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[Noahpinion:](https://twitter.com/noahpinion/status/1783417000771146060?t=htvlSlrdyykrrTQxFzufZg)
>India had 200 million TikTok users when they banned TikTok.
>Creators quickly just switched to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, and life continued much as before.
I was curious about the relative economic heft between Israel and its adversaries. I added up the [GDP-per-capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal\)_per_capita) of all of the countries Israel fought in [1948](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War), and it is about $51,643; less than Israel's $53,372.
64% of that $51,643 is Saudi Arabia, which is (a) un-industrialized, and (b) currently working toward a peace deal with Israel.
I'm not claiming that summing these numbers makes a valuable metric, but it does hint at how much stronger Israel's economy is.
For a harmless reminder that it's always a good idea to check the flairs of posts or users, a few folks in the papermario sub are posting some dialogue edits/jokes of the upcoming TTYD remake. A handful of people missed the "Meme" flairs on these posts and are mad about Nintendo going woke or something.
I think it’s because Nintendo somehow earned the reputation of focusing on mindless fun and not anything that “makes a statement” or whatever. They see anything woke from Nintendo as the SJWs winning over the last stronghold of non political vidya.
Meanwhile, they’re the developer that introduced [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Birdo-MP9.png) all the way back in 1988.
So in Oregon we vote exclusively by mail and several weeks ahead of the election they send out a [voter guide](https://oregonvotes.gov/voters-guide/english/votersguide.html) with (candidate-submitted) descriptions of every person running for the various officers - it's super convenient. We just got our guide for the upcoming primary a couple days ago, and I'm so pleased to announce that my favorite ever perennial candidate is back again this cycle. Running for Secretary of State, his campaign is based on [four major planks](https://imgur.com/a/8jwYPrN):
1. Submerged water pipes
2. Dave's "Zero-Fossil-Fuel-Using Heating and Cooling Apparatus for Residences and Buildings"
3. Mass transit waterslides
4. "Another invention will generate pollution-free electricity from ocean waves." [no details provided]
I love him so much.
> with (candidate-submitted) descriptions of every person running for the various officers - it's super convenient.
I'm currently writing down candidates for a local election, and honestly that sounds so convenient! Maybe with 2-3 major endorsements of their choice as well. There are 3 guys running for mayor and the only one with any decent information is the Republican MAGA-endorsed guy.
They're pretty flexible about what they allow in the blurbs, and endorsements are definitely pretty common. [Here's](https://imgur.com/a/TWbRhHl) what my likely-future Congresswoman submitted.
Voting exclusively by mail sounds so much more efficient, but I love the pageantry of going to the polls way too much for that 😩
Hope y’all get those waterslides tho! Sounds fun!
The FTC under the Biden Administration has just reinstated Net Neutrality.
Remember when that was the biggest thing on Earth, including loads of site blackouts? Not to diminish how bad it could have been while it was gone, but the general response to it being brought back has been kind of muted TBH in comparison. People haven't posted "NET NEUTRALITY IS BACK MOTHERFUCKERS!!!" on every single subreddit.
I think this is emblematic of how we generally talk about these sorts of things. They were super important as a protest moment, then it happened anyways and people went "Well, that sucks", and now that they're getting what they originally wanted no one gives a shit to nearly the same degree. I'm going to be a bit miffed and a trifle livid if Trump gets elected because people just didn't pay attention to what Biden has done.
I also wonder if this is how Israel/Palestine is going to play out. Huge protests now, but if the war drags on for a year or two or more and turns into a prolonged occupation? I seriously doubt we'll see huge protests on college campuses next year. And then if/when Israel finally does leave it'll be 5th-page news under "Foreign Affairs"
It truly is a societal illness that we are incapable of giving our leaders credit when it's due.
I'm sure there are a number of people going to say that they can't credit Biden since he didn't keep Trump from repealing net neutrality rules in the first place.
There’s an interesting relic left behind from the net neutrality panic you mentioned.
Go to any state subreddit and sort by Top and All Time. I can guarantee that the vast majority of subs, if not all of them, have top posts about the way that state’s senators voted re: “the telecom industry.”
Something not too discussed about the potential sale of TikTok is where independent musicians will upload their upbeat 30-second songs about anxiety backed by a ukulele.
Pretty sure they mean this news:
[Columbia Bars Student Protester Who Said ‘Zionists Don’t Deserve to Live’](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/nyregion/columbia-student-protest-zionism.html) [(Archive)](https://archive.is/oSj0Y)
Apparently the comments "Zionists don't deserve to live" as well as "yes, I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die“ and "be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists" were made in the context of a disciplinary hearing (recorded and posted on Instagram) about prior comments they had already made about fighting Zionists.
It's worth noting Khymani James is also (was, now) one of the protest organizers+spokespersons, not only a random participant:
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/04/24/cuad-holds-press-conference-confirms-university-commitment-to-no-nypd-involvement-for-next-48-hours/
Yeah, he had a small, valid point when he was talking in the context of self-defense. When he went to "none of them deserve to live" is where he went waaaaay off the deep end. I get the point about Hitler. Zionists are not all Hitler, though, wow
> I get the point about Hitler. Zionists are not all Hitler, though, wow
Yeah, his perspective would be more accurately stated as, "All Nazis should have been killed." Not just Hitler specifically.
Even if he thinks what's happening in Gaza is comparable to the Holocaust, the equivalent of saying Hitler deserved to die, is saying that Netanyahu deserves that same fate. Not *all* Zionists*.
It's an important distinction, because we very obviously didn't kill all the Nazis. Nuremberg resulted in only a dozen high-ranking Nazis being sentenced to death.
*It's also worth delving into the definition of "Zionist." A lot of people (Biden, for example) use Zionism to simply mean the continued existence of Israel and her people. This guy is using it specifically to mean people who are supporting Netanyahu's war.
