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fmac

Ask me about bike lanes

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joined 2024 December 26 01:43:24 UTC 

				
User ID: 3415


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
fmac


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Ask me about bike lanes

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2024 December 26 01:43:24 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 3415


					
					
					
				

			




		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


For example, I go long periods between officially donning the mod hat




I love your writing and read most things you write and didn't know you were a mod until now


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Zorba banning the legendary TrannyPorno




Please tell me more, I tried to look up their account but it 404'd so I can't even see the context.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Instead European Jewry was first encouraged to leave, then pushed toward other countries as refugees, then massively conscripted as a slave labor force with zero compassion or concern about their wellbeing, then basically liquidated as convenient when resources ran low so as to conserve resources for Germans and the war effort in general.




Is this a controversial take amongst the left/zionists? Isn't this what happened, who pushes for a more extreme "industrialized" story than this? I'm pretty sure this is exactly what I learned in my extremely leftist primary school (we watched Schindler's list in grade 7).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Eh, you can't have a forum dedicated to political discussion and complain when people hold opinions you disagree with.




I think he's complaining that the people he disagrees with get free reign, and the people he doesn't disagree with (no idea what he agrees with) get shit on by both the community and occasionally mods.


I'm pretty sure this is about the AlexanderTurok ban slapfight  last week


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
"immense pain in the ass" this is referring to AlexanderTurok's most recent ban


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's taken me a few reads (and realizing that AlexanderTurok posted below) to figure out what's being said here, I think.


I think what he's saying is kind of another spin on "you moderate the libs who annoy you for fairly inconsequential things, but not the rightoids who annoy me for the same"


I don't think he's that mad about jew-posting (I've personally never seen it, but I skip all the conversations I find boring, which is a lot of them), more so that if he has to deal with Jew-posting, which makes him unhappy, he'd like to also enjoy posting that makes others unhappy too. But if they're getting banned for being annoying what is the point.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You seem nice, please stick around. I have had a similar debate to you going on in my head.


For me, it's the Christian-right people here, they are so orthogonal to me I can barely comprehend it. The responses to the "how would you react to your young/teenage daughter using the natural family method as birth control" comment the other week (lol I looked it up and it was also AlexanderTurok) blew my mind, the only responses actually answering that part were "yeah it's a fine method of birth control" (3), "I'd simply tell her not to have pre-marital sex" (2), and "I wouldn't even be mad if she got knocked up" (2) and my reality imploded a little.


Made me debate why I'm sharing mental bandwidth with people who are apparently living in a profoundly different universe than me.


However, I am here to have an argument, and y'all are the best game in town on the internet for some argument dopamine, so here we stay. It's nice to have nice and thoughtful people here, so stick around (please).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You are a mental titan, I am in awe of you


Well fucking done


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Why not just look at it's sources? That's what I do. The whole point is that it filters through a ton of websites to find sources for the thing you're looking for. Then you can check it's sources to make sure it isn't pulling random garbage.


Just look at it's source for the information. Even better, when telling it to look something up, tell it what sources you like. It won't be perfectly adherent to them, but it will focus on them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Based


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


A lot of folks here are extremely blackpilled about politics, but this to me seems a perfect example of how democracy is supposed to work.




Hey I'm one of these people.


There's currently a flood of YIMBY legislation going in across America, it's actually pretty awesome to see. Makes me pretty jealous tbh, my girlfriend and I joke about moving to the states a lot, and if you guys actually manage to bring down housing prices I might actually pull the trigger.


I'm hoping Canada sees it work for you and follow suit, but we have such an unbelievably strong status-quo bias/risk & change aversion I don't want to get too hopeful lol


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


None of the motion was violent enough to have caused a plane to fall off the ship




Maybe combine the tilt when turning + a big wave + whoever was in charge of towing not eating their crayon ration and forgot to secure some flavor of connector?


Should it have happened? No, but humans are profoundly innovative in finding new ways to fuck things up.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Seemingly some idiot "influencers" on the app got people to drink borax as a health cure.




Should we ban 4chan too than? They used to do this shit all the time.


Also, why do you think dangerous trolling is a Tiktok specific problem? It strikes me as a "humans on the internet" problem.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 6, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
While you can technically fit a kid anywhere, I'm not with you on the overall point.


My dogs footprint in my apartment is his bed, and his food/water bowl. Also a small box on a shelf with brush/harness/nail clippers/whatever


A kid is a crib, diapers, clothes, toys, a stroller, and I'm sure a ton of other gear I haven't considered. They need a whole room too eventually (or immediately? Idk what the meta on co sleeping is these days).


Also not to get into the whole child rearing in modernity thing again, but I'm just observing that dogs outnumber children in my neighborhood at least 5:1, and I live across the street from a playground so it might be even worse.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good to know! Medical arbitrage is a fun game. Turkey is another one where the all in price of airfare+hotel+medical procedure can be cheaper than the north american sticker cost


I think it's a borderline scam, but some Turkish hospitals basically have all inclusive packages for plastic surgery/"""comprehensive""" medical scans/etc


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it will become cost prohibitive and unreliable very quickly.




It's a last resort to hedge against




those stories are still quite alarming.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


some of that is just we have a bunch of money to spend




This is predicted on having a lot of money to spend, which many Americans do, and also many Americans do not


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I believe the system as-designed has you sell everything until you qualify for Medicaid




While that's technically better than just dying, this is so fucking awful it's kind of funny to present this as an alternative.


"Hey man you're not dead, you're just destitute, sick, and are receiving the bare minimum amount of care we can get away with giving you. Have fun rebuilding from 0 once you're better, hope you aren't close to retirement!"


After typing that out, if you're north of ~50, might actually be more merciful to just not treat them and limit the suffering


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm with you on that.


