Mewis
4mo ago
The UK was not ready for war in 1938 either. Those who bring up the example are simply bloodthirsty warmongers.
Mewis
8mo ago
Directly inciting rebellion (which is more or less what his opponents accuse him of) is illegal and not protected by the Constitution. I don't believe Trump incited rebellion, but I think he did act through others to obstruct the lawful operation of the Senate, which is probably illegal, but not disqualifying.
Mewis
1yr ago
Is it actually productive to try and understand Russian motivations? Regardless of their motivations, they're trying to use force to conquer an independent nation, one that was attempting to align itself with the West. The fact that they might see this as part of a broader conflict with the West isn't news, and it doesn't change matters on the ground.
In addition, it seems like most people in Western countries, including many people here, come at the issue of trying to understand Russia from the perspective of trying to justify war - the Russians are inherently authoritarian/imperialistic/belligerent/orcish, and therefore must be destroyed. I don't think this attitude is helpful or should be encouraged.
Mewis
2mo ago
There is no onus on anyone. Nobody has to do anything, or prove anything. You do not have to convince anyone, and nobody has to convince you. I'm sure the United States will survive in some form without the people who have decided (not without justification )that they don't like the society that has slowly developed and evolved over 250 years. But then I have to wonder what exactly you think you're doing.
Mewis
8mo ago
I don't see that they're clearly required. When determining eligibility, the government doesn't have to consider due process - it doesn't have to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt. And due process is to do with rights. There's no right to run for president.
Mewis
1yr ago
I think we both agree that Russia should not have gone to war in the first place. But again, that would just be choosing a slow death rather than a quicker one. Ukraine would have been integrated into NATO, and then Russia could have been destroyed at Washington's leisure.
The United States did not really make a commitment, because I don't believe that commitments or agreements between enemies are binding. Commitments that cannot be enforced don't exist, and Russia is demonstrating right now their inability to enforce anything even on their own doorstep. But they certainly let the Russians think they made such a commitment!
Mewis
1mo ago
Lifting weights to build muscle is probably detrimental to long term longevity, particularly coupled with a high BW. If you care about that sort of thing.
Mewis
7mo ago
Russell Brand is an idiot and we're better off not hearing from him. One of the most annoying and vapid commentators around.
Mewis
10mo ago
You can refute it as many times as you like. The promises of NATO to Russia are, by this point, worth nothing, even if the West wasn't openly discussing partitioning Russia.
Mewis
1mo ago
Again, the SHWs are a minority. But it's not clear what your point is. Weightlifting as a sport rewards and encourages people to get big and strong - and getting bigger, for a lot of people, will shorten their lifespan. That's the entire point. Having lots of muscle - as even the SHWs have - doesn't change that. The general trend isn't just that weightlifting is uniquely deleterious, but that all power sports are - cycling is nearly as bad, even though there are no SHW cyclists.
I simply don't really see any direct evidence that carrying lots of lean body mass, beyond a marker of general health and propensity to exercise, does anything for lifespan. Healthy men carry substantially more muscle mass than healthy women but live shorter lives. And if we take it as true that most people will maximise their lifespan by maintaining a BMI of about 18-23, well, it's pretty easy even for an amateur lifter to escape that range, and indeed it is encouraged by most people in the lifting community.
Mewis
1mo ago
Again, if you choose not to be interested in this, you could find any number of rationalisations. That he wrote Olympic bodybuilder instead of Olympia bodybuilder does not really seem important to me. It's not even the only typo in his post.
Mewis
1mo ago
I'm sure you could find any number of reasons to ignore anyone you feel like - why not a typo or minor terminological error?
Mewis
4mo ago
Oh, so the war must continue until either every Ukrainian or every Russian is dead. That's what I'm getting here, unless you want to take the opportunity to elaborate.
Mewis
1yr ago
Why not? I think it would be better for cars to be controlled by say, families, or people with long commutes, as opposed to students or people living in cities, who would get less use out of them. This isn't a hard principle - I'm sure there are plenty of individuals in either situation who might get more or less value out of owning a car, depending on their circumstances.
Mewis
1yr ago
That's not what NATO has said in the past (I believe the United States said that Ukraine would be allowed to join a few years ago) and it's not what Ukraine is saying now.
But you know, commentators like you would have told us that of course Poland or the Baltics or Finland would never be allowed to join NATO in the mid-90s. A commitment, like others, that the United States reneged upon. Funny how doing stuff like that isn't damaging to 'credibility' - almost like the only thing that matters in international relations is power and money. Russia's mistake was being weak and poor, and now all that's left is to decide whether they want to lose now or later.
Your substantive criticism is that Olympic weightlifters are all massively overweight and fat. This is plainly not true and just a stereotype. Most weightlifters are in weight classes and actually stay pretty lean. They don't quite look like bodybuilders but they're pretty close. If you look up say, Li Dayan, he looks fantastic.
So whence the poor outcomes? Obviously, they're still too big. Li Dayan isn't going to Olympia any time soon but he's still considered overweight, bordering on obese.
Mewis
1mo ago
Person goes to hospital with cancer. Is stuck in a bed having their bum wiped for them. Loses muscle mass. Dies. Clearly they just needed some whey and squats. Or hospitals cause cancer.
Actual weightlifters have bad life expectancy outcomes, on par with athletes that get punched in the face regularly.
Mewis
1mo ago
Exercise in general is good for your life expectancy. Any yet, weightlifters have some of the worst life expectancy outcomes among all athletes, alongside boxers and ice hockey players who are literally getting brain damage from their sports. I think virtually all of this is caused quite simply - people who lift weights are too large. The sport valorises size and strength, and even hobbyist natural lifters are expected to have BMIs at 25 or over.
Lifting weights is probably not the culprit. The skinny old guy doing squats with 60kg in between running marathons is probably not endangering himself. But he will likely outlive the meatheads benching 140kg. If you can call such an existence living.
I agree that it's better to live fifty years as a meathead than seventy as a cardiohead. And you're right that people are dying due to being fat and sedentary. But lifting doesn't fix that. It's one of the few athletic activities that actively encourages weight gain and does not inherently involve any cardiovascular exercise.
Mewis
1mo ago
I don't really credit that it's psychologically much harder to stab someone than book them with a bat.
Mewis
1mo ago
If anything, it sounds like potentially a good thing. Someone who tried whoring but didn't like it seems less likely to try it again than someone who never tried it and might think it's what they want.
Moreover, it doesn't seem like cucking. If anything, it's the hundreds of men who came (lol) before him who are being cucked, because in the end, she chose Bob. They might have came, but he conquered.
Mewis
4mo ago
I don't really have a strong competitive instinct, but then, I don't really care about most things. Like, losing a video game or boardgame doesn't bother me because I don't care about those things. But I do find myself caring pretty strongly about keeping up with others at work and particularly in the gym (I have a lot of insecurity about how small and weak I am).
(And yes, I think I do have pretty low testosterone levels).
Mewis
4mo ago
So you're saying that even if a peace deal is reached, Putin is definitely, 100% going to attack again? Excuse me, but that sounds a lot like assuming that this war is inevitable.
That more or less explains why it can't happen. If the goal of the West is to weaken or destroy Russia, then it benefits them to drag the war out as long as possible.
More options
Context Copy link