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professorgerm

You shall love your crooked neighbor, with your crooked heart

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joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC 

				
User ID: 1157


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
professorgerm


								
								
									
								
								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
You shall love your crooked neighbor, with your crooked heart

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 1157


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The ending made me roll my eyes so hard I was tempted to regret reading it, but the worldbuilding was too fun for that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Right! I'll give Worth the Candle a shot next.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Will do!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
LOL gotta say not something I expected, but that makes it more fun! I've been enjoying some isekai anime so it would be a good change of pace to read some instead.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yep, definitely a good one! Enjoyable take. Worked better than his Ra, imo, which had a few stumbles (or maybe references that went over my head).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 14, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fiction Recommendation Request! And then a related question.


As I recall internet serials and similar megafiction were pretty popular around here, and I'm looking for new recommendations.


To help triangulate: Not a fan of Worm, Twig had really interesting worldbuilding but stumbled hard towards the end for me with the increasingly unreliable narrator arc. I've enjoyed The Wandering Inn, really like the fantasy elements and the interweaving of various mythologies, but probably won't keep going with it once the current arc finally wraps up. Mother of Learning was enjoyable but not truly catching in the same way. Millennial Mage is pleasantly 'cozy' but not the best prose. Just started This Used To Be About Dungeons.


For more traditional or classic fiction, I will always love the works of Ray Bradbury, John Bellairs, and Diane Duane. If there's anybody new with a voice like Bradbury's, let me know!


Now, the question- in TWI, Practical Guide to Evil, and Millennial Mage, gnomes come up. Not really as characters except in limited circumstances, but they're described as outrageously powerful and skilled as technologists. I don't recall that being any past myth regarding gnomes, so is that a D&D thing or derived from elsewhere?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If we get the pro wrestling scene involved, Trump might endorse it.




Sell tickets! Auction off spots to fight! We'll balance that budget by the end of the year. It's about time Zuck v. Musk happened.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd go for any examples that aren't from hard sciences.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


then a few months later someone came out with a new AI-devised wonderdrug that can cure all addictions with a single pill.




As long as we're proposing fantasies, let's counter with a similarly-absurd nightmare: all the heroin addicts on their umpteenth narcan turn into 28 Days Later rage zombies, and you could've avoided the apocalypse if you'd just let them die of their previous overdoses instead. Embarrassing!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Do you believe that there’s a legitimate distinction to be made between “gay men” and “men who have sex with men”?




Yes, I find Sin's wording a bit odd regarding the women thing, but I like the are versus do description. There is a legitimate distinction there. Gay men are a particular subset of MSM, and part of defining the subset is the cultural component.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


also, mostly irrelevant




How on earth is this irrelevant given that it was the astronomical promiscuity rate specific to gay men that made them the perfect, ha, breeding ground?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Grandad's Pride, scroll down to "Reviews with pictures" if you're curious. Or here's an article with a description:




Will Taylor described two particular images in the book: ‘We identified two images of men who are partially naked in leather bondage gear. One has a leather cod-piece moulded tightly around his crotch along with garters running down his thighs. He also has a studded dog collar around his neck and knee-high boots. Both have various leather straps around their bodies and studs/spikes.’




I'm pretty live and let live and not exactly put-off by collars and garters, where appropriate. But I'm baffled by the fact anyone thought this book was a good idea, and anyone that green-lit it should be on a watchlist. I wouldn't complain about- what was it, penguins with two dads that was popular for a while? The line between encouraging acceptance and being porn-brained creep is not thin; there's a great big flashing wall between those, and yet here we are.


If you want to say conservatives abused the "groomer" thing, I'll agree. Unfortunately, there's just enough wackadoos that pull this shit and useful idiots that defend it to provide a good supply of ammunition.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


opposition to feminism




Underdefined.




opposition to pornography, support for abstinence-only sex education




Progressives decided to fight on the hill of children's book about leather daddies, but outside of schools he doesn't seem to care. Vance might.




opposition to LGBT rights




He just appointed a married gay Huguenot to the Secretary of the Treasury. Lumping them all together is what generates the confusion, and contributed to the backlash that got Trump reelected.




support for school vouchers, support for homeschooling




Funny how quickly homeschooling went from left-hippy coded to right-coded.




opposition to gambling,




He owned a casino! Politicians are no stranger to hypocrisy but he doesn't seem opposed to gambling. And given the disaster that is sportsbetting, he probably should be.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If you harden your hearts towards the suffering of the least fortunate among you, it will come back to bite you in the rear end.




