RussianAmericanMormon
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User ID: 4365
RussianAmericanMormon
26d ago
I'm not accusing you of doing so definitively; I meant in case you are. I just don't consider Liberia to be a compelling example, as they haven't truly embraced the values that have yielded America's prosperity, even if their non-binding constitution may suggest otherwise prima facie. Freedom of the press, consent of the governed, and the rule of law are alien concepts to the vast majority of Liberians who have no connection to the US to speak of.
Botswana, while far from perfect, is a case study of an African country that has managed to successfully lift itself by its bootstraps. It was once a landlocked country with no paved roads and only 100 educated people in a country of 1 million inhabitants, but through an export-based economy and democratic institutions inherited from the traditional kgotla system, has become the wealthiest country on the continent. Their recent presidents have unfortunately seemed to reverse much of what has facilitated this transformation, but nevertheless their living standards are about on par with those of Moldova or Bulgaria's. Botswanan poverty is not the same as that of its eastern neighbors in Zambia or Zimbabwe.
RussianAmericanMormon
26d ago
Eh, their caliber has decayed since 2016. Haven't been too impressed with many of their recent essays that have leaned heavily on strawmen and woke-right sophistry.
Estimates for the population of Liberia that is descended from African-Americans range from 2.5-5%, the indigenous Bassa and Gio ethnic groups resent that cohort and there have been severe tensions between blood-and-soil Liberians and those descended from returnees as the latter did not integrate well. By that time, they have lived in the United States for centuries which has formed a great chasm between the cultures and religious traditions.
Even if you are so vitriolic about black people, the fact of the matter is that they are more productive in the United States than in any other country. George Washington Carver would have never realized his innate talent in a country like Liberia. If you believe black people are so lazy and violent, you should still desire the damage to be minimized by allowing them to remain in America, where they can provide the greatest benefit out of any country in the world. It is the United States where professional African-Americans have thrived in communities such as Prince George County, Metro Atlanta, and Missouri City. African-Americans are an integral part of the American ideal; they have given us jazz sounds that play in every dance scene of a WWII movie, the banjo, iconic Southern soul food and Creole cooking, legendary stories like To Kill a Mockingbird, and honorable men and women such as Justice Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell, and Condoleeza Rice.
RussianAmericanMormon
26d ago
To the extent that it exists, where is the best place to get an intellectual/highbrow MAGA perspective that isn't merely anti-anti-Trump? The American Affairs publication, N.S. Lyons' substack, as well as Scott Greer and gummibear737's Twitter account, look to be good places to start. Michael Pettis is a name I frequently hear from people engaging in trade war apologetics. Any other person/publication worth checking out?
I consider myself a moderate country-club Republican sympathetic to Doug Burgum and Jeb Bush who wants the war on fracking to cease, though more of a reliable "hold my nose for Trump" type at that than a Lincoln Project/Bulwarker that isn't meaningfully conservative and is gung-ho on reflexively swallowing progressive tropes and validating the most extreme elements of the other side of the aisle. Being temporarily based in a blue-collar European town and seeing people cursorily reading the headlines of state-owned media while being unable to criticize Trump on his merits has made me inadvertently more sympathetic to him, with me making post-hoc rationalizations of untenable policies as they keep gish-galloping and I don't want to give them credit where it happens to stick.
Wishing each and every American a blessed 4th of July. The United States is an exceptional country and no American should take for granted the lottery of life that they won merely by being born in that country. Regardless of your political affiliation, a president is temporary and will never define the country any more than the robust private sector as well as the accomplishments, ambitions, charity, altruism, warmth, and resilience of the American people. America remains the global hub of innovation, entertainment, and academia. When I think of a dynamic society that is readily transparent about its flaws to a fault, receptive to change and development, I think of America. Unlike most European states, America isn't under the illusion that endless subsidies, bureaucratic bloating, and clientelism can keep the ball moving. America is the world's sole meritocracy, where diligent and conscientious work is all but guaranteed to yield a comfortable life in a safe, upper-middle-class suburb where people keep their garage doors open and allow their children to play outside until midnight. American research infrastructure, budgets, connections, corporate R&D, venture capital, and job markets are unparalleled. Billions of people on this planet would sacrifice anything to set their feet on American soil, let alone be born and raised there. Many people put their lives at jeopardy by doing so on a daily basis, making or attempting to make the treacherous journey through the Darien Gap of the Colombian-Panaman border.
