Anakin and Andor: Midterm Misguidance

The week surrounding the United States midterm elections brought with it much discourse, by and large tantamount to the same 'most important election' until the next presidential one in two years which will supersede it in the claim but with the same hysterical hogwash and hubris. Nonetheless in this political season, the Star Wars franchise was front in center of discussion due to younger people, specifically males, on the right coming into identification with the character of Anakin Skywalker as portrayed in his fall to the Dark Side of the Force in the prequel movies; and a sense of alignment with the gritty insurgency presented in the newer Andor series from those of a left of center disposition. This trend largely started on the right, with quick backlash from those on the left, who came to their own association shortly thereafter as a metaphorical counter as the opposition initially was nothing more than that same sort of finger wagging moralism rather than any real attempted understanding of the veneration of Anakin. Of course, both ignore the nuances that exist within the Star Wars lore, both canon and formerly so, as well as the reality of the comparisons. That's not to deny the political bend George Lucas imbued the sagas with either, as, it was from the beginning, just the infatuations and over-embellishments taken from there themselves.

1. Anakin's Archetype

Anakin Skywalker was a slave born on Tattooine, a planet in the Outer Rim without any Republic oversight, hosting the scum of the galaxy as inhabitants; raised by his mother in servitude until becoming free through the gambling of Qi-Gon Gin, who brought him to the Jedi Temple believing and openly stating in front of the young boy that he believed him to be a prophesized chosen one. Despite initial hesitance due to his age, he was trained and raised up with that in mind. As obvious, this goes sideways and results in the destruction of the ancient Jedi Order overnight as the chosen one slaughters them in becoming Darth Vader; having felt betrayed himself by the order for many felt transgressions in spite of his apparent specialty to their creed. Essentially, Anakin was raised like many Americans with this idealism: the American Dream, and as time has shown such is increasingly a falsehood in spite of being the proclaimed Land Of Opportunity where if you pull up your bootstraps and work hard enough all of your longings and lusts will come into fruition. Well, with that rug pulled out from everyone's feet as the cost of living skyrockets and turbulence shows hollow, ailing institutions all working as forces which supposedly should act as stepping stones in the pursuit of life, liberty and entitled happiness, the viewing of the fallen Jedi as an avatar of alignment makes more sense; in the same way as the past with other "literally me" characters being the expression of frustrations inculcated into them as the reality of such a dream being just that: a fantastical montage in the sleeping imagination.

Count Dooku on the issue of the Jedi

The descent of the esteemed Jedi General into Darth Vader plays out as consequence of fear and self-contradictory negation based on dogmatism long overstaying its practicality. In Attack Of The Clones the now young adult padawan is plagued by visions of his mother dying in agony, and an incredible urge to aid her to which the Jedi around him are by and large unsympathetic in spite of being supposed keepers of the peace, aiding those in need; as by their standards such attachment to living beings is something to disavow. Coming to, Anakin travels to his planet of origin anyway and finds her taken by the Tusken Raiders, where they tortured his mother in a manner that resulted in her death in his arms; to which he proceeded to slaughter their entire village. George Lucas did write this as a scene which showed the future of his turn to the Dark Side, however, it wouldn't have occurred if the Jedi had not been so rigid on the aspect of attachment and done their proclaimed job as protectors and peacekeepers; and even in the act being done in blind rage, there is a cold calculation to having killed them all: had he spared any of the Sand People, they very well could have done the math noting the absence of the captive from that moisture farm they raided a bit back, and came for their own recourse in killing Owen and Beru; essentially putting a cap on the later movies of the saga.

