MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
No bio...
User ID: 1678
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
1yr ago
Sorry that's just a poor excuse. There are plenty of bikes in Europe which have cargo space.
https://electrek.co/2020/11/21/bunch-the-coupe-cargo-e-bike-dutch-design/
The fundamental problem is that the US is a car-centric society and too many Americans try to find ways to keep it that way.
There's a good intro/overview of these bikes, which are quite common in the Netherlands, here:
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
6mo ago
The track record of the world stepping in to prevent genocide is not actually that great
Depends who the victims would be.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
7mo ago
We've been having an "honest" conversation about Zionism in the West for a long time
I don't think so. Keith's perspective is missing and most of the anti-Zionism in the West is typically very leftist. I think folks like Keith Woods bring the perspective that Zionism is responsible for instability and unrest in the Middle-East and thus brings floods of refugees to Europe. Jewish Zionists living in the West then shame White people to take them into our countries - even as they support ethno-nationalism for themselves. So nationalism when in Israel but liberalism in the diaspora. So far, I agree with Keith's analysis.
Where I differ with Kieth is that I think this is actually the common norm among most ethnic minorities. He makes it sound like Jews are outliers. I've often talked about Turks living in Germany, NL, France etc but there are many other examples.The main difference is not behavior per se but power. The Jewish diaspora is infinitely more powerful and influential than whatever little crumbs that Turks, Kurds, Armenians or any other Middle-Eastern group get off the table, despite often being far more numerous than Jews - at least in Europe.
In other words, it's White people who are abnormally non-tribal rather than Jews being unusually tribal. Jewish tribalism makes much more political and social impact because of relative power differentials favouring Jews compared to other ethnic minorities who are much less influential. But that doesn't mean those other minorities' fundamental patterns of behaviour are any different.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
7mo ago
A great many of them will accept ethnic cleansing or genocide of Palestinians as a solution; perhaps will participate if a chance presents itself
Israel would be welcome to try and it would fail. These same "liberals" would also find themselves the targets of Islamic radicals in the West doing revenge attacks for months if not years. Given their embrace of genocidal rhetoric, I certainly wouldn't shed a tear for them.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
7mo ago
I guess this is an argument against consequentialism. Namely, we didn't mean to kill tons of people, we just sort of did. But those baddies over there who did intend to do it nevertheless failed to do so as much as we did, hence we're better people.
Whereas the critics of such a position would simply say, what matters is what you do not what you say or claim to want.
And while I agree that genocide strictly defined is incompatible with Marxism (unless you think of capitalists and kulaks as an ethnicity), ultimately what I look at is how many people the ideology killed and on that count it was simply worst of all ideologies of the 20th century. No contest.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
7mo ago
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-black-lives-matter-equal-opportunity-corporate-diversity/
The year after Black Lives Matter protests, the S&P 100 added more than 300,000 jobs — 94% went to people of color.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
7mo ago
What is a "Hindu Nationalist" for someone on the Motte?
I can't speak for others, but for me it is someone who cares deeply about Hindus and (often, but not always) views India primarily as a Hindu civilisation. Other dharmic faiths are welcomed but the Abrahmic ones are generally seen as a spiritual threat at the least. I think this is the baseline criteria for someone who I'd consider a Hindu nationalist. I've talked to many of them, most of whom who tell me they are Hindu nationalists, and generally speaking a significant proportion go much further than this, e.g. some incorporate jati identity and often view things like the SC/ST act as no different than moslem appeasement etc.
While there is some truth to this for some Indian communities, this is often pushed by influential land owning groups who want to claim oppression.
Yeah, I'm aware that reservation policy has degenerated into a racket a long time ago, e.g. many OBCs are now knee-deep into those waters. I'm generally speaking against affirmative action, but I don't think a good argument is to say "well, because AIT is pushed by rent-seekers, that means we have invent a new history". I can understand this from a pragmatic political perspective, but the facts remain the facts. The evidence for AIT is overwhelming and crushing. Moreover, it is only getting stronger by the year. The debate in India has completely severed itself from the academic discussion and becomes increasingly unmoored by the day.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
7mo ago
This is probably also another indication that Westerners - i.e. white people - appear to have higher openness to new experiences. I suspect it may be correlated with greater innovative capacities, which may explain why North-East Asia is not richer than the West despite having higher IQ on average. People who are less likely to try something new are also less likely to invent something new.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
9mo ago
I know of several public examples who dated women from the Caucasus. At least in (Northern) Europe such people are not considered white by the far-right and even implicitly by the mainstream right. Richard Spencer's ex-wife is Georgian if memory serves and she looks the part.
There's also the British far-right streamer "The Ayatollah" who appropriately married an Iranian girl. And Jazzhand McFeels of the neo-Nazi TRS/NJP ecosystem married an Armenian girl. So apparently MENA is not off limits, alongside Asians.
I suspect blacks might be a bridge too far, but I wouldn't be surprised if people would overlook a black mistress. There's a lot of half-joking talk about "bleaching" non-white women in circles like this.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
9mo ago
Yes, but who is leading who is the question here. The oft-repeated remark that conservatives are just liberals of 20 years ago didn't spring up from nowhere.
True, but that measurement still doesn't adjust for working hours. Americans work far longer hours than e.g. Germans, Danes, Dutch etc. Once you adjust for both PPP and working hours, the distance between Germanic Europe and America isn't nearly as radical as is often claimed. Also worth noting that Europeans are taxed at higher rates, hence lower disposable income but this means higher education is largely free from out of pocket expenses, healthcare far cheaper etc. It can be debated whether this is ultimately a better social choice, but certainly by some outcomes (e.g. life expectancy) it isn't clear that the US has the better system.