My family comes from a third-world dictatorship and I've had the privilege of witnessing them reaching the American dream first-hand. Things I take for granted today were precious commodities for them. I was raised in a 70% Republican neighborhood in the South, and at all times, I was viewed solely as an individual who happened to have a non-Anglo-Saxon name and a member of the community, judged by my character and work ethic rather than my caste or creed. I am enamored with many aspects of life in Norway, but I will never earnestly feel a sense of belonging in the society here, I hit a dead end by constitutionally failing to fit the Norwegian mold. On paper, I did everything right, I speak Norwegian at C2 fluency, Knausgaard's My Struggle series are one of my all-time favorite reads, yet the country has an idiosyncratic social code I've yet to fully decipher, there's an invisible barrier between ethnic Norwegians and me that has led my social circle to consist of fellow American or continental European expats. Western Oslo is home to several upper-middle-class communities with 1-2 million USD homes making it some of the most expensive real estate in the country. People there believe that their postal code is a referendum on their self-worth and are content to live in a dated wooden house that can be found for a third of the price on the opposite end of town, and the vast majority of people residing there would not be able to purchase a house in 2026; they typically pool in resources from their extended family, have inherited a residence, secretly live in a condo, or entered the housing market in the 1990s when it was not this oppressive. Despite Norway priding itself on being an egalitarian country, "keeping up with the Joneses" is much more of a thing here than virtually anywhere in the US. People here believe the opportunity cost of going into debt for some puffy vests and quarter-zips outweighs that of using their wealth for edifying and intellectually stimulating experiences. They vacation in the same tacky Spanish resorts that the lower-middle-class scourge 15 miles away does, rather than saving some funds for a trip to Cuzco or Singapore. The wealth in the suburbs of Indianapolis, Detroit, Columbus, Houston, and Dallas, which also share the same reputation of being flashy and stuck up in their respective metropolitan areas, feels much more meritocratic, as I know it is possible to be a homeowner there as a common man who righteously ascended the social ladder. Paradoxically, the average income in those communities is much higher than anywhere in Norway.
My time abroad in 26 countries has made me realize that every country has its fair share of pros and cons, and in that regard, grasping the extent to which America’s pros outweigh the cons has reinforced my American exceptionalism. America's cons are reversible and tractable, but the solid foundation remains intact. I dream of the day I get to return to the United States. I will drive a camper van from coast to coast, staying at KOA campgrounds. I will see the multitude of landscapes that the American national park system has on offer. I will marry a cute blonde Utahn girl at BYU before I begin my postgrad in an Ivy League institution. I can't wait to pay a measly $100 out-of-pocket monthly for world-class medical care.
"The tenets of American democracy are particularly cherished when you are not born with them but with deliberation and conviction adopt them for your own." -Marjorie Lynch
RussianAmericanMormon
27d ago
Apologies for the late response, I was away on a camping trip.
Articulating it in one sentence would be challenging, it's the culmination of the small unpleasantries that really took their toll on me. Truth be told, I believe he had no business being a father. He lacked the baseline temperament and compassion necessary to care for somebody, and to be a teacher as well as a reliable shoulder to lean on through the vicissitudes of life. He grew up in a wooden two-story apartment building in a remote Siberian hamlet, which was hardly even outright poverty by the Soviet Union's standards. Nevertheless, he was raised by an alcoholic father who drove his first wife insane which led her to escape the family she started with him, and not the slightest effort was made to resuscitate that relationship. He was the scapegoat child who was neglected and humiliated. He tells me I never hear him bitching about his upbringing, what he does instead is he takes his anger out on people through his actions. Clinical narcissists feel an immense sense of shame where they can't decouple a wrongdoing from their identity, so to compensate for that and feel better about themselves, they have to retroactively justify their wrongdoings by shifting the blame on others, and seek to influence and dominate other people's actions. Seeking professional help requires an admission of fault, which is a major hindrance for him. Oftentimes, it requires hitting rock bottom and feeling tangible consequences of their antics, or mellowing out over the decades as they get older and lose the energy required to sustain the powertrips.
