u/Sentinel-Wraith

It could legit take more than a century before anyone trusts the US again

And why would it take the US more than a century, especially compared against other offenders?

Germany, Italy, and Japan recovered quickly despite causing tens of millions of deaths and invading their neighbors. Italy was a former ally before it joined the Axis, Japan had previously had cordial relations with the US, and Germany had already killied millions in the previous World War.

The PRC recovered from Mao and the Gang of Four, which included massive civil strife, millions of deaths, and corruption.

South Korea overcame a huge amount of corruption and authoritarianism to become a popular tourist and music center.

Even Russia was dealing with Europe's top leaders and companies only a few years after pointing nuclear missiles at Europe and executing immigrants with machine guns. Many redditors even took Russia's side against Biden's warnings about the invasion of Ukraine.

And let's not forget Ukraine's reputation recovered only a few years after the previous pro-Russian president fled to Russia.

Is the US's global standing and reputation currently damaged? Yes.

Will there be consequences for years? Absolutely.

If the US cleans shop and doesn't actually invade allies, will people hate it for 4 generations? Pretty unlikely.

How do Americans live with this level of delusion after all this time?

The knowledge that Reddit frequently makes inaccurate predictions and that many of the people posting have no historical or geopolticial qualifications. It's very easy to parrot things in an echo chamber online. It's much harder to actually do the hard work and research to understand geopolitical relations and long term strategies.

Do you even understand that the rest of the world now see the US as a very wealthy Russia

Do you understand that one of Russia's goals is stoking anti-Atlanticist feelings in social media? Do you remember how Reddit got astroturfed and called Biden a liar when he warned about the imminent invasion of Ukraine, which Reddit called "another Iraq lie"? Or how Ukraine couldn't be trusted because their politicians were directly in the pocket of Russia for so long?

Biden ended up right. Ukraine turned itself around.

that won't change for decades to come?

Who knows. If the US cracks down hard on corruption and pulls a Zelensky-level turnaround, it's possible. If it comes out that the US, like Ukraine and Hungary, was hijacked by Russian influence, it'd be easier for people to accept.

People also forget nations don't only follow a "rise and fall" dynamic, but also a "ebb and flow" dynamic.

I’ve never seen 343 fans despise Bungie Halo.

I have seen Bungie fans hating on them for sprint, armor abilities, bloom, dmrs, retcons, inclusion of LGBT romance (Osiris x Saint-14 kiss) Lightfall, Marathon, and the abandonment of Destiny 2.

I dont fucking care, the Forerunner twist was bulshit and stupid

Humans being a flawed civilization that thwarted a Flood incursion and held for decades against the Forerunners is more interesting, imho, than humans being godlike stellar engineers that ruled the entire galaxy of as (nearly) perfect mary sues.

The Forerunners having a complex empire of nation-state-castes was a lot more interesting than a galaxy wide monoculture.

Likewise, the Flood being a corrupted eldritch god intent on spreading unending suffering in a great act of revenge is more interesting than the Flood being zombies from deep space reciting edgy poems.

Bungie isnt infallible either

Let's not glaze them.

"Bungle" abandoned Halo and killed Destiny, which only by a divine miracle got brought back because of their own failure with Marathon.

Bungie's own fans were also pretty brutal when Reach came out. Armor Lock, Sprint, Bloom, DMRS, and Hyper Lethal Noble 6 got the fanbase out for their blood. I remember many a declaraction of "Halo is ruined, Halo is now COD".

4 being a dumpster fire lore wise

Despite the complaining, it is pretty ironic that the Forerunner saga confirmed Humans and Forerunners were close cousins anyway.

No protests in the streets.

By "No Protests", you're referring to the "No King's Protests" that took place in over 3,000 locations and were the largest in 250 years of American history?

Or are you referring to the countless smaller protests that regularly go on?

Are you advocating for the US and EU to openly declare war on Russia?

Or are you saying only China and Russia are allowed to engage in proxy wars?

Conversely, some have actually lived there and recognize that Japan has strengths and weaknesses like anywhere else.

Japan does have brutal office culture and the bureaucracy and logistics can be nightmarish parodies of efficiency, but it also has affordable healthcare, is much safer with significantly higher social trust, and is extremely affordable.

