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4bpp

Now I am become a Helpful, Honest and Harmless Assistant, the destroyer of jobs

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joined 2022 September 05 01:50:31 UTC

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4bpp


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Now I am become a Helpful, Honest and Harmless Assistant, the destroyer of jobs

				
				
				

				

					3 followers  

					follows 2 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 01:50:31 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 355


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If they made themselves popular with the populations rather than just the leadership, maybe terrorism would be less of a problem.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That count is too naive to be useful for decision-making. Ditching Ukraine would cost the US the affection of a big chunk of the European political class, which would not be unlikely to catalyse all sorts of downstream costs from further lawfare against US tech megacorps to rich countries ditching Mastercard/Visa/the petrodollar. It would make Russia more friendly, but these would be very modest gains. Ditching Israel would cost the US the affection of Israel, and some subset of the Jewish diaspora, and in return gain it massive soft power with the entire Islamic world. Nobody knows how to quantify those expectations, and so there are no objective utilons to count.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean, your case would be more compelling if you could show even one person who uses the term while neither personally disliking transsexuals or transsexualism, nor engaging in some sort of reclamation exercise.


This is like the troon discussion all over again. Not only is this line of reasoning proving too much ("baboon does not diminish/insult the primates! coon does not diminish/insult raccoons! Why would they be an obvious slur against (...)?"), if you actually believed it you would just find yourself constantly surprised by reality, specifically why certain classes of similar-looking words keep coined by groups of people for other groups they hate and why the target groups keep reacting negatively to those words being used to them. Yes, some leftists famously use a strategy where they pretend to not understand something that is common sense but not backed by an articulate theory that looks good in front of an audience. That doesn't mean you should lower yourself to their level; if you think that you should do that because some leftists somewhere got to, that's a textbook example of fighting the culture war here, as opposed to discussing it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think either of those should be prima facie justification to not apply the rules to someone. We do not know the opportunity cost in interesting writing and original thinking lost by people who did not want to share a forum with him, but to just blankly assume that it can't have been so high as to justify losing him amounts to a complete lack of faith in the community's principles. There also was the untried option of trying to buckbreak him rather than just going for the kill, like by forcibly renaming him. Take a lesson from mid-2000s /b/, which managed to shape its culture by unrestrained use of wordfilters alone and still keep a reputation for "light-touch" moderation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


No, actually, it wasn't. It was ages ago, but I clearly remember it being used as a diminutive.




By whom?


It is a diminutive, which contributes to its usability as a slur, just like "sky daddy" (your example!) is insulting in a way "sky dad" or "sky father" would not be.




Yes, because whenever the left tries to come up with an insult, the right just appropriates it, instead of banning people and acting offended.




Good for them, I guess (not that they have a choice most of the time), but that doesn't matter. The goal ostensibly was to have a diversity of opinions on this forum, not to settle scores or enact justice for the right wing. There is a perfectly usable neutral word ("transsexual") which is less offputting to a demographic we need more of, because it is barely represented on this political discussion forum even though it is politically dominant in most relevant countries. On the other hand, the only advantages of allowing "tranny" are saving 5 bytes of space per use and letting some right-wingers feel good (and I doubt they would even quit if they were denied this little pleasure).


Also, in case that was not clear the first time around, I'd be very happy with a policy that bans all uses (as opposed to mentions) of "tranny", "sky daddy" and "chud".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not any more of a fan of him than you are, but it is an old rule of internet communities that singling out moderators to attack is the most surefire way to get more of whatever the moderator you singled out stands for. All you will get is wagon circling, because staff vs. the rabble is the most natural tribal division for a volunteer project. (See Wikipedia for the most famous example.)


The only productive way to effect change is to lay low until there is an opportunity to influence the selection of new staff, and then try to tip the scale towards people you find more agreeable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think banning "sky daddy" is fair, but I looked at the search results and I can see only one instance that is on the use side of the use-mention distinction (magicalkittycat from 5 months ago). The others - it seems like 75% of uses of "chud" at this point are by self-identified chuds (like the Asmongold fandom) though personally I would have also liked to see that one buried, and "blood libel" is in a different class as it evokes disagreement with its substance rather than its style. (Contrast "sky daddy": Christians would not disagree that God is a father figure, nor that He is at least metaphorically situated in the sky. The offense is caused by the baby talk formulation, implying that believers are stupid and emotionally immature)




"Tranny" is not a slur. I'm all for civility, but you'll never satisfy people who keep inventing things to be offended at.




