Skip to content
Do you have adblock enabled?
 
If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

(Boing Boing)   A deep dive into the imperialist ideology of Donald Duck comics, capitalism, and a CIA backed military coup in Chile. "There is no red or blue pill... It's all purple haze"   (boingboing.net) divider line
61
    More: Interesting, Socialism, Capitalism, Democracy, Economy, Earth, Augusto Pinochet, Liberalism, Documentary film  
•       •       •

3025 clicks; posted to Main » on 29 Jan 2023 at 4:26 PM (8 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



61 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


Oldest | « | 1 | 2 | » | Newest | Show all

 
fatassbastard [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 1:07:35 PM  
Lately, things just don't seem the same.
 
Exile On Beale Street [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-29 1:16:24 PM  
2.bp.blogspot.comView Full Size
 
GardenWeasel [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 1:19:16 PM  
i.imgflip.comView Full Size
 
ecmoRandomNumbers [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-29 2:53:14 PM  

GardenWeasel: [i.imgflip.com image 421x834]


Same here.
 
theteacher [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 3:56:21 PM  
Too much alliteration to hold my attention.
 
Nintenfreak [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 4:27:35 PM  
You say the duck whose uncle is the richest man in the world might be a capitalist monster? What a crazy concept
 
USCLaw2010
2023-01-29 4:29:59 PM  
His uncle literally swims in a big skyscraper filled with gold for fun in his spare time
 
Another Government Employee
2023-01-29 4:34:58 PM  
One too many bong rips.
 
chitownmike
2023-01-29 4:38:03 PM  

theteacher: Too much alliteration to hold my attention.


Yup, fark this guy
 
Mad-n-FL
2023-01-29 4:38:36 PM  

fatassbastard: Lately, things just don't seem the same.


You got me running, and I don't know why.
 
Capo Del Bandito
2023-01-29 4:41:19 PM  
Am I too drunk to understand this, or not drunk enough?
 
UltimaCS
2023-01-29 4:41:33 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size

Perfect ad choice for an article about the CIA.
 
AK_Mabuhay [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 4:44:04 PM  

Capo Del Bandito: Am I too drunk to understand this, or not drunk enough?


The half-naked duck told me to invest in crypto, and here we are.
 
dbaggins
2023-01-29 4:44:30 PM  

Another Government Employee: One too many bong rips.


Like, Duuuude......listen listen listen....so hear me out....Donald Duck is all about Capitalism.  and you gotta capitalize Capitalism.
 
Capo Del Bandito
2023-01-29 4:45:28 PM  

AK_Mabuhay: Capo Del Bandito: Am I too drunk to understand this, or not drunk enough?

The half-naked duck told me to invest in crypto, and here we are.


Seems legit.
 
MBooda [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 4:47:31 PM  
I think it helps to understand what Donald Duck says in order to understand TFA.

DONALD DUCK says FUCK YOU !!!
Youtube aN_7T0yRUuY
 
gwenners
2023-01-29 4:47:42 PM  
Life is like a hurricane

/woo-oo
 
ansius
2023-01-29 4:52:00 PM  
"In this essay I will..."

You know, most of what he writes is probably correct, but it's written in such a pretentious undergrad way that I just closed the tab and moved on with my life.
 
New Rising Sun
2023-01-29 4:57:53 PM  

GardenWeasel: [i.imgflip.com image 421x834]


I know this is all the rage right now, but after reading a few other 'articles' by this same author, I'm wondering if it isn't them using ChatGPT or another similar service.  All their articles have the same style of needless appositive phrases, flowery introductory phrases ("consider the following"), etc.  Basically, things like that have started to stand out to me as strong indicators of an AI generated text.  They feel as though they string together a lot of phrases and words that sound right, and I guess technically are correct, but don't actually communicate much.

An AI generated block of text is going to emphasize adherence to grammar rules and selecting vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic requested, but it's going to have a lot more difficulty with big-picture style and flow.  As an analogy, it'd be like trying to auto-create a compelling and enjoyable piece of music using only the rules of music theory and some basic guidance: "I'd like a fast, cheerful piece of piano music please" and you'll get a long string of notes where the transition from one phrase to the next is technically correct and vaguely resembles pieces of music you've heard before, but it doesn't really go anywhere or have longer patterns you're accustomed to hearing (even if you didn't realize it at the time). At any given instant, it sounds like music; but, as you listen longer it just sounds musical.