They once brought in warships when an American settler killed a pig eating potatoes in his garden. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/7yti72/snake_and_frog_staying_safe_from_floods_together/

Looks like a repost with the watermark removed.

Last night they were claiming they shot down an F-35. 

They prevented North Korea from taking over all of Korea.

They prevented the Soviets from storming western Europe (eg, Berlin Airlift, Deterrence) 

They liberated Kuwait from Saddam.

They also played a major role as in humanitarian operations after a number of major natural disasters, such as the popular Operation Tomodachi during Fukushima. 

Basic survival instincts and historical precedent.

The US, EU, and NATO would counterattack with a massive conventional assault, which Russia couldn’t withstand. Europe would probably go into emergency rearmament.

Further nuclear escalation would be the end of the leadership of Russia, which very much wants to continue living in luxury and power. They aren’t suicidal and their refusal to withdraw from Ukraine is now probably for fear of sparking an internal political/governmental collapse like after 1980s Afghanistan.

China wouldn’t tolerate Russia threatening critical trade partners in Europe or the inevitable sanctions.

Historically, nuclear powers only conventionally or proxy fight in third party nations, as seen in Korea and Vietnam. Nukes are taboo.

These machines are designed to kill people, and as such, nothing about their design and impact is humane.

Actually, fighters are often used in non-lethal deterrence to disuade military trespassing and conflict. Russian bombers that can carry nuclear cruise missles have been intercepted and driven off as close as 50 miles off the coast of California's heavily populated cities, which is a short flight for a jet.

The EU and Japan (which is famous for modern pacifism) both regularly drive off Russian aircraft and also hold military airshows.

we haven’t been to a good war since WWII

No war is "good", but if you mean by justified, we've done several that could be argued to be since then.

The Korean War saved South Korea from being ruled by North Korea, one of the most unhinged and brutal nations in the world. South Korea eventually reformed and became a popular democracy.

The First Gulf War was generally considered to the justified liberation of an illegally occupied country and had broad support.

Afghanistan, while botched in the long term, did correctly identify and attack allies of Bin Laden, who had attacked naval ships, embassies, economic centers and murdered citizens of over 90 nations.

The Balkan War had the Allies intervene to stop genocide.

The involement of the US in the Cold War in Europe also helped Europe resist the Soviet Union's efforts to destroy western (and eastern) democracy.

I can't help but think most empire defenders MUST come from 1st world "western" countries.

Considering Skyrim is a western game, made by a western studio, most of the players are going to be western.

You could make a counter argument about where people come from considering how many Stormcloak supporters act like Talos is a stand in for western monotheism and is not actually part of a pantheon of gods in a polytheist culture.

Being a colony sucks*. Being part of an empire is only good if you're in the metropolis, otherwise you're just fucked.*

Skyrim was a founding state of the Empire, has been a province for hundreds of years, and practiced self-representation and democractic rule. The rebellion happened when a nord nationalist murdered the democratically elected ruler of the province while under the influence of the intelligence service of a foreign empire (Aldemeri Dominion).

While there are real world issues with Empires, the two leading factions in current lore are basically a fascist/supremecist empire (Aldemeri Dominion under Thalmor Rule) vs the Mede Empire with democratic representation. Obviously, some people are going to be more favorable to the Mede Empire over the very clear fascist imagry of the Thalmor and the xenophobia and isolationism of the Stormcloaks.

Anyway, you talk about SL having no plot but can you describe Frieren's? Isn't part of the appeal that introspection not plot is the focus?

Frieren's plot is an Elf mage retracing her grand adventure with the protegees of her former companions to learn more about humans, fufill her regrets, and speak to the ghost of her beloved companion at Aureole.

There's also a (potential major Frieren season 2 and 3 spoilers) second plot with strong evidence that the Demon King's top lieutenant and seer, Schlact the Omniscient, anticipated Himmel and Frieren's victory and her second journey and laid traps and plans through time. I don't think the war with the demon king is over.

1. The Empire could have pulled them into the main part of the empire and chose to leave them to help fight off the Thalmor.

2. Ulfric was directly under the influnce of the Thalmor before he even formed the Stormcloaks. His anger at the Empire was created by the Thalmor when he was intentially given false information and misled.

