude and insistence on degendering and depersoning Yalaria is baffling, here. It’s alienating Syr for no good reason.
Even if he actually believes that Yalaria is sub-human, it would cost him nothing to humour Syr’s opinion in a provate conversation without a secondary propaganda purpose. We know, for multiple reasons, that he isn’t actually trying to cause the Peacekeepers to break away (although he will certainly be a contributing factor when that does happen), so what in the world could he be thinking?
honestly, humoring her probably would have pushed Syr away faster. What she respects about Ardaic is his honesty and steadfastness, both would have been compromised by that path. Yalaria has been tortured, is going to be executed and Ardaic believes it is the right thing. Will sugar coating that with a claim that maybe she is a person make it better? Syr would have seen right through that and seen Ardaic as someone who’s words do not align with his beliefs and actions, she wouldn’t even be able to trust him when he refers to her as a person. As it stands Ardiac is someone who in Syr’s eyes had done and believes things she finds deplorable but at least his words mean something and he does see her as a person.
Dude has orders. He is a nationalist dipshit, so it’s a given that he will put his orders (and fascist UsVsThem dogma) above his own sentiments.
He does in fact belong in a ditch behind the Nürnia court house.
That’s probably Jarvis’ resting place. Ultimately Aradic is like a lot of those Nazi generals who were following orders, but not the ones so terrible that got them hanged later.
The only Nazi generals who weren’t terrible enough to hang were ones that conspired to assassinate Hitler.
Culpability is debated to this day, but really a moot point now.
History is literally repeating before our eyes… not moot.
You could say something similar about many of the generals on the Allied side too though. You don’t win a war by being nice to your enemies. The difference between a hero and a war criminal is usually whether or not he was on the winning side.
Basically, wars suck. No matter what you do a lot of good people who are just minding their own business are going to get hurt. Gigantic waste of resources in virtually all cases. Something to be avoided whenever possible.
They belong in the ditch not for what they did in war (although some did cross the line), but because they did their job at all, to protect a country run by Nazis.
If Nazis run your country, you either become a traitor, or you become culpable for all they do under your protection.
Citizens of the US should take heed of that, because the shoe fits.
That’s a rather unforgiving binary. I’ve done things and certainly said things in the last few years that our current president would probably deem treasonous. But have I left the States, renounced my citizenship, begun an insurgency? No. I am an American and I will fight for better as one.
Taking this back to Ardaic, were he and all those under him to just walk out of their jobs, the short-term result would be the deaths of thousands, perhaps millions of humans guilty of no particular crimes beyond smallmindedness and putting their and their families’ needs first. The more merciful coup came later, under other leadership.
It makes it a great deal easier to mistreat someone, and deny them basic kindnesses, if you do not think of them as a person. It is hard to lie to yourself about something so obviously untrue, so you must work very, very hard at it, until it becomes true. One of the best (and most simple) ways to do this, is to insert this untruth into your language as often as possible, as though simply repeating it will make it a reality, and then it becomes so habitual you don’t even need to think about it for the lie to come from your lips. At which point it is not a lie, so much as a malformation of perception. You must not slip up, for to reveal the lie, is to destroy your self image as a “good” person. When others insist it is not true, they are mistaken, and to be corrected. To fail to do so may be seen as a tacit admission of your own perspective being incorrect, or wrong, and thus that theirs is right. To admit they were right, and to keep acting as you are, that way lies madness.
Self delusion is an armor which must be put on before every battle, and maintained between engagements, just like any other.
The lengths people must go to, the internal architecture they must build, to act hateful towards one another is one of the things that gives me hope for the species.
This. “I’ll go to any level necessary” is a statement of commitment. If in order to protect Gastonia he needs to dehumanize the enemy to the point he’ll not flinch when the time comes to utterly crush both the individual and the group, then doing so becomes retroactively virtuous.
War is fucking hell.
Apparently, however, he won’t stoop to not actively alienating an ally.
He isn’t making a speech to the army reminding them that the Avians are the enemy. He’s not even reaffirming for himself that they’re Not Like Us.
He’s actively, aggressively poking at the sore spot of an ally – one that he personally likes, to boot.
It serves literally no purpose for him to be pressing this point with Syr – it’s pissing her off and it’s not giving the idea that he’ll accept peace if it’s offered.
She’s not an ally. She’s a servant of Gastonia–one with some regrettably uppity ideas about non-Gastonians’ place in the world, ideas which she must relinquish or her life will ultimately turn out not to be in Gastonia’s interests.
I first wrote “nonhumans,” but I don’t think Ardaic is actually racist, personally. It’s 100% nationalism for him–including when nationalism causes him to bristle at hearing blatant, unapologetic racists accused of racism.
By poking at that ally, he is “reaffirming for himself that They’re Not Like Us.” If he failed to do that he would be siding with her, he could not do that and continue to be morally right, and his actions would become something he needed to question. That cannot be acceptable if he is to do the things he is being asked (ordered) to do, and not compromise his internal integrity. In addition they are not allies, that implies equality, she is his subordinate. One does not suppress ones own beliefs to cater to those of a subordinate in an organization like Ardiac’s. Of note though, he is trying to include her in that “Us” something most Gastonians would not be doing.
