gattsuru
14hr ago
I'll start off with my condolences to anyone of any gender that had to listen to nRXs for this to happen at the end of it.
I don’t spent as much time in the movement these days; it’s turned into an echo chamber; racism and sexism are front-and-center, and most of my favorite people have left. But there was a fascinating moment in time when it truly felt like the so-called “dissident right” could discuss almost anything in a sensible way.
... I have a thought. That's not fair, I recognize... though I'd like some counterexample showing I'm just cherrypicking.
Talking about anything in a sensible way is not the point of the story; talking about why no one can group can talk about anything in a sensible way isn't part of the story. Laurenson isn't writing for Red Tribers, obviously, nor writing to Red Tribers, or even explaining Red Tribers to Blue Tribers. The point is to explain where Laurenson's coming from to Blue Tribers, and that's fine.
But from a Red Triber perspective -- and I fully recognize I'm far from hydroacetelene's level of 'real' Red Triber -- it's kinda the last part of this story where there's anything interesting. The Now What section is the biggest frustration, since it starts with 'here's the Blue Tribe principle insulting me and here's the Red Tribe random asshats insulting me, tots similar in scope and regularity' and then leads to a trio of revelations that practically come with the punchline 'do you think we don't know that?' But does anyone think there's a literate Red Triber on the planet, and I'm defining 'literate' here by Chicago definitions, that does not already know that a news media environment with any mix, no matter how lopsided, of Red and Blue Tribers devolves into squabbles?
I can make the argument that deradicalization matters, I can and regularly do make the argument that liberalism is dying at this rate, I can and have made the argument that it's really really dangerous. I'd like to solve that! I've been doing the (sometimes literal) Touch Grass thing, and some STEM-focused community outreach, and a half-dozen other programs trying to bring people together without bringing politics to the forefront.
Online, I'm overtly the bi furry gun owner for a reason, knowing how offputting the constant gay or gunnie references are to so many people: areas I'd like to go and philosophies I'd like to let live become 'target rich environments' if the only ones who wear it on their sleeves are the Everything Leftism Coneheads and straight-from-central-casting . I'd hope that there'd be some impact from showing people are people, and that Red and Blue can join together to achieve goals more important than wars of all-against-all over microns of worthless territory, and that at least some goals of those politics are more than hate or rage or malice.
... but I don't know if that will work, either, and ultimately, the Litany of Tarski wins. The STEM outreach program's had a small and subtle cold war over rainbow pins in the local community, the modded Minecraft server I helped with software problems had its owner proudly promote the time he beat the shit out of Brendan Eich, there's many Blue and Red tribe spheres I can't wear anything on my sleeve. Worse, so many high-profile people pretending to straddle political aisles are very clearly not that there's less than zero trust, here.
Everything else is a distraction. Yes, people are hallucinating their own consensus realities, but (as Laurenson points out!) it's not like the normies are doing any better. If we can't even talk about anything in a sensible way, if we can't talk about why we can't talk about anything in a sensible way, trying increasingly complicated and roundabout messaging won't solve it.
gattsuru
16hr ago
Mostly got small or useful stuff, some art prints, some handheld tool batteries, a few gift cards. All appreciated, but not really interesting. The real toy one was Project Silverfish, kinda a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-like with graphics by the way of The Witness (cw: furry scaly inheritors of humanity). It's astoundingly unforgiving and still in beta, but been pretty enjoyable if you don't mind the occasional getting domed by a patrol from a faction you didn't even realize was on the current map.
Gave the SO a new monitor - OLEDs really are amazing and have come down a lot in price - and seems to be serving okay, though only after purchasing it found that the 'adjustable stand' was really just five degrees and an absolutely zero vertical control.
Most of the other gifts to family or friends are pretty unexciting. I've got access to a sublimation printer and some weirder-shaped heat tools, so replacing damaged or badly-faded and no-longer-manufactured coffee mugs or other easy-to-find blanks is a fun parlor trick, especially now that post-processing tools (AI or otherwise) have gotten so good, but most of them won't have any meaning outside of the recipient.
Uh, helped a coworker get his daughter and son-in-law some desktops together, which was a lot more !!fun!! than expected given current RAM pricing. I was able to pull some tricks to get them 32 GB each without paying a kidney, but wow that entire thing was a mess.
Laurenson had no X commentary about either the Jay Jones scandals nor the Charlie Kirk assassination, and as far I can tell, did not anywhere else. Perhaps I’m missing some counterexample, or some massive story from her media deal.
The movement she’s left has changed. It’s not the only thing failing her tests.
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