kissdbyfire

I don’t understand it either. The posturing part sounds true enough, he’s been doing that for a long time apparently. As to the rest, no clue but that’s what commentators were saying and however ignorant they may be they definitely understand this mess a lot better than me. This guy has to go, has had to go for a long time…

It’s posturing. He’s hoping for another country to do something stupid to then double down on the stupidity. He can’t invade by sea b/c apparently he doesn’t have the means, so any invading force would have to cross Brazilian territory and the Brazilian president has said that won’t happen, not even when hell freezes over. He’s pissed b/c of all the criticism he’s been getting irt the upcoming elections, and he’s been criticised by everyone including Lula who had up until now tried to keep engaging Maduro b/c he says only imposing sanctions and beating them down (even more) not only isn’t working but hurts the Venezuelan people above all. So he’s lashing out and according to pundits and commentators it’s basically a stunt, he’s playing for Venezuelans on both sides of the political spectrum who believe the region is theirs.

How do you reckon?

As a confirmed atheist I find Richard Dawkins to be an offensive arsehole.

This. We could have had a ST kind of future but it seems humans are hellbent on a Mad Max kind of future.

Well, there’s a line of thought that claims that if you’re annoying both sides of a debate, you must be doing something right. Not that I subscribe to it… much the opposite, in fact!

No, there aren’t.

Mormont would absolutely execute Slynt in the same circumstances. You had it coming!

And were all in on a plot to murder said LC. And Slynt not only underestimated Jon, but he overestimated his plot mates and their willingness to stick out their own necks to defend him. Agree. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Old Bear would have chopped off Slynt’s ugly head much sooner than Jon did.

Indeed. But the absolute bestest part of this lunatic “interpretation” of the story is that these diehard Targ fans aka TARGAs/Stark haters is that they think Dany of all people would condone the actions of Walder Frey, Tywin Lannister, Roose Bolton and other villains just b/c these nasty arseholes took action against the Starks. And what makes this so fucking hilarious is that these readers claim to be Dany fans but they don’t get the character at all!

And he would have been wrong. We're not talking about a silly fight between 3rd graders in the playground. The NW is a military institution w/ a hierarchy in a medieval-ish setting. Jon ponders the alternatives and decides none of them are adequate punishment. His whole train of thought is right there in the text. No, he really doesn't. Slynt isn't actually taking anything he's said back. He just realises that Jon is actually going to execute him and, coward that he is, he decides to beg for his life. And Jon changing his mind then would have been the worst mistake he could ever make. It would tell all those men under him that they could get away w/ any type of insubordination as long as they begged for mercy right before being executed. Nope, both plotted w/ Slynt to have Jon murdered under Tywin's orders way back in ASoS.

It didn't justify execution when they had their first exchange on the topic, but by the time Jon finally executes Slynt it was 100% warranted. In fact, it was warranted even before that point.

Disagreeing is fine, I just don't understand how any of it can be seen as some type of endorsement, it very clearly isn't IMO.

I think it’s a huge misunderstanding to take things the author has characters say to expose certain things, ideas, actions, ideologies, etc., as personal endorsements. For instance, in your first example Martin may be not only exposing the evils of slavery indirectly but also showing the Braavosi as morally superior to the slavers. Sort of applying Michelle Obama’s philosophy of “when they go low we go high”. I can’t tell how realistic it is here though; I very much doubt I would have it in me to be so magnanimous to people who had previously enslaved me. It’s been forever since I’ve read the books, but doesn’t the 2nd example happen when Dany was struggling to achieve peace in Meereen? And we know Dany is very much against slavery. So here he is just showing how hard it is to rule, and how sometimes rulers must compromise even when said compromise goes against every thing they believe in. The third example is similar. Dany doesn’t like the guy, definitely doesn’t want to marry him, but sees it as her obligation to do so. Robb’s execution of Karstark and Jon’s execution of Slynt are very clearly the law of the land being applied, whereas what Dany’s advisers want is vengeance and maybe even to create chaos. But again, in all these instances I think it’s a mistake to assume that b/c a character says or does something, it means the author endorses it. Following this logic, then Martin endorses the atrocities Tywin does and say, or Ramsay or any other evil villain.

I’ll rephrase. Escalation is exactly what some want.

Bad for the world but good for some, no?

Racial prejudice =/= racism.

Should we look forward to an SEC investigation and subsequent charges? I may be wrong but I think he doesn’t have one of those yet? Is he trying to ace the criminal code like it’s a test or something?

Oh I hope not! I don’t remember how this particular dream started, but from the point I do remember I had one of my eyeballs in my hand and I kept trying to pop it back in but it kept popping out! And the weird part is that I wasn’t scared or in pain or anxious or anything. The whole experience felt very matter of fact in the dream. Still, I much prefer my frequent flying dreams…

Lots of disturbing films and scenes mentioned here but I don’t think I’ve ever found anything I’ve watched as an adult truly disturbing. Now, as a kid nothing could be more disturbing than the horrific stuff that came out of Disney Studios. Seriously, Dumbo and Bambi put me off animation for life, and now when people bring up The Lion King or Frozen or whatever, I have no idea what they’re talking about. Have not watched any since forever except South Park.

No, he didn’t. He’d just come out of the Shieldhall and was on his way to see Selyse and then Mel. ADwD, Jon XIII “Then Tormund was pounding him on the back, all gap-toothed grin from ear to ear. “Well spoken, crow. Now bring out the mead! Make them yours and get them drunk, that’s how it’s done. We’ll make a wildling o’ you yet, boy. Har!” “I will send for ale,” Jon said, distracted. Melisandre was gone, he realized, and so were the queen’s knights. I should have gone to Selyse first. She has the right to know her lord is dead. “You must excuse me. I’ll leave you to get them drunk.” “Har! A task I’m well suited for, crow. On your way!” Horse and Rory fell in beside Jon as he left the Shieldhall. I should talk with Melisandre after I see the queen, he thought.”

It’s not just the ringmail but boiled leather and the layers of woolen small clothes that Martin keeps bringing up again and again. All of that + short blade = voila all the undead Jon theories go down the drain.

You’re welcome. As to not liking simple answers, I imagine you’re gonna feel right at home here since there are a whole lot of readers who seem to subscribe to that line of thinking, including irt things that have already been answered, some quite a while back.

https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Asshai.com_Forum_Chat Q: What is the cycle of a year? Why do they count years when seasons are strange?] GRRM: Twelve moon tuns to a year, as on earth. Even on our earth, years have nothing to do with the seasons, or with the cycles of the moon. A year is a measure of a solar cycle, of how long it takes the earth to make one complete revolution around the sun. The same is true for the world of Westeros. Seasons do not come into it.

Oh dear, order of the green hand is just terrible. Since this is about hated theories, I’ll name all of theirs.