I think the floor (no pun intended) cost for housing is much lower than healthcare, I am somewhat doubtful that healthcare can ever be a non-risk pooled consumer good but I'd love to be wrong.


Down with doctor training cartels, I mean the AMA*


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's a spicy take because I would have assumed this place would shit all over liberal arts degrees in favor of STEM + finance + coding


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Don't fall for the propaganda here, the U.S. has worse outcomes on many metrics but a population that is more unhealthy and those worse metrics are driven by a social goal (you have the freedom to accept lifestyle diseases).




Super fair point.




When you get sick you are better off here than everywhere else in every way except the pay check.




This is kind of a large "but" given how much of a nightmare healthcare costs are to those who can't afford/have shitty insurance, but I do happily agree that the upper bound of USA healthcare quality is incredible, it's just a matter of having extended access to it...




Canada is notorious for this. I need major hip or knee surgery in the US and I can get it within the week, but Canada though? Months. People also die from cancer and other diseases or have worse morbidity because it takes awhile to be seen and treated.




Brother tell me about it. So far all my experiences (I do a lot of dangerous sports, so I've been to the ER far more than I would like) have been speedy and great, but I live in downtown Toronto and have a great family doctor, so I am pretty lucky in that way. My friends/their parents all have overall good experiences/timelines as well, but again, we're all educated white collar workers who live nearby to the largest agglomeration of healthcare resources in the nation.


The news stories and stats I see though.... Jesus Christ it's grim.


As my parents (and me! yikes!) get older I do find myself wondering if I should familiarize myself with USA v Canada "healthcare arbitrage". If I can get one of my parents an MRI in 1 week for $5,000 vs in 9 months for free when time is directly proportional to better outcomes, that's $5,000 I'd spend in a heartbeat.


Funnily enough, as MRI is the only example I actually know of for "things its worth going to the USA for". The one time I got an MRI, for in retrospect was a slightly frivolous diagnostic rule-out, I was scheduled for one a week after my ENT appointment. Although I am assuming that is Toronto-privilege, I bet if I was in Halifax that would not have been as fast.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Education strikes me as fairly similar. It's kind of a monopoly good (oligopoly good?), demand is fairly inelastic, as a service it is incredibly hard to quantify cost vs benefits ahead of time and suss out who's the best at providing the service.


I'm generally pretty ideologically unbound, whatever system is shown to work the best is the system I want implemented. So yeah, implement European educational institutions, I think that western school board bureaucracy is an uninhibited nightmare so I'm all for getting rid of as many of them as possible. Korean/Japanese/Chinese ones seem fucking awful though, they make smart kids but I'm not sure if it's worth the hit to human wellbeing.


My uninformed opinion is that a ton of the USA's education woes are the fault of American parents, which is downstream of American inequality/poverty. But I have nothing to back that up aside from vibes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah exactly. Healthcare systems fundamentally cannot play nice with market mechanics because people get unhappy when the market mechanics cause people to die.


So privatized healthcare seems to end up being an awful chimera hybrid of the worst of both worlds.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks for the link, yeah makes sense. I was just making things up that felt plausible.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 7, 2025
			
		

	




	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Are those systems actually that good?




They are better than the USA, which is the key benchmark. Canada is much more similar than Western Europe and also has historically out-performed the USA, although our healthcare system is getting fucked on pretty hard right now so idk how the stats match up post-COVID.




Can we make that happen here?




Unlikely currently, although given the USA is finally starting to (slowly) go pretty YIMBY on building a state-by-state basis, the USA does have a pretty blessed capacity to drive change in a way other countries do not.




we spend a lot of money on illegal immigrants




This is one of the factors tanking Canada's healthcare system, although they're not illegal, just extremely net negative on "tax contributions - cost to society"




have a maximal amount of cost disease




Strike me as a good argument to cut out the middlemen, as they need more expensive salaries




we are more unhealthy




This is hard, no easy solutions here (Ozempic as a condition of Medicaid if you're obese?)




we subsidize the rest of the world's medical research




I'm torn on this, if the USA also captures most of the world's pharma profits than this is a net gain no? No idea how the math works out there though.




we are more independently minded




This is true but hilarious. Americans are violently against "taxes to pay for healthcare" but are completely fine with "employer subsidized insurance premiums that mean they get less cash in hand in exchange for access to healthcare" which is functionally just taxes but with more middlemen??!!?! And poor people I guess get less services versus single-payer, but then everyone subsidizes them anyway via higher medical bills to offset all the non-payments from the aforementioned poor people.




medical malpractice is a huge drain




This is by far the easiest problem here to solve. Just legislate limits in damages or applicable suits. Although you will say "but will anyone actually do that" and the answer is "probably not" given it hasn't happened.




we don't have death panels and rationing




Are death panels real anywhere? I also feel like prices/medical bankruptcy (66% of all USA bankruptcy filings) are kind of analogous? If you can't afford chemo you sell everything you have until you run out of money to pay for it and die. Also you absolutely do have rationing, it's just in the form of prices versus bureaucratic limits. It can be debated which type of rationing is better, but the human demand for healthcare is infinite, supply never will be.




you can get care fast if you can afford it & the best care is in the USA




Profoundly true




Even putting aside those things good luck changing our system to resemble other's once reality comes into play (for instance forcing people onto plans).




Unfortunately profoundly true, I'm pretty black-pilled on western nations being able to pro-actively change anything until it explodes in their faces and they are forced too, at great cost.


In some ways I guess the USA's system is more survivable in that way. I can't really see it ever imploding, it'll just get shittier and shittier to get care from as all the costs/frictions drag on it. Unfortunately, I can see Canada's healthcare system imploding if it continues to be as mis-managed as it seems to be.