oats_son
2mo ago
Also, the assertion that more acceptance of casual sex leads somehow to more pressure have sex seems a bit mixed up to me, much less an increase in "tricking" women to have sex.
For me, this is pretty clear. You can frequently see questions like "by what date are you supposed to have sex?" on dating forums or reddit (or maybe just the latter). Usually, the answer is anything between "the first date" or "no further than the fifth date". These kinds of rules and expectations absolutely do increase the amount of pressure on dating couples to have sex before any kind of commitment, unless you count going on a few dates as commitment. Girls don't want to lose good men they find. I think there is pressure on men to ask for sex frequently as well. If you don't, you might be gay or not into your date very much.
oats_son
2mo ago
Same. The line
If you're going to criticize him, at least bother to get some facts correct.
was particularly vexing to me. I don't like spreading misinformation, of course, but I would be spending a very long time if I had to check every assumption that I hold. That's where you get to be grateful that people who know more than you can correct you when you're wrong. I promise that I was trying to use "unconstitutional" correctly when I made that post.
oats_son
2mo ago
Which group of men would that be? The ones I would think of would be the philosophers and other important people behind the 1960s sexual revolution.
oats_son
2mo ago
American corruption is a lot different from Mexican corruption.
oats_son
2mo ago
For the trolling enthusiasts and Art-of-the-Deal readers out there: At what point am I allowed to take his rhetoric on Canada seriously? What baffles me is how the hell he could want it in the first place. It's got so many problems... But with that latest post from him, I kind of believe he actually does want it.
Personally, I'd rather see a Mexico takeover. It would be a lot more satisfying to make it a zero-to-hero country, maybe go in and strangle the cartels to death and ensure good elections with no corruption, and watch it bloom. Maybe it would get even better than Spain!
It seems to have worked to stop the counter tariff, actually. I wonder how long this dance will continue.
oats_son
2mo ago
I see. I was not aware of this. My apologies. Yes, still a shockingly bad decision, but not unconstitutional (in this case).
oats_son
2mo ago
Okay, I keep thinking of things to add, and the mods probably don't appreciate over-editing of comments. The Zelensky thing wasn't as bad as withholding arms shipments to Ukraine that were already approved by Congress. And the withholding of military intelligence to the Ukrainians. Seems like these both led to the Russians pushing and taking Kursk. Trump responded by threatening even more sanctions against Russia, which is even stupider decision making -- how much are more sanctions going to do, and weren't you just talking about lifting sanctions? Better yet, you could have just not halted things unconstitutionally just to give red meat for your base that apparently wants you to be aggressive on Ukraine?
I, personally, am regretting my vote. Taking a chainsaw to the government was something I thought was just rhetoric, not something he'd actually do. I also didn't expect Elon to be doing so much direct chainsaw-ing, since he was just supposed to be an advisory role. In addition, I have never liked the executive overreach that often comes with abusing executive orders, and there has been a lot of that. How am I supposed to view his birthright citizenship executive order any differently from the New Mexican governor's executive order declaring gun violence a state of emergency, or Biden's executive order canceling student loan debt? How am I supposed to take a White House statement written like this seriously? Why did they cede sounding professional to the Democrats? ETA: The decision on national parks is also incredibly baffling. It doesn't cost that much. If he also axes federal lands, people who like to hunt in flyover territory are going to be affected the most by not having federal land to hunt on.
But the foreign policy has been the worst of it. Even if Zelensky was overstepping his bounds on a deal already agreed upon, surely there were better ways of handling it than getting into a shouting match over whether he's appreciative enough or not. The tariff baiting is another thing; shit or get off the pot. I'm not even entirely opposed to tariffs, though obviously they are going to hurt; this is just getting the worst of both worlds, though. And then the stuff about annexing or buying these other countries, like you said. Pointlessly antagonistic. And then aligning himself so closely to Elon Musk, who is a powder keg with questionable mental stability and intelligence, judging from how he handled the Nazi salute, the AfD endorsement, the time when Community Notes disagreed with him, and more. And the leaving NATO and the UN thing, and pulling troops out of Germany, and more. I'm pretty sick of all of it.
I never would have voted for Kamala Harris, ever. But the next candidate from the Republicans will have to disavow at least some of this stuff for me to vote for them again. I will just go back to pointlessly voting Libertarian again.
I also don't know how much complaining I would have if I was nearly this politically active during his first term. Maybe he was always this bad?
oats_son
2mo ago
This is a big ask, but if you're from the area, can you outline the general cultural and economic circumstances of each Southeast Asian country? I have thought that someday learning a language of Southeast Asia could be fun and enlightening on how other (poorer) cultures see the world, but I'm not sure which one yet. Indonesian/Malaysian seems like the easiest one of them, and it gets bonus points for being a relatively well off nation, sharing a language with Singapore, and also giving me some insight on how Islamists view reality.
