The Great Crusade (Reds! Part 3)

[bookmark95]

Certainly. But even the most conformist societies do provide outs for people who do not fit in.

I'm hardly the most neurotypical person, so I can sympathize. In the case of autism spectrum conditions, though there is more than one way to be seen as a participating member of society. Indeed, most normal people will opt for the bare minimum even in the most mobilized of times. They might go to local assemblies once a month, or go to their cooperative's quarterly meeting to kibbitz and vote on managers or policy programs.

To the extent that psychological disorders will be identified earlier, they might wrongly attribute them to social causes, or develop different terminology. For example, post-traumatic stress disorder is colloquially referred to as "having a WW2 flashback," (compare the notion of "Vietnam flashback"), and they might often attribute it to fascism itself, rather than pure trauma, at least initially. Autism would likely be identified earlier, but misattributed to a malformed society, the anti-social nature of capitalism inflicting itself on victims from an early age.

They'll probably develop similar therapeutic coping mechanisms as OTL, but find that a "cure" eludes them. In the mean time, people with autism might be seen as victims, and find other ways for them to flourish, as have many in the past.

In spite of social democratic reforms, ideology will still influence medical practices?

Any psychologist can say that autism comes from birth, but OTL there are idiots who say it comes from vaccination. ITTL, could we have people argue that its the result of "bourgeois influence?"

OTL, there were people who believed that water fluoridation was a communist plot. Could there be extremists who also claim fluoridation is a Franco-British plot?

 

[E. Burke]

I just got through watching this video about A Christmas Story and it talks about how its themes tie heavily into the particular moment in American history. The rebuilding from the depression, the prelude to WW2 and how Ralphie getting a toy gun from his dad is a very symbolic thing for American kids. What I'm wondering is how that story would be told in this timeline. On a more general note, what is the UASR's relationship with nostalgia. A country whose national anthem includes the lines "No more tradition’s chains shall bind us" will obviously have a complicated relationship to nostalgia.


Also, how what is gun culture like in the UASR? IOTL the left has a complicated relationship with guns and American gun culture. The strong links between guns and violent colonialist white supremacy make simple appropriation of gun culture with red flags difficult. However, we are also revolutionaries who favor armed struggle against the existing order. One change would probably be the shift from a focus on individual gun ownership to defend property to collective gun ownership to make revolution. A focus on guns as implements of collective emancipation rather than individual self defense.

 

[bookmark95]

I just got through watching this video about A Christmas Story and it talks about how its themes tie heavily into the particular moment in American history. The rebuilding from the depression, the prelude to WW2 and how Ralphie getting a toy gun from his dad is a very symbolic thing for American kids. What I'm wondering is how that story would be told in this timeline. On a more general note, what is the UASR's relationship with nostalgia. A country whose national anthem includes the lines "No more tradition’s chains shall bind us" will obviously have a complicated relationship to nostalgia.


Also, how what is gun culture like in the UASR? IOTL the left has a complicated relationship with guns and American gun culture. The strong links between guns and violent colonialist white supremacy make simple appropriation of gun culture with red flags difficult. However, we are also revolutionaries who favor armed struggle against the existing order. One change would probably be the shift from a focus on individual gun ownership to defend property to collective gun ownership to make revolution. A focus on guns as implements of collective emancipation rather than individual self defense.

Personally, I think nostalgia is a form of idiocy, because it means you gloss over the problems of the era you're remembering: ("Think the 50s were great? Ask Emmett Till. Oh wait, you can't can you?")

Nostalgia would exist, but what people are nostalgic for varies. I bet people are nostalgic for the 30s. They take a romanticized view of "the Second American Revolution", despite the fact that people like J. Edgar Hoover did horrible things.

My guess is that guns rights work the same way they do in Switzerland: while you're drafted into the army, you get to carry a rifle for a few years.

 

[BlahBlahBlah]

On guns, there's at least this tidbit:

Private firearm ownership is still common, though it is subject to a licensing regime. Which everyone gets as part of militia service or even in school. Open carry in urban areas is universally prohibited, unless you are serving in an official capacity. Concealed carry of handguns is permitted to those in good standing, but socially frowned upon.

 

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

On guns, there's at least this tidbit:

Not to mention that there will still be malicious people and personal self defence is always a valid concern. It is not a left or right thing, it's reality.

 

[eliphas8]

Like Jello said, having relations with someone in an open marriage is still cheating if your not honest with your spouse. However, I'd like to think that the UASR wouldn't care about that for politics. As far as I'm concerned Bill Clinton cheating on Hillary is none of my business, its personal BS. He shouldn't have been impeached for it, he should have been impeached for gutting welfare. I would say that sex with interns/underlings would be treated like an abuse of power, not a sex scandal. Sex with people you have authority over is betrayal of everything the UASR stands for.

I still think that's going to be secondary as compared to accusations of serious sexual misconduct.

