this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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For posting all the anonymous reactionary bullshit that you can't post anywhere else.
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If you're going to reply to my comment, respond to what I actually said. I didn't say it's secretly fascist, I said it traffics in fascist tropes. Fascist tropes such as, for instance:
[CW: racism, antisemitism, transphobia]
"Certain races are born evil. Even the children think only of your own race's destruction, and that is why you must commit defensive genocide against them to protect your own race.".
"Certain races are inherently untrustworthy."
.
"Empathy for the other is naive and stupid. They may look human, but they're actually just monsters in human guise. Empathy for them is a suicidal mistake that will only get your own people killed."
Is "these magical predatory animals are basically born in SS uniforms and are naturally inclined to do fascist things and orchestrate a fascist society" a flawed and problematic premise? Sure, it could have been done better, but ultimately the demons are bad because they are fascists, because they act like fascists and do typical fascist things. The conceit behind them is "what if a predatory magical animal species that's basically a walking weapon of mass destruction became sapient" rather than equating the elitist, extremely stratified, racial supremacist warrior empire to powerless real-world marginalized groups that elitist, extremely stratified, racial supremacist warrior empires claim are sneaky infiltrators trying to destroy everything from within.
The demons also notably exist as a discrete power bloc, and the only examples of them being sneaky are one attempt at perfidy - something the US and its allies frequently do - and one case of a captured demon demonstrating a confused and alien sort of morality when humans try treating her like a pet.
I think yes, because they are sapient - meaning they're created (by the authors) in the image of humans and this naturally (because they're a race in the narrative) makes them read as an allegory for human "races", hence the appeal for chuds. I understand that probably wasn't the intent of the writers, but if not, it seems like it was poor execution on their part.
It's never going to be a good idea to have a "race" in fiction that is actually evil by nature, I think.
That's all I wanted.
Look, I don't think liking Frieren automatically makes someone a fascist or that it was intentionally created as a work of fascist propaganda or that there's nothing about it that points to a reading of demons as aristocrats/capitalists/what-have-you. I have no patience for bona fide fascists and if I thought all Frieren fans were just fascists I wouldn't have bothered with that effortpost.
Everyone likes problematic media, myself included. But I don't hesitate to acknowledge the reactionary undercurrents in media I like, nor to I blame anyone who finds those undercurrents repellent to the point of not wanting to engage with that media, and that's a courtesy that should be extended to everyone.
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