Revenge Of The Sith novelization

Revenge Of The Sith plays out in a manner that resembles John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, with the portrayed angel having his rage until turning into a shrivelled, charred husk of itself in the end in a way not dissimilar to Vader in his loss on Mustafar. Plagued again with visions, this time of his wife dying of childbirth and a war seemingly coming to a head, yet no end of madness in sight; he seeks order, if it works. As noted by Maul in the Clone Wars series during this time, on a galactic scale the fall of the Republic he fought for wasn't sudden, by that point it already had become the Empire in all but name as Palpatine puppeteered the conflict at both sides; inching it ever more to that thunderous applause in his announcement of the Imperial inception. Nonetheless this mirrors a sentiment expressed in the real world by those of a more right leaning politic after half a decade of lived-in madness that only serves to, well, fuck them over more and force them to watch as the slogans espoused at them ring nothing more than empty. Political commentator and America First propeller Nick Fuentes has characterised this sentiment in that, their issue with a leader like Donald Trump and his administration is not that they are like Hitler, but that they are not like Hitler enough; much like Anakin's attitude of if it works more efficiently. In this comparison, Anakin is not some space Hitler as that would be Palpatine; however it should be noted that in his manipulation of the Skywalker, he doesn't exactly lie to him beyond over-exaggerating his knowledge which would imply a way to save those who he loves from certain death. Essentially, where the alignment of the right with Anakin is in the longing for a firm hand to come take the reigns of power, implement a lasting peace and establishment of order; even if it means the murder of the younglings at the Jedi Temple. 

Of course, in the end Vader returns to the light side in order to save his own son on the second Death Star above the forrest moon of Endor. He kills Palpatine and thus ending the lineage of the Sith just as he did with the Jedi decades before; fulfilling the prophecy by culling the bipolar philosophies in application of the force, levelling the playing field and creating an equilibrium. 

2. Andor & Rebellion

Order as enforced by the Empire is a ruthless bureaucracy. Quick to go on the offensive and willing to maintain its establishment by any means necessary. Dissent begins as soon as it is officially implemented; although split into factions with conflicting ideas on how to go about action taken against its authoritarian existence. Andor traces Cassian Andor, who would later in Rogue One be instrumental in obtaining information that allowed the first Death Star to be destroyed; and that despite being and seeing themselves as a movement for the good of things, has to resort to gritty guerrilla tactics in a way that mirrors the Viet Cong or Weather Underground; the former who fought the United States in its encroachment on Vietnam in an ideological conflict, and latter who smuggled a bomb into the Pentagon. The stakes are real, but is the comparison? No. It is not. Andor, as does Rogue One, shows intentional and violent disruption as a necessity to the battles against the Empire. The senate still exists, sure, but only in the capacity that it maintains an illusion of a more democratic method, and as Mon Mothma and later Leia learn harshly, only reinforces the regime. 

As predicted by many, the United States midterm election this year was a 'blue wave' that crashed on the beaches— even the Groypers voted Democrat. However in tandem to the right bolstering Anakin, the left began upholding Andor as akin to what they did and were doing. What exactly was that then? They voted? Sure, in the sense that everyone likes to feel as if they're the true underdog it could be called being this rebellion, a resistant force against an evil dictatorial regime... To that it must be asked, how is that any of what is claimed? People protest, sure: in the manner of doing so with allowance from the system at a scheduled time and place, subject nonetheless to it. The message being you can't claim rebellion then solely act in accordance with the system being criticized and aid in perpetuating it, and call the one's who did the insurrection on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 terrorists who should be imprisoned forever as, they have more in common with the actions portrayed in Andor than them and those viewing themselves as akin are purely doing so as means of consolidation rather than genuinely rebellious activity. It makes them feel special. 

3. Conclusion

Neither side completely gets the gist of that which is cinematically expressed by Star Wars, they catch hints and present them as polished with a gilded gleam. Anakin's insecurities were that which lead to his burning, just as the participation in a system does nothing but perpetuate its existence. 

Fancy

Atrocity: subtle armed robbery

Straightforward mystery in rhythmic indecision,

Chord-less progression and orchestral natural regression;

Damned dance with a scratchy-fitting rope—

The noose wrapped on a leaving train caboos,

Incestuous outsider's love of hope;

Obnoxious nay-sayers, conscientious observers

A restaurant server slits their wrists,

Blood used as punch for a public banquet—

Separate letter on an indifferent ledger:

Heart-ache measured in the absence of pain,

Masturbatory tears isolated together in grief

Claudia's New Clusterfuck News: CNCN

The current state of civil unrest in France is purportedly serving as directly responsible for the dubious nature of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's health. The corruption tying the reprehensible educational conditions fuelling riots running so deep that it connects so far; and recently revealed to tie into why Charlie Kirk was really killed on September 10, 2025 by an IG-88 bounty hunter unit hired to do the job on behalf of the Minimoy syndicate running the HBO network. This operation being funded based on the insider information held by Kirk regarding the secret merger between the Hutts and Black Rock; all of who colluded in perpetrating the 2001 attacks on September 11. 