Like I said earlier, I do not believe he is a rational actor. If it was as easy as giving him feedback, I'd tell him to quit viewing all relationships as transactional and expect constant genuflection, I'd tell him to quit letting his desire to influence other people take precedence over their needs, I'd tell him that the most brilliant thinkers and innovators are receptive to correction and a change of calculus and that there's no reason why he should be above that, I'd tell him to use the spoken language he was given rather than expect people to mind-read, I'd ask him why he can't always pretend to care about people the way he does when it's obviously expedient for him, etc.
Supposedly there's a cultural movement in parenting called 'gentle parenting' where every single decision a parent takes has to be negotiated with the child, and it just sounds exhausting.
I'm not demanding gentle parenting, I don't buy that dichotomy. I do concur that children need to be disciplined and that standards must be set. Along with that must come warmth and dignity, which my parents have not treated me with. I've never demanded handouts. Any Christmas gifts they gave me since at least the age of 13 were what they personally deemed fit to provision for me, and never anything I begged for. I'd be fine buying clothes from Ross. I'd be content to go on vacation to Daytona Beach or even not go on vacation at all if it meant they'd quit using it as leverage. I don't care if I have the latest iPhone or a 10-year-old Google Pixel. I want them not to act morose and curt and treat me like scum because I dared to ask a simple question. Sure, I get the sentiment that parents are a position of authority and that their instructions alone should be enough, but ultimately it leads children to be every bit as uncommunicative at school or in their work life and impedes their ability to think critically and question authority. Proponents of gentle parenting don't want to set boundaries; I want them to be set with clear explanations. Proponents of gentle parenting don't want consequences; I want consequences that are logical and not arbitrary, that don't involve cursing in my face like a sailor, screaming at the top of their lungs, threatening violence, and banging doors. I want obedience to be taught through deliberation and conviction rather than through fear and control.
For the 'find another home' one, which may come across as even harsher, it's for non-negotiable decisions.
Well, not in my house. It can be said over the most trivial crap imaginable.
as American geography can be relentlessly oppressive, there is still a sense of ungratefulness I can read.
- We relocated over the Atlantic to Europe where I am currently based, in a rather remote area that doesn't have any of that couchsurfing.
- You are not privy to everything that I've experienced from this one post. This is only a primer and I'm not going to run a stranger down on everything that's been said and done to dispel that bold and unwarranted assumption. What I'll say is your assumption doesn't compute when I've specifically mentioned that I've only recently grasped the full extent of the emotional volatility in my household and how truly abnormal it is. I've explicitly stated that for the longest time I've lived with a cognitive dissonance in my head and decided to look past the shortcomings exactly because of the material provisions. Emotional provision is also fundamental to a healthy household, believe it or not. Some of your framing seems to mirror your own parental anxieties with your 6-year-old onto me.
You're not mentioning it but did you have any other family?
Haha, I wish. My grandparents still live in my parents' respective homelands. My maternal grandmother came to visit us twice when I was a pre-teen, but it's been difficult to coordinate anything since then. My paternal grandparents have been entirely absent. My mother loathes her in-laws, so I rarely got to meet with my uncle.
As a Christian(?) you should seek to forgive your parents, pray for them and strive to have love for them. You'll find out that most people had less than perfect parents and while not having mean, broken parents seems like the fair thing for a child, they could also be mean, broken and broke parents, or worse.
Forgiveness is a virtue. That does not mean I must quietly absorb everything like a pushover and never air my grievances out. Acknowledging the reality and seeking a way out (what I am doing as I am moving out for college), is entirely compatible with Christianity. The Biblical forgiveness means to not harbor ill will against those who have hurt you and to progress in life without dredging up this hurt, it does not say to justify their actions and give them pats on the back. Forgiveness requires distance, healing, and time.