It's different for Southern Europe (stagnation for 20+ years) and EU Eastern Europe (spent half a century behind imposed communism).
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
10mo ago
Creative in this context means more than just acting or music. It would include things like hairdressers or fashion designers.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
10mo ago
The geopolitical significance of the US oil boom combined with the EV surge in Europe and China (and eventually in the US) spell big trouble for the gulf states in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has terrible human capital. Without oil, they'd just be another Egypt. The transition period will take years - decades probably - but it is ongoing. Russia is another state which will have to seek another model of development though I am more optimistic there given their fairly well-educated workforce. Saudis are just pretty dumb.
Painting Meloni as “far right” was always weird. Another contradiction - she’s an unmarried mother living ‘in sin’ and yet claims to be a good Catholic.
Mussolini did not lead a very conservative lifestyle yet I don't think anyone disputes that he was, well, a fascist. Admittedly, being a conservative and a fascist aren't the same things. But the "far-right" epithet contains multitudes, as it were. Someone's personal habits isn't always indicative of their political beliefs, at least stated ones.
I can’t find any sources online that suggest those kinds of visa counts to citizens of Muslim majority countries are being granted. Which countries are they?
These are being collated by a Polish-American who lives in Krakow. The source is the ministry of labour and the PiS government isn't even disputing them as far as I am aware. After all, why would they? It's their own ministry. These numbers are quite recent and haven't filtered in the wider Anglophone press, probably because of the language barrier. The dataset is in Polish, hence the translation. I've looked at Eurostat data and seen supporting evidence, though their methodology slightly differs and as such probably underestimates the number. Eurostat also hasn't released their 2022 numbers yet, that will only happen this autumn.
As for countries, it's places like Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Turkey etc. Lots of Uzbek cab drivers in Warsaw these days.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
10mo ago
If genetic talent will out, as the study purports to show, then if your family is still in the mud they probably deserve it, right?
Alternatively, your riches are not because of hard work or dedication but simply because you won a random genetic lottery... so why do you deserve all these good things in life due to blind luck? It's a case that socialists can make just as well.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
10mo ago
Depends which forums. I am still member of a couple which are as active and interesting as ever, although they have a fairly distinct profile. "Normie" forums probably died thanks to reddit.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
10mo ago
I've been using RedReader for years and they came out saying that they would function as before even with the API changes. What's nice about RR is that you don't even need an account to browse subreddits and it's ad-free.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
11mo ago
Enoch Powell's prediction of "the black man will have the whip hand over the white man" comes to mind. Modern Britain may be diverse but it is hard to argue that blacks control anything of importance. I've lost count on how many times in RW spaces I've seen people predicting civil war and/or collapse for many years. Just never happens.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
11mo ago
Frankfurt investment banks are a sea of ‘vons’. Same with senior government jobs in Berlin, or with media. Unlike in the UK, it’s barely even commented upon.
Correct, however it's worth pointing out that this pattern is universal across the world where we have good data. Even in supposedly egalitarian societies. There simply does not seem to be that much social mobility at the very top. The rate of taxation doesn't appear to make much difference for the elites.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
1yr ago
It's depressing because it implies their anti-racist veneer is mostly a function of status-seeking rather than conviction. I suspect that is the case for many if not most such people.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
1yr ago
They have recently inducted the JL-3 ICBM on their ballistic subs, which means they could hit the US mainland pretty close to their waters. They lacked this ability until recently for their underwater fleet.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
1yr ago
If memory serves, Lincoln even wanted to deport most of the freed slaves back to Africa but was prevented because capitalists lobbied hard to keep their cheap (though no longer free) labour. The more things change...
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
1yr ago
Their best-case scenario (which I suspect is their current strategic aim) is to occupy the areas that they have claimed so far, ethnically cleanse most of the Ukrainian population in these areas as they have begun to do (taking children to Russia and giving them to Russian families) and to hope for a gradual rapproachment with the West, just as happened over the annexation of the Baltic States. For example, that could happen if Russia implicitly or explicitly sided with the US in a conflict with China, just as Western mollification over the annexation of the Baltic States was eased by the USSR inadvertently ending up in the war against the Nazis.
The annexation would never be recognised in the West, but it would eventually cease to be an issue that inhibits Russian trade, finance, diplomacy etc.
Yes, I agree with you. As noted in my OP, however, my intention was not primarily to handicap the war so much as to question the importance of this conflict and of Ukraine more generally. There's a whiff of existential crisis in the coverage of the war, which is frankly absurd if you take a step back and look at the stakes rationally. A potential loss in Ukraine for NATO isn't going to end the West just as defeats in Vietnam or Afghanistan didn't.
MelodicBerries
virtus junxit mors non separabit
1yr ago
I personally don't see a problem with a religious Jew refusing to host a Christmas party. There are many venues to choose from in Israel.
I see no real evidence of this. I'd be curious if you could provide any. The US has de facto invaded Iraq and currently occupies a third of Syria illegally. It has imposed crushing sanctions on Venezuela (sanctions almost hit the poor in any country the most.. the elites tend to be fine). It has nothing to do with democracy. It has had amenable relations with plenty of authoritarian states. Saudi until recently and Egypt currently.
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