So, anyways, yeah. I'm leaning toward them playing with AI text generation. It can create technically correct blocks of language emphasizing a specific subset of vocab as requested, except (using the prior analogy) instead of giving you Beethoven it gives you a kid pressing keys on the piano only knowing which keys are OK to press after the last few he has pressed.
 
Gassy Snake
2023-01-29 5:05:44 PM  

UltimaCS: [Fark user image image 425x515]
Perfect ad choice for an article about the CIA.


It's better than the ad I got.

/Lol, a Twitter bike.

//From China.
Fark user imageView Full Size
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
genner
2023-01-29 5:08:23 PM  
thumbs.gfycat.comView Full Size
 
Fano
2023-01-29 5:11:04 PM  
media.tenor.comView Full Size
 
Kit Fister [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 5:12:33 PM  

genner: [thumbs.gfycat.com image 500x288] [View Full Size image _x_]


OG Ducktails is superior. Now get off my lawn.
 
Fano
2023-01-29 5:14:46 PM  
media.giphy.comView Full Size

media4.giphy.comView Full Size

It's a cash money life in Duck Burg
 
foo monkey
2023-01-29 5:15:52 PM  
You really want to have your mind blown about a cartoon?  Really, really blown?

CORRECTIONS: Week of Monday, January 16
Youtube S3IukbS0fKg
 
Fano
2023-01-29 5:16:42 PM  
thumbs.gfycat.comView Full Size

Here he is oppressing the proletariat
 
Claude Ballse
2023-01-29 5:19:22 PM  

New Rising Sun: GardenWeasel: [i.imgflip.com image 421x834]

I know this is all the rage right now, but after reading a few other 'articles' by this same author, I'm wondering if it isn't them using ChatGPT or another similar service.  All their articles have the same style of needless appositive phrases, flowery introductory phrases ("consider the following"), etc.  Basically, things like that have started to stand out to me as strong indicators of an AI generated text.  They feel as though they string together a lot of phrases and words that sound right, and I guess technically are correct, but don't actually communicate much.

An AI generated block of text is going to emphasize adherence to grammar rules and selecting vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic requested, but it's going to have a lot more difficulty with big-picture style and flow.  As an analogy, it'd be like trying to auto-create a compelling and enjoyable piece of music using only the rules of music theory and some basic guidance: "I'd like a fast, cheerful piece of piano music please" and you'll get a long string of notes where the transition from one phrase to the next is technically correct and vaguely resembles pieces of music you've heard before, but it doesn't really go anywhere or have longer patterns you're accustomed to hearing (even if you didn't realize it at the time). At any given instant, it sounds like music; but, as you listen longer it just sounds musical.

So, anyways, yeah. I'm leaning toward them playing with AI text generation. It can create technically correct blocks of language emphasizing a specific subset of vocab as requested, except (using the prior analogy) instead of giving you Beethoven it gives you a kid pressing keys on the piano only knowing which keys are OK to press after the last few he has pressed.


That or it's just some asshole who loves reading their own words second only to enjoying their own delusionaly superior opinion.

I'm a nice person IRL (obviously in juxtaposition to my online presence), but if someone started spewing this kind of rambling at me, I'd just walk away.
 
brantgoose [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-29 5:25:07 PM  
I remember reading that book when I was young and the comics when I was young and innocent, on account of I is greedy and was naive enough to think that gold and jewels reprented more than conventional fiat currency value.
 
Sexy Jesus [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-29 5:25:46 PM  
Author should have his fingers removed.
 
brantgoose [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-29 5:26:13 PM  
Yes, back in the days when I was stupid, I was just like you, gold fetishist, although I admited a number of other gods before the Lod Gold, in whom we trust.
 
berylman [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 5:27:00 PM  
This is the required watching you won't find on Disney+
Mickey's Descent Into Madness
Youtube NiP3ZDApOsA
 
Flowery Twats
2023-01-29 5:33:26 PM  

Mad-n-FL: fatassbastard: Lately, things just don't seem the same.