Why didn't you? A few weeks of cutting grass should have allowed you some kind of means to transport yourself to another area if needed, couchsurf or join a polycule or whatever young people are up to these days. Every tribulation should be seen as a way to harden or sharpen yourself.
See above. Again, I believed my parents could be persuaded into becoming more pleasant people if I just behaved a little better here and walked on eggshells a little more there, but they operate on a separate, irrational wavelength. Maybe I'm still grateful to a fault, where getting up and leaving would lead me to feel immense guilt.
Every tribulation should be seen as a way to harden or sharpen yourself. Praise the Lord for all the good things he's given you so far.
I do every single morning, and every single night. Once again, you are not privy to what I've done in my everyday life.
Practically she is right
Her cynicism is her trauma talking. I don't consider her or my father's love to be any more unconditional than that of the friends I've made. If you're thinking from an absolutist lens, then even a parent's love for their child can never be truly unconditional, only God's is. We are taught to love our neighbors as ourselves, and I will strive to uphold that. I will serve as a missionary for my church for two years to serve people I currently do not know exist and to introduce them to the Gospel and show them the love that our Heavenly Father has for all of his children.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
take advantage of whatever material help they offer even if they try holding it over your head, that's the only way they know how to show love
With how recent my discovery is, I struggle to feel anything short of resentment and disgust for my parents and the little powertrips they've subjected me to, effectively gaslighting me into believing I'm some piece of human garbage I was not, after all. I dream of the day I will be financially independent. I want to take help with dignity, and accepting any more of their help is undignified. Maybe I'll calm down in a couple of months and I'll realize I don't mean this earnestly, but right now, I'm ready to take night shifts and rent the most mold-ridden apartment in the crappiest part of town to break free from these chains. I can't discern how much of their material support was a flawed attempt at love and how much of it was just leverage.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Thank you for the words of encouragement. In my situation, I have no doubts that I will thrive more in college as I will be surrounded by like-minded peers who share my worldview and aspirations, and not just a zip code. Even now, thanks to activities at my church, I've managed to get out of the house more and realized that if I'm proactive in applying my skills/interests and can maintain healthy relationships, I should be able to find happiness. Most people at my school have been busy scrolling mindlessly on Reels, getting high, and hooking up. On paper, I realize that I should be able to endure 4 years of a suboptimal social life to later discover something better, yet sometimes I am briefly reminded of how formative years went down to the drain thanks to my family's relocation, coupled with the toxic environment within the household. It was only a month ago I attended my first ever concert, with an acquaintance who is not a close friend of mine. I've never gone on a road trip with my peers until recently, never had somebody I could go to the mall or Six Flags with, etc. I see my peers posting themselves on their Instagram stories, enjoying quintessential teenage experiences I had to sit out on. Hanging out with the bridge Mormons that accosted @self_made_human the past 7 months, joining in on their door-knocking and street outreach endeavors, taking them out to try exotic cuisines in the big city or do some sightseeing, etc., has helped me fill in that gap significantly. I'm told people who rave on about their high school years throughout their adult life tend to be pathetic malcontents, if it's the same people who currently tell me how much they miss the middle school they've badmouthed throughout their entire time there, I have no trouble believing it. Perhaps I just need to find the right people in college and not let everything sort itself incidentally, then I'll find this concern trivial and not give it the time of day. I have plenty of time to recalibrate myself for my professional life and learn everything my parents never bothered to teach me, through grit and perseverance.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Hey, appreciate ya, just that alone means a lot to me right now. I'm just glad I can air this out somewhere without a guilty conscience, if nothing else.
This will be a very verbose, haphazard missive that I am composing at 3 AM in my timezone. Proceed if you wish.
