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Pasha

Defend Kebab

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joined 2022 September 05 06:58:22 UTC 

				
User ID: 481


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
Pasha


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Defend Kebab

				
				
				

				

					1 follower  

					follows 4 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 06:58:22 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 481


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Friday Fun Thread for August 25, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How do you discover new music when not surrounded by people who are into discovering new music?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Scottish or Welsh, is almost entirely oppositional in nature, and therefore unravels easily




I don't know about the Welsh, but why do you think the Scottish nationalism today is stronger? To me it looks like it is today indistinguishable from some blend of pro-EU and anti-Tory sentiment. It doesn't have anything particularly Scottish about it at all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 28, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
As a very long-term but low profile mottizen, I feel like I have made a thread about quite a lot of important junctions in my life asking for advise. Here comes the next one:


I bought a house! Still not 100% official but will be soon. It is not in a perfectly pristine condition but did not seem too bad either. Needs some urgent renovations like a new floor and some semi urgent ones like a new kitchen.


I assume most people here are a bit older than me and have some experience with such things. So give me your best house owning tips please. Especially looking for websites/books/Youtube channels about DIY and house decoration and whatnot.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 30, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How do you evaluate health/diet/workout claims? For example just heard yesterday that a tea spoon of vinegar before meals and eating meals in order of greens-proteins-fat-carbs reduce the insulin spikes. Sounds plausible but if I try to search online then it is just bullshit popular science articles and reddit fanatics.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 10, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I feel like I have to join any online discussion about bikes and helmets. But I live in the Netherlands and see about a million kids a day on bikes themselves or towed by their parents. Helmet ratio is probably a couple percentage points tops. And it’s almost always neurotic American expats. Is it really worth ruining the whole experience and habit of biking over a minuscule safety improvement? (Assuming you aren’t cycling through infrastructure unsafe for biking)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 27, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Until 2010s Erdogan was the sweetheart of many euro politicians and it was imagined that he would usher in an era of Islamic democracy similar to Christian democratic parties, rapidly integrating Turkey to Europe economically politically and socially. Then the euro crisis happened, destroying any pull power European economic model had on a country like Turkey. In aggregate, the EU has seen almost nil economic growth for a decade now and their insane fiscal policies are clearly hurting peripheral countries. So EU has become a very tough sell in Turkish politics. More importantly the Arab spring has turned into a total massive disaster and this unleashed geopolitical chaos where Turkey found itself often competing against European countries in core interest areas.


This bit is my opinion but I think at this point the European countries made a massive strategic mistake, attributed Turkey's hostile turn to Erdogan himself, and burned through their political capital in Turkey (media and academia contacts, NGO networks, more covert agents etc) trying to get rid of him in favor of a more "moderate" leader. What they couldn't identify well is that these new hostile policies had a large support base among the traditional Turkish state, foreign policy and army establishment. So he could survive the attempts on his power through making deals with the establishment and drawing from his massive personal charisma and support base.


Ever since, there is a Cold War between the EU and Turkey and therefore the first type of euroturk politicians had to come out directly against their homeland and alienate themselves, while the second type became vulnerable to attacks of ideological non-conformity. It is considered racist to purge someone because he is Turkish, but totally acceptable to do so if this compels him to violate some newfound taboos about Armenian genocide remembrance or LGBTQ or Erdogan.


I believe at the root of all of this lies the fact that American style minority identity doesn't cover minorities like euroturks very well. Turks themselves can't really identify with it, and the German primal brain doesn't pattern match these people to the blacks/jews minority victim matrix. But the European countries are largely unable to imagine other ways of maintaining minority population relations (like the Russian or Iranian models, who also have lots of Turkic minorities but Turkey has very little pull on those people) and they are stuck to the American progressive liberal democracy model. This creates a wide opening for the Turkish state to maintain a connection with the Diaspora.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
None of those countries (especially Japan) are playing catch up or copying stuff for decades at this point. They all lead in some pretty advanced tech fields.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the majority of Europeans in most countries is both against taking in more refugees and against corona restrictions)




What makes you think they were against those restrictions? That doesn't sound true to me at all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A lot of this doom rhetoric just assumes things like democracy (olds controlling politics), welfare state (olds sucking up resources) or even high life expectancies (olds living long beyond retirement) will keep up. If even a fraction of the predicted problems hit these countries, world will change way beyond our current comprehension and most of these things likely will stop being problems in the currently predicted ways.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 17, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Watched the Conclave (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20215234/) at the cinema the other day. Visually well made (although it is just difficult to portray Catholicism without some impressive visuals), somewhat okay but uninteresting story with no clear point and an incredibly disappointing ending. Couldn't stop comparing it to another depiction of a Catholic conclave, from 2011's Borgia (the European made one: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1736341/)


Which made me realize that I am not sure if I have ever watched a movie that depicted a modern religious institution well. Not about some humble believer of the religion, not a sob story about how the religion doesn't match up to modern liberal sensitivities etc.


