this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

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[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 104 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's what machiavellian distills into - cold pragmatism and disregard of morality. So his turn from okay guy that wanted his family to stop with illegal shit into someone much worse than his father was portrays it perfectly.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 24 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Exactly. Machiavellian doesn't mean galaxy brain.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Unscrupulous is only one of the definitions.

Cunning and scheming are the other two. The Prince detailed how to gain and hold power.

It wasn't a book that said immediately shoot everyone to solve all your problems.

So the original author was expecting violence in Godfather 2 but with more planning.

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You gain and hold power by killing people you don't like, look at any dictator that ever dictatored. 🙃

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Again, yes you kill people. You don't just kill everyone immediately without a plan. Even Pol Pot had a plan.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 47 points 2 years ago

Also, knowing who to shoot and when to kill them is kind of a big deal.

The man who shot Don Vito thought he was untouchable because he was going to the meeting with a police captain.

[–] EfreetSK@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

'CAUSE IT HAS A VALID POINT TO MAKE, IT'S INSISTED!

[–] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The Machiavellian part was the fact he removed his rivals simultaneously without them gaining prior warning.

He was cunning like a fox to avoid detection and dangerous like a lion when action was required.

[–] HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee 17 points 2 years ago

Historically speaking, it tends to work.

And for the record, Machiavelli didn't exactly rule it out.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Watch Gomorrah if you want to see real power games

[–] scaryjelly@lemm.ee 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I saw this movie at a press screening back then. I had to go to the bathroom from the very beginning, but I couldn't because it was so damn thrilling. My bladder still hurts today when I think about it.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

oh wow didnt know it was film, Ive only seen the series

[–] MotorCade93@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

The series is so good. I let a couple seasons build up, thanks for the reminder I need to get back into it.

[–] zoidsberg@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

They made a movie about the New Vegas casino?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I prefer Goncharov, personally

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Omg, I forgot about Goncharov! Such a good movie.

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

it’s a shame they don’t make movies like goncharov these days

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

both apparently, though I've only seen the series

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Keep it simple, stupid.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Huh? Was it?

[–] niraj21@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Historically speaking, it tends to work.

[–] DankOfAmerica@reddthat.com 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Since this comment section turned into an arena discussing how to rule, here's an interesting relevant CGP Grey video title The Rules for Rulers.

[–] DogWater@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I too thought of this video

[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (4 children)
[–] don@lemm.ee 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Anon once heard someone’s opinions about a movie character, decided it must be so. Having a mind locked up tighter’n Fort Knox if it were located deep inside Area 51, he was badly disappointed when the character didn’t match the wild expectations he set for himself.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

The expectations were set by someone else. For me, the memes hyped the hell out of Khan and one day I decided to watch the trek movies. Yeah, Khan did not live up to the hype. I had seen much more interesting scifi villains and space battles by then.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

....with a gun, I think. He shoots them with the bullets a gun fires.

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

It insists upon itself, Lois. It insists upon itself.

[–] HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It insists upon itself

It mean it's trying to be deep, but is really just pretentious and shallow.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 4 points 2 years ago

The funny thing is that Machiavelli didn’t achieve shit apart from write a treatise bitching about the people in charge of where he lived.

[–] OmegaCloud@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

One of the most intelligent things you can do is to keep it simple, stupid.