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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[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 103 points 3 months 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 3 months ago (1 children)

Exactly. Machiavellian doesn't mean galaxy brain.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 20 points 3 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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 3 months ago

Historically speaking, it tends to work.

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

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 15 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Watch Gomorrah if you want to see real power games

[–] scaryjelly@lemm.ee 11 points 3 months 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 3 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] MotorCade93@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 months 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 3 months ago

They made a movie about the New Vegas casino?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I prefer Goncharov, personally

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

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

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

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

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

both apparently, though I've only seen the series

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Keep it simple, stupid.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Huh? Was it?

[–] niraj21@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Historically speaking, it tends to work.

[–] DankOfAmerica@reddthat.com 8 points 3 months 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 3 months ago

I too thought of this video

[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (4 children)
[–] don@lemm.ee 14 points 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months ago

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

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

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

[–] HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 3 months 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 2 points 2 months ago

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