Feeling guilt over his immersion and participations over the years, Kirk was getting ready to come clean, which can be seen expressed in the posthumously leaked messages, coded with mentions of Israel as smokescreen. He had preemptively hired legal muscle in case of what would surely have had litigious repercussions in revelation, going with Albuquerque, NM-based firm HHM; whose namesake lawyer Charles McGill died in an 'accidental' house fire shortly after Kirk's death, with his coworker and fellow company namesake Howard Hamlin going missing on an alleged cocaine binge ever since. 

In other news: Professor X and his school for extraordinarily gifted youths levies extreme allegations against the media and military mogul company Vought...

On A Public Execution

While the proposal did get officially shot down, I wrote this piece on the matter on October 13 while on the bus and what would be little more than mere moral aestheticism being defended in the denunciation towards the idea. Case in point being I would rather it be available to see, rather than an open secret of an autocratic decree.  

I'm listening to the audio put on Spotify as a podcast of Real Time With Bill Maher. The topic of discussion on this recent episode is that of the announced possibility of a publicly viewable livestreamed execution by firing squad this coming December 3rd. To die is Nidal Malik Hasan, a former psychiatrist for the Army Medical Corps now death row inmate; incarcerated for perpetrating the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, killing 13 people and leaving 32 others with injuries; committed in opposition to deployment. It's an idea which has stirred up quite a ruckus. Much of what is being said to the matter is vocal distaste, and with what seems a notably bipartisan denunciation.

Public execution is a tradition which is quite rich in history, its vacancy in the Western Hemisphere coming about only in the last century of cultural development. Abroad, this culminated in France with the beheading of the criminal Hamida Djandoubi via the guillotine before an audience in September of 1977. The final sanctioned public spectacle of death in the United States occurred in 1934 with the hanging of convicted rapist Rainey Bethea. Nevertheless while the event ceased happening in public ceremony, there has been executions done, mainly with the method of lethal injection; itself with its own brewing controversy currently due to a death botched not once but an unheard of two times. Beyond that, depending on ones perspective the occasions of public execution only ceased in a way gilded by state-approval, and that the act persisted and perpetuates in ways even to this day; with such murderous intent before, or with, a mob like lynchings or, more recently, the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Appearing as guests on Real Time in opposition to the announced death webcam event the soon to be retired US Senator Thom Tillis and Sara Eisen, in conversation with host Bill Maher, expressed their disapproval in convergence on the optics of it. Tillis not being against the whole of the idea, but finding it ill-conceived to be livestreamed for all to see; to which Eisen agrees, likening the possible broadcast to an ISIS beheading video. The essence of the discussion is that of presented moral aesthetics; a mirroring power move and little else.

Undeniably, the act would be an intentional display of power enacted in a way that imitated the public executions more common in the Islamic sphere of the world, given the current war between the US and Iran, as well as he who is to be killed having exclaimed, "Allahu Ackbar!" when he enacted his defiant massacre. That said, and with a diverging similarity to the opinion given by Senator Tillis: if the death sentence is going to be carried out anyway, why not let it be on optionally viewed display? Doing so would be a clear documentation stained into the mind of the broader society. Of course on another hand it does open to the possible creation of martyrs; or campaigns of fear enacted onto the populus; or stirring the masses up into bloodthirsty Hate-Week-style frenzies. Much to do with the last one seems a projected fear of personally longed for proclivities.

AM:FM Review

GHOSTEMANE released the long-awaited AM:FM this past Friday, October 23, his first full-feature album since the climactic ANTI-ICON in 2020; with a few collaboratory singles and EP's scarcely scattered in between. It is undeniably dark in its atmosphere, but in that not so innately brutal with reflective lyricism on the dopamine-deprived-sludge state of sobriety and responsibilities decreed with the experience of having children. The genre-fluid artist does what he does best on this album with its unique delivery of blended sonic blasts new and innovative as well as reminiscent and calling back to past mixes. 