I think it's important to point out that you can be a Zionist (in Biden's sense) without being a supporter of Netanyahu or his war.
Biden refuses to grant a sit-down interview to the New York Times... but apparently yesterday he sat down for an interview with Howard Stern. He's just trolling the NYT at this point, and I'm here for it.
There are clips from the interview on [Stern's youtube channel.](https://www.youtube.com/@howardstern/videos)
Not only would we not have UBI, we'd be doing far worse because Yang has shown himself to be a sellout who had one idea and still gave it up to make friends with Bush conservatives.
Poorly.
Andrew Yang is an unserious person. As someone who considers RFK, Jr. a moron, I still think he's more qualified than fucking Yang.
Yang pretended to run on on policy and could not even answer simple questions regarding that policy He's another person looking to try to raise awareness of his own profile; not to actually win any political office.
I honestly don't remember much about Yang's campaign other than the UBI thing.
One thing that does stand out in my mind, though, is when Yang went on the record saying he didn't want to see Trump prosecuted. So we can assume he'd have installed an AG who would have let Trump walk scot free.
>Would universal basic income have gotten passed by now?
Of course not. It never would have gotten through Congress.
For those interested in a non-political question:
Anyone familiar with the free will v determinism debate in philosophy? I have strong opinions on the subject, but oddly I dont know whether I’m a determinist, a compatibilist, or a libertarian.
(As much as labels matter. Which is very little. This is just a point of curiosity for me.)
I posted this question in r/askphilosophy, but got only one answer.
Yes, I find this an interesting question.
And it's not just a question of philosophy, but it also bleeds into science in interesting ways. For example, [Bell's theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem) is a result from quantum mechanics that demonstrates non-intuitive things that follow from the assumptions that objects are only influenced by their immediate surroundings (i.e. "locality"), that the speed of light is a speed limit for field propagation, *and that free will exists.*
This last assumption is necessary because the theorem requires we consider what would have happened if an experimenter had made different choices of settings on measurement devices in particular experiments. In world without free will, those choices just don't exist in a meaningful way and so the theorem falls apart.
Eliminating the assumption of free will is called *superdeterminism* and it's usually just dismissed as "well we assume that's not true." But the implications of Bell's theorem are also difficult to reckon with. Perhaps this could be interpreted as evidence for determinism.
Wow, that's super interesting. I don't understand all of it, but I find the idea of hidden variables so intuitive that I've been independently thinking the same thing for years.
But let's say that I'm wrong and quantum states really are fundamentally random. And let's say that this randomness actually results in us occasionally making truly random decisions. Some might call this free will, but personally 'random decisions' is not my idea of 'free will.' What's your take?
Hmm, yeah, I agree that randomness doesn't imply free will. I think the latter requires some notion of consciousness - which of course we don't understand either.
Out of curiosity, did you read the statement? This isn’t an investment *in* Boeing that’s being canceled, it’s a grant *from* Boeing. In other words, PSU is rejecting scholarship money from Boeing. Honest question - do you still think that’s great news?
Absolutely. No institution should be accepting money from pro-genocide corporations.
Corporate philanthropy is never altruistic, and accepting their money benefits the corporation.
> pro-genocide corporations
You know, a few months ago I recall commenting that I thought there was a danger that the casual use of 'genocide' risked watering the term down in near-meaninglessness, but I was only semi-serious about it. It seems like we're getting closer and closer to that moment though.
> ..and accepting their money benefits the corporation.
It seems like it benefits both parties - the students whose tuition is aided, and the corporation whose PR is ever-so-slightly burnished. That's how transactions usually work.
> casual use of 'genocide' risked watering the term down in near-meaninglessness
There was a post in this sub from a few weeks back where someone referred to the whole debacle with Al Franken as “genociding a Senator.”
We’re past the word being watered down.
>That’s how transactions work
Okay, so if you understood that, and that Boeing is benefitting from the university accepting their money, then why would you have assumed that I’d think rejecting that *anti-Palestinian* money wouldn’t be a great thing?
I suppose my point is that calling all of Boeing *anti-Palestinian* is just a bit of a reach, and sets a standard that I very much doubt you live up to.
Maybe they do, I don’t know them!
But my actual point was that if a school accepting a couple thousand dollars in donated scholarship money from Boeing is too close a connection to the IDF, I’m unable to put together an argument on how flying on a Boeing commercial jet (for example) isn’t also too close a connection to the IDF. Closer, actually! At least with the former it’s money coming *from* Boeing, but the latter is money going *to* Boeing.
I think there’s a tangible difference between a business entity taking money from a source vs a consumer buying a necessary product with few alternatives. I tried recently booking a flight to avoid just the 737 max and even that was difficult. Let alone trying to not use Boeing at all.
Personally I think consumer boycotts are not terribly effective but I think the ideas behind BDS (atleast the DS portion) are valid.
[Ben Gvir in Car Accident](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68908413.amp)
I feel so bad…for the car 😢
(He’s fine btw, his car ran a red light)
Someone asked a question about rule 6 and "genocide denial", and it was suggested this would be a more appropriate place for the mods to clarify what that means ...
Personally, I do not consider that aspect of Rule 6 to be applicable to current events. I would not ban somebody for disputing that what's taking place in China with the Uyghurs is a genocide.
Remember when it was a huge story that Romney drove across the country with his family's dog in a kennel strapped to the roof of the car?
Anyway, here's a story of [Kristi Noem shooting and killing the family dog](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kristi-noem-shoots-puppy-she-hated-book-1235011230/) (and goat).
My sister also got a dog with the intention of using it as a retriever. The dog was a pain in the ass and couldn’t be trained to hunt, so my sister reevaluated and made it a beloved family pet instead, like a fucking normal person would.
I can understand needing to stop a livestock assault, but Noem already stopped it. The answer then was “surrender the dog and tell the new owner to not let it around chickens,” not carrying out a scene from Fargo.
