While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times — the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 U.S.
I can’t decide which is more about the whole situation – the US and patting themselves on the back for rescuing six imperialist spies, or that there’s a Ben fucking Affleck movie about it.
Edit: Also, the source material for the fictional-but-not-really sci-fi movie that the CIA used as a cover story sounds problematic as all hell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light
It’s not really. It has its tropes but it also sorta invented those tropes so it feels a bit unfair to call them “tropes.”
I mean you kinda have the “white messiah” narrative but the books make it clear that it’s not really a good thing and leads to a holy war that kills billions. I suppose if you are a reactionary that is fine but to other people it sounds like a horrorshow.
Not necessarily reactionary, but it does reproduce some stereotypes and tropes that are a staple of an orientalist point of view, exoticizing the totally-not-muslim culture, painting them as backwards and animal-like.
I like Dune, but it Herbert’s white-dude understanding of other cultures shows a bit.
Absolute idealist look on the politics and society, especially Heretics and Chapterhouse are horrible, taking straight potshots at socialism, despite socialism apparently not existing for at least 15 millenia anywhere. In earlier books at least Bene Gesserit had a cynical and duplicious but still materialist outlook. Last two are several steps down in quality all around, being constant stream of poor man zen conversations.
Though for a murican writer working in 60’s-80’s Herbert wasn’t really chuddy.
Though for a murican writer working in 60’s-80’s Herbert wasn’t really chuddy.
From what I heard, Herbert seems to be like a libertarian, although whether he was the bleeding heart time (a la Stranger in a Strange Land) or the fascist one (a la Starship Troopers), Idk…
I would said libertarian, main idea of all six books is “don’t trust prophets, tyrants, governments etc.”, but he sometimes stanned aristocracy in the greek meaning of the world*, in sense that he wrote that every single form of bureocracy (that is apparently every government) will deform into aristocracy so we could as well have good aristocracy like Leto I - although that might be ironic since after a second of applying historical materialism to Leto he seems like incredibly ambitious type who was just very good at PR.
He also liked weird system being caste system for the poors and feudalism plus capitalism for the rich. Plus some social darwinism here and there.
*Notably in 5 and especially 6 book which are clearly weakest and least consistent of the series, maybe because he was basically already dying writing them.
I can’t decide which is more
about the whole situation – the US and 
patting themselves on the back for rescuing six imperialist spies, or that there’s a Ben fucking Affleck movie about it.
Edit: Also, the source material for the fictional-but-not-really sci-fi movie that the CIA used as a cover story sounds problematic as all hell:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light
“What if turbo-orientalism… IN SPAAAAAAACE?”
But Dune already exists.
Not only racist but derivative
I haven’t watched the film, but what’s reactionary about Dune anyway specifically?
It’s not really. It has its tropes but it also sorta invented those tropes so it feels a bit unfair to call them “tropes.”
I mean you kinda have the “white messiah” narrative but the books make it clear that it’s not really a good thing and leads to a holy war that kills billions. I suppose if you are a reactionary that is fine but to other people it sounds like a horrorshow.
Not necessarily reactionary, but it does reproduce some stereotypes and tropes that are a staple of an orientalist point of view, exoticizing the totally-not-muslim culture, painting them as backwards and animal-like.
I like Dune, but it Herbert’s white-dude understanding of other cultures shows a bit.
Hmm, ok…
Absolute idealist look on the politics and society, especially Heretics and Chapterhouse are horrible, taking straight potshots at socialism, despite socialism apparently not existing for at least 15 millenia anywhere. In earlier books at least Bene Gesserit had a cynical and duplicious but still materialist outlook. Last two are several steps down in quality all around, being constant stream of poor man zen conversations.
Though for a murican writer working in 60’s-80’s Herbert wasn’t really chuddy.
From what I heard, Herbert seems to be like a libertarian, although whether he was the bleeding heart time (a la Stranger in a Strange Land) or the fascist one (a la Starship Troopers), Idk…
I would said libertarian, main idea of all six books is “don’t trust prophets, tyrants, governments etc.”, but he sometimes stanned aristocracy in the greek meaning of the world*, in sense that he wrote that every single form of bureocracy (that is apparently every government) will deform into aristocracy so we could as well have good aristocracy like Leto I - although that might be ironic since after a second of applying historical materialism to Leto he seems like incredibly ambitious type who was just very good at PR.
He also liked weird system being caste system for the poors and feudalism plus capitalism for the rich. Plus some social darwinism here and there.
*Notably in 5 and especially 6 book which are clearly weakest and least consistent of the series, maybe because he was basically already dying writing them.