You are right that the Cyrodiilic Empire is a indoor house cat instead of a lion, in Skyrim. Letting your enemy patrol your lands to emforce their demands isn't the posture of a rival in a truce, but of a loser.
But that doesn't mean Ulfric and his Stormcloaks are not racist conservatives. It can be both. That seems to be the point of Skyrim: choosing between two shitty politics.
Eh, Skyrim had been part of the empire for ages without much issue. I don't think the problem is directly with the oppression of Talos worship as it is about what it stands for. Talos was a Man (vs a Mer) who became a Divine, a deity. The Stormcloaks is a rebellion of people who already didn't like the armistice coopting nationalism and religious dissatisfaction over the only Man-god being pulled down.
It's very racial, as evidenced by them focusing on Nord-centric populism, and discriminating against ancestries that aren't even part of the Aldmeri Dominion like Dunmer and Argonians.
Poland's exit isn't the breaking of the EU. It's proving a plan of attack that will break it.
Slowly chipping away at the edges. Attacking country by country with misinformation until every country is isolated again, ruled by whatever oligarch decides to set up shop there.
The point of a union is the united effort. If you start thinking in terms of what parts you can cut out without issue or to "grow stronger" then you might as well stop the charade and pick who's running the new empire.
I will admit to being personally aggrieved by the supposition that I'm childish for enjoying fighting things. But I believe there should be a way to interrogate the levels of critical thinking and agency people/players give away in the pursuit of an easy, "clear" target without making prescriptive, defamatory remarks about how people have fun in fiction.
It's mocking people that engage in bad-faith ideological debates.
Avocado is an essential ingredient in making guacamole, but, by "banning" its mention in the discussion and consequently stymying the opponent, the first figure is assuming and posturing as if they won a legitimate debate.
I need to take a shower. I thought the headline was talking about actual drills, and I could only think "what in the Dr. Evil plot could this mean?". As if China was going to drill through the ground and dig up Taiwan.
You're talking about the people who scheme their way to power.
I'm just saying there are definitive qualities that good leaders need. The correct mixture of self-assurance, insight, and humility to ask for guidance on the best way forward and stick to it without crumbling. A "leader" is an organizational role and their proper skillset is in setting the course and ironing put inter-departmental communications so everyone can do what they need to.
But I realize we are straying further and further from your initial comment about populist leaders, like those currently in power.
I'm sure you mean "there isn't an ability threshold where you deserve to be a monarch".
But it does sorta read like "no one ever won a race by being the fastest, they win the race because everyone else is slower". There are qualities that predispose people to leadership.
As I said it, I was also imterested in how you could make that work. But I'm not culinarily skilled enough to conceive of anything.
It feels like it would become more of an art piece, a conscientious objection to the orthodoxy of egg salad, than what (I think) people expect from an egg salad [sandwich]. Which is to say: egg and mayo, slightly sweet and creamy. I do like the idea of like a deviled egg salad sando tho.
You are right that the Cyrodiilic Empire is a indoor house cat instead of a lion, in Skyrim. Letting your enemy patrol your lands to emforce their demands isn't the posture of a rival in a truce, but of a loser.
But that doesn't mean Ulfric and his Stormcloaks are not racist conservatives. It can be both. That seems to be the point of Skyrim: choosing between two shitty politics.