Grant_us_eyes
No bio...
User ID: 1156
Grant_us_eyes
1mo ago
popular actress
Doubt. While my experience with most modern movies is fairly limited, everything I've seen of her is the metaphorical equivalent of a cudgel - an ambiguously brown women/girl they can shoe-horn and pretend everyone finds attractive, and if you point out the obvious race-switching, they make the typical noises about racism.
She's not even that good an actress, from everything I've seen.
Grant_us_eyes
10mo ago
A male fan who loves lasers won't be asked to recite "There is no death, there is the Force" before he's allowed in the tree house.
Honestly, yeah, that's pretty much how it works. I remember a time before the wider internet when things were far more niche, and getting two star wars(or your niche topic of choice) together and watch the sparks go. There was very much a sense of 'Okay, exactly how much can I let my freak flag fly around this person' with alot of this stuff, alongside the simple passionate releif of 'Holy shit, this is someone who UNDERSTANDS'.
it's a real thing that happened.
Statistical outliers. Growing up, I never once encountered a fan of Star Wars who was a woman.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
I can just wordlessly point at the utilization that medical euthanasia has gotten in Canada, as I feel that encapsulates the best example of 'this is what could happen.'
And, yes, my reply would be along the lines of 'Tell you what, Doc, you first, then I'll consider it.'
Flippant commentary aside, I don't want the above scenario to come to the fore because I believe, in order for us to get to this point, several things have gone horribly wrong. I don't want the option to be on the table to begin with. I don't want a scenario where I'm incommunicado for whatever reason, and the doctor kindly suggests to my family and/or next of kin 'Well, we could do this...'
I'm sure I could paint what-ifs till the day was over, and still not realize the worst of what could occur. Personally, I'd just rather nip the matter in the bud and make sure it could never happen to start.
Grant_us_eyes
8mo ago
Diverse but isolated.
People try to claim America as a melting pot without looking at the mechanics(Nevermind that the phrase itself referred to New York City). That's the part that always sticks at me when I look at my very local history and see the various ethnic settlements that developed.
Certainly, you have diverse ethnic settlements that look from a modern standpoint to be very close to one another... but when you stop and take a step back, consider the time period they developed and the lack of coherent infrastructure, and you realize that these self-same settlements were in the middle of fucking nowhere and would take a good number of days to reach the nearest town or transportation hub, nevermind the nearest city.
Diverse, but isolated. Now, there is no isolation; we are all in the pot together, and it's slowly starting to boil.
Grant_us_eyes
1mo ago
There was some bad casting in the first movie for characters that don't appear in this installment.
Their switch-over of Liet-Kynes to a random black woman for diversity points alone shows how badly the Director's understanding of the Dune universe works; a very wide but shallow puddle that completely misses the mark.
I didn't see the first one, won't see the second one. Don't even get me started on them showing off the Sardaukar homeworld.
Fun aside; None of the movies ever get the Padishah Emperor right. In the books he's described as a youthful, thirty-something redhead. Yet they always have him as an old man past his prime. Pity.
Grant_us_eyes
4mo ago
If there is one thing about online rhetoric regarding the Civil War and the South has taught me, is that the South should have simply emulated the Arabic slave trade, or the Central American slave trade, as that would have solved alot of problems.
Sadly, here we are.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Correlation does not equal causation.
Yes, yes, we've heard it all before. 'Just have the skills of a functioning adult and women will flock to you'. Barring all the cases we've seen of where this is... not the case, just because I can make a cheesecake and cook steak with ease doesn't mean the random spawn chance for 'eligible and interested girlfriend' is magically going to bump up in percentage.
You yourself stated that you're partially retirted(IE, have lots of money), academic(IE, likely have a large amount of social skills), likely had your own domicile, exotic factor(british accent), and probably a large number of other factors you haven't mentioned. Congrats, you were a sugar daddy! Older man, lots of money, lots of social catchet, and you're wondering in confusion as to why you were able to pull younger women compared to men thier age?
Man, take the beam out of your own eye before you try to remove the splinter from others.
Grant_us_eyes
5mo ago
Given the examples you provided - presumably, these were supposed to be clear-cut demonstrations thereof - you'll excuse me if I'm a little skeptical.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Ah, yes. I've seen that advice, as well.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone remarking on it actually working, though. Most of the time people comment how nothing ever comes of it, and I've never actually seen it occur in real life.
If I had to venture a guess, this idea stems as an artifact of european style dating, where I've heard a more slow, organic, 'start as friends and become more' is seen as a standard thing, whereas in American it's often considered openly verboten.
That's mostly a wild supposition on my part, though.
Grant_us_eyes
10mo ago
I'm... reasonably sure that the majority of people posting on the Motte are married. Or did the poll we had way back when not cover that?
