Bulldoggus
Banned
Makes sense. My fanon is that soccer is played in the communist bloc, but capitalist nations are just way better at it.
Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
You have traditionally strong countries like Argentina and Mexico in the Red bloc, but sports aren't really my specialty.
I'm partisan to jousting being revived as a sport though.
I'm partisan to jousting being revived as a sport though.
Bulldoggus
Banned
Mexico has yet to win, and my fanon was custom designed to prevent an Argentine victory (I dislike their soccer team).
Bulldoggus
Banned
There were a bizarre number of early socialists who saw the Middle Ages as a sort of golden age, so I wouldn't be shocked if there is jousting and Middle Ages fads in comintern culture (The FBU would also have middle ages stuff, of course).
Bookmark1995
Banned
Are you referring to the Dark Enlightenment movement? I bet those wack-jobs are more profligate than OTL.
Early socialists were inspired by idealized rural communities and artisan shops. In the manifesto, Marx and Engels criticized the "conservative socialists" - after all, the medieval social structure was built in the form of a pyramid. To the same there is little good - even looking at women's portraits I ask myself the question - "What are they sick?". Cuddles located on the primitive communal formation in this plan are much more promising. For example, in the USSR, always sympathized with the image of a noble savage and a brave Indian.
Continuing @The_Red_Star_Rising's call for more original ATL pop culture, here's a brief intro to my OC.
----------------------------------------------------
An Intro to Jack Stern and Sternology
"To me, Jack Stern is America, warts and all."
-Jean-Luc Godard
"When I want to relax, I read Hegel. When I want something more challenging, I read Jack Stern"
-Slavoj Zizek [1]
"If my books are like a dry martini, then Max Kaplan's Jack Stern is moonshine served in a dirty glass. And I mean this in the best way possible"
-Ian Fleming
Jack Stern is one of the most iconic figures in American culture. The troubled yet brilliant spy, devoted to socialism and G-d (he's Jewish), but with some reservations regarding his job. Unlike the suave ladies' man James Bond, Stern is morally grey, shaken, and flawed; while Bond visits exotic, romantic locations, Stern visits gritty, noir areas (like Berlin or Rome), or exotic outposts with a hidden underbelly (like Lhasa or Havana).
In short, the hard-edged, proletarian popular icon for a proletarian nation. No less a figure than Upton Sinclair called him "our Sherlock Holmes", which Stern's creator, Max Kaplan, replied to with "Well, if it wasn't for Holmes, I wouldn't have written Jack Stern in the first place!"
Accompanying Stern is his partner, Nathan Turner, a Gullah from South Carolina, who Stern credits with "keeping my head on my shoulders", and Natalya Abdulova, a headstrong GUGB agent with a...complicated relationship with Mr. Stern. [2] His Moriarty figure is Nikolai Barbarossa, a Franco-British agent who's been code-named "The Boogeyman" by Stern's bosses. (In one of the later books, Stern states "One of my contacts in Hong Kong said that he found out some stuff about Nikolai's childhood. Said that he was the bastard child of either an American cop and a Russian noblewoman or a Russian nobleman and an American whore. It sounds like he made it up, but I believe it anyways because it sounds like the kind of childhood that would make a guy like Nikolai.")
Interestingly enough, Max Kaplan actually was a spy in both the Revolution and World War II. He wrote the first Stern story, "Jack Stern in the Land of the Tiger King", while working in Lhasa spying on the Japanese-backed Azad Hind movement. He later half-jokingly said that "Stern was basically a self-insert with some major details changed here and there so that my old bosses won't get pissed".
[1] Based off something Umberto Eco said about Corto Maltese
[2] Like a less villainous version of Inspector Zenigata from Lupin III
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This whole thing's a work in progress. How is it so far?
----------------------------------------------------
An Intro to Jack Stern and Sternology
"To me, Jack Stern is America, warts and all."