 

[Alexander the Average]

Whilst we're on the subject of sex, what is the state of sex work in the USAR? I remember there was some mention of a sex workers union during or immediately after the revolution and I was wondering what sort of legacy they would have. I can see that there would be some stigma associated with sex work due to its association with exploitation, although sex workers would probably be viewed rather more sympathetically as victims rather than morally degenerate harlots. Furthermore, many of the economic factors that lead people to resort to sex work won't apply, at least once things start picking up economically, as well as the fact that the USAR tends to have a much more open approach to sex.

At the same time there will probably still be demand for no-strings attached sex and titillation, and there will probably be those who are happy to make a living that way, and across the entirety of the USAR there will probably be at least one or two places where the local government is okay with legalising and facilitating worker-run strip clubs and brothels. Perhaps Vegas can still have the opportunity to become a city of vice and sin without a large gambling industry.

 

[tuxer]

Whilst we're on the subject of sex, what is the state of sex work in the USAR? I remember there was some mention of a sex workers union during or immediately after the revolution and I was wondering what sort of legacy they would have. I can see that there would be some stigma associated with sex work due to its association with exploitation, although sex workers would probably be viewed rather more sympathetically as victims rather than morally degenerate harlots. Furthermore, many of the economic factors that lead people to resort to sex work won't apply, at least once things start picking up economically, as well as the fact that the USAR tends to have a much more open approach to sex.

At the same time there will probably still be demand for no-strings attached sex and titillation, and there will probably be those who are happy to make a living that way, and across the entirety of the USAR there will probably be at least one or two places where the local government is okay with legalising and facilitating worker-run strip clubs and brothels. Perhaps Vegas can still have the opportunity to become a city of vice and sin without a large gambling industry.

I can see New York, which became a communist commune in the early 20s, to be that socially progressive regarding sex workers. But the rest of the country? It would vary from region to region, and I think that Jello gave a false impression that just because New York does it, that the rest of the UASR also does.

I think that there would much hostility to legalize sex work throughout the country, due to sex work being seen as capitalist degeneration and because there would still be many old stereotypes - just because capitalism has been overthrown, it doesn't mean that capitalist culture is gone. The First Cultural Revolution transformed America but it's limitations are the result of that culture.

 

[bookmark95]

I can see New York, which became a communist commune in the early 20s, to be that socially progressive regarding sex workers. But the rest of the country? It would vary from region to region, and I think that Jello gave a false impression that just because New York does it, that the rest of the UASR also does.

I think that there would much hostility to legalize sex work throughout the country, due to sex work being seen as capitalist degeneration and because there would still be many old stereotypes - just because capitalism has been overthrown, it doesn't mean that capitalist culture is gone. The First Cultural Revolution transformed America but it's limitations are the result of that culture.

According to Jello, sexual experimentation (except if you are doing something atrocious) is tolerated, sometimes even encouraged.

But the price of sexual liberation is that you can't hide it. It has to be out in the open.

Prostitution in the UASR is a complex issue. OTL, America's opposition to legal prostitution is due to its puritanical traditions. In ATL, prostitution would be seen as a form of female exploitation.

In the UASR, some quarters would tolerate it, but again, if you hide the fact that you've seen a prostitute, you will become a pariah.

 

[BlahBlahBlah]

Whilst we're on the subject of sex, what is the state of sex work in the USAR? I remember there was some mention of a sex workers union during or immediately after the revolution and I was wondering what sort of legacy they would have. I can see that there would be some stigma associated with sex work due to its association with exploitation, although sex workers would probably be viewed rather more sympathetically as victims rather than morally degenerate harlots. Furthermore, many of the economic factors that lead people to resort to sex work won't apply, at least once things start picking up economically, as well as the fact that the USAR tends to have a much more open approach to sex.

At the same time there will probably still be demand for no-strings attached sex and titillation, and there will probably be those who are happy to make a living that way, and across the entirety of the USAR there will probably be at least one or two places where the local government is okay with legalising and facilitating worker-run strip clubs and brothels. Perhaps Vegas can still have the opportunity to become a city of vice and sin without a large gambling industry.

I could see sex work going, if not as widely as quickly, the way housekeeping goes during the First Cultural Revolution. That is, it'd become widely professionalised and unionised, and eventually a lot of the stigma attached to the image of servile exploitation could be diminished. It'd be like how a lot of people imagine the 'high-end' or 'high-class' sex workers now OTL: people who like their job, aren't doing it out of sheer necessity, and aren't cruelly and basely exploited.

According to Jello, sexual experimentation (except if you are doing something atrocious) is tolerated, sometimes even encouraged.

But the price of sexual liberation is that you can't hide it. It has to be out in the open.

Prostitution in the UASR is a complex issue. OTL, America's opposition to legal prostitution is due to its puritanical traditions. In ATL, prostitution would be seen as a form of female exploitation.

In the UASR, some quarters would tolerate it, but again, if you hide the fact that you've seen a prostitute, you will become a pariah.

I could see eventually, to some people at least, sex work (and those using sex workers' services) losing that stigma of female exploitation. Especially with sex workers self-liberation and unionisation, the social wage and the general development of worker-ownership, (eventually) a lot of those who would be sex workers would be because they want to. Other people might get that. In the short-term though (within our envelope of discussion) the stigma probably remains for many.