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
I didn't know such arguments were infamous.
All I know is, after having to deal with both, I'll take the ducks.
Grant_us_eyes
7mo ago
and it will revert as soon as the person goes back to eating naturally.
Amazing. If you go back to the diet that was making you fat, you will get fat again. Will wonders never cease.
Sorry. I should probably hold back on the sarcasm, given that this is the motte, but this is the one 'secret' about dieting that I rarely see people point out - you can't stop.
Dieting isn't an on-off switch - it needs to be a conscious decision to moderate your diet aimed at long-term goals and body improvement. Once you reach a certain age, you can't just shovel crap into your face and expect to walk it off.
Dieting is a permanent change to your life, and the sooner people acknowledge that, the better.
Conversely, if someone wants to enjoy themselves sucking down baconators and Dr Pepper by the bucket, well, I can't stop them. Maybe they'll get more enjoyment out of life doing that then I will, I dunno.
Grant_us_eyes
1mo ago
That still boils down to diversity, hence my critique and criticism of the movie as a whole.
And yes, the Fremen should have been Arabic.
Grant_us_eyes
3mo ago
Darwin is not a new poster on the Motte, and people have repeatedly pointed out his consistently bad behavior and bad-faith posting in the past.
Actions have consequences.
Grant_us_eyes
7mo ago
It makes perfect sense. I'm already paying thousands for said car - why does it not include the necessary software already?
new car
If I wanted to get a new car to replace the one I have(I don't), I couldn't even go with the latest make and model as they literally don't release them in America any more.
Nor am I skeptical that I could purchase one with similar performance and at a similar price. The MRSP for the model I own has gone up, not down. That's not normal.
Hopefully I won't have to find out any time soon.
never to become fat in the first place.
In a perfect world, yes. Ah, if I only knew growing up what I know now.
Can't say I ever hit the lethargy you're describing when I lost weight, however. Not sure if it was my overall slow path toward weightloss or not. If anything, I ended up with more energy, not less.
As for the hunger, eh. I just sucked up and dealt with it. I doubt that's good advice for other people, though.
Grant_us_eyes
5mo ago
The easiest way I've found to loose faith in the justice system is by talking with your so-called 'experts'(Lawyers, Law Enforcement) in their actual field experience.
I imagine it's similar in other fields, as well.
Grant_us_eyes
7mo ago
Ah, I see you do not live in a location that has a Wendy's fast food restraunt.
It's probably for the best. Better to suffer in ignorance and not know the glories you have deprived yourself of.
But, yes. Back when I was exhaustively cataloguing my weight loss on a week by week basis, eating bread at a holiday meal would mean the difference between not gaining any weight if I didn't, and gaining several pounds if I did.
Which is an absolute shame, given all the recipes I have for various types of bread. So it goes.
Grant_us_eyes
9mo ago
He's basically a hunting dog, then.
Well, take him hunting.
Get him started with scent/tracking, work on fetch/retrieval, off-lead commands, all that good stuff. You may have a 'backyard', but depending where you're living, said backyard may be too small to accommodate the work you'll need to do.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Constant?
It's almost effortless to grab things from youtube nowadays. I've even made a habit of ripping entire youtube channels, ripping the audio, and keeping them on my phone to listen to a la a podcast(mostly because alot of youtube channels would do better as podcasts, but...)
So, yes, it's much, much easier today than it was even ten years ago.
Grant_us_eyes
23d ago
The odd spread of opinion on the motte in either incarnation has been a puzzlement for both posters and mods alike for years, to the point where, imho, the mods give far too much leniency toward left-aligned posters in an attempt to foster a more 'even' debate forum. A laudable goal, I suppose, but not without it's unintended consequences.
Again, imho.
How the motte as a whole has developed hasn't been a surprise to me. At all.
Please allow me to explain my point of view.
Also, please excuse my generalizations, as I'm going for brevity, and relying primarily on my personal experiences.
I've been around a time or two. Long enough to see how forums develop, primarily in the fandom arena. Fandoms as a whole tend to lean left. Often, most fandom forums will also include 'off topic' areas that allow for political discussion.
While you could likely quibble with the ratio, I think it's fair to say that the most vociferous voices in these off-topic forums are going to lean heavily left. This creates a board culture that slowly dominates more and more, accelerating depending on how the spread of moderators and their personal opinions go.
