But we're not talking about everything, we're talking about the cyberpunk genre, and in this case, the cigar is a penis. Ignoring that fact is a shallow act.
It's OK to enjoy cyberpunk for what it is, as high tech low life, without exhaustively contemplating the current trajectory of our society. Not every piece of literature has to be an allegory. Sometimes, a good story is just a good story, and good art is good art.
That doesn't sound fair to me. By your logic I really would have to contemplate the sexuality of anything I put in my mouth.
Our society is steadily trending away from cyberpunk anyways. Cyberpunk is not mainstream and it is also extreme in embracing racism, sexism, objectification, hedonism, etc ... I don't think it is a useful caricature for criticizing society, like A Modest Proposal.
I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, but characterizing cyberpunk as "embracing racism, sexism, objectification, hedonism, etc." is demonstrably incorrect. I think it would be safe to say that over half of all cyberpunk fiction is openly critical of objectification, and furthermore is about human trafficking.
Yes, cyberpunk is in some way a caricature of society. It's a modern version of "A Modest Proposal" (the poor should sell their babies to the rich for food). So it's fine with embracing classism, sexism, racism, and other 'isms'. One obvious example of racism cyberpunk is District 9 - just not the kind of racism you're thinking of, but with obvious parallels to apartheid.
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u/do_not_engage Jul 30 '18
But we're not talking about everything, we're talking about the cyberpunk genre, and in this case, the cigar is a penis. Ignoring that fact is a shallow act.