FtttG
User ID: 1175
FtttG
5hr ago
In the winter months it gets dark here no later than 4:30. My girlfriend was feeling the pinch of seasonal affective disorder more than I was, so we bought a sun lamp. It's about the size of an iPad and sits on your desk.
I cannot believe how effective it is: the impact is (if you'll pardon the pun) night and day. I try to sit in front of it for as little as half an hour (longer if possible) and it makes a huge difference to my mood, energy levels and focus. Well worth the expense if you find yourself feeling run down in winter. Will update with the specific model tomorrow morning.
FtttG
8hr ago
My point is that the misuse of the labels is not always exclusively due to TLP's narcissism theory.
Agreed, and I didn't mean to imply that it was. I was using it as an example of a once-strict identity category for which the boundaries seem to have become more porous over time.
FtttG
9hr ago
To be fair, I had a boomer coworker who claimed to be a vegetarian despite eating fish ("I consider fish to be vegetables").
Is it @thejdizzler who's vegan except for oysters?
so there's presumably a variety of reasons that meat eaters call themselves vegetarians besides virtue signalling.
Regardless of their motivations, calling yourself vegetarian when you eat meat is simply a misuse of the word, surely?
FtttG
11hr ago
In that case, why are the buttons right-aligned on mobile? Left-aligned was haram?
In one of The Last Psychiatrist (hereafter Edward Teach)'s articles, as an exercise, he challenged the reader to describe themselves without using the word "am".
Given that English speakers habitually describe their professions this way ("I'm a fisherman" rather than "I catch fish)"), completing the exercise can be surprisingly difficult.
I've long thought that there has never been an interesting sentence beginning with "I identify as", but Teach's writings illustrated to me that such a framework can be not just tedious and navel-gazing, but actively harmful to oneself and those around you.
When I criticise sentences beginning with "I identify as", I am of course referring to our modern fixation on "identities" in the sense of "identity politics" ("I identify as a QPOC agender neurodivergent...") but also in the sense of "identifying as" something wholly removed from any corresponding action associated therewith. As you point out, being a musician is seen as high-status in a way that selling insurance isn't: there are innumerable people who still call themselves musicians (namely in their Instagram handles) despite never having recorded a single note of music or having gone years without playing a gig (if ever); likewise for people calling themselves "writers" without having written anything, never mind published. This worldview is starting to affect more traditional identity categories as well: a majority of American women who call themselves lesbians have had sex with at least one man (6% in the last year); there are sexually active people who call themselves asexual; there are self-identified vegans who subscribe to a non-standard definition of veganism. "Inclusivity" has become so valorised and "gatekeeping" so stigmatised that it's seen as poor form to tell a meat-eater that they aren't vegan; a person who's diagnosed themselves with autism that they aren't really neurodivergent; a chronic masturbator that they aren't asexual; a bearded, penised male in jeans and a t-shirt that he isn't a woman. Identity has become wholly uncoupled from essential rule-in criteria or adherence to a standard of behaviour (broadly defined): vague, unfalsifiable "vibes" are the order of the day. I wonder if you could draw a bright line between the relaxation of academic standards you outline in your post, and the relaxation of standards of behaviour for who is and isn't a "lesbian".
"Why are you getting so incensed, @FtttG? It's just some kids on college campuses – who cares if a woman with multiple male sexual partners and zero female ones calls herself a lesbian?"
But I actually think it's much more insidious than that. I think the relaxation of standards such that anyone can call themselves a musician (without playing a note of music) and anyone can call themselves queer (while exclusively pursuing hetero relationships) – and that anyone who calls them a fake and a poseur is a toxic exclusive elitist gatekeeper – can lead to some extremely toxic habits of mind, ultimately causing people to "identify as" the only thing anyone should aspire to be: a good person.
Because if you don't have to write anything to call yourself a writer, and you don't have to adhere to a plant-based diet to call yourself a vegan – if it's all just vague, unfalsifiable, unquantifiable vibes – it stands to reason that you can "be a good person" without once doing anything good, without once doing anything to improve the lot of the people around you. How does that cash out in the real world?