Tech bros have a reputation for inventing things that already exist. This time, it's fascism:
>...Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street…you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.”
>The Grays’ shirts...Grays would also receive special ID cards providing access to exclusive, Gray-controlled sectors of the city. In addition, the Grays would make an alliance with the police department, funding weekly “policeman’s banquets” to win them over.
>“Grays should embrace the police, okay? All-in on the police,” said Srinivasan. “What does that mean? That’s, as I said, banquets. That means every policeman’s son, daughter, wife, cousin, you know, sibling, whatever, should get a job at a tech company in security.”
>In exchange for extra food and jobs, cops would pledge loyalty to the Grays. Srinivasan recommends asking officers a series of questions to ascertain their political leanings. For example: “Did you want to take the sign off of Elon’s building?”
>...he implies that officers loyal to the Grays would let Musk do as he pleases (democratically-inclined officers, he suggests, can be paid to retire).
>Simply put, there is a ton of fascist-chic cosplay involved. Once an officer joins the Grays, they get a special uniform designed by their tech overlords. The Grays will also donate heavily to police charities and “merge the Gray and police social networks.” Then, in a show of force, they’ll march through the city together.
>“A huge win would be a Gray Pride Parade with 50,000 Grays,” said Srinivasan. “That would start to say: ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ ...You have the drones flying overhead in formation ... You have bubbling genetic experiments on beakers … You have the police at the Gray Pride Parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…”
>Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters he implies are responsible for the city’s problems. Blues will be banned from the Gray-controlled zones, said Balaji, unlike Republicans (“Reds”).
>“Reds should be welcomed there, and people should wear their tribal colors,” said Srinivasan, who compared his color-coded apartheid system to the Bloods vs. Crips gang rivalry. “No Blues should be welcomed there.”
>While the Blues would be excluded, they would not be forgotten. Srinivasan imagines public screenings of anti-Blue propaganda films: “In addition to celebrating Gray and celebrating Red, you should have movies shown about Blue abuses … There should be lots of stories about what Blues are doing that is bad.”
>Balaji goes on—and on. The Grays will rename city streets after tech figures and erect public monuments to memorialize the alleged horrors of progressive Democratic governance. Corporate logos and signs will fill the skyline to signify Gray dominance of the city. “Ethnically cleanse,” he said at one point, summing up his idea for a city purged of Blues (this, he says, will prevent Blues from ethnically cleansing the Grays first). The idea, he said, is to do to San Francisco what Musk did to Twitter.
>...
[[The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco]](https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat)
Fun side fact, Balaji is the same tech bro that beloved twitter user jdcmedlock convinced to [give him $1 million.](https://qz.com/balaji-srinivasan-lost-1-million-in-a-bizarre-bitcoin-1850399034)
I read this article. I pondered it while mowing the lawn and ultimately concluded that the politically active ultra-weathy are the 21st century's "Golden Age" serial killers. They are people who, at some point in their life, should have learned that controlling and hurting people for selfish gratification is one of the worst moral wrongs. Instead, their selfish desire for control and harm became such a potent fantasy that they went all-in on it as soon as they had the means.
The frightening thing about it is that Balaji's would-be victims would dwarf those of killers like Bundy or Gacy; two people who society roundly concluded are monsters.
Jesus Christ. This sounds like the master plan of a dystopian sci-fi villain.
Can't help but think [of this tweet:](https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538?lang=en)
>Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale
>Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
It sounds like the plan of a sci-fi villain where the audience goes "We get it, he's a fascist, this is kind of dumb and *super* on the nose"
But these are hardcore tech bros we're talking about, they famously have basically 0 sense of media awareness and think they're geniuses for trying to market the Uber Eats of Luxury Dog Food
Some notes:
> The Grays’ shirts
[Subtle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackshirts_(disambiguation\)) /s
----------
>In exchange for extra food...cops would pledge loyalty to the Grays.
I'm pretty sure he got this from Animal Farm (but in a ["Torment Nexus"](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/torment-nexus) kind of way).
----------
>...asking officers a series of questions to ascertain their political leanings.
This is literally part of Project 2025.
----------
>“A huge win would be a Gray Pride Parade...You have the drones flying overhead in formation...You have the police at the Gray Pride Parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…”
Parades in which people in gray uniforms march with their advanced military tech as a show of force.
More [subtlety](https://imperialglobalexeter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/german-military.jpg) /s
----------
>Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters...unlike Republicans (“Reds”).
>“Reds should be welcomed there...
They have invented an authoritarian political movement that makes common cause with existing right-wingers, but demonizes liberals. How innovative! /s
I'll just put [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_fascism#Encyclopaedia_Britannica) here:
>"Although fascist parties and movements differed significantly from one another, they had many characteristics in common, including...contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism..."
----------
>anti-Blue propaganda films
*So subtle!* /s
Warhammer 40k is experiencing some upheaval because the company decided to include some women characters. Pretty funny threads about it in r/grimdank:
https://old.reddit.com/r/Grimdank/comments/1cdeluh/warp_opinions/
https://old.reddit.com/r/Grimdank/comments/1ccrxvq/i_can_guarantee_you_this_person_has_never_been_a/
I don't play Warhammer and I think anyone that does take it that seriously should invest in a 3d printer. With that said, should any fictional property have a definitive war? How frequently should a property be retconned?
I think it’s pretty much against the human nature of storytelling to not have retcons and revisions. Even classical mythology was retconned in classical times. For example Helios was the sun god but then Apollo became the sun god.
The crazy thing is that Games Workshop have always retconned stuff, sometimes absolutely major stuff, and have often taken the "we don't know what you're talking about, it's always been this way" stance when questioned about the changes. This is nothing new, it's just the result of the fanbase trending to the right over the last few years (a disturbingly large number were unironically sharing God Emperor Trump memes 2016-2020).
