The Politics of Cyberpunk: Understanding the Controversies of CDPR's Cyberpunk 2077

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🎶 Politics are everywhere, even in our games 🎶 Cyberpunk and all art will always be political, and it's not just about left or right. It's about existing as human 💻 #Cyberpunk #Politics

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Hey, thanks for watching. Be kind to yourselves.

[MTGJoeD]

Click the link under the title to see the full video essay and full context! Appreciate all of you chooms!

[hulkamania]

the people who say video games shouldn't be political are the people caught up in a culture war and dont even understand what political means.

[jamescardus]

Its difficult to agree that Cyberpunk is neither right nor left when youve got the corporations ruling the world as villains, trauma team being a pretty clear critique of US privatised healthcare, and the entire city showing consumerism gone wild. The game, and the cyberpunk genre as a whole, has always supported ideas generally considered left-wing.

[GTHaroFITBMX]

It’s almost like a passive satire, eluding to the control and power of corporations versus that of an average person. Pretty much saying “it’s not *exactly* like this, but our current state foreshadows this coming to fruition.”

[kghor]

Game is super left leaning and critical of capitalism

[nicholascoker]

i like the fact that while overtly calling out unaccountable corporations cyberpunk also quietly is like...yeah don't trust revolutionaries either.

[mesmichael]

art discusses "meaning" not politics.

politics also come from "meaning".

Most sources of "meaning" can be politicized, but that does not make it political in nature or that it finds its source or essence in politics.

For example, If I make an art piece that shows the struggles of a nomadic people suffering from starvation, that discusses the concept of security and human suffering.

I could then add whatever politics I wanted to this painting to make it political in nature, but that is an act I am taking on the painting.

To illustrate this further, 2 beings with 2 separate worldviews (which worldviews are above hieratically and contain your political views, as well as knowledge and metaphysics (even if that's empiricism)) will come to 2 completely different political interpretations.

As such its humans who introduce the political level into any truth that we encounter.

As this is an action taken by the viewer, the art it's self is not political, the viewer is.

one could say all humans are political,
I do not think one can say all art is political.

OR at least say it and it be on any level true, without adding yet more politics, which would invalidate the argument.

Basically the argument boils down to There is truth, or there is only politics.

if there is only politics, then the argument is political, and has no justification, as it is not based on truth but interpretation, therefore valueless.

Nobody acts like its valueless, which opens its own can of worms.

[isaiah]

"Art will alway be political" *Insert the picture of a girl eating a cheeseburger*