The French move of encouraging local faith to the Vietnamese Emperor was interesting bc it allowed them to present loyalty to France as the logical end of both traditionalism as well as reformism. If you were a traditionalist (and didn’t already support a rival claimant) then you shut up and listen when the Son of Heaven talks about he benevolence of France and how it’s for the good of his subjects. If you’re a reformist then you would be encouraged to find the French form of republicanism attractive and told that your desire to reform and modernize society would be achieved through following the example and lead of the French colonial overlords
spam narratives and sealion the discourse, and gate keep
It’s almost like providing two seemingly opposite choices that both end up supporting the existing state and powerstructure is an effective means to control a population.
QueerAnarchism 