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Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 8m

True-ish. Sometimes!

Creative fields are significantly more likely to be populated by queers, misfits, neurodivergents, and also people who do not have a ton of cash. Not all artists are progressive, but profession is actually a pretty decent indicator of politics.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 12m

Like. Protest posters by leftists and progressives are colorful, nonmatching, visibly and unequivocally homemade. Styles and skill levels all over the map.

The right comes out and theirs are less colorful, more likely to be printed at a shop. Bc artmaking is liberal shit right now.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 15m

There is a selfreinforcing thing to this - AI art being associated with bad rightwing propaganda will make it distasteful to leftists in and of itself, as it should. But there's more to it - have you seen the differences in what posters look like between the left and right?

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 18m

Of course artists created nazi propaganda - the purpose of which was to display a style that was unified, nationalistic, and fundamentally uncreative. AIgen art can *nail* that prompt, in a way it cannot manage "imperfect, chaotic, experimental and a show of deep personal care" nearly so well.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 21m

Whatever art is accessible to youth who have more passion than money becomes the iconography of the counterculture.

Whatever is most doable by people with power and no style becomes the iconography of the ruling class.

Sometimes these things flip!

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 23m

There are two reasons to make political art - money, and actual commitment. And the two have stylistic vibes.

Both nazis and the ussr gravitated to a style of work that was... polished, old fashioned, pretty. Other artists were experimenting with mass production! Bauhaus, harsh mechanical lines.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 26m

Ok so history lesson time.

Art as propaganda is kind of EXACTLY what art's always been. Want to flex? Pay someone to do a pretty thing just to make your point. If you're rich, pay someone to do really pretty art the way no poor could manage.

AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 34m

I was looking for examples and stumbled on this article, which you may not like, as it does pretty much ignore all progressive users of AIgen art, and it is a bit insulting.

But it summarizes my impressions of why some people are associating nazis and AIgen.

newsocialist.org.uk/transmission...

It's embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated art is the perfect aesthetic form for the far right.

newsocialist.org.uk

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 39m

Tbh among the many issues I have with AI, accidentally making fascists say the quiet part loud in terms of what inspires them is not actually a downside.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 41m

They were stylistically and compositionally in line with nazi work, not depicting nazis directly. Which makes me think the word nazi was not used and may not have been consciously intended.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 43m

I suspect, without being sure, that they asked for posters representing, say, military might, or perhaps the glory of white families, or some shit like that. I could be wrong, but there were no swastikas in the images I saw - just gothic script and certain colours and compositional elements.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 46m

Bc I have some answers for the second one - these fuckwads can't convince any real artists to work for them, and/or do not see the value of human work and human ingenuity and creativity for what it is. Real artists threaten fascism, AI does not.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 49m

So as a person who does _not_ want to be posting nazi shit, one has to wonder - is the implication likely to appear without directly wanting it to? Do I know my iconography well enough to spot it?

And also, what makes this tech attractive to actual god damn nazis?

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 51m

No, I mean.

I imagine the prompters did not include "use third reich posters as inspo" in their shit, but either they're attracted to it or the stuff they said caused the bot to pull from that end of its catalog or both. Unless those ideas inherently go with that imagery? Idk.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1h

Specifically on artwork, the right has used it to generate propaganda that looks straight out of actual nazi poster iconography, and IDK if that makes the program itself fascistic but by golly should it make people question why it's like that.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1h

But like, there are ways that it is Good At Creating Disinformation, ways in which it is being used by the right more than the left to compensate for a blatant lack of actual artists there, ways it does thinking for people that appeals more to some than others? And it's worth poking those links.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1h

I think "LLM-AI has fashy tendencies" is a claim worth poking at, in both directions.

Realistically, it's a model of the internet much of the time, so yeah, it contains all the worst shit the altreich can vomit up. And the most leftist absurdity anyone has managed too.

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Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1h

Also like. There are regularly raceblind casts of this and I've seen clips of an excellent black Salieri, Mozart being white is not important to his character ffs.

Reposted by Smallproblem

brainfrog👩‍🦼🫁 @brainfrog.bsky.social · Nov 29

We cannot talk about the suffering disabled people face without also talking about the ways the state creates and upholds the conditions of suffering.

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Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1d

My kids painted pumpkins today.

Among other joys of childcare, this is one of my favourites - watching children get focused and fascinated with exploring something new to them, with building a skill. Pumpkins are round and slippery, paint interacts with them in novel ways. It drips. It slides.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1d

And furthermore, no less a schism in the community.

A quieter one perhaps, but no less a schism.

The only difference is that the bulk of the community is siding with the abuser's right to "fairness" over the victim's right to anything at all.

Smallproblem @scritchyscratchy.bsky.social · 1d

Do you understand that that is telling victims "you must face your abuser or have no community"?

Instead of kicking someone out of your community for harming others, you are effectively kicking someone out for not accepting harm to themselves.

Unacceptable.