The trans-Sarahan slave trade was at least as large as the trans-Atlantic, but one observes that there's no class of descendants begging for reparations in the Middle East. In large part because they castrated male slaves to prevent that issue.


Hardening your heart does not tend to bite you, if you harden it enough. Being charitable is good, being hard-hearted is advantageous, it is the mushy middle that bites you. History makes many arguments that moral improvement comes with surprisingly high and enduring costs. Europe is steadily learning that lesson.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Well, it isnt for me.




That's good! A healthier way to approach it. I just can't shake it from the back of my head.


Yeah, it's been a while since I've made the longer comments I tend to make back at the schism, and in a pique I deleted a lot of my first comments here when I went away for a while. I still read here some but don't feel like I fit or have as much to say as I used to.


From what I've read, I think you're much the same here as elsewhere.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair point, edited


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think it is worth testing the standards of outfits that people are relying on for information, if only to make sure the pipeline isn't broken and flawed in some way.




Part of the difference in judgement and the reaction around these parts, or at the blocked and reported subreddit, is how the observer weighs the target.


We all Many of us have extremely low opinions of LoTT's reliability, I'm pretty sure even some "locals" that are mostly sympathetic to her have a low opinion of her, so it's not that interesting to pull one over on her. She's a partisan hack and everyone knew it. Tricking a stooge isn't that fun and tends to backfire (like the infamous "it's okay to be white" and OK sign things from 4chan made the world worse rather than simply revealing how gullible and bigoted a certain kind of progressive is).


Pulling a hoax on the Ivory Tower, that's supposed to be our high-quality repository of knowledge, is different.


Edited in response to fair critique of consensus building language.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I dont even remember that one




I thought the the hoax with the furry school assignment was pretty memorable. It affected my opinion of Trace, and the degree of outraged response that he'd stoop that low was a big component in him leaving the motte. I also think that's part of the reason he's sympathetic to hanania, despite him being an atrocious ghoul- he's one of not many conservatives that didn't snap at Trace for that stunt.


Good point about the difference in self-presentation (I'm still professorgerm back on reddit). I think another component is, to borrow Trace's phrase, that he's a "live player." Interacting before he became a media personality, he's just some guy in a forum and we're on level playing ground- like with SLHA. Now, it's different.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Darwin never had a sense of humor, at least she's got that.


I'll respect our difference of opinion if you don't find it funny, but I chuckled.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If even public health officials don't know, what hope has the average "upstanding citizen"?






Also. A bit after I first read about it online, I mentioned it to my parents--and they dismissed it as a stereotyped myth... BTW they don't know about Rotherham either, same reason, I tried to mention it to them and they just pattern-matched it to "blood libel type things.")




Excellent post, thank you for it. Saw it in the roundup (well-deserved!) and it stood out to me, that once public health officials didn't know, and now it is more common- among many people, public health officials perhaps most importantly- to refuse to know.


Anyways. An observation. Hope to see more of your writing here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If a troll post manages to be interesting enough to lead to a good conversation, I would say it made a contribution, even if unintentionally.




I agree in theory but there's nothing left to be learned from the 500th round of "what is woke? Also, everyone that calls other people woke is evil, an idiot, or both."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I feel like people really undersell how crazy it is that we had an angry mob break into Congress.




2020 dug deep into a well of insanity that we still haven't climbed out of in many ways.




For national respect and social cohesion that’s so much worse than burning down a police station.




I get a certain argument about the symbolism of DC and institutions, but I still believe the passé attitude so many liberal-progressives had about widespread street violence displayed much more disregard for social cohesion. It was a rejection of social cohesion on the national "territory," not the national "map," so to speak.


Say what you will about national socialism J6ers, at least it's an ethos they took their aggrievement where they thought it belonged, not against random businesses or apartment buildings or freight trains that happened to be nearby.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think your comment is whataboutism, but I've never been convinced that whataboutism is a bad form of argument. Why shouldn't one side complain about being held to a different moral standard than the other?




Succinct, good point, quality contribution sentences.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Letting Enrique Tarrio out of a 22 year sentence is reprehensible imo. Kinda increases the incentives for doing political crimes now.




Getting 10 years for burning a man to death was far worse.