Because he likes her, and she is an asset, this is an argument. Because he is a relatively forthright person it does not occur to him to be deceitful and pretend that she is right while secretly thinking she is wrong. This also would serve no purpose as she would only push for him to change his actions in regards to the prisoners, and possibly the war effort, something he can’t do even if he wanted to. And he doesn’t want to. Because he believes he’s right, because he has to or doing what he does wouldn’t make any sense. Because he cares about her, and thus her opinions about him matter, he is frustrated by her opinions not aligning with his, or at least the delusion he has surrounded himself with. The very fact that he values her, is why he is currently at odds with her.
In the power dynamic of their relationship he does not need to adjust his stance to align with hers, at all, nor does he believe that the Wood elves are so valuable that he must make any real concessions, Gastonia is superior, just as he is in their dynamic. But unlike with the elves, he is starting to wish that wasn’t so with Syr’Nj. He wants them to be on the same side, he wants them in agreement, because then things will work, and possibly the fantasy he doesn’t even know he’s quietly entertaining could be realized. If he did not care about her, this wouldn’t even be an argument. He’d tell her her views were noted, and then dismiss her, if he didn’t reprimand her. If a Gastonian were to act the way she is with him, he may see that Gastonian as a threat, and have them imprisoned for sedition. At the very least he would not deign to talk with them about it, it would not be a discussion.
The other thing to consider, is how does this conversation go otherwise, given what we know about the two of them, and the fact that she was just injured by the person they’re talking about. He is a person of deep feeling, and conviction, he isn’t actually good at letting things go. And is far more driven by his emotions than his dry and dour countenance would suggest.
In grim times, I feel, hope is not a luxury but a necessity.
Unfortunately, it appears to take no effort at all to go to such “lengths”.
ICE is committing genocide, right now, and the people don’t appear to give two shits.
The people outnumber the entire agency 100000:1, so clearly, almost all of the people is perfectly fine with it.
Not to be a downer, but there is little call for hope for humanity this day.
Oh no they do give a shit, they care a great deal. This is why so many people try to avoid thinking about it at all. Those thoughts are stressful, and upsetting, and most people feel as though they have no recourse to do anything about it anyways, so it is better not to think about it. Those who try to fight it, try to do so without breaking the very code of ethics and the understanding that causes it to bother them, and those who support it scramble to justify to themselves why what they are doing is right.
And what lengths they must go to to justify it to themselves, the absolute absurdities, the lies they have to tell themselves, are what tells me that underneath that, their first instinct is that it is wrong to imprison people and treat them so. If they didn’t give a shit they wouldn’t be so mad about it, they wouldn’t need the lie. Even the ones who are getting their way seem mad about it, or aggressively happy about it. It’s why there are so many obscene actions being taken at the ICE facilities, they must dehumanize their prisoners, or there can be no justification to imprison them. This constant paradox causes anti-social and irregular behavior, it is a form of self-harm and abuse at the same time.
The fact that few people come out of power dynamics like this without psychological damage, is evidence we are not monsters. We are intrinsically stressed out by violence and subjugation, it is alienating to us. We’re just really good at lying to ourselves, and holding two contradictory thoughts at the same time. That’s how we always get caught in the “It’s okay to do a bad thing, for a good reason, and so it isn’t a bad thing anymore, because I did it, and I’m not bad, so now it must be good?” pit. To me though the very fact we have to do that is why there’s hope for us. We actually want to do good, and seem to kind of know what’s good for us. We just have to get out of our own way.
Also note, the very fact that I have hope means that us accomplishing that feat is uncertain. I am far from certain we will achieve a better understanding of our own nature, and our place in the world, before we cause our own extinction. But I have reason to hope.
You’re … hopeful because atrocities are happening?
That seems frankly … well, nuts.
Fact is, it is extremely easy for people to dehumanize others, and a population as divided as the US populace is already primed for it.
But make no mistake: There is no code of ethics forbidding putting aside the law when the law has become the problem. It’s not particularly safe, but ultimately, doing just that is what saves people.
It was illegal to help slaves escape. It was illegal to hide Jewish refugees. It was illegal to do the right thing almost every step of the way.
We’re only here because people did it anyway.
Without them, our existence wouldn’t be worth a damn.
What could he be thinking? That Gastonia is all that matters, and Yalaria dared to attack it (and doesn’t immediately recognize, unprompted, what a downright blasphemous thing that was to do). To him, his attitude isn’t appalling: Syr’Nj’s suggesting that Gastonia is less than perfect is appalling. He outright said as much in the previous strip.
That alt text made me snort water through my nose.
…I’m a bad person, I know.
Appropriate avatar is appropriate.
I have a feeling that the answer to the alt text lies somewhere in Hogan’s Heroes.
Ah, when your GM insists that a guy is Lawful Neutral when in fact he’s just Lawful Retarded. It’s so glorious to see illustrated.
I was a little bothered by how quickly Syr’Nj’s displeasure in panel 1 evaporated. Her final “sir” should by all rights have been laced with venom, but her expression as she says it is borderline playful. (Sorry, John.)
Oh, Ardaic, you’re such a tool. A very useful tool. The problem is that the user is Gastonia.