This creates a specific argument culture - the majority of posters are left aligned, posting frequently, and have a plethora of free time to do so. If any right-aligned posters decide to wade into that pool, they're going to be faced with large opposition - gish galloping, low-level harassment in the form of having to deal with multiple posters attacking their view without pause, and so on. This creates stress, which can result in bad behavior(despite their opposition never being called out on it), often resulting in mod action, which creates a feed-back loop of self-satisfaction for the left-aligned posters and mods. This creates a perceived trend - right-aligned posters cannot debate or argue their points, hence their ideas are not good, and so on. A chilling effect occurs, as right-aligned posters realize the juice isn't worth the squeeze, the environment is hostile, and the mods - supposedly neutral arbitrators - will not be on their side.
So. This reinforces a perceived board culture, and what few right-aligned posters that debate such things will typical be extreme outliers, as they've been hardened by experience and can handle operating in a hostile environment.
However, a curious thing can occur. Off-shoot forums can develop, much smaller, taking population from the larger as a whole yet not having the numbers or involvement. Off-topic forums are put in place, including, yes, politics.
And a different environment emerges. When the playing ground is made even, suddenly it's the left-aligned posters acting badly because they're no longer operating in an environment they're familiar with. One on one, they can no longer rely on gish-galloping or numbers, and their opponents are well-experienced handling rapid-paced one-on-one debates(they have to be, to survive this long). Suddenly, the shoe is on the other foot - and the resultant behavior is so explicitly bad, even if the mods would normally be left-aligned, the size of the forum can't hide the behavior. It's clear, explicit, gains attention, and the mods have to play by the stated rules whether they want to or not.
Such off-topic areas are often shut down in quick order, likely due to all the mod-actions that result from it. I suspect this is due to all the left-aligned posters constantly abusing reports in the background, resulting in an over-sized headache the mods don't want to have to deal with, but this is pure suspicion on my part, lacking in any explicit evidence.
The motte exists in it's current forum because it's a level playing field, rigorously enforced. When their is conflict with the mod's decisions as a whole, it's often in the form of special treatment toward the left-aligned posters as a whole, but the mods have limited choices. The wider internet as a whole has inculcated a specific attitude in most left-aligned posters that does not lend itself toward even debate. They exist in an environment that encourages gish-galloping, low-level harassment, and confidence that the mods will take their side in most matters. They're used to low-level chilling effects and love-bombing in the form of most posters taking their side.
You say the motte is more 'right-aligned'. It is, likely. From the perspective of most left-aligned posters that wander in, because they're used to a radically different debate environment, populated by posters with similar opinions, where their perspective is rarely challenged, and where ideas in opposition to their own are rarely presented in a cogent fashion(and when they are, there's no guarantee it will remain).
The motte as it stands is the result of evolutionary pressure focused on political debate exerted on the wider internet as a whole and this forum in specific. Factors elsewhere do not exist here. This is a strange country, with different rules and pressures.
If you want a more neutral forum, find better left-aligned posters that can operate with those rules and pressures. Otherwise, don't be surprised when they decide to instead debate and argue in places where they can flourish.
Grant_us_eyes
5mo ago
What confuses me though is his unashamed hamas-freedom fighter sentiment and Jews-are-the-villains narrative
I don't see any of that. I see satire pointing out how America has a tendency to fall all over itself in supporting Israel without question, and that some people are just a little bit tired of that.
Your take on the matter kind of proves his point; Israel seems above criticism, and any negative word in their direction is taken as support for their enemies.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
If you've never had the 'well, he's a sex offender, but...' conversation when out with women, consider yourself lucky.
I have, and it's about as depressing as it sounds.
Grant_us_eyes
5mo ago
Characters like Miles Morales generally have pretty high approval ratings because he is an interesting character in his own right and they didn't just make Peter Parker black.
People can repeat this as many times as they like, but I refuse to believe it. At best, it just feels like historical revisionism.
Miles was very much made as a black Spiderman, and only worked when they actually, y'know, killed Peter off. It's telling that the only way they made Miles work as a character when matching him up with the original was by changing the original completely - making him older, wiser, and a little more cynical.
No, Miles is just a bad collection of racial tropes pasted onto the original, and very much a racial takeover of the worst type - oh, and he has a hot blonde girlfriend, because that's what always happens with black characters in American comics, for some reason.
'Comic book popularity' is a worthless measure when the entirety of comic book sales in America are outshone by a single manga series. 'But the movies' are a worthless measure given all the sheer effort they had to do to make it work, and when people talk about 'Into the Spider-verse', all I hear is stuff about Miguel O'Hara.
So, no, I disagree. I place Miles alongside all the other race-swaps - worse, because people keep trotting him out as 'one of the good ones', when he really, really isn't.
Ah, yes. This old canard.
Sorry, but I had to take 400-level history courses on Southern history before the notion that 'Well, the Civil War may have had other factors beyond slavery that caused it' even got brought up.
I'll believe my own eyes and experience, thanks.
More options
Context Copy link