Breath of the Wild is a very interesting game. While other games in the genre, including other Zelda titles, have a linear or branching path to the end of the game, with a certain number of steps that have to be completed in order, Breath of the Wild is different. All you need to do to beat the game is to go kill Calamity Ganon. If you’re good enough at the game, you can go fight him immediately and kill him with a pot lid.
But most players aren’t that good, and they spend many hours travelling the land of Hyrule, seeking out better armour and weapons, and taming the Divine Beasts. You see, Ganon has six different forms he can pull out during the boss fight at the end of the game. But for each of the Divine Beasts you tame, that beast will shoot a laser at Ganon and take out one of his forms. If you tame all four Divine Beasts, you’ll only have to fight two of Ganon’s forms. That’s a lot more forgiving, and it means people at a lower skill level can still beat Ganon.
Politics works the same way.
There’s been a lot of talk on the web lately about “lesser evilism”. Among the left, it’s generally accepted that electoral politics isn’t the path to effect any big changes. And especially not in a government where the voting method doesn’t support third parties. This is the case in a gerrymandered seat system, and in first past the post voting. Let’s use the USA as an example.
Leftists don’t like Joe Biden. But we like Donald Trump even less. We don’t like that Biden is doing nothing to prevent the genocide in Gaza, and that his government is supplying arms to Israel. But we know that Trump wants to wipe out every last Palestinian in Gaza and the West Bank. We can’t let Trump win, but voting for Biden doesn’t feel good. And there are a number of liberals infiltrating leftist spaces to say we should only vote if it feels good. The line “choose the lesser evil” doesn’t appeal to people who feel frustrated with there being any evil at all.
The true answer to the Palestinian genocide, and any such important social issue, is direct action. We need marches on the streets, we need university encampments, we need other such more controversial strategies such as sit-ins and mass arrests, and personally I don’t think some mass property destruction would be unhelpful either. We need a communist revolution, too.
The thing is, fighting a government directly is hard. Fighting a fascist government that imprisons and tortures political dissidents is even harder. So, I invite you to think of politics, and this “lesser evil” issue, like Zelda. We need to fight on the issue directly. And because we want the best chance at actually winning, we need to make the fight as easy as possible. The government, as harmless as possible.
Voting for Biden is like taming the Divine Beasts. You’re choosing the lesser evil, because the lesser evil is easier to beat yourself. That’s the strategy. You’re not choosing the lesser evil just to have it, you’re choosing the lesser evil to beat it.