-Jean-Luc Godard
"When I want to relax, I read Hegel. When I want something more challenging, I read Jack Stern"
-Slavoj Zizek [1]
"If my books are like a dry martini, then Max Kaplan's Jack Stern is moonshine served in a dirty glass. And I mean this in the best way possible"
-Ian Fleming
Jack Stern is one of the most iconic figures in American culture. The troubled yet brilliant spy, devoted to socialism and G-d (he's Jewish), but with some reservations regarding his job. Unlike the suave ladies' man James Bond, Stern is morally grey, shaken, and flawed; while Bond visits exotic, romantic locations, Stern visits gritty, noir areas (like Berlin or Rome), or exotic outposts with a hidden underbelly (like Lhasa or Havana).
In short, the hard-edged, proletarian popular icon for a proletarian nation. No less a figure than Upton Sinclair called him "our Sherlock Holmes", which Stern's creator, Max Kaplan, replied to with "Well, if it wasn't for Holmes, I wouldn't have written Jack Stern in the first place!"
Accompanying Stern is his partner, Nathan Turner, a Gullah from South Carolina, who Stern credits with "keeping my head on my shoulders", and Natalya Abdulova, a headstrong GUGB agent with a...complicated relationship with Mr. Stern. [2] His Moriarty figure is Nikolai Barbarossa, a Franco-British agent who's been code-named "The Boogeyman" by Stern's bosses. (In one of the later books, Stern states "One of my contacts in Hong Kong said that he found out some stuff about Nikolai's childhood. Said that he was the bastard child of either an American cop and a Russian noblewoman or a Russian nobleman and an American whore. It sounds like he made it up, but I believe it anyways because it sounds like the kind of childhood that would make a guy like Nikolai.")
Interestingly enough, Max Kaplan actually was a spy in both the Revolution and World War II. He wrote the first Stern story, "Jack Stern in the Land of the Tiger King", while working in Lhasa spying on the Japanese-backed Azad Hind movement. He later half-jokingly said that "Stern was basically a self-insert with some major details changed here and there so that my old bosses won't get pissed".
[1] Based off something Umberto Eco said about Corto Maltese
[2] Like a less villainous version of Inspector Zenigata from Lupin III
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This whole thing's a work in progress. How is it so far?
Last edited:
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Will Arab Armies still be the atrocious messes they were OTL? I mean, it's possible, but if the Americans end up organizing the Iranian Military the FBU might have to build up the Officer Corps of the Iraqis and Hashemite Arabia.
Bookmark1995
Banned
It is common for overtly ideological nations to use hyperbolic language.
So would even "independent" news media be very hyperbolic.
OTL, a story would read, "57 British soldiers were killed in da-da-da".
ITTL, would the headline be "57 imperialist parasites were fought back by brave revolutionaries?"
Because it ties into my belief that Red Americans are more scary than OTL Americans.
So would even "independent" news media be very hyperbolic.
OTL, a story would read, "57 British soldiers were killed in da-da-da".
ITTL, would the headline be "57 imperialist parasites were fought back by brave revolutionaries?"
Because it ties into my belief that Red Americans are more scary than OTL Americans.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Sounds like sensationalist garbage that would come from a McCarthyite or an Uber Tankie. America may be ideologically Communist, but it's still a democratic country and journalistic integrity still stands. Add in the fact that American Socialism is not nearly as nationalistic as Soviet Socialism, and you'll likely have a general feeling that the soldiers are just pawns of the Capitalist Elite and should be pitied and not demonized.
Come on Bookmark, you're better than this.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
I kind of want Comrade Pingu memes to still be a thing TTL.
What about Stirner tho?
Bookmark1995
Banned
So in your opinion, the attitude of Reds would be more like condescension rather than cruelty?
Calm yourself. I'm just asking the question.
I kind of want to have a thread for memes from alternate timelines. I feel that this community is the only place that would appreciate it.
I doubt that very much. Any biases in the mainstream will be much more subtle than that, and they might have more tact than that. Those sorts of sensationalist headlines are likely from extremist publications.
Someone get to making shitty Polandball comics for TTL.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
I'm sorry if I didn't appear calm. It's hard to show demeanor on the Internet. When I said "you're better than this" I meant it not in a confrontational way but a "sitting down, having a beer and talking" type way with a colleague.
I think it would be more like irritating condescension, as Jane (Jello) has pointed out to us.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
"Polan part of glorious Sovyet Younion and still cannot into space! Cannot even into Yankee-American sex party! KURRRRRWWWAAAAAAAA!!!!"