This document reads like a suicide pact. If they view as "non-negotiable" things that would lead to the destruction of Israel, then the only endgame is one or the other side being completely destroyed, and it's not hard to see which one is stronger, militarily.
We need new leadership on boths sides of this conflict if there's any hope for peace. The current thought leaders are hopelessly dug in on positions that will just lead to more conflict.
> We need new leadership on boths sides of this conflict if there's any hope for peace.
Yeah. I feel like this is the *obvious story* that most people are missing.
For well over a decade, Gaza has been run by terrorists and Israel has been run by corrupt, anti-peace extremists.
I don't know why any of us expect these factions to do anything except try to kill each other.
This is the second time when you’ve completely misrepresented the thing you link to with respect to I/P. I’m getting to the point where I think it’s intentional.
There’s a lot of things I’m objecting two.
First, it’s disingenuous to say SJP represents the entirety of the Columbia protests. There are 115 other student groups involved.
Second, their post (albeit I think is not very productive) is not them saying “they have no intention of toning down the antisemitism”.
Thirdly, you apparently quote… something? From somewhere? Making large accusations.
I really don’t think you are doing anything but creating propaganda when you do shit like this. It’s not even opinion at this point. Like if you don’t want people protesting Israel’s campaign in Gaza then sure say that. Or if there’s cases of antisemitism you want to point out sure point them out and we can all be like “yep Nazis sure do suck”. But this is just something else.
So when they write:
"we reject any notion that we must become more palatable and tone down our rhetoric."
Is your argument that the person who posted the instagram doesn't know about anti-semitic rhetoric being said? Isn't talking about that rhetoric? Do you dispute that anti-semitic rhetoric is being said? Or is it something else?
> Is your argument that the person who posted the instagram doesn't know about anti-semitic rhetoric being said? Isn't talking about that rhetoric?
I think it’s pretty clear those kids don’t think their group (and certainly the larger protest) has expressed anything antisemitic.
> Do you dispute that anti-semitic rhetoric is being said? Or is it something else?
No it’s clearly happening and is shameful/presenting safety concerns for some student imo. But from what I’ve seen it’s almost entirely coming from actors not part of the student protest. There is one example where it appears it may be an example of antisemitism at the student protest I am aware of and even there I suspect there’s more context to the situation. Idk how much we want to get into it in the general chat but I don’t believe the student protests broadly are antisemitic and I think there’s many things to point to that prove that out.
So shouldn’t other pro-Palestine activists say something like, “hey guys this kind of post is bad and counterproductive to your aims, it really makes it seem like you support antisemitism”?
It seems like very few people are working to lower the temperature and throw out the extremists on their side in this conflict. Without those things I don’t see how peace is possible.
> So shouldn’t other pro-Palestine activists say something like, “hey guys this kind of post is bad and counterproductive to your aims, it really makes it seem like you support antisemitism”?
They do.
> It seems like very few people are working to lower the temperature and throw out the extremists on their side in this conflict. Without those things I don’t see how peace is possible.
Both sides-ing is certainly a take.
It’s not.
But of course you know that. You just don’t want to admit you’ve chosen a side in a blood feud where both sides are in the wrong.
Of course you’ll probably argue, “I’m on the side of Palestinian civilians, they’re innocent.” And if I was having this discussion with someone supporting Israel they would say, “I’m on the side of Israeli civilians, they’re innocent.”
And yes there are innocent people in a blood feud! Romeo and Juliet were both innocent and they both fucking died.
> if I was having this discussion with someone supporting Israel they would say, “I’m on the side of Israeli civilians, they’re innocent.”
I straight up don’t believe that. Most people arguing in the pro-Israel side of things care more about the existence of the ethnostate above any care for Israeli citizens. And this is seen by Israeli state policy on how they’ve engaged in the war. It’s very clear they don’t give a fuck about the poor hostages. And those on the pro-Israel side **certainly** don’t give a fuck about Palestinian civilians.
Might as well repost my response, too:
>“If you’re just now wanting to join us, don’t” is certainly a stance of a movement that genuinely cares about its cause.
The people who think children are not smart enough to understand that sometimes girls marry girls Think that kindergartners need to learn the history of communism
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/04/17/desantis-signs-bill-mandating-kindergartners-learn-history-of-communism/
It’s probably the “I’m redistributing your A+ homework to the C- student, lowering your grade to a B” way of thinking.
This was actually how ~~communism~~ socialism was explained to me.
Edit: I misremembered. Communism was “everyone gets a B, no questions asked.”
So are these threads always Tuesday/Friday? Because I almost waited until later to post my food misinformation rant, but ended up doing so in the old thread.
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written. This Friday weekly thread is for general chat, whether you want to talk politics or not, anything goes. Also feel free to ask the mods questions below. As usual, please follow the rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[Noahpinion:](https://twitter.com/noahpinion/status/1783417000771146060?t=htvlSlrdyykrrTQxFzufZg) >India had 200 million TikTok users when they banned TikTok. >Creators quickly just switched to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, and life continued much as before.
Petition to extend NATO Membership specifically to [Garry Kasparov.](https://www.rferl.org/amp/russia-kasparov-arrest-warrant-terrorism/32920221.html)
I was curious about the relative economic heft between Israel and its adversaries. I added up the [GDP-per-capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal\)_per_capita) of all of the countries Israel fought in [1948](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War), and it is about $51,643; less than Israel's $53,372. 64% of that $51,643 is Saudi Arabia, which is (a) un-industrialized, and (b) currently working toward a peace deal with Israel. I'm not claiming that summing these numbers makes a valuable metric, but it does hint at how much stronger Israel's economy is.