I am looking for a well-made movie about modern-day Japanese monks, or Latin American/African evangelizers or Iranian Mullahs or whatever is out there. Does anyone have any recommendations for me?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for September 27, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What’s your definition of decent pizza?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Israel-Gaza Megathread #2
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have also come across a bit of speculation that IDF leadership knows that this will turn into a massive bloodbath and fiasco and they are delaying against the wishes of the politicians and trying to work out alternatives to an invasion. Sounds like a sensible scenario to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I am tagged so I feel like adding something. I think most Western-oriented people (including me) has had the experience of an incredibly visceral reaction yesterday to the images of gunned men of another culture violating the family homes, taking away women and leaving death and destruction behind them. We all felt this because they could be our houses and they could be our women. Israeli politicians are talking about basically genocide and the Air Force has been dropping a bomb per minute ever since. This is how the Palestinians have felt at least once a month for 4 generations at this point. Their entire culture is a coping mechanism to deal with this extreme constant humiliation. I can't begin to fathom how childish someone has to be to suggest that THIS MAN just surrender to the killers of his child in exchange for becoming their low-wage servant.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Work pays for gym membership. There is a crossfit gym right nearby and most of the office seems to go there. I am fairly athletic and have been lifting for years at this point. Never tried crossfit, looks a bit cultish but I like that they do Olympic lifts. Yay or nay?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The nationalist Ukrainian state, if it ever stops being such a poor corrupt shithole and enters the EU, will have to cope with millions of African/South Asian/Middle Eastern immigrants




Are you taking my sentence out of context on purpose?




This is entirely a choice of national governments, not the EU.




No it’s the migrants’ choice. Entire Eastern Europe gives massive youth emigration to the west because wages are low and living standards are low. That’s also why foreigners don’t go there. It’s naive to think this won’t change fast if they manage to catch up economically.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				"What if your entire worldview was just because of near-zero interest rates?"
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Am I missing some level of irony or does this comment claim that there aren’t asset bubbles in the EU?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And that also means over 90% of people in the last thousand years have been fascist.




I do unironically agree with this. I believe humans have a natural tendency to organize around political forms similar to feudalism, whose combination with industrial society is more or less what most people call fascism. It is certainly what Mussolini seemed to understand when he was referring to his party's ideology. I also think the unique weirdness of the term fascism (it is really difficult to define in a way most people agree) has a lot to do with this underlying nature. Intellectuals of progressive/enlightenment bent keep recognizing signs of fascism everywhere because human societies keep reproducing elements of it adapted to the changing societal conditions.


You are right at recognizing the political terms of right and left can refer to very different positions on issues at different times. But I believe that is because the specific issues are not that relevant when coming up with these labels. What matters chiefly is the direction and speed of political change (or lack thereof) you want. Today's far right might look more leftist than yesterday's conservatism (case in point, Meloni is an unmarried mother of 1 hardly a Catholic motherhood icon) but it is still far right because it advocates for a fast reversal of the enlightenment project while yesterday's conservatism just wanted to conserve the society as it is.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Can someone explain to me why these companies are open sourcing their models? Developing/training this stuff seems enormously costly, what’s the business case for just giving it away?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 15, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What damage did Israel exactly inflict on Iranian nuclear capabilities so far? All I have seen  is a couple dead scientists and some bombed non-critical infrastructure near the nuclear facilities. I have a hard time believing Israel’s opening attack wasn’t the best they can do with tons of smuggled bombs/drones and local collaborators as well as unprepared Iranians.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Isn’t security guarantees also how we got WW1?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If you bother to follow the actual thread, you will see that my comment was written on October 11t 2023 and describes a future hypothetical based on the statements of Israeli politicians at the time. That hypothetical turned out to be more correct than not.


Stop masturbating with words. If you want to mass murder people have the courage to actually say so.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 30, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Isreal is a country of neurotic people with abysmal school results




Care to explain?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 21, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Just finished Feynman’s autobiography. What a guy! You know a guy is being honest in his autobiography when half the book is filled with memories of blond babes and tits, and the other half is about him solving this or that very difficult physics problem.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 21, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Universities should be vastly reduced in size and should mainly consist of men. Any loan system should be abolished but the tuitions should be at a level regular middle class family can pay for their children, or, without family support, one should be able to afford with some part-time plus summer-full-time job. Bureaucracy for choosing research subjects and getting funding should almost entirely be abolished.


Until these things happen universities anywhere will simply be nothing more than rent seekers on a piece of paper that promises but rarely delivers upper-middle-class status, adult daycare, enforcers of bureaucratic power on the elite-minds, and speed bumps on actual science and technology development.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The moment Israel got into any danger, Ukraine basically lost this war. Big bad brainwashed trump republicans holding off the aid is just a cope narrative to avoid discussing the real intended beneficiary of the air defense systems. Those systems will never go to Ukraine as they are needed to protect Israel.