You also refer to the "constant theft of Skyrim's resources and manpower"... Skyrim is a province of the Empire, all nations take taxes from their states. We also know the Empire largely gave Skyrim autonomy in their own affairs, hence the Democratic Moot.

(if Skyrim remains part of the empire, the Nords will definitely be used as human shields in the second great war).

No, they won't. Actually, if Skyrim breaks off, the Thalmor will ensure they'll be cut off from the Imperials and rapidly devoured. Without magic, Stormcloak forces are quickly crushed, as as a traditionalist and Nord Supremecist, Ulfric is unlikely to get aid from his neightbors or the college.

The Thalmor view Ulfric as an "uncooperative asset" because nords killing their oppressors unsurprisingly weakens said oppressors.

They flat out state they still have access and can directly approach and appeal to him, which indicates they have a means to control him. No leader with potential magical brainwashing by the alleged enemies of the Stormcloaks should be leading the Stormcloaks... and to that end, the Stormcloaks themselves were founded because of intentional Thalmor influence.

-The thalmor could actually get at any point.

No, they couldn't, hence why inquisitions were stated to have been rare and people could still worship privately in their home prior to Ulfric's rebellion. The Thalmor used Ulfric to force the Empire to let them in Skyrim. In fact, in the cut dialogue of Helgen, Elenwen attempts to use this same White Gold Concordat to save the life of Ulfric.

Why not, instead of blaming Ulfric we blame the pathetic, gutless puppet the empire wants to rule skyrim (Elisif)?

Because that isn't an accurate reading. Elisif was only put into power after Ulfric murdered King Torygg, the democratically elected leader of Skyrim, who was ironically said to be a close friend of Ulfric and even pro-stormcloak. She's also not shown to be "pathetic and gutless" and is instead shown to be highly involved with trying to stay connected with ongoings.

And yes, Ulfric did murder him and made his wife a widow. Torygg supported Ulfric and was apparently willing to join him, but Ulfric didn't want this, challenged to a duel he couldn't win or stand down from due to his Nord honor, and then killed him with magic instead of traditional combat.

This then caused the civil war. So yes, Ulfric can be blamed.

-Manpower, silver, taxes, tariffs plus a long history of sabotage to make the provinces dependent (as shown in Redguard and Morrowind) says otherwise.

Taxes are a normal function of a government and the Empire does take them, but the Thalmor are not shown to be extracting them from Skyrim as the meme suggests.

Warframe: Corpus vs Grineer vs Infested vs Corrupted vs Sentients (and possibly Narmer, Thrax, Void Angels, and The Murmer)

Halo: Flood vs Covenant vs Sentinels

Skyrim: do I need to even say anything?

Monster Hunter: Turf Wars and predation events

They have versions of the classic helmet with a gold faceplate.

It's canon. Welcome to reality.

I didn't say it wasn't. I simply pointed out the optics don't look great. An older man writing a romance about a junior highschool-aged girl getting pregnant by an older man doesn't look great, nor does his decision to turn Sango, a powerful monster hunter, into a housewife.

Sesshoumaru and rin concept was not new to Takahashi writing 

She didn't write the romance. A 60 year old guy did.

The creator of Inuyasha never made it.

This. The difference in values also shows. The Rin x Sesshoumaru romance was written by an older Japanese man in his 60's. The same guy also evidently turned Sango, a monster hunter ninja, into a stay at home mom.

How? Have you actually read the bible? "Kindness, humility, charity, respect, and peace" are not really what the bible is about...

The NT definitely is, with Christ favoring prostitutes, occupying soldiers, lepers, social outcasts, rebels, and tax collectors over his established religious groups, even going so far as to saying loving your neighbor is one of the two greatest commandments.

And for the record, he's right. Shinto and Buddhists adherents did find a lot in common with Christianity and actively shielded them from witch hunts, murder, and torture in Japan.

At Sakitsu, they protected Christians and allowed them to secretly worship in Shrines and Temples while registering them as Buddhist or Shinto. They actually commemorated this tri-faith alliance with a Christian, Shinto, and Buddhist Goshuin stamp in recent years.