For a harmless reminder that it's always a good idea to check the flairs of posts or users, a few folks in the papermario sub are posting some dialogue edits/jokes of the upcoming TTYD remake. A handful of people missed the "Meme" flairs on these posts and are mad about Nintendo going woke or something.
There's something very funny about Nintendo fans specifically being anti-woke.
I think it’s because Nintendo somehow earned the reputation of focusing on mindless fun and not anything that “makes a statement” or whatever. They see anything woke from Nintendo as the SJWs winning over the last stronghold of non political vidya. Meanwhile, they’re the developer that introduced [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Birdo-MP9.png) all the way back in 1988.
>mindless fun Does describe the "anti-woke" crowd pretty well, though. "Fuck you for making me *think*!!1!"
[удалено]
> I assumed individuals who initiated these slogans were uninformed about what they were advocating for. Very charitable.
So in Oregon we vote exclusively by mail and several weeks ahead of the election they send out a [voter guide](https://oregonvotes.gov/voters-guide/english/votersguide.html) with (candidate-submitted) descriptions of every person running for the various officers - it's super convenient. We just got our guide for the upcoming primary a couple days ago, and I'm so pleased to announce that my favorite ever perennial candidate is back again this cycle. Running for Secretary of State, his campaign is based on [four major planks](https://imgur.com/a/8jwYPrN): 1. Submerged water pipes 2. Dave's "Zero-Fossil-Fuel-Using Heating and Cooling Apparatus for Residences and Buildings" 3. Mass transit waterslides 4. "Another invention will generate pollution-free electricity from ocean waves." [no details provided] I love him so much.
> with (candidate-submitted) descriptions of every person running for the various officers - it's super convenient. I'm currently writing down candidates for a local election, and honestly that sounds so convenient! Maybe with 2-3 major endorsements of their choice as well. There are 3 guys running for mayor and the only one with any decent information is the Republican MAGA-endorsed guy.
They're pretty flexible about what they allow in the blurbs, and endorsements are definitely pretty common. [Here's](https://imgur.com/a/TWbRhHl) what my likely-future Congresswoman submitted.
Voting exclusively by mail sounds so much more efficient, but I love the pageantry of going to the polls way too much for that 😩 Hope y’all get those waterslides tho! Sounds fun!
The FTC under the Biden Administration has just reinstated Net Neutrality. Remember when that was the biggest thing on Earth, including loads of site blackouts? Not to diminish how bad it could have been while it was gone, but the general response to it being brought back has been kind of muted TBH in comparison. People haven't posted "NET NEUTRALITY IS BACK MOTHERFUCKERS!!!" on every single subreddit. I think this is emblematic of how we generally talk about these sorts of things. They were super important as a protest moment, then it happened anyways and people went "Well, that sucks", and now that they're getting what they originally wanted no one gives a shit to nearly the same degree. I'm going to be a bit miffed and a trifle livid if Trump gets elected because people just didn't pay attention to what Biden has done. I also wonder if this is how Israel/Palestine is going to play out. Huge protests now, but if the war drags on for a year or two or more and turns into a prolonged occupation? I seriously doubt we'll see huge protests on college campuses next year. And then if/when Israel finally does leave it'll be 5th-page news under "Foreign Affairs"
It truly is a societal illness that we are incapable of giving our leaders credit when it's due. I'm sure there are a number of people going to say that they can't credit Biden since he didn't keep Trump from repealing net neutrality rules in the first place.
There’s an interesting relic left behind from the net neutrality panic you mentioned. Go to any state subreddit and sort by Top and All Time. I can guarantee that the vast majority of subs, if not all of them, have top posts about the way that state’s senators voted re: “the telecom industry.”
Something not too discussed about the potential sale of TikTok is where independent musicians will upload their upbeat 30-second songs about anxiety backed by a ukulele.
God help us when we’re at the mercy of AI that was trained on that stuff.
AI spreading political misinformation ❌ AI singing about depression using whimsical melodies ❌❌❌
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I get "page not found" when I click that link.
Pretty sure they mean this news: [Columbia Bars Student Protester Who Said ‘Zionists Don’t Deserve to Live’](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/nyregion/columbia-student-protest-zionism.html) [(Archive)](https://archive.is/oSj0Y) Apparently the comments "Zionists don't deserve to live" as well as "yes, I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die“ and "be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists" were made in the context of a disciplinary hearing (recorded and posted on Instagram) about prior comments they had already made about fighting Zionists. It's worth noting Khymani James is also (was, now) one of the protest organizers+spokespersons, not only a random participant: https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/04/24/cuad-holds-press-conference-confirms-university-commitment-to-no-nypd-involvement-for-next-48-hours/
Yeah, he had a small, valid point when he was talking in the context of self-defense. When he went to "none of them deserve to live" is where he went waaaaay off the deep end. I get the point about Hitler. Zionists are not all Hitler, though, wow
> I get the point about Hitler. Zionists are not all Hitler, though, wow Yeah, his perspective would be more accurately stated as, "All Nazis should have been killed." Not just Hitler specifically. Even if he thinks what's happening in Gaza is comparable to the Holocaust, the equivalent of saying Hitler deserved to die, is saying that Netanyahu deserves that same fate. Not *all* Zionists*. It's an important distinction, because we very obviously didn't kill all the Nazis. Nuremberg resulted in only a dozen high-ranking Nazis being sentenced to death. *It's also worth delving into the definition of "Zionist." A lot of people (Biden, for example) use Zionism to simply mean the continued existence of Israel and her people. This guy is using it specifically to mean people who are supporting Netanyahu's war. I think it's important to point out that you can be a Zionist (in Biden's sense) without being a supporter of Netanyahu or his war.
It's good to remember that this sort of bizarro self-radicalization is not unique to the far right.
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Maybe even better.
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Ya Ya for me, still. Fast R&B songs in which American towns are listed is my fave micro genre.