Opening with a heavy and hard hitting trio, Alive!, Deus Ex Machina, and Miazma belt out their fusion of distorted guitars and rhyming declarations. Into then, the singles released in anticipation of the rest of the album: Zero Day, a song getting its namesake and lyrical motif's from a 2002 film that depicts two high school seniors as they plot and eventually enact a school shooting, being heavily influenced by the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre; melding into the fugue of BucketList, a stoner's litany evocative of GHOSTEMANE's 2015 tape Astral Kreepin. Jupiter begins a descent into a more industrial edge, though this will peak in a further song on the track list. Slowing down quite a bit to a more passive number in the midst of the outlet aggression with Hyperdrive, its synths like a Swearr song and pattering drum loop. Retaining the slower pace with Mean Girls, but nevertheless as forthright as ever. Cyberia, the most explicitly industrial song, bringing to mind Skinny Puppy or Nine Inch Nails. Getting to Get Gone with a bombastic rap on dealing with that of a parasitic nature. NSFW enters in then with similarity to FLESH and bleeds out all the fucks it can. Close now to tying it off with Noose Knot, but cutting it at a close moment. Melodically tapering off with a somber note. A Fire In The Sky ends the album with a sound that is reminding of Iridescent by Linkin Park.

Altogether AM:FM presents a solid piece of artistic output and capability, as if it wasn't evident enough already. 

The Truth About Big Pillow Industry

Ever start eating the grass growing in the courtyard because you paralyzed the air and can’t breathe after you ate too many ants at the Walmart... It’s a regular occurrence for the people in Wales who came from Mississippi after the Galactic Empire took over Kashyyk and enslaved all the Wookies when the sun set at the dawn of Groundhog Day. Really though all of it can be blamed on Bill Maher when he shot a crossbow at Saul Goodman over a parking spot in the outer area of Narnia, in the middle of a territorial dispute with the French. This being the result in of itself of remaining Separatist factions still loyal to Count Dooku’s cause, the war on drugs that he waged in collaboration with Jeffrey Dahmer. This relationship began over breakfast on Saturn, prepared for the two by Aleister Crowley. However, all was deception for Sauron had returned to Albuquerque. Technically this happened in 1946 after he was resurrected in a ritual performed by Oppenheimer that resulted in the atom bomb, but this was as well a fiasco designed to funnel money into the tampon industry.

7.

Envious of an illusion
Deprived from dissolution

Misshapen, graven instinctual reconfiguration—

Necessary seclusion,

                                 redirected retribution;
Sublimated and innate sin:

Always lost to win back again,
Gradual and perpetual privilege reconsidered;
Placated in pornographic—

Flash-fracture of menial remembrance,
Localized anaesthetic,

                                   aesthetic constitution,

Retrofitted inculcation, ceremonial emotion

6.

Cyber-sexual, private in upper-sector stature,

Loneliness riding in passenger;

Presented with perfect pleasure,

Death-set on the off-grid overture—

overturned bricks and nail polish in the sand,

Black bloodbath at the beach

Painted over by oceanic bleach

5.

Birthdays and funerals, opening scene prelude:
preview for post-mortem rigor mortis caked up death dance;

Bereavement in birth,

Psychotic red-alert—

Uncontested cardiac arrest;
Late-stage, early developed habitation,

Bequeathed asinine agency—
Cauterised chemically insurgent lamentation:
Timely eternal tomorrow full of today's hesitation

Comprehension of Coherence (2013)

A group of friends gathers for a dinner party one night while a comet passes overhead and reality around them muddles. Outside a nexus point between innumerable variations of the occasion opens up, all in various stages of the evening events, situations in life, and wondering if it's all just a ketamine induced trip. It's Schrödinger's cat on a cosmic scale beyond space-time, an exploration of how while the animal that is human kind can coerce much control over nature, even breaking out of the atmosphere into the vast void; acting, in a way, as the universe looking back on itself, but ultimately still subject to celestial forces beyond its dictation. One of the characters does best it, in the form of finding a reality similar enough to her original, killing herself in order to attain it.