- Obsessive fixation on the cheap talk of good person signifiers (when admonishing people to be more woke, woke activists sometimes points out that it costs nothing to put a Palestine or pride flag in your Instagram bio, or your pronouns in your email signature. They're right: it costs nothing, meaning it's a cheap signal easily exploited by bad actors);
- Obsessive fixation on all the bad things you haven't done, with a corresponding effort to downplay or undermine the positive achievements of others;
- Obsessive fixation on the bad things other people have done (the more cartoonishly evil, the better*);
- Periodic paroxysms of performative self-loathing after a particularly atrocious instance of bad behaviour, followed by immediate resumption of business as usual (including said bad behaviour); and
- A hypertrophied fundamental attribution error mindset, in which exculpatory circumstances for every bad thing you've ever done can always be found or confected (but every person who hurts or upsets you in any way is a toxic narcissistic abuser who's just going out of their way to hurt you out of sheer bloody-mindedness)
As Teach pointed out, the last bullet point is particularly unsustainable for forming a real sense of self and personal identity. In principle one could take full responsibility for all of one's impressive achievements while refusing to take responsibility for all of one's failures (moral and otherwise), but most people are no good at that kind of compartmentalization. If you've gotten into the habit of refusing to take accountability for your fuckups, it's only a matter of time before your positive achievements don't really feel like "yours" either. Thus, impostor syndrome.
I suppose it could be worse: identifying as a good person hasn't yet become wholly uncoupled from consistent pro-social behaviour. Believing you're a good person because you've never set a cat on fire is a low bar, but it's a hell of a lot better than thinking there's literally no difference between someone who sets a cat on fire and someone who doesn't. Insincere performative virtue signalling still acknowledges that there is a thing which exists called "virtue"; aspiring through one's actions (namely insincere performative virtue signalling) to be seen as a virtuous person still acknowledges that virtuous behaviour is a precondition for being a virtuous person. Reflexive invention of exculpatory circumstances to explain away one's bad behaviour still acknowledges that said behaviour requires explanation. "Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue" and all that. Still, two decades ago anyone who called himself autistic without having ever consulted a mental health professional would have attracted a lot of funny looks – nowadays it largely passes without comment. (Indeed, the concept of "social awkwardness" no longer exists: every such person is reflexively assumed to be "on the spectrum".) I worry about where this train leads. Will we end up with innumerable tautological Templars running around, who no longer even feel any need to explain away their bad behaviour; who sincerely believe that, as a PoG (person of good), everything they do is good, because they did it?
Anglophone Gen Zers were raised in a discursive environment which tells them they're smart (even if they've never done a smart thing in their lives); which tells them they can be queer (even if they've never done anything queer in their lives and have no desire to); which tells them they're beautiful – even, dare I say, a certified bad bitch (even if no one wants to have sex with them); and, most toxically of all, tells them they're good, even if they've never carried out a single selfless act, maybe provided they parrot a catechism of cookie-cutter woke catchphrases they don't even understand never mind positively endorse. No wonder they go into adulthood with no idea of who they are, what they're good at, what they're bad at, what they want from life, how they come off to other people, what makes them them. They can list off all the identity categories they fall into like a math nerd reciting digits of pi, but they couldn't begin to tell you who they, personally, are. No wonder they report unprecedented rates of mental illness**, sexlessness and social isolation. How can you begin to make friends based on common interests if you don't have any interests (besides rotting in your bed watching Netflix), and neither does anyone around you? What does it even mean to be attracted to another person if you've been consistently told all your life that all bodies are equally attractive? How can you form a relationship with another person if you don't even know what you want out of life? How can you and your partner have shared relationship goals if you don't have any goals of any kind?
*I used to occasionally read an online article which I found so insightful and perceptive that I felt like the author had cracked one of life's cheat codes: this was the first time I can remember it happening. One of the most recent times I had such a feeling was when I read the TLP article linked under "periodic paroxysms" above. The second time was when I read my first post of Scott's, "The Toxoplasma of Rage". And he succeeded in inducing that feeling in me again, and again, and again – and now he mostly sucks. Nothing good lasts forever.
**To bring it back to the subject of the OP, I have no doubt that this is partly an artifact of young people or their parents attempting to game disability frameworks to secure carve-outs and accommodations – an extra hour in an exam for a student diagnosed with anxiety or depression is a low-hanging fruit waiting to be picked. But I don't think that's the whole story: I think there's a real signal of Gen Z being miserable in a way and at a scale that previous generations weren't. Yes it's the phones, but it's not just the phones.