 

[E. Burke]

Spoilers for the latest episode of Flash





My headcanon is that Earth 2 is Redsverse plus metahumans.

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

With the workers having more power over their own lives and incomes I could see the tourism industry being a big winner here.

And oh I wonder how is the issue of rape and sexual assault being dealt in this TL?

 

[eliphas8]

According to Jello, sexual experimentation (except if you are doing something atrocious) is tolerated, sometimes even encouraged.

But the price of sexual liberation is that you can't hide it. It has to be out in the open.

Prostitution in the UASR is a complex issue. OTL, America's opposition to legal prostitution is due to its puritanical traditions. In ATL, prostitution would be seen as a form of female exploitation.

In the UASR, some quarters would tolerate it, but again, if you hide the fact that you've seen a prostitute, you will become a pariah.

I don't know about it. The actions of the sex workers unions in the revolution and their subsequent inclusion within the primary syndicalism labor federation in America (the most powerful economic organization in America) could do a lot to transform public consciousness on the issue. Although probably within the space the first cultural revolution has the most impact, so Americas many revolutionary cities. New York and Chicago at their head.

 

[traveller76]

Teachers

Maybe Prostitutes become more like Courtesans, Geishas and Teachers. People go to these particular clubs for fine dining, dancing and entertainment from Burlesque to Stand-up comedy. Some of these Prostitutes may help couples spice up the their love life or act as Counselors. Others as Health Teachers to dispell some of the myths of sex.

They would be against human trafficking and some would be well educated dues paying union members. Imagine Doctor Ruth as a Madam.

 

[Great Laxit]

What's the status of Japanese popular culture in this timeline? Does it have as large a presence in the UASR? If not Japan is there another country who's pop culture has as large a presence in the UASR as anime, manga and Japanese video games did in otl?

 

[tuxer]

What's the status of Japanese popular culture in this timeline? Does it have as large a presence in the UASR? If not Japan is there another country who's pop culture has as large a presence in the UASR as anime, manga and Japanese video games did in otl?

I think that China will largely replace Japan as the major producer of East Asian animation and will have huge influence upon the rest of the Comintern. However that is for after WWII, so let's not talk about it.

 

[Miss Teri]

What's the status of Japanese popular culture in this timeline? Does it have as large a presence in the UASR? If not Japan is there another country who's pop culture has as large a presence in the UASR as anime, manga and Japanese video games did in otl?

Various anime have been mentioned (including Gundam and Ghost in a Shell, under its original Japanese name) throughout the TL, so presumably, it at least still is as popular in the UASR as in the OTL US. Given this, one could extrapolate that Japanese pop culture is still very prominent in the UASR, and in the communist sphere.

I think that China will largely replace Japan as the major producer of East Asian animation and will have huge influence upon the rest of the Comintern. However that is for after WWII, so let's not talk about it.

I thought that rule only applied to geopolitics. Discussing pop culture and the like was fine.

 

[eliphas8]

I think that China will largely replace Japan as the major producer of East Asian animation and will have huge influence upon the rest of the Comintern. However that is for after WWII, so let's not talk about it.

The relationship is probably more equitable, rather than China directly replacing Japan in any real sense. Japan still has its impact as can be drawn from the fact that we get relatively common references to ATL anime.

What might change though is the form and style of anime. We've already gotten the implication that Japan goes through a pretty dark time culturally throughout the Cold War era. Which along with American social mores leading to less potential for kids animation to be be exported I think could create an environment for a sort of "eternal 90s" in anime culture. Where both the misanthrope ultra violence of that era, and the more respectable but targeting an older demographic works like Cowboy Bebop are kind of the model of anime that goes to America and ends up popular.

 

[eliphas8]

Maybe Prostitutes become more like Courtesans, Geishas and Teachers. People go to these particular clubs for fine dining, dancing and entertainment from Burlesque to Stand-up comedy. Some of these Prostitutes may help couples spice up the their love life or act as Counselors. Others as Health Teachers to dispell some of the myths of sex.

They would be against human trafficking and some would be well educated dues paying union members. Imagine Doctor Ruth as a Madam.

I think transforming the social role of prostitution that much is unlikely. That kind of specified and artisan sex work is also probably common though. But I'm sure that most prostitutes will remain working class women (and increasingly during the cultural revolutions, men) working in brothels or other similar types of establishment (more legitimate sexual massage parlors than we have OTL, Turkish baths, etc), that are now cleaner and safer than anything that has existed beforehand.

 

[E. Burke]

I think transforming the social role of prostitution that much is unlikely. That kind of specified and artisan sex work is also probably common though. But I'm sure that most prostitutes will remain working class women (and increasingly during the cultural revolutions, men) working in brothels or other similar types of establishment (more legitimate sexual massage parlors than we have OTL, Turkish baths, etc), that are now cleaner and safer than anything that has existed beforehand.

However, the nature of prostitution will change in some ways I think, I wish we had some sex workers posting here who could talk about it.