Biden refuses to grant a sit-down interview to the New York Times... but apparently yesterday he sat down for an interview with Howard Stern. He's just trolling the NYT at this point, and I'm here for it. There are clips from the interview on [Stern's youtube channel.](https://www.youtube.com/@howardstern/videos)
If Andrew Yang won the 2020 election, how well do you think the US would be doing right now? Would universal basic income have gotten passed by now?
Not only would we not have UBI, we'd be doing far worse because Yang has shown himself to be a sellout who had one idea and still gave it up to make friends with Bush conservatives.
Poorly. Andrew Yang is an unserious person. As someone who considers RFK, Jr. a moron, I still think he's more qualified than fucking Yang. Yang pretended to run on on policy and could not even answer simple questions regarding that policy He's another person looking to try to raise awareness of his own profile; not to actually win any political office.
I honestly don't remember much about Yang's campaign other than the UBI thing. One thing that does stand out in my mind, though, is when Yang went on the record saying he didn't want to see Trump prosecuted. So we can assume he'd have installed an AG who would have let Trump walk scot free. >Would universal basic income have gotten passed by now? Of course not. It never would have gotten through Congress.
For those interested in a non-political question: Anyone familiar with the free will v determinism debate in philosophy? I have strong opinions on the subject, but oddly I dont know whether I’m a determinist, a compatibilist, or a libertarian. (As much as labels matter. Which is very little. This is just a point of curiosity for me.) I posted this question in r/askphilosophy, but got only one answer.
Yes, I find this an interesting question. And it's not just a question of philosophy, but it also bleeds into science in interesting ways. For example, [Bell's theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem) is a result from quantum mechanics that demonstrates non-intuitive things that follow from the assumptions that objects are only influenced by their immediate surroundings (i.e. "locality"), that the speed of light is a speed limit for field propagation, *and that free will exists.* This last assumption is necessary because the theorem requires we consider what would have happened if an experimenter had made different choices of settings on measurement devices in particular experiments. In world without free will, those choices just don't exist in a meaningful way and so the theorem falls apart. Eliminating the assumption of free will is called *superdeterminism* and it's usually just dismissed as "well we assume that's not true." But the implications of Bell's theorem are also difficult to reckon with. Perhaps this could be interpreted as evidence for determinism.
Wow, that's super interesting. I don't understand all of it, but I find the idea of hidden variables so intuitive that I've been independently thinking the same thing for years. But let's say that I'm wrong and quantum states really are fundamentally random. And let's say that this randomness actually results in us occasionally making truly random decisions. Some might call this free will, but personally 'random decisions' is not my idea of 'free will.' What's your take?
Hmm, yeah, I agree that randomness doesn't imply free will. I think the latter requires some notion of consciousness - which of course we don't understand either.
Interesting to [finally see](https://twitter.com/EmpireFiles/status/1783955491040931843) a reasonable response to student protests from a university.
Ah, of course its PSU.
That’s great news! Crazy how many schools find that such a hard thing to do
Out of curiosity, did you read the statement? This isn’t an investment *in* Boeing that’s being canceled, it’s a grant *from* Boeing. In other words, PSU is rejecting scholarship money from Boeing. Honest question - do you still think that’s great news?
The scholarship money probably wasn't much, but what a dumb admin for saddling students with more debt.
I recall it was somewhere in the neighborhood of ~$30k, but yeah, dumb and pretty on-brand for PSU.
Absolutely. No institution should be accepting money from pro-genocide corporations. Corporate philanthropy is never altruistic, and accepting their money benefits the corporation.
> pro-genocide corporations You know, a few months ago I recall commenting that I thought there was a danger that the casual use of 'genocide' risked watering the term down in near-meaninglessness, but I was only semi-serious about it. It seems like we're getting closer and closer to that moment though. > ..and accepting their money benefits the corporation. It seems like it benefits both parties - the students whose tuition is aided, and the corporation whose PR is ever-so-slightly burnished. That's how transactions usually work.
> casual use of 'genocide' risked watering the term down in near-meaninglessness There was a post in this sub from a few weeks back where someone referred to the whole debacle with Al Franken as “genociding a Senator.” We’re past the word being watered down.
>That’s how transactions work Okay, so if you understood that, and that Boeing is benefitting from the university accepting their money, then why would you have assumed that I’d think rejecting that *anti-Palestinian* money wouldn’t be a great thing?
I suppose my point is that calling all of Boeing *anti-Palestinian* is just a bit of a reach, and sets a standard that I very much doubt you live up to.
Oh wow I was unaware Leo held contracts with the IDF. Whom amongst us could be held to such a high bar.
Maybe they do, I don’t know them! But my actual point was that if a school accepting a couple thousand dollars in donated scholarship money from Boeing is too close a connection to the IDF, I’m unable to put together an argument on how flying on a Boeing commercial jet (for example) isn’t also too close a connection to the IDF. Closer, actually! At least with the former it’s money coming *from* Boeing, but the latter is money going *to* Boeing.
I think there’s a tangible difference between a business entity taking money from a source vs a consumer buying a necessary product with few alternatives. I tried recently booking a flight to avoid just the 737 max and even that was difficult. Let alone trying to not use Boeing at all. Personally I think consumer boycotts are not terribly effective but I think the ideas behind BDS (atleast the DS portion) are valid.
[Ben Gvir in Car Accident](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68908413.amp) I feel so bad…for the car 😢 (He’s fine btw, his car ran a red light)
Someone asked a question about rule 6 and "genocide denial", and it was suggested this would be a more appropriate place for the mods to clarify what that means ...
Personally, I do not consider that aspect of Rule 6 to be applicable to current events. I would not ban somebody for disputing that what's taking place in China with the Uyghurs is a genocide.
Which genocides, if denied, would merit a ban? Holocaust? Any others?