I only very recently grasped the full gravity of just how dysfunctional and manipulative my household was. I like to think I'm not a provincial fool and that I'm more cognizant of inadequacies whenever they are present, but I truly believed my family dynamics were the norm. My father is a narcissist, my mother is emotionally unstable and volatile, though I'm unsure if it's faulted by PTSD, BPD, both, or neither. For the longest time, I attributed everything to a cultural/generational disconnect, that my parents were just hard-working Soviet immigrants who were a bit difficult yet ultimately well-meaning. My father studied hard and escaped his desolate Siberian hamlet, learned the English language, found employment at a Global Fortune 500 company, and moved to the US, where I was raised in a financially stable household. Nobody ever had reservations about buying the newest trendy brands of clothing for me, taking me on vacation to Ticino or Waikiki, driving me into town to meet with my pals, etc. Any time I expressed grievances over a comment or behavior I perceived to be denigrating, my parents shielded themselves behind this and would swiftly resort to a black-and-white reasoning and insinuate that I'm saying they're terrible parents. I was ignorant to the dissonance that was being created in my head; my parents weren't consistent douchebags, but they also weren't consistently warm. I had access to plenty of opportunities my peers didn't, so surely I ought to look past whatever trivial shortcomings existed.
Growing up, my father would often use teambuilding activities at work and workout sessions at the gym as a means to abscond from his parental duties. When I was 12 months old, he would tell me I was already a big kid who had nothing to cry about. I was never a picky eater, but there was food that physically made me gag and wasn't merely something I mildly disliked, yet he'd shove it in my mouth. He would comb my hair in an overly aggressive manner, and accuse me of not knowing how to comb properly if what he did hurt. From a very young age, any missteps I made could result in insults and curses. If I ever wanted to understand his line of reasoning behind a certain instruction, he would default to "because I said so", or "find another home if you don't like it here". A few years ago, following COVID, we were forced to relocate to an industrial, blue-collar dump (albeit a particularly prestigious pocket of it) from a densely populated, affluent suburban area where I thrived by being encircled by a milieu of ambitious, curious, and sharp peers. Due to the taciturn and curt nature of my peers here, I was devoid of a social life for two years before things mitigated to a slight degree. I had to carry a knife to school for my safety and I witnessed my classmates nodding out in the middle of class, but in my father's warped mind, all of my frustration was just a secret plot to manipulate him and distract him from his work. He would minimize my deficits by reminding me of how much worse his childhood was and how he simply cannot afford to entertain that my first-world upbringing could be as dismal as I purport it to be. If I said I didn't have any peers at school I could hang out with, he'd tell me he had no colleagues to hang out with either. When I finally joined some uninteresting extracurriculars out of desperation and was assigned at the start of the school year to a new class where students were less actively hostile, I at last found people I could make plans with. In this region, it often meant drinking in the woods or by the beach, summer and winter. My father would act in disbelief that I could show up at home drunk after he refused to give me counsel. Not once have I ever walked out of a conversation with him feeling assuaged and uplifted about any obstacles, but again, I thought that was some cultural disconnect that's not intractable. I was always inculcated not to divulge family matters externally, but when it has affected my quality of life so acutely that I needed to get it off my chest, people frequently tipped that my father may be a narcissist. Having done a deep dive of the various symptoms in the past month, I see a plethora of bullseyes being hit. My father's a brilliant, educated man, who whenever in a good mood, would answer questions to any metaphysical ruminations I had growing up as a child. I thought that I was an exceptionally difficult kid who was exacerbating his burnout and that if I learned to do better, he could always stay warm and loving. Only now did I shake myself out of that delusion and realize that this potential version of my father will never come to be, and I can't look at him with the same reverence. Seven months ago, I found my way to my current faith as a lifelong agnostic, and it has been an immensely effective lifeline, knowing that as a human being I am born with inherent dignity, that there is a long-term meaning to life, that my self-worth isn't contingent on a handful of people's perceptions of me. It is thanks to my faith that I haven't put a halt to my 7-month sobriety journey, despite the temptation.