Who is "inventing things to be offended at"? The term obviously was invented by people who are against "trannies" with the intent to offend, and to pretend otherwise is a level of gaslighting that would get you an A+ on your * Studies course paper if you deployed it for the other team.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If a hair trigger of this sensitivity was applied to left wingers, they'd be banned on sight.




What's a concrete example of that? I at least certainly can't think of any symmetrical slights (if I had to come up with a way, I'd suggest making your username "FetusSlushie" or "WhiteTears" or something).


I don't remember instances of leftists flinging childish slurs at the holy cows of rightists here at all; and if they did, I would likewise be in favour of the banhammer. What do you think tone policing is about? Why is it so hard for right-wingers to restrain themselves and not use slurs?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
+1 for moderating more on tone again. I'm genuinely struggling to understand why the mods have abandoned that idea so completely, unless it is either inability to shoot their own tribal soldiers in the back, or unwillingness to stand up to a community majority that gets pissy when you do so with theirs. I guess maybe the seeds of this were there since the beginning, considering how the staff had to be dragged kicking and screaming into banning one TrannyPornO (who some, unbelievably, still reminisce about wistfully) even though any forum that wants to be welcoming to leftists should obviously have shown him the door based on his username alone before he made a single post.


(I guess the proposition is complicated to implement also because you see the detrimental effects of popular posters getting punished immediately, while the positive effects of better tone take a long time to manifest as new people trickle in.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think I got the vibe that the guys had to be walking on eggshells compared to that - in the same circle there are a bunch of very touchy-feely guys as well, including ones with sufficiently little social common sense that they do not desist when their target is evidently uncomfortable with it, and the worst that happens even to those is that people badmouth them behind their back (and some choose to individually avoid them).


I would be tempted to say that this is just because this is not the USA, but then I spent many years in US grad school covering the whole BLM/#metoo ground zero era and even there did not experience anywhere near the climate of fear that is being painted in these threads. Can we be sure that the situations discussed here are anywhere near representative, as opposed to yet another instance of the internet selectively boosting the most degenerate outliers from among hundreds of millions of anglophone users?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
    

  1. 

    Flat white (I don't like the foam on cappuccinos, and often in Europe these have twice the espresso too). Some handbrew pourover if I want the caffeine but not the nutrition. Straight espressos only in Italy (I find that you get good-tasting ones maybe 90% of the time there, whereas elsewhere it's closer to 50%).
    

    2. 

  2. 

    I generally avoid it if I can help it for the same reason of not wanting my coffee to be heavy/nutritious. I make an exception if I must go to a place where I know the coffee will be disgusting (Starb*cks and most other chains). In the UK, my go-to was the gingerbread flavouring at Costa.
    

    3. 



				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm obviously talking about the sort of refugees that would significantly change the national character (though I gather that Poland actually got more friction between them and the native population than they at first expected, and soured on the whole thing a bit too). This is like gotchaing someone complaining about immigrants in the US with a statistic about immigrants from Scotland.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There might be something to that; at a very mixed-age-and-gender social function I was at a while ago, there was a zoomette who got drunk and flirtatiously handsy with the guys sitting around her, and then in her drunken disregulation started spiralling that surely all the people around her must hate her because she is like this. Reassurances that this is very unlikely were met with what seemed like genuine surprise and a measure of disbelief from her.


However, more often I suspect that people going on dates nowadays are so solipsistic that they scarcely get around to trying to model what would be attractive to the other person at all. Baseline Twitter-and-Instagram socialisation does not impart a great deal of theory of mind.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
    

  • 

    I guess with PiS it's quite conceivable that they could pull something like starting such a war, pulling the whole of EU into it, and then exiting and making ceasefire separately and leaning back and watching while the rest of Europe bleeds. They were very much the "our country über alles" but not above pretending to do international cooperation for more gibs party.
    