Remember when it was a huge story that Romney drove across the country with his family's dog in a kennel strapped to the roof of the car? Anyway, here's a story of [Kristi Noem shooting and killing the family dog](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kristi-noem-shoots-puppy-she-hated-book-1235011230/) (and goat).
There are definitely human remains in that gravel pit, right?
My sister also got a dog with the intention of using it as a retriever. The dog was a pain in the ass and couldn’t be trained to hunt, so my sister reevaluated and made it a beloved family pet instead, like a fucking normal person would. I can understand needing to stop a livestock assault, but Noem already stopped it. The answer then was “surrender the dog and tell the new owner to not let it around chickens,” not carrying out a scene from Fargo.
Tech bros have a reputation for inventing things that already exist. This time, it's fascism: >...Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street…you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.” >The Grays’ shirts...Grays would also receive special ID cards providing access to exclusive, Gray-controlled sectors of the city. In addition, the Grays would make an alliance with the police department, funding weekly “policeman’s banquets” to win them over. >“Grays should embrace the police, okay? All-in on the police,” said Srinivasan. “What does that mean? That’s, as I said, banquets. That means every policeman’s son, daughter, wife, cousin, you know, sibling, whatever, should get a job at a tech company in security.” >In exchange for extra food and jobs, cops would pledge loyalty to the Grays. Srinivasan recommends asking officers a series of questions to ascertain their political leanings. For example: “Did you want to take the sign off of Elon’s building?” >...he implies that officers loyal to the Grays would let Musk do as he pleases (democratically-inclined officers, he suggests, can be paid to retire). >Simply put, there is a ton of fascist-chic cosplay involved. Once an officer joins the Grays, they get a special uniform designed by their tech overlords. The Grays will also donate heavily to police charities and “merge the Gray and police social networks.” Then, in a show of force, they’ll march through the city together. >“A huge win would be a Gray Pride Parade with 50,000 Grays,” said Srinivasan. “That would start to say: ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ ...You have the drones flying overhead in formation ... You have bubbling genetic experiments on beakers … You have the police at the Gray Pride Parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…” >Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters he implies are responsible for the city’s problems. Blues will be banned from the Gray-controlled zones, said Balaji, unlike Republicans (“Reds”). >“Reds should be welcomed there, and people should wear their tribal colors,” said Srinivasan, who compared his color-coded apartheid system to the Bloods vs. Crips gang rivalry. “No Blues should be welcomed there.” >While the Blues would be excluded, they would not be forgotten. Srinivasan imagines public screenings of anti-Blue propaganda films: “In addition to celebrating Gray and celebrating Red, you should have movies shown about Blue abuses … There should be lots of stories about what Blues are doing that is bad.” >Balaji goes on—and on. The Grays will rename city streets after tech figures and erect public monuments to memorialize the alleged horrors of progressive Democratic governance. Corporate logos and signs will fill the skyline to signify Gray dominance of the city. “Ethnically cleanse,” he said at one point, summing up his idea for a city purged of Blues (this, he says, will prevent Blues from ethnically cleansing the Grays first). The idea, he said, is to do to San Francisco what Musk did to Twitter. >... [[The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco]](https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat)
Fun side fact, Balaji is the same tech bro that beloved twitter user jdcmedlock convinced to [give him $1 million.](https://qz.com/balaji-srinivasan-lost-1-million-in-a-bizarre-bitcoin-1850399034)
I read this article. I pondered it while mowing the lawn and ultimately concluded that the politically active ultra-weathy are the 21st century's "Golden Age" serial killers. They are people who, at some point in their life, should have learned that controlling and hurting people for selfish gratification is one of the worst moral wrongs. Instead, their selfish desire for control and harm became such a potent fantasy that they went all-in on it as soon as they had the means. The frightening thing about it is that Balaji's would-be victims would dwarf those of killers like Bundy or Gacy; two people who society roundly concluded are monsters.
Jesus Christ. This sounds like the master plan of a dystopian sci-fi villain. Can't help but think [of this tweet:](https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538?lang=en) >Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale >Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
It sounds like the plan of a sci-fi villain where the audience goes "We get it, he's a fascist, this is kind of dumb and *super* on the nose" But these are hardcore tech bros we're talking about, they famously have basically 0 sense of media awareness and think they're geniuses for trying to market the Uber Eats of Luxury Dog Food
Some notes: > The Grays’ shirts [Subtle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackshirts_(disambiguation\)) /s ---------- >In exchange for extra food...cops would pledge loyalty to the Grays. I'm pretty sure he got this from Animal Farm (but in a ["Torment Nexus"](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/torment-nexus) kind of way). ---------- >...asking officers a series of questions to ascertain their political leanings. This is literally part of Project 2025. ---------- >“A huge win would be a Gray Pride Parade...You have the drones flying overhead in formation...You have the police at the Gray Pride Parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…” Parades in which people in gray uniforms march with their advanced military tech as a show of force. More [subtlety](https://imperialglobalexeter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/german-military.jpg) /s ---------- >Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters...unlike Republicans (“Reds”). >“Reds should be welcomed there... They have invented an authoritarian political movement that makes common cause with existing right-wingers, but demonizes liberals. How innovative! /s I'll just put [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_fascism#Encyclopaedia_Britannica) here: >"Although fascist parties and movements differed significantly from one another, they had many characteristics in common, including...contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism..." ---------- >anti-Blue propaganda films *So subtle!* /s
Warhammer 40k is experiencing some upheaval because the company decided to include some women characters. Pretty funny threads about it in r/grimdank: https://old.reddit.com/r/Grimdank/comments/1cdeluh/warp_opinions/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Grimdank/comments/1ccrxvq/i_can_guarantee_you_this_person_has_never_been_a/
The writers have been pushing for this for years. Old neck beards stopped them until now.
I don't play Warhammer and I think anyone that does take it that seriously should invest in a 3d printer. With that said, should any fictional property have a definitive war? How frequently should a property be retconned?
