Yeah, I agree - unions and representative collective bargaining is the best shot that most of us have to effect any meaningful, positive change, and I hope that our willingness and ability to unionize only increases. Unions seem to be trending upward these days, at least relative to the past couple of decades, but they also seem to largely operate in an employment-centric capacity.

When it comes to environmental concerns, though, it really does feel fruitless. I’m not saying that giving up is the answer - just that it’s important to acknowledge and accept when the situation feels futile, and continue to try regardless, especially in light of our collective fates at the end of the road. In the US, at least, corporate influencers have had so much time to set things up in their favor - through the courts, legislature, and minds of the people - that it feels like we’re fish caught in their net.

Representative democracy is our best bet for effecting positive change on that front too, but our current conundrum is that many of our representatives have stopped representing us in meaningful ways, often paying lip service while they get paid through Super PACs and amenities. The best way to change that, short of violence (in which the outcome is, at best, mutually assured destruction of both government and populace) is, again, voting together, at the same time, and in the same direction.

I still hope for a better future, and I will do what is in my power to try and realize that future. I just hope that there are enough of us trying, at the same time, and in the same direction.

It’s like that scene in Finding Nemo, where the fish are caught in the net. None of the fish want to die, but the net is going to keep pulling them to their death regardless of their collective desires. Subverting that fate requires that every single fish pull together, at the same time, and in the same direction, which, outside of an animated movie, isn’t going to happen.

Changing the system requires us to vote together, at the same time, and in the same direction, which, outside of an animated movie, isn’t going to happen.

Apathy is just the state of those that have tired themselves out trying to make up for the fact that not everyone is going to be pulling at the same time, and in the same direction. If no matter how hard you pull, the net is going to keep pulling you in whichever direction its operators desire, pulling is a futile endeavor, and apathy will eventually be all you have left.

I’ve bought every single one of the older ones and have them set to play a random one every time I boot up or wake from sleep. This is welcome news to me. :D

Creating intrigue is relatively straightforward if you don’t worry about sticking the landing.

Ebenezer Scrooge was the true Multiverse of Madness.

Part of me thinks that Baylan Skoll still harbors a lot of sentiment towards the force and its influence. You can see it in the way that he never seems to try and control the ways events unfold. He still (for the most part) seems content to allow events to play out as they will, or as the Force directs.

He claims that he no longer abides by the Jedi teachings, and claims that he no longer has any faith, but I’ve grown up religious, and even though I no longer believe or practice, it’s still difficult to completely extricate that sort of influence from my decision-making.

I imagine that it’d be more difficult to separate for Baylan Skoll, for whom the existence of the Force is irrefutable, even if he professes to no longer believe in it, as he continues to wield it.

I really hoped that he would catch and return a few blaster bolts like Kylie Ren. That, or surround himself with a free free-floating blasters and let them fire as he continued to fight bare-handed.

What we got is still dope though. I loved how Shin’s saber beam flexed when he caught her blade to show the influence of the force push (catch?). I’m definitely watching that entire sequence again.

Man, fuck this planet. Whether it’s plastic or lead, you can’t seem to fucking avoid shit.