You got me running, and I don't know why.


'scuse me while I kiss this guy...

RIP, Jimi
Best Star Spangled Banner ever.
 
genner
2023-01-29 5:38:10 PM  

Kit Fister: genner: [thumbs.gfycat.com image 500x288] [View Full Size image _x_]

OG Ducktails is superior. Now get off my lawn.


What you mean back when the bin was full of quarters instead of gold?

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
gameshowhost [OhFark]
2023-01-29 5:47:37 PM  
Next thing you know we'll find out that the NFL is tight with the military.

/for those totally incapable of detecting 'that's the joke' -- stop and think for a moment before you begin typing anything
 
CivilizedTiger
2023-01-29 5:47:49 PM  

USCLaw2010: His uncle literally swims in a big skyscraper filled with gold for fun in his spare time


thumbs.gfycat.comView Full Size
 
buravirgil
2023-01-29 5:48:34 PM  
What about Daffy?
Duck vs. Duck
Youtube MzxZ8qtdun0
 
austerity101
2023-01-29 6:21:49 PM  

Fano: [media.giphy.com image 480x273]
[media4.giphy.com image 200x240]
It's a cash money life in Duck Burg


Reboot Glomgold is best Glomgold.
 
Kit Fister [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 6:23:56 PM  

genner: Kit Fister: genner: [thumbs.gfycat.com image 500x288] [View Full Size image _x_]

OG Ducktails is superior. Now get off my lawn.

What you mean back when the bin was full of quarters instead of gold?

[Fark user image 634x457]


I feel like that was a separate pile of coins than what was in the money bin.
 
DanInKansas
2023-01-29 6:27:58 PM  
How to Read Donald Duck is an excellent book. One of the first pieces of literary criticism to look at how mass media aimed at children explicitly works to get them to accept capitalism's contradictions as totally normal and useful. I was such an ass to sell my copy back in my libertarian days. Once the book was reissued I got my local library to purchase it.
 
El Rich-o
2023-01-29 6:40:59 PM  
That read like one of those French deconstructionist fools from the 80s translated into english
 
dionysusaur [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 6:44:19 PM  

Capo Del Bandito: Am I too drunk to understand this, or not drunk enough?


Yes.
 
chitownmike
2023-01-29 6:44:50 PM  

DanInKansas: How to Read Donald Duck is an excellent book. One of the first pieces of literary criticism to look at how mass media aimed at children explicitly works to get them to accept capitalism's contradictions as totally normal and useful. I was such an ass to sell my copy back in my libertarian days. Once the book was reissued I got my local library to purchase it.


So you became a communist?
 
GardenWeasel [TotalFark]
2023-01-29 6:57:43 PM  

New Rising Sun: GardenWeasel: [i.imgflip.com image 421x834]

I know this is all the rage right now, but after reading a few other 'articles' by this same author, I'm wondering if it isn't them using ChatGPT or another similar service.


I had the same thought.
 
DoctorCal
2023-01-29 7:03:55 PM  
TFA is incredibly poorly constructed. To some degree, I think it's intentionally so.

I think some of what it says is:

How to Read Donald Duck was a book published early in the tenure of Allende as president of Chile. It held up various aspects of Disney cartoons as allegories for exploitive imperialism exercised by US government and private entities (Disney among them), and suggested that those aspects were present partly to help cultivate the mindset that such exploitation in acceptable.

The US CIA-backed rise of Pinochet and the subsequent destruction and disposal of an entire run of the book neatly fulfilled the book's premise.

Fifty years later, the book has been republished, so it's a suitable time to examine how accurately the allegories contained therein represent the same entities that were viewed critically in the book when it was originally published.