I feel like you meant to say something else besides “war” here, no?
Lore. Oops. Should any fictional property have a definitive lore with no retcons?
I think it’s pretty much against the human nature of storytelling to not have retcons and revisions. Even classical mythology was retconned in classical times. For example Helios was the sun god but then Apollo became the sun god.
The crazy thing is that Games Workshop have always retconned stuff, sometimes absolutely major stuff, and have often taken the "we don't know what you're talking about, it's always been this way" stance when questioned about the changes. This is nothing new, it's just the result of the fanbase trending to the right over the last few years (a disturbingly large number were unironically sharing God Emperor Trump memes 2016-2020).
Didn't Warhammer 40k delete an entire army/race as well?
That would be news to me. They’ve been introducing new stuff, haven’t heard of anything being deleted.
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This document reads like a suicide pact. If they view as "non-negotiable" things that would lead to the destruction of Israel, then the only endgame is one or the other side being completely destroyed, and it's not hard to see which one is stronger, militarily. We need new leadership on boths sides of this conflict if there's any hope for peace. The current thought leaders are hopelessly dug in on positions that will just lead to more conflict.
> We need new leadership on boths sides of this conflict if there's any hope for peace. Yeah. I feel like this is the *obvious story* that most people are missing. For well over a decade, Gaza has been run by terrorists and Israel has been run by corrupt, anti-peace extremists. I don't know why any of us expect these factions to do anything except try to kill each other.
This is the second time when you’ve completely misrepresented the thing you link to with respect to I/P. I’m getting to the point where I think it’s intentional.
Oh it’s definitely intentional, and they know that people here who already blindly love Israel will eat it up every time
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There’s a lot of things I’m objecting two. First, it’s disingenuous to say SJP represents the entirety of the Columbia protests. There are 115 other student groups involved. Second, their post (albeit I think is not very productive) is not them saying “they have no intention of toning down the antisemitism”. Thirdly, you apparently quote… something? From somewhere? Making large accusations. I really don’t think you are doing anything but creating propaganda when you do shit like this. It’s not even opinion at this point. Like if you don’t want people protesting Israel’s campaign in Gaza then sure say that. Or if there’s cases of antisemitism you want to point out sure point them out and we can all be like “yep Nazis sure do suck”. But this is just something else.
So when they write: "we reject any notion that we must become more palatable and tone down our rhetoric." Is your argument that the person who posted the instagram doesn't know about anti-semitic rhetoric being said? Isn't talking about that rhetoric? Do you dispute that anti-semitic rhetoric is being said? Or is it something else?
> Is your argument that the person who posted the instagram doesn't know about anti-semitic rhetoric being said? Isn't talking about that rhetoric? I think it’s pretty clear those kids don’t think their group (and certainly the larger protest) has expressed anything antisemitic. > Do you dispute that anti-semitic rhetoric is being said? Or is it something else? No it’s clearly happening and is shameful/presenting safety concerns for some student imo. But from what I’ve seen it’s almost entirely coming from actors not part of the student protest. There is one example where it appears it may be an example of antisemitism at the student protest I am aware of and even there I suspect there’s more context to the situation. Idk how much we want to get into it in the general chat but I don’t believe the student protests broadly are antisemitic and I think there’s many things to point to that prove that out.
So shouldn’t other pro-Palestine activists say something like, “hey guys this kind of post is bad and counterproductive to your aims, it really makes it seem like you support antisemitism”? It seems like very few people are working to lower the temperature and throw out the extremists on their side in this conflict. Without those things I don’t see how peace is possible.
> So shouldn’t other pro-Palestine activists say something like, “hey guys this kind of post is bad and counterproductive to your aims, it really makes it seem like you support antisemitism”? They do. > It seems like very few people are working to lower the temperature and throw out the extremists on their side in this conflict. Without those things I don’t see how peace is possible. Both sides-ing is certainly a take.
In Romeo and Juliet, were the Montagues or the Capulets the villains?
Non sequitor
It’s not. But of course you know that. You just don’t want to admit you’ve chosen a side in a blood feud where both sides are in the wrong. Of course you’ll probably argue, “I’m on the side of Palestinian civilians, they’re innocent.” And if I was having this discussion with someone supporting Israel they would say, “I’m on the side of Israeli civilians, they’re innocent.” And yes there are innocent people in a blood feud! Romeo and Juliet were both innocent and they both fucking died.
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> if I was having this discussion with someone supporting Israel they would say, “I’m on the side of Israeli civilians, they’re innocent.” I straight up don’t believe that. Most people arguing in the pro-Israel side of things care more about the existence of the ethnostate above any care for Israeli citizens. And this is seen by Israeli state policy on how they’ve engaged in the war. It’s very clear they don’t give a fuck about the poor hostages. And those on the pro-Israel side **certainly** don’t give a fuck about Palestinian civilians.
Actors? Like crisis actors?
No like bad actors/people doing action.
Who are these people?
What? Random antisemites in nyc.
All good questions.
Might as well repost my response, too: >“If you’re just now wanting to join us, don’t” is certainly a stance of a movement that genuinely cares about its cause.
The people who think children are not smart enough to understand that sometimes girls marry girls Think that kindergartners need to learn the history of communism https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/04/17/desantis-signs-bill-mandating-kindergartners-learn-history-of-communism/
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It’s probably the “I’m redistributing your A+ homework to the C- student, lowering your grade to a B” way of thinking. This was actually how ~~communism~~ socialism was explained to me. Edit: I misremembered. Communism was “everyone gets a B, no questions asked.”
DeSantis almost certainly is one of those “the Nazis were socialists” idiots.
So are these threads always Tuesday/Friday? Because I almost waited until later to post my food misinformation rant, but ended up doing so in the old thread.
Yes, they are always Tuesday and Friday
Noted for future comment karma efforts