FtttG
15hr ago
META: The upvote/downvote etc. buttons underneath comments display correctly if the zoom on the browser window is set to 100% or lower. If I zoom in to 125% (as I normally do, my eyesight not being what it once was), the buttons appear right-aligned (screenshot).
FtttG
1d ago
According to this article, 80% of artists on Spotify have fewer than 50 monthly listeners
It's good to be above average.
FtttG
1d ago
Do we have any native Russian speakers here who might like to lend me a hand with a small creative project?
FtttG
1d ago
I'm working on a musical project. Do we have any native Russian speakers here who might like to lend me a hand?
FtttG
1d ago
see how it was before widespread trans acceptance in the West
I notice you're making a factual claim about the recent past here. Do you have any evidence for your claim that suicide rates for trans people have declined over time?
the scolding types gloating about talking down to their transphobic uncle at thanksgiving.
I've heard that this woman was actually involved in Kamala's campaign. Can anyone confirm? What's her name?
Edit: apparently her name is Arielle Fodor and she joined a "white women for Kamala" Zoom call.
FtttG
2d ago
Why did it kill your interest in him? Assuming you can answer the question without spoiling the plot.
FtttG
2d ago
Seconding "Categories" as the post to read on Zack's website, though he has plenty of other bangers too.
FtttG
2d ago
@ymeskhout's "In This House, We Believe in Gender Stereotypes", which he originally cross-posted here: there's an interesting discussion in the comments.
In rationalist circles, Scott's post "The Categories Were Made for Man, not Man for the Categories" is a very respected pro-trans article. I used to find it persuasive.
On the pro side, Freddie deBoer has waded into this topic on several occasions, which prompted my response to him:
- "I Think You Should be Kind"
- "And Now I Will Again Ponderously Explain Why I Am Trans-Affirming"
- "What Goes On in the Public Bathrooms Where You're From, Exactly?"
- "Perhaps If You're a "Of Course Trans People Can Be Trans, But...." Type, You Should Front the "Of Course" A Little More"
- "... No, We Definitely Want to Use Medical Arguments to Defend Trans Children"
FtttG
2d ago
Obligatory self-promo: https://firsttoilthenthegrave.substack.com/p/contra-deboer-on-transgender-issues
I recommend binging everything @zackmdavis posted on his old site.
Gender:Hacked by Sarah Mittermaier formerly/also known as Eliza Mondegreen.
A review of Shannon Thrace's memoir 18 Months, her account of how her marriage collapsed after her ex-husband came out as trans.
FtttG
3d ago
It's interesting again because the words "overrated" and "underrated" are only ever used in the context of qualitative assessments which are extremely subjective, namely those of artistic works. "Breaking Bad is an overrated TV show" sounds normal; "the bridge collapsed because the inspector overrated the quality of the steel used in its construction" sounds weird, even if that's literally what happened.
FtttG
3d ago
My girlfriend has been reading Jonathan Strange for several weeks (months?). She initially found it delightful and easy to read, but then came to a chunk of it where the pacing slowed to a crawl. I believe she's now about three-quarters of the way through it and is determined to finish it before the end of the year.
FtttG
3d ago
Progress on Cryptonomicon has been slow, and I'm now about a quarter of the way through it. In addition to being very long it's also very slow in terms of plot progression.
FtttG
3d ago
Forgive me for asking the obvious question but – were these writers "female" in the biological sense or in the "identify as" sense?
META: I'm getting some weird CSS errors when I view my own comments on mobile. See the upvote/downvote counters in this screenshot.
Possibly related, hovering over the upvote/downvote counter on a desktop browser doesn't work.
There is an archaic noun "ruth", which seems to mean the same thing as "rue". Many centuries ago it was a commonplace for Christian parents to name their children after Christian virtues they want them to embody, which is where the name "Ruth" came from: along with "Grace" it's the only such name which has really stuck around in Ireland. Some of these like "Hope" are more common in the states, and you'll sometimes encounter Nigerians called "Goodluck" ("Chastity" only gets used ironically by sex workers).
You could try a magnesium supplement shortly before bed. Don't overdo it though, maybe twice a week at most.
I hope this isn't an obvious suggestion but have you tried cutting out caffeine? I once went a month without drinking any caffeinated beverages: the first week was a challenge, but after that I felt no less alert and focused during the day, and slept like a baby through the night.
Avoid drinking anything an hour before bed, just in case you feel the urge to pee during the night.
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