I don’t really understand your first point, as the Boss didn’t fire the nuke, that’s was Volgin’s work. The Boss’s job was to bring Volgin the missile. As to why Volgin did it? That’s one of the comically evil things I mentioned before. There was no reason for it.
Second, yes Snake is very much an “enlightened centrist” and I won’t push back on that. I’ll mostly tack that up too Kojima being a “western leftist”.
I will push back on the Philosophers line through. Even though they say they “want to do the right thing”, they were never painted in a positive light. They were corrupted by capital, evil, and completely forgot about their goals only 2 decades after starting. They are undisputed villains that act as the precursor to similarly evil organizations like the Patriots.
For the Socialism on China line, I agree! For real life you are entirely correct. I’m simply talking about the in game universe, as that’s even a plot point focused only in the game. Socialism was the reason why China was able to develop, however similar to a “Deng moment” the 1 trillion dollars and CIA secrets allowed China to invest in themselves and build themselves back faster. The game doesn’t really forget socialism, they simply say the money was useful in preventing China from falling behind. (In game of course, not in real life)
I don’t really understand your first point, as the Boss didn’t fire the nuke, that’s was Volgin’s work. The Boss’s job was to bring Volgin the missile.
I’m saying that yes, the CIA will betray you, but the Soviet Union will also betray you. The Boss was betrayed by the CIA. The scientists were betrayed by Volgin. The CIA is not portrayed as uniquely evil, and their evil isn’t tied to empire or capitalism. There are bad people here, and there are bad people there. In both cases they can get away with anything.
On the other two points, your readings aren’t at odds with the text, but the text isn’t damning condemnations of capitalism or liberalism either. The game can slot onto your world view or a liberal world view without challenging either. Since your world view is so far from a liberal world view, that can only be the case if it’s weak critique. If socialism isn’t forgotten, then the powers should compound and China should be a bigger player in the world of Metal Gear than the real world. But we never hear about China.
I don’t really understand your first point, as the Boss didn’t fire the nuke, that’s was Volgin’s work. The Boss’s job was to bring Volgin the missile. As to why Volgin did it? That’s one of the comically evil things I mentioned before. There was no reason for it.
Second, yes Snake is very much an “enlightened centrist” and I won’t push back on that. I’ll mostly tack that up too Kojima being a “western leftist”.
I will push back on the Philosophers line through. Even though they say they “want to do the right thing”, they were never painted in a positive light. They were corrupted by capital, evil, and completely forgot about their goals only 2 decades after starting. They are undisputed villains that act as the precursor to similarly evil organizations like the Patriots.
For the Socialism on China line, I agree! For real life you are entirely correct. I’m simply talking about the in game universe, as that’s even a plot point focused only in the game. Socialism was the reason why China was able to develop, however similar to a “Deng moment” the 1 trillion dollars and CIA secrets allowed China to invest in themselves and build themselves back faster. The game doesn’t really forget socialism, they simply say the money was useful in preventing China from falling behind. (In game of course, not in real life)
I’m saying that yes, the CIA will betray you, but the Soviet Union will also betray you. The Boss was betrayed by the CIA. The scientists were betrayed by Volgin. The CIA is not portrayed as uniquely evil, and their evil isn’t tied to empire or capitalism. There are bad people here, and there are bad people there. In both cases they can get away with anything.
On the other two points, your readings aren’t at odds with the text, but the text isn’t damning condemnations of capitalism or liberalism either. The game can slot onto your world view or a liberal world view without challenging either. Since your world view is so far from a liberal world view, that can only be the case if it’s weak critique. If socialism isn’t forgotten, then the powers should compound and China should be a bigger player in the world of Metal Gear than the real world. But we never hear about China.