My mother, due to some experiences in her childhood, grew up with an abject fear of abandonment, only amplified by my father's antics. "Splitting" is one of the scariest things I've had the horror to witness throughout the duration of my life. She can initiate a normal conversation, ask me how my day has been, we get a conversation going, then I accidentally spill something in the kitchen or fold something incorrectly and she lets out a curse word or raises her voice, I ask her politely not to, and she tells me I'm trying to command her what to do, and the long train of gut-wrenching insults unfolds. Growing up, I've been unfortunate to have several not-so-compassionate pedagogues as my teachers, many of whom obtained their teaching licenses after a bachelor's from a 100% acceptance rate school, and tried to get me diagnosed for a certain neurodevelopmental condition my psychologist later informed me that I either do not have, or have it at such a high-functioning level that the opportunity cost of the tedious diagnostics process is not justified. My mother frequently vacillated between either the teachers being a bunch of unprofessional pricks who witch-hunted me with nothing to elicit it, or me being such a nightmare of a child. She weaponized terminology she could not define against me, even after I believed we agreed to close the case. She told me she was skeptical to my psychologist's conclusion, and I told her that either she could go the route of soliciting a second opinion, or close the case, but that the degrading way she threw the term around as an insult was unacceptable. She would often treat 16/17 year old me as a marriage counselor after her argument du jour with my father, go on hour-long tirades only wanting to be heard, with no desire for proactive input. I've invited her to come to my church since she complains about lacking a social life in her new area and being stuck in the toxic environment at home, but she musters any possible excuse when I throw that out there. She's had 20 years to step away from this nonsense, but she tells me that she always wrongly thinks that this time things can improve if she does something differently. They never do, and I'm faced with the fallout of it all. One time recently, when she sat me down to talk she asked for examples of what she’s done in my childhood that I found hurtful, when I began providing examples she dithered between “that’s not what I actually meant” and “when you’re throwing it all in my face at once you make it seem more severe than it actually was”. She told me that nobody outside of my immediate family will ever show me unconditional love, that all other relationships are transactional, and that as I get older I will come back running to my parents with a greater understanding for why everything turned out the way it did. I gave her examples of philanthropists, humanitarian workers, international legionaries in Ukraine jeopardizing their health and career prospects, adoptive parents, etc. She began pointing to some isolated incidents of adoptive parents abusing their children to try to rescue the merit of her argument.
I'm just exasperated from it all. God knows how I managed to pull through to this day. I have two months left until I move out for college. What keeps me going is knowing that this is the very last stretch, and that I'll be a much better father. I hope this post wasn't written in vain. If anybody wants to share any advice or their experiences with me and how they've dealt with it, please do. Right now, I feel as if a breakdown is impending.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Hey there, I don't want to start a separate comment chain for the sake of this question, but do/did you attend BYU perchance, and if so, would I be okay to DM you to inquire about the campus? I intend to start there post-mission, and would love to gather some inside information from a TheMotte poster to help me navigate my experience there.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
I’m too stupid for astral codex ten though sadly
Scott Alexander himself is an exceedingly brilliant thinker, but I am frequently told AstralCodexTen comment sections, because of their higher penetration and mass appeal are actually more stupid than the rocket scientists at TheMotte. I'm confused, I want to know what is true and what isn't. 🤔
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
As a zoomer who has been sporadically lurking here for a year, my inhibition is too high to post in the Culture War thread. Since I've yet to commence higher education and have meaningful experience writing formal publications, I'm deeply insecure about my prose and lexicon. I am very much a generalist and a decent synthesizer who knows the synoptic framework of a vast array of fields without having fully narrowed down my niche. I would love to contribute more extensively, but can't be sure I will manage to do so without sounding like a flagrant sophist. Do I get lost or persist?
Is Palestinian or Somalian food that common in Oslo that it's hard to avoid
There's a vast array of cuisines available in Oslo, but for better or worse, my guilty pleasure is going to the seedier parts of town and indulging in food at Middle Eastern/West Asian places.
Also, have you ever been to Japan?
Nope.
Is that also bothersome?
As the other commenter said, it's a blanket rule to filter out the low-caliber rabble contingent of tourists as well as avoiding the rigamarole of having customers ordering in a language the servers have no command of. As I am currently not in Japan, I'm not in a rush to opine on the ethics of patronizing such businesses.
