Re: The Beautiful End of the World
Aug. 3rd, 2025 07:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingJust to get it off my chest: ecofascism is the idea that (a) environmental change is inevitable; (b) only “strong” people will survive the resulting disasters, and (c) this is how it should be. To give an example: It’s okay that people in Texas die during extreme heat events, because if they weren’t poor (and therefore without value as human beings) they would have AC or live somewhere else. Americans often like to give examples in other countries (generally in South Asia, and generally in relation to flooding, mainly in Bangladesh and Pakistan), but climate-related catastrophes definitely happen in the United States.
In terms of the Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker is premised on the idea that the King of Hyrule used a terrible magical weapon to unleash a flood that destroyed all of Hyrule, killing almost everyone who lived in the geographical region, regardless of race or political affiliation. What the game asks the player to consider is whether the responsibility for this evil rests in the hands of “the bad guy” who was once at war with the king, or with the king who killed countless people in a misguided attempt to end the war. I think the game makes it reasonably clear that, in hindsight, both men take responsibility and decide to leave the world they inadvertently created to the children who came after them, hoping that future generations would learn from their mistakes.
This interpretation of the game is considered problematic by prominent Gen Z members of the fandom, who are creepy little fascists. According to them, (a) it was good and necessary for the King of Hyrule to create an ecological disaster, (b) only “bad” people were hurt by this disaster, and (c) if these people weren’t “bad,” then they wouldn’t have died. The reasoning is that Ganondorf, who went to war with Hyrule, is “bad”; and therefore, if Ganondorf expresses pain and regret about the disaster, then that regret is also “bad.” As a corollary, the semi-deliberate genocide of the race of (brown) people who were completely decimated by the flood is “good.”
So these days, when I see Gen Z people openly expressing fascist views, including the embrace of censorship of “problematic” art and the firmly held belief that people of different races/ethnicities shouldn’t be allowed to marry or have “dysgenic” children, it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve been subjected to this shit for years now.
Speaking of which, it looks like all the cute and wholesome Gen Z American artists who are all “Proship DNI” and “Ageless DNI” and “don’t tag my posts with the q-slur” are going to get what they want, given that there’s currently a fun bill (the SCREEN Act) in development that aims to force all LGBTQ+ media to be labeled as “harmful to minors” while legally requiring age verification.
What with the current situation with payment processors putting pressure on Steam and Itchio (as explained here) and YouTube’s recent nonconsensual age verification policy (here), we’re already starting to see compliance in advance, which is neat. I’m sure that only “bad” people will be negatively affected.
Sorry, I'm just venting. But also, I want to leave this here as a reminder to myself not to engage with this mess. Generally speaking, it's a good idea not to fuck with fascists unless you're willing and ready to take psychic damage, and The Legend of Zelda is not the hill I want to die on.
In terms of the Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker is premised on the idea that the King of Hyrule used a terrible magical weapon to unleash a flood that destroyed all of Hyrule, killing almost everyone who lived in the geographical region, regardless of race or political affiliation. What the game asks the player to consider is whether the responsibility for this evil rests in the hands of “the bad guy” who was once at war with the king, or with the king who killed countless people in a misguided attempt to end the war. I think the game makes it reasonably clear that, in hindsight, both men take responsibility and decide to leave the world they inadvertently created to the children who came after them, hoping that future generations would learn from their mistakes.
This interpretation of the game is considered problematic by prominent Gen Z members of the fandom, who are creepy little fascists. According to them, (a) it was good and necessary for the King of Hyrule to create an ecological disaster, (b) only “bad” people were hurt by this disaster, and (c) if these people weren’t “bad,” then they wouldn’t have died. The reasoning is that Ganondorf, who went to war with Hyrule, is “bad”; and therefore, if Ganondorf expresses pain and regret about the disaster, then that regret is also “bad.” As a corollary, the semi-deliberate genocide of the race of (brown) people who were completely decimated by the flood is “good.”
So these days, when I see Gen Z people openly expressing fascist views, including the embrace of censorship of “problematic” art and the firmly held belief that people of different races/ethnicities shouldn’t be allowed to marry or have “dysgenic” children, it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve been subjected to this shit for years now.
Speaking of which, it looks like all the cute and wholesome Gen Z American artists who are all “Proship DNI” and “Ageless DNI” and “don’t tag my posts with the q-slur” are going to get what they want, given that there’s currently a fun bill (the SCREEN Act) in development that aims to force all LGBTQ+ media to be labeled as “harmful to minors” while legally requiring age verification.
What with the current situation with payment processors putting pressure on Steam and Itchio (as explained here) and YouTube’s recent nonconsensual age verification policy (here), we’re already starting to see compliance in advance, which is neat. I’m sure that only “bad” people will be negatively affected.
Sorry, I'm just venting. But also, I want to leave this here as a reminder to myself not to engage with this mess. Generally speaking, it's a good idea not to fuck with fascists unless you're willing and ready to take psychic damage, and The Legend of Zelda is not the hill I want to die on.
