There is currently a very funny, kind of sad dust-up over Helldivers 2, in which self-proclaimed “anti-woke” gamers have previously heralded it as a rare game where they believe “politics” does not play a factor. Their faith was been shaken by an Arrowhead community manager they believed they found to be (gasp) progressive who was then subsequently harassed, but their head-scratching reading of Helldivers 2 as a “non-political” game is worth examining.
The only thing that makes sense is that these players have the shallowest of surface-level readings of the game. You are a patriotic soldier serving Super Earth. You must kill bugs and evil robots trying to hurt your brothers-in-arms and innocent citizens. There are no storylines to insert progressive causes into, everyone wears helmets so no “forced diversity.” Therefore, no politics.
Of course, this is…wildly off the mark, as Helldivers 2 is about the most blatantly obvious satire of militaristic fascism since the film that inspired it, Starship Troopers.
He was though? He was absolutely not a fascist, which is what we mean when we say ‘conservative’ today, but if you put him in white face, or included some ‘magically not be racist’ in your ‘magically bring back the dead’ spell, onald Reagan and Winston Churchill would’ve both adored him.
Sure, Ronald “let the poor die” Reagan, Ronald “cuts for welfare, debt for military expenses” Reagan wpuld have adored Obamacare, stronger Wallstreet Regulations and the most extensive climate protection bills up that üoint. Yeah, thats what Reagan stood for.