Businesses bedecking themselves in Palestinian flags and symbols are a common sight in all of Europe and not just my neck of the woods. I am almost certain this is also prevalent, albeit to a lesser degree, in the larger metropolitan areas of the US. Out of innocuous curiosity, I wanted to inquire about what position others take on the matter, as I imagine in a highbrow space like TheMotte, people do frequently patronize ethnic restaurants serving exotic cuisines.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Israel and Palestine seem to be living rent free in your head.
This is my first post mentioning the conflict, are you perhaps confusing me for another user? Sure the pool of prospective Jewish customers may be narrow, but I've observed restaurants putting up signs saying "Zionists not welcome" with stars of David as opposed to the Israeli flag. I'm not going around boycotting a place for advocating against the construction of new settlements, but when they are the ones who vociferously demonstrate their allegiance and are raising money for a dubious cause, I believe my concern is entirely legitimate.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
I can tolerate a BLM sticker perfectly fine, fifth columnists who may actively harbor terrorist sympathies on the other hand...
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Mea culpa, my memory served me wrong, Google Maps was the app.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Haha no, the former hung a Palestinian flag inside their establishment and is selling "Palestine Cola" in lieu of Coke, as do many Muslim-owned non-Palestinian businesses in the city.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
As a Southern good ol' boy, post-grunge bands such as Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Staind, Shinedown, and Tool (perhaps more prog rock) are paramount on the playlist.
As a Mormon, I am bound to support fellow Mormon excellence, namely The Killers, usually Sam's Town, or to really lean into the Mormon excellence aesthetic, Pressure Machine.
ATB, Armin Van Buren, Above & Beyond, Paul Van Dyk, and older Tiesto for a little splash of nostalgia.
Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX, Weezer, The Strokes, and Arctic Monkeys' first two albums, if I bring a speaker to a game of volleyball with some cute women and want to make them privy to my ever-exquisite taste in music.
For something suited for ruminating on a long train ride, I stream LCD Soundsystem or desert rock bands such as Kyuss, Fu Manchu, QOTSA, CoC, Sleep, and Monster Magnet.
If I want to bond with my fellow kids, hip-hop such as Baby Keem, Westside Gunn, Pusha T, Death Grips, J Cole, Asap Rocky, Don Toliver, older Kendrick, and Drake is the default option.
Beyond that, my musical tastes are quite versatile. I can listen to Toby Keith and Death Cab for Cutie on the same day with no equivocation.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Found an enticing Yemeni restaurant in Oslo, but then I checked their Yelp page and saw a massive Palestinian flag hanging on the wall, and they're selling some crappy coke knockoff that raises funds for charity in Gaza. What's the sentiment here? Do I look elsewhere, or do I separate the art from the artist? Whenever I'm in the mood for Somali or Pakistani food, I manage to find places that don't put up any pro-Palestinian virtue signaling. I'm sure their proprietors still harbor some problematic views, but if it's not pervasively advertised, I can at least grant them some plausible deniability. It just doesn't sit right with me to eat from an establishment that could very well chase a Jewish individual out of it.
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Perhaps my recent Nibleymaxing may come in hand!
RussianAmericanMormon
1mo ago
Nice to bump into a coreligionist on this forum🫡
I take it you've never set foot in Houston to injudiciously repeat that classic trope. All neighborhoods within the I-610 loop are walkable by any metric. Montrose is a genuinely pleasant neighborhood replete of ambient cafes. Museum District too. EaDo's nightlife experience is just as good as any other major city in the Western world. MetroRail is a system that is utilized by medical professionals commuting to work. Rice Village and the Medical Center add a density of educated professionals and vast amenities. Hermann Park is a serious urban park and I will say that the US does parks in particular better than most European countries. Beautiful biking trails along the Buffalo Bayou in the heart of the city. You only know Houston from trite, outdated tweets. I don't get the singling out of Houston when Dallas and Phoenix would strengthen that argument, though even those cities have developed substantial pockets of walkability that were nonexistent in the 1990s.
Worth a watch:https://youtube.com/watch?v=0fMTaNYYvwE?si=b5V8XKnuqY_P5T0C
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