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  • 

    The more decisive question, of course, is not actually alignment on war with Russia but alignment on accepting refugees. Poland is one of the countries that has been refusing to share the load, is now starting to look conspicuously better for it and making it awkward for its Western neighbours. With sufficient cynicism you might compare the EU outlook on this with the theory on China/Taiwan and Russia/Ukraine where bad leadership can't suffer the existence of a living example of how good the same sort of people could have it under an alternative political system.
    

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				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
From my understanding, much like East Germany, Hungary started seeing substantial Vietnamese immigration during communist times (as part of the general cooperation of the ideologically lukewarm peripheral countries). Do you really figure there was meme flow from the (still mostly Southern refugee at that time) Vietnamese in the US to the (tending Northern) intra-communist transfers?


I haven't been to Vietnam, but are nail salons a big thing there, and if they are, are they considered an American thing?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Чем меньше женщину мы любим/Тем легче нравимся мы ей?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The nail salon workers in Hungary are Vietnamese too, and I am honestly struggling to imagine how they would have been helped into the job by American relatives (and how heartless those American relatives would have to have been to shepherd them into being nail salon workers in a country where they will earn like a fifth of American minimum wage for it).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
As my non-American $.02, I can see it as "pushing it" in the sense that I would probably not do it if I had kids that age (unless I found them unusually mature) and might advice likewise to people in my environment, but on the other hand it seems insane that this would result in police getting involved and the children being taken away.
In that sense, I'm a bit taken aback by your comment on a meta level; it comes across to me like someone got arrested for their breakfast choice, and then you chime in that if they really did put honey on peanut butter then this does strike you as quite degenerate. The most important part of the argument, why your beliefs regarding what should be put on bread (or what kids may or may not be competent at) should have any bearing on whether police may use their mandate to punish unrelated people who act at odds with them, is conspicuously missing, as if if only enough representative salt-of-the-earth people thought likewise, jailing PB&J heretics would be the natural course of action. Is there no more liberal principle, that people may by default do whatever they want unless it impinges on one of a handful of predefined competing values like the integrity of the state or there is a compelling sense in which it conflicts with someone else's rights?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Nowhere near the extent they do in Belize (or the wilder and more Latin southern wastes of Europe). Said with some authority since I've driven in all of these.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Counter-counterpoint- those societies all suck (relative to the US) at enforcing a lot of other laws, so it is not surprising that they would suck at enforcing their gun laws. Everyone in Belize routinely speeding is not much of an argument against the viability of speed limits in the US.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
From what it sounds like, the charge was that they selectively interfered with public transport in cities supporting one particular side, so unless the population is also perfectly geographically shuffled, everyone using public transport would not be sufficient protection.


That being said, I agree that if you already have the sort of corruption that allows selective interference with public transport, private vehicles are hardly safe. If anything, under Brazilian conditions, some tactical road closures that just so happen to result in the city being choked up in jams would be more deniable and even easier to get away with.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not sure if "Problem: There is a clash between my ingroup and my outgroup. Proposed solution: Have you considered shifting the balance of power towards my ingroup?" is a take that needs to be introduced explicitly.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not exactly a new insight that for many Westerners, science and social progressivism just wound up being used to haphazardly fill a Christianity-shaped hole.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Isn't cunt Latinate too? I think it's really more about the the sound itself; out of my quick-and-dirty list of similar slurs, few are actually Germanic (what words with that pattern even are, apart from moon?).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think you need a complete theory to recognise patterns and the effect they have on listeners. Troon works as a slur for the same reasons coon, goon and loon do, octoroon got its ending, and why the boon part of baboon is such a staple in racist terminology (the only other one that probably comes close is "chimp", with gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, gibbons and all the other well-known primates basically being unheard of), and the long tubular-mouth oo in the middle might well be a human universal gesture of mockery.


(Even the memey zoomer-coomer-doomer series of neologisms is generally at least somewhat mocking. Noob also established itself globally with that particular pronunciation, in defiance of the normal English -oo-/-yoo- distribution.)