site banner
Hour Week Month Year All
Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Advanced search parameters (with examples): "author:quadnarca", "domain:reddit.com", "over18:true"

Showing 25 of 314 results for

domain:betonit.substack.com

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

However, just because the outcome is inevitable doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed.

If it's inevitable, doesn't that mean, definitionally, that it can't be changed? At least, not without replacing the entire system itself.

That's why I would hope that undervoting across the board might help communicate that we need to come back to basics

What makes you think it's a matter of "communicating"? That doesn't really change the fundamental incentives, nor does it address irreconcilable differences in fundamental values, or deeply incompatible group interests.

Then perhaps democracy as a system of government should be retooled or abandoned.

In which case (particularly the latter, which is my position), voting a blank ballot — which, as you note, affirms belief that the current democratic processes are important — is not the right response.

(Indeed, it remains a bit of a question, how one best expresses in a democratic election opposition to democracy and elections.)

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I find it interesting to compare the Sandy Hook judgments and settlements to those of Columbine High School. The police department in that case was sued for refusing to allow paramedics to treat a student until hours after the two shooters were dead, ultimately settling for $1.5 million. Thirty-some families of the victims split $2.5 million from the shooters’ families, another family received $366,000, and five other families received an undisclosed amount. In all, almost certainly less than $6 million changed hands as a result of the shooting, all from people who were arguably at least indirectly responsible for the deaths themselves.

In contrast, the Sandy Hook victims’ families received $73 million from Remington for their gun manufacturing and advertising, $450,000 from a college professor for defamation, and now $1 billion from Alex Jones, also for defamation. That’s quite an incredible shift.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

Btw, why did you even suggest we discuss "more practical solutions" if you were just planning on readily admitting right after that you don't really have any (other than substance-free "Let's just all try to get along!"-ism (which I both don't think has ever worked in human history and is almost always, at least as far I've seen, simply an excuse for one side to try to more covertly suppress the other without their opposition, as I think it still is in your formulation))?

I have practical solutions, but they are long term, a lot of work, incremental, and unsatisfying to people who just want to flip the table. I'm mostly a moderate normie who'd rather work within the system, and probably one of the people you want to put up against the wall, so this is me extending charity, grace, and compassion.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

Because there's a market for left-wing stories and there's a market for right wing stories and these are clear and distinct markets.

If you're asking why left wing outlets don't run stories about Epstein stuff, well, they do.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I'm not convinced he was doing anything shady

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

Are you talking about Hamas? How do you imagine this equivalence works, since we can't sue Hamas?

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

In my experience, the truly difficult task is convincing 22-year-old women that it’s a bad idea to put off marriage and kids until their 30s.

Well, yeah, because up until then everyone they trust has been trying to convince them that it's a GOOD idea to do so.

Splitting "defensive alliance" into "chaining alliance" and "isolating alliance"

I meant a non-nuclear ICBM. Or any other sort of explosive strike that kills hundreds that's very difficult to defend against.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

In my experience, the truly difficult task is convincing 22-year-old women that it’s a bad idea to put off marriage and kids until their 30s. They don’t need to be convinced that relationships are good and fun; they know that already. What they need to realize is that A) dating is much tougher after 30, and B) women’s fertility drops off significantly after that point. I’ve had this conversation with several young ladies, and all I’ve ever gotten in response is disagreement. Ah, well, maybe they’ll be singing a different tune in ten years.

ETA: Thinking about it, in 10–15 years, they might start sounding like the ladies in the NYT comments section.

Wellness Wednesday for June 12, 2024

I don't know how helpful what I'm about to write will be, but I do write it in an attempt to be helpful and I'm not trying to be an ass.

Stop thinking about it. I know, that is really shitty advice, but let me expand on it.

When I was growing up in the 80s the prospect that we would all be annihilated by a nuclear strike was very real. It was spoken of by newscasters, it was the main plot line of many t TV shows and films , it was the subtext in many others.

And do you know how my generation dealt with that? We just didn't think about it. At all. We did not hold that fear in out minds, regardless of perhaps how much the popular media wanted us to do so. "In Europe and America there's a growing feeling of hysteeeria." sang Sting, But all we talked about was the way he pronounced hysteria.

There was a large white structure in the middle of nowhere out in the bumfuck area of the county north of mine, like way out in the Styx. I found it because I had a convertible and used to go on inordinately long drives. My friend and I convinced ourselves this was a missile silo, making us both inhabitants of a town at the center of liftoff and probably a target of a blast. And then we got a pizza and ate it in an unused parking lot.

