These images are broken out because they were the last added to the production, and because the existing post on this section was already pushing the outer boundaries of oversized posts. But these images are intended as part and parcel of subsection 07-04-H.
1925 Man of steel materially transforms the superstructure to abolish private property and all the classes! (English, German, and Russian versions)—2025-06-25. n/a; naked political statement; compare: https://www.rbth.com/history/334246-stalin-soviet-cult-personality. Translation (German English): Superman verändert den Überbau materiell, um das Privateigentum und alle Klassen abzuschaffen! Man of steel [lit: Superman] materially transforms the superstructure to abolish private property and all the classes! Translation (Russian English): Сталин существенно преобразует надстройку, чтобы уничтожить частную собственность и все классы! Man of steel [lit: Stalin] materially transforms the superstructure to abolish private property and all the classes! Stalin’s superhero costume has a “C” on it because that is the Cyrillic character starting his name and, I think (?) is associated with the “S” sound in English. For formatting consistency, I kept the foreign language to English translation format, I used English-language wording and sources for the original quotes, partly because it is difficult for me to access other versions and even more to determine which is the correct “original” language. Although Marx and Engels were both German, and presumably wrote and thought “first” in some way in German, many of their most famous quotes come from addresses at international conferences or publications directed towards international organizations. I don’t know if these addresses were given in German, French, or for that matter English although my general understanding is that in the Nineteenth Century French was still the predominant, er, lingua franca. The language of this poster actually crams together four quotes or parts of quotes where merging them seemed intellectually honest because I was stringing together concepts (such as materiality and transformation) that they often linked; although of course the poster deliberately makes a point which they might resist. But the intention of the posters is to attack their ideas head-on, not to misstate those ideas and avoid grappling with any issues. Although the USSR is mercifully gone from the world, this subject matter seemed not only relevant but necessary not only because of the connection between the man and the comic book genre, but because it hopefully provides some framework for comparing with 2025 in terms of where I’m coming from.
1926-1929 Man of Steel (4 ALT vers)—n/a; examples of process; n/a. 1926 Man of Steel (ALT ver where AI didn’t print globe on beach ball but awesome expressions), 1927 Man of Steel (ALT ver where AI gave S and un-Stalinish face but fantastic globe distortion), 1928 Man of Steel (ALT ver where AI has him ironing nothing but love the coloring and style), and 1929 Man of Steel (ALT ver 2nd place for a variety of small factors) are included first, because I liked things about them, and second to illustrate some of the challenges of working with AI, especially given the tight restriction on number of words, and the difficulty I have in keeping concepts and parts of the image distinct while the number of ideas I’m trying to inject goes up.
2025 Trump—Making the World Pay (BASE version), … to Make America Jacksonian Again (Jacksonian version), … to Make America Mexico Again (Mexico version)—n/a; naked political statement; n/a. Compare: https://mvau.lt/media/a79e0a4b-9695-4cee-ba10-156d617d3ddc, https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/02/fact-check-trump-crown-long-live-the-king-magazine-cover.html, https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/money-report/trump-posts-ai-generated-photo-of-himself-dressed-as-the-pope/6249230/. This, and to a much-milder extent, 1779-1780, are the only direct attacks I allowed myself on specific living political individuals or movements. I am concerned that posting them will cost me viewers, but the fact is, one of the worst problems we have in America today is people feeling like they can’t speak to people on the opposite side of the political divide, or that they’re not interested in hearing from people on the opposite side of the political divide. This is not an ad hominem attack since it’s all about policy not appearance or personality; and I generally avoid criticizing others if I can find a way around it, sometimes going too far in that direction. However, if I hesitated to express my very deeply-held views when I genuinely feel a need to express them to make important points, for fear of losing audience, (1) I wouldn’t have artistic integrity, and (2) (something I think is really artistically and politically important here): my biggest concern about the US is people not speaking their mind in a civilized way to people on the other side of any given political fence. So how can I possibly comment on that, without standing up and doing it? I wanted to do it, and I did. If you want to respond, please do so with constructive comments or with counter-works of your own. If you send me a message on DA I *will* check out your response on your website and offer any thoughts in response I might have. Let’s talk! (Not shout or ignore one another.). We have a lot to offer one another!
2026-2028 Trump (3 ALT vers)—n/a; examples of process; n/a. 2026 Trump (ALT ver with my favorite of several brilliant expressions), 2027 Trump (ALT ver with awesome money globe), and 2028 Trump (ALT ver great eating money while sycophants applaud) are included first, because I liked things about them, and second to illustrate some of the challenges of working with AI, especially the difficulty of getting it to portray specific actions, especially ones that sound violent with respect to symbols (e.g., smashing a globe). It took a LOT of work to get it to do anything other than sprinkle dust or snow on top of the globe. I believe I drew a policy-violation-you-could-be-banned warning when I tried specifying “Donald Trump” in an image months ago, so I had to try describing his face and toss out many, many, many otherwise-promising versions because I didn’t feel like they “vibed” Trump. On top of that, I became convinced that at some point the AI started fighting me on descriptions that sound like Trump; query whether Big Tech has muzzled its most dynamic creations to prevent anything other than glorifications of their great helmsman, Trump, e.g., “orange hair,” the same way Chinese censors erase references to Winnie the Pooh because of its use in the past to refer to President Xi (who you risk your life and family to criticize directly in the PRC). Certainly, the White House’s production of AI-generated images showing Trump as a King, the Pope, etc. suggest fawning on the Great Helmsman is allowed in Silicon Valley. But definitely not criticizing.
Literature Section “07-04 DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION—Lessons for Americans”—more material available at TheRemainderman.com—Part 4 of Chapter Seven—Accompanying Images: 1774, 1779-1780, 1784-1788,1790, 1925-1929, 2025-2028—Published 2025-06-24 to 06-29—©2025 The Remainderman. This is a work of fiction, not a book of suggestions. It’s filled with fantasies, idiots, and criminals. Don’t believe them or imitate them.