There are various citations to examination of the contemporary political and cultural landscape that suggest that things are unchanged, or worse. In fact, where capitalism is held as the One True Solution, there is an implicit admission that there is an ongoing willingness by those who reap the greatest benefit of capitalism that they are enjoying those benefits by the same pattern of exploitation. This is because, as celebrated, capitalism isn't the merely economic system described in a dry academic text, rather, embodied in capitalism is the entire history of how this "economy" has sustained itself, as well as all of the business-logical models of how we make choices and justify them. Our culture and "capitalism" as practiced are inseverable.
 
alexanderplatz
2023-01-29 7:13:07 PM  
Not much substance to that article. Basically it informs the reader that a particular book exists and tells us what the subject of that book is and the context in which it was written.
 
Sabreace22 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-29 7:14:41 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
Fark user imageView Full Size

I mean, if you've only seen this one...
 
DoctorCal
2023-01-29 7:24:43 PM  

New Rising Sun: GardenWeasel: [i.imgflip.com image 421x834]

I know this is all the rage right now, but after reading a few other 'articles' by this same author, I'm wondering if it isn't them using ChatGPT or another similar service.  All their articles have the same style of needless appositive phrases, flowery introductory phrases ("consider the following"), etc.  Basically, things like that have started to stand out to me as strong indicators of an AI generated text.  They feel as though they string together a lot of phrases and words that sound right, and I guess technically are correct, but don't actually communicate much.

An AI generated block of text is going to emphasize adherence to grammar rules and selecting vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic requested, but it's going to have a lot more difficulty with big-picture style and flow.  As an analogy, it'd be like trying to auto-create a compelling and enjoyable piece of music using only the rules of music theory and some basic guidance: "I'd like a fast, cheerful piece of piano music please" and you'll get a long string of notes where the transition from one phrase to the next is technically correct and vaguely resembles pieces of music you've heard before, but it doesn't really go anywhere or have longer patterns you're accustomed to hearing (even if you didn't realize it at the time). At any given instant, it sounds like music; but, as you listen longer it just sounds musical.

So, anyways, yeah. I'm leaning toward them playing with AI text generation. It can create technically correct blocks of language emphasizing a specific subset of vocab as requested, except (using the prior analogy) instead of giving you Beethoven it gives you a kid pressing keys on the piano only knowing which keys are OK to press after the last few he has pressed.


I guess it's possible, but such poorly constructed writing has existed for a very long time, and in my experience, ChatGPT would not generate such needlessly bloated, poorly sequenced, and syntactically sloppy prose.

Aside from e.g. glaring punctuation errors that make it difficult to parse at a basic protocol level, this author actually means to write this way. They are trying to be sideways and clever, and think that not stating their actual point is necessary because there are predicate ideas they need the reader to absorb and accept.

Not only do they fail to state a thesis at the start, as far as I can tell after giving it quite a lot of scrutiny, they also never state a conclusion. "So,fifty years later?" is followed some evidence that oppressed populations are energized and have recently scored electoral victories against the ultra right who embrace and enable those colonial practices. Then a couple of pseudo-intellectual paragraphs about culture.
 
Jim_Tressel's_O-Face
2023-01-29 7:45:47 PM  

DanInKansas: How to Read Donald Duck is an excellent book. One of the first pieces of literary criticism to look at how mass media aimed at children explicitly works to get them to accept capitalism's contradictions as totally normal and useful.


"All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little-"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET-Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point-"

MY POINT EXACTLY."
 
AtlanticCoast63
2023-01-29 7:54:10 PM  
....DONALD DUCK:  Cartoon character beloved by generations, or CIA spook - YOU be the judge!
 
the voice of raisin
2023-01-29 8:07:45 PM  
New Rising Sun:

it gives you a kid pressing keys on the piano only knowing which keys are OK to press after the last few he has pressed.

aka: a really fancy state machine.
 
Displayed 50 of 61 comments


Oldest | « | 1 | 2 | » | Newest | Show all


View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Redisplay/refresh comments
This thread is closed to new comments.

Continue Farking

If you like these links, you'll love

TotalFark

All the submissions, none of the calories.

learn more | sign up
On Twitter

  1. Links are submitted by members of the Fark community.

  2. When community members submit a link, they also write a custom headline for the story.

  3. Other Farkers comment on the links. This is the number of comments. Click here to read them.

  4. Click here to submit a link.