D&D General Modules with a political message?

[pemerton]

When marvel comics lost their political neutrality then also a lot of readers

As others have mentioned, this is a wildly inaccurate characterisation of Marvel comics.

Marvel was pretty politically committed from its beginnings.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

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Is Elvis Presley alive? All the weirdest Elvis sightings and conspiracy theories

When you become as popular as Elvis Presley, you will also get a certain air of mystery and intrigue.

www.smoothradio.com

America has so many monarchists because we have so many monarchs!

 

[Charlaquin]

Is it not exhausting to think on that level (i.e. where everything is political)?

Not really? Just because I recognize that everything is political doesn’t mean I’m constantly engaging in political analysis.

Sometimes people just want to kill bad things.

Sure, everyone wants to shut their brain off and engage in some recreational abnegation from time to time.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

Absolutes are not really your friend here. If we look closely at this, we are apt to find it is hyperbolic, or requires either a highly restrictive definition of what constitutes, "art," or an exceedingly broad view of what is "political".

In preschool, my neighbor's child was given a page to color, with a vaguely human figure that he could use to represent anyone he wanted. He chose me, oddly enough, so the page now hangs on my refrigerator. It is certainly a piece of self-expression, so should qualify as "art", if not "good art". But the kid was 4 years old - there's a long stretch there that a four-year-old child was making a political statement with it.

unless we intend to face a discussion on a very high cultural, semiotic and aesthetic level, we can safely take the affirmation that all art is political for a good synthesis, perhaps a little rough, of a shared concept, namely that the human expression always reflects an ideal tension about how the world should be as opposed to how the world is. I would not begin to make specious distinctions.

 

[Celebrim]

Politics isn't just about the state and state power. It may also be between groups in society.

Definitions:
#1: "the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power
#2: "the activities of governments concerning the political relations between countries"
#3: "the academic study of government and the state"
Only when we get to #4 do we get anything approaching your claim
#4: "activities within an organization that are aimed at improving someone's status or position and are typically considered to be devious or divisive"

I would argue that the 4th definition of politics, and the one you claim is an extension of the natural definition by metaphor. Entomologically speaking, the term is Greek and relates to government and government solely. To claim everything is politics is to claim that everything belongs to the public sphere and is proper domain of government and law. It is to suggest that nothing is in the private sphere, no action is personnel, and all things you engage in are properly regulated by your neighbors. It's an argument to justify absolute totalitarian authority. I've been watching Andor and I'm sure the Empire agrees everything is political.

I don't.

Everything is political to you implies you are a totalitarian. In fact, the concept of "everything is political" is heavily related to very concept of totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is totalitarianism precisely because the state assumes everything is political and nothing divides the public sphere from the private and the state has every right to regulate every aspect of life because everything is political.

I'd like to think that the people here going "everything is political" merely are repeating something that they heard on social media or otherwise haven't fully thought out the consequences of their claims. But sometimes, I have difficulty doubting the intelligence and sincerity of my fellow EnWorlders.

 

[pemerton]

unless we intend to face a discussion on a very high cultural, semiotic and aesthetic level, we can safely take the affirmation that all art is political for a good synthesis, perhaps a little rough, of a shared concept, namely that the human expression always reflects an ideal tension about how the world should be as opposed to how the world is. I would not begin to make specious distinctions.

There are other ways in which all art can be political, which include @Umbran's example or at least stuff in its neighbourhood.

It's not uncommon for young children who are not white, but who live in predominantly white societies (eg Australia), to draw themselves as white - because this is the form of depiction of humans that they are enculturated into.

That's political, in at least one sense of the word - as in, it is a direct manifestation of a political state of affairs. The fact that white children don't experience the same confusion/distortion/erasure in relation to their identity (many concepts might be applied here, and I'm not intending to prejudge what is the right one) is likewise a political state of affairs, which their drawings also manifest.

 

[Charlaquin]

Definitions:
#1: "the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power
#2: "the activities of governments concerning the political relations between countries"
#3: "the academic study of government and the state"
Only when we get to #4 do we get anything approaching your claim
#4: "activities within an organization that are aimed at improving someone's status or position and are typically considered to be devious or divisive"

I would argue that the 4th definition of politics, and the one you claim is an extension of the natural definition by metaphor. Entomologically speaking, the term is Greek and relates to government and government solely. To claim everything is politics is to claim that everything belongs to the public sphere and is proper domain of government and law. It is to suggest that nothing is in the private sphere, no action is personnel, and all things you engage in are properly regulated by your neighbors. It's an argument to justify absolute totalitarian authority. I've been watching Andor and I'm sure the Empire agrees everything is political.

I don't.

Everything is political to you implies you are a totalitarian. In fact, the concept of "everything is political" is heavily related to very concept of totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is totalitarianism precisely because the state assumes everything is political and nothing divides the public sphere from the private and the state has every right to regulate every aspect of life because everything is political.

I'd like to think that the people here going "everything is political" merely are repeating something that they heard on social media or otherwise haven't fully thought out the consequences of their claims. But sometimes, I have difficulty doubting the intelligence and sincerity of my fellow EnWorlders.

“If I ignore definitions that are inconvenient to my position, I can make yours look bad!”

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

There are other ways in which all art can be political, which include @Umbran's example or at least stuff in its neighbourhood.

It's not uncommon for young children who are not white, but who live in predominantly white societies (eg Australia), to draw themselves as white - because this is the form of depiction of humans that they are enculturated into.

That's political, in at least one sense of the word - as in, it is a direct manifestation of a political state of affairs. The fact that white children don't experience the same confusion/distortion/erasure in relation to their identity (many concepts might be applied here, and I'm not intending to prejudge what is the right one) is likewise a political state of affairs, which their drawings also manifest.

It could be a simple manifestation of how a baby brain works.
It could happen in every society in which the numbers are disproportionate.
Without other consideration we can address it as a simple demographic distribution conseguence, without talking about politics at all.

Why do you suppose that it has to do with a subalternity of black people condition (that could be political indeed)?

But it is out of topic, just a curiosity.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

“If I ignore definitions that are inconvenient to my position, I can make yours look bad!”

I'm not a MOD, but let me say that I believe turning this thread toward definitions is a very immature way of conducting the debate that leads only to flame war. Both sides.

 

[Celebrim]

“If I ignore definitions that are inconvenient to my position, I can make yours look bad!”

Irony.