The other option is using my kanji knowledge from Japanese to learn some Chinese, but I cracked open a textbook a few months ago and thought "dude, screw this".
oats_son
2mo ago
You have a point on all of your arguments, but I will nevertheless maintain this was a vibes based decision from Trump, and strategically done so due to Ukraine's being in the news (from his own actions). There are many other groups deserving of getting asylum rejected even more, and he could have waited to kick out the Ukrainian ones when Zelensky wasn't in the spotlight to this extent.
oats_son
2mo ago
I'm not against the concept of someone who helps us overseas getting special privileges regarding citizenship here, but according to your quote, that Afghani guy is no different from any Venezuelan or Indian crossing the border, claiming asylum, and buggering off. He has not been granted any special privileges. Perhaps he should have sought better immigration status for himself, rather than relying on a system that would inevitably get rolled back, perhaps even if the Democrats won the election.
I think if anyone could claim asylum or refugee status, it would be Ukrainians, since there is a war going on in their home country. I had no idea there were so many in the USA. I thought they were mostly a European problem to deal with. I also think there is some level of hypocrisy from Trump. If Ukrainians are out, but he supports getting white South Africans here for humanitarian reasons, it's pretty much all just vibes determining Trump's decisions, right?
oats_son
2mo ago
If you can accept that ethnicity is not always based on genetic difference, but also things like language or values, and something like Conservatives as Moral Mutants outlines that values between the two tribes have drifted substantially, then depending on how lenient you are in describing ethnicity, you might be able to claim that what we are seeing in the culture war is more like an inter-ethnic conflict.
In hindsight, that probably doesn't mean anything too different from just talking about tribes. I thought it was an interesting way of looking at it in a new light. But I don't actually know how groups like the Samoyedic tribes diversified to the extent that they did; splintering and reproducing, sure, but for what reasons? Anything like what we're seeing today? Is this culture war and possible fracturing of a nation new, or is it something that has repeated itself many times? Maybe something like the Balkans is a recent example of it?
oats_son
2mo ago
I appreciate the discussion around Trump lately, but I've had this idea in my head that I can't shake, so I guess I have to post about it now. It's about liberalism again.
When I get bored at work, I tend to surf Wikipedia for historical and cultural tidbits. One of the things that dizzies me is taking a look at the various ethnic groups of Asia. There are an insane amount of them in India, in China, in Russia, in Southeast Asia, and most of them have their own language. A shocking amount of diversity. Even more shocking is learning of the occasional huge impact of former ethnicities -- I had never heard of the Circassian genocide before bumping into it on Wikipedia, nor of the Moriori genocide in New Zealand, nor of most of the stateless peoples fighting for their own nation. It makes a nation like Japan seem somewhat boring, since it was mostly one ethnicity just interacting with itself instead of duking it out with dozens or hundreds of other ethnicities in a massive historical cultural bloodbath.
Where this ties into America, and liberalism: America, for the most part, has had all its ethnicities jumbled together. It was really, really great at integrating people in the melting pot. I am, by blood, Irish mixed with German, but I hold no allegiance with Ireland or Germany. I, and most white people I know, would describe themselves as American, if anything. But seeing this culture war flare up and the value differences becoming obvious makes me think: what if the rise of social justice politics has absolutely nothing to do with liberalism? Maybe we're seeing the rise of a new ethnic group, not based on shared genetic traits, but on certain cultural traits being emphasized more than others, as has happened thousands or millions of times in history?
If that's what's happening, then we might say that liberalism is not entirely at fault for the rise of progressivism (or whoever you blame for causing this rift). Liberalism is more of a new thing, but diversification of ethnic groups is far older. I would argue that this stratification has been intensified by the internet and television and other mass communications enabling people to self sort into their own groups, regardless of geographic distance. Perhaps you might also say that liberalism gave more of an equal playing field for cultures to fight it out amongst themselves, thus accelerating such diversification. But it may have been inevitable.
oats_son
3mo ago
Wow, The Hobbit really is good for kids, huh? I think the main problem with Lord of the Rings proper is that it's really boring a lot of the time, perhaps too boring and slow-moving and overall wordy and complex for a kid. The content itself is morally fine for them, not traumatizing or anything, but all those other things make it hard to start so early.
Turning this back to Culture War material, you'll probably never give them a new kids book, would you? There's something profound to me that we used to be so sure of ourselves that we were constantly churning out works that everyone could enjoy, and even now, everyone can still retroactively enjoy them, but at some point, the cultures diverged enough that nothing can be trusted anymore, writers cannot go with the old frameworks respected older works once used, and classic themes might appear corny and simple by now.
oats_son
3mo ago
I feel for you, but it really boggles the mind. Why would he prescribe capsules if they aren't a thing in the UK? How is it even possible for him to do that? Does he make the mistake frequently, I wonder?
oats_son
3mo ago
On your advice, I poked around on the death penalty wikipedia page and found something I've been wondering about for a while: volunteers for the death penalty! I wondered if it was possible, never knew it had actually already been done by multiple people.
Something curious about that, too, though: the first execution after the reinstatement was Gary Gilmore, and it was a year after he was convicted. But the other examples on that volunteer page take close to a decade to get executed, if they ever get executed at all. That's for people that have waived their right to appeal and are just trying to get a speedy execution. My new thinking is that the legal system is like some old processor that used to be speedy but is now limping from decades of use. Of course, lawyers figuring out the best ways to game the system probably also contribute to death row appeals processes taking forever.
oats_son
3mo ago
Actually, now that you mention it, I was thinking of getting a Honda because it might be cheaper than a Toyota, but I always hear that their transmissions are worse and are usually the first thing to go bad. Is that true? Also is it worth learning to drive stick shift? I am thinking it is not, since you lose out on cruise control.
oats_son
3mo ago
I'm probably buying a new car this weekend. The 2007 Toyota Corolla has accrued more repairs than it's presently worth. Still drivable, but soon won't be, though it has earned itself 273k miles in its honorable time served.
So, got any car recommendations? Do you buy new, or lightly used? Hybrids worth looking at? If your car right now was summoned to the great car dealership in the sky right now, and you had to buy a new car, what kind of budget is sensible? Are you an old person who makes good car decisions, or a young enlisted man who makes horrible car decisions? I will refuse to listen to you, either way. But I still want to read your replies about car recommendations.
oats_son
3mo ago
I have suspected for a while that the appeals process for death row prisoners has been greatly drawn out. I told a lawyer acquaintance about this one day when he ranted about the death penalty for a while, but he confessed that he has no knowledge of its being lengthened or not.
Well, I finally have a piece of evidence: John Brown commenced his deadly raid on October 16, 1859. He was convicted on November 2, 1859, after a week of deliberation. He was hanged on December 2, 1859. Not even two full months of a prison stay.
So now my question is: when did this change? If it took a long time to make death row appeals take decades, what were the critical points in the fight?
oats_son
3mo ago
I think I did mean something more current? Something you can use to criticize the current government. The undercurrents that caused Tiananmen Square are surely still there. The undercurrents that caused the Great Leap Forward seem to be mostly gone, since China embraced capitalism after some decades of struggling with the whole socialism thing.
oats_son
3mo ago
Considering the track that the nation is going down, I was doing some more thinking. The approach that seemed to be the best to me is that the federal government must be weakened until it is no longer present, and let states spend their incomes how they choose and enact policies that they want, rather than viciously fighting over the same federal institutions every 4 or so years.
But upon my trying to dig up arguments against Marxism (probably the most dangerous philosophy I think has a chance of doing anything right now), I found that Karl Marx didn't really outline how socialist countries should make the transition into communism and, in fact, such a thing is probably not even possible. Institutions will try to perpetuate themselves in any way they can. Given this fact, I think DOGE is doomed to ultimately fail, especially if the next administration comes in and undoes the damage it is doing. So what is the prudent path forward?
Furthermore, this episode of history has revealed the weaknesses of liberalism: if you give people their own individual rights, including the ability to speak and convince each other of values detrimental to the state, eventually this kind of split will happen. If the federal government dissolves, and each state becomes its own nation, should they still embrace liberalism as the least bad of every option? Or should countries reserve full authority to do as they please, and there are no inherent rights?
oats_son
3mo ago
Is there some list of sins the Chinese Communist Party has committed somewhere? I've heard of the widespread general repression and censorship, of Tiananmen Square, of the One Child Policy, and of the Uighur Genocide, and I am wondering if I am missing something. I want to be ensured of their actual level of awfulness before I get into hypothetical arguments with hypothetical tankies, who despite knowing China is capitalist, still seem bent on interpreting them in the most charitable light possible and dismissing the rest as western propaganda.
If you have book suggestions on the subject, that would be good too. I had to read "The Origins of the Modern World" for college non-western civ, and I quite liked it. On that note, if you have any general world history books, that would also be great. I especially have no idea about Korean history.
oats_son
3mo ago
Yeah, workers' coops are an actually possible thing in America, but this is ignored.
I think anarchists are about the only faction of communism that realizes that they could just start communism with each other, in the form of workers' cooperatives and in communal villages, voluntarily. I think they are a far less harmful version of the ideology, and if all of the Marxists were instead anarchists, all the better; now you just have a bunch of people who vote left to shift the Overton window left without actually planning on doing anything nefarious (or doing much of anything at all, considering the anarchists I have interacted with).
Since anarchism is voluntary, the idea is that the commune shows people how things could be, and everyone slowly realizes the way things could be and join up themselves, I think. If the commune reaches a certain size, reality will check it and check it hard, so this bastion of freedom doesn't live very long and doesn't convince anyone who wasn't already a deviant. I consider that more benign, because it only disadvantages accountable people who willingly joined in.
In my area of the midwest, many Mexican restaurants serve an almost certainly horribly inauthentic paella. Mexican rice plus fajita vegetables (onion, bell pepper, tomato), chicken, shrimp, and covered in queso. As far as I know, proper paella has no queso. Does that mean I never order paella? No, absolutely not, I love the stuff around here. I am similarly told that a chile relleno filled with liquid-ish queso cheese is also not authentic, and I usually order one of those too.
What is your favorite inauthentic dish that has been mangled by cultural transfer?
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