I don't think we truly believed it was a silo. Or maybe we did. I know we didn't care that much. It didn't matter. If it was, it was, and if the bombs fell, they would fall. But it's always been like that. At least we weren't living through the 30s and 40s. I mean it could have been far, far worse.

What I'm saying is that I am not saying the issues you reasonably bring up are not reasonable. I won't try to argue you out of believing them. I will suggest that diverting yourself into the people and world around you (not in this Mottespace, but around you in what I still call the real world) may be helpful.

As usual my train has arrived and I have to book it to get to my next one. Sorry. If this is helpful, great. If not, I hope you work through this ennui, this, well, pondering.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

Plenty of guys nowadays that you can describe with the same adjectives nowadays are still losers, at least romantically/sexually speaking. In any case I doubt having truly fringe political beliefs has ever helped your romantic chances with women much on average, with the exception of a few guys with enough charisma to act as charming rebel types. (Obviously young Stalin slayed. Just look at him.)

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

Do the politicians who won actually care about low turnout? The losing candidates and liberal media in my neck of the woods always complain about low voter turnout after every election, but I’ve never gotten the impression that the winners mind in the slightest.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

Hmmmmm, what about a situation where a literal designated terrorist organization posted lists of people to harass, and the followers of that designated terrorist organization repeatedly committed criminal violence against those people?

But somehow I'm not seeing them being fined eleventy billion dollars, because they're just terrorists rather than political opponents of the regime.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I scored in the top fraction of 1% on the SATs, so I don't think I've ever met a woman who "scored a noticeable margin better" than me, but I have dated several women I consider my intellectual equals...

@ArjinFerman

What I was getting at is more this, that for the average Mottizen there barely exists a dating pool of women smarter than him. Seriously, I feel like I'm about average in horsepower around here, and I've only met maybe a dozen women who obviously verbally intellectually outclassed me. So we're not ever likely to experience that kind of dynamic.

But there exist plenty of women who are substantially smarter than most men, and I've rarely seen that kind of relationship work well. My law school was located very close to another, less prestigious school. The boys who dated "down the hill" were mostly pretty happy with the results. The girls who dated townie guys mostly had these awful dysfunctions around it, where he didn't like to be made to feel inferior, and so would make fun of her for being an egghead and belittle her, and it would go downhill from there. The standard heterosexual dynamic is for the man to be in charge, that falls apart immediately if she is obviously much smarter. Women rarely find being smarter than their man sexy, men perceive this and lash out belittling her achievements, so on and so forth.

That said, I'll repeat that for the people saying this, it is generally cope. I'd expect the average woman to claim to be on the shelf because of her intelligence to lack above average intelligence, in the same way that I expect the average teenager who whines that his classmates don't understand him because he's smarter than they are to actually not be all that extraordinary. Non-measurable things used as self-justification are generally cope. I'm not that interested unless you have receipts for it.

Friday Fun Thread for June 7, 2024

"I was 30 at the time" would put it right back in scope, but my reputation's probably already bad enough

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

If hordes of Maddow's followers started physically harassing Trump and she seemed to be egging it on (or at least conspicuously silent about it), he might have a case.

Isn't Trump the victim of a nearly decade long harassment campaign that was initially started (in part) by very spurious claims and outright lies, which has now cost him millions of dollars and resulted in outright harassment from his political enemies via the legal system?

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I said "no male friend or relative has ever told me (or acted like) they prefer dumb women," i.e. neither their stated nor revealed preferences seem to indicate an aversion to smart women. In my experience there's no trend of men seeking out dumber women.

what you're really dealing with are blowhards that are socialized around other blowhard men

I don't see what this has to do with intelligence. I know smart men who I'd call "blowhards" and I know dumb men who I'd call "blowhards." And I've never observed a trend of such men preferring dumber women.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

The way our system works in practice is that our votes are only for causes.

Correct, and I feel that votes should be for the right candidate, instead.

Your view hinges on the idea that a blank ballot is more meaningful than a 0.0000001% influence on the country. But it’s not. No one will care about your blank ballot.

That's fine, that doesn't bother me.

It’s healthy to be disillusioned and not give a shit about the election, and that’s why it’s only every so often that you have to vote.

I would give a shit about the election if the major parties weren't so polarized and concerned with circlejerking and if minor party and unaffiliated voters had equal representation on the ballot. Thus, I disagree with your last sentence and instead suggest that you shouldn't vote for anyone.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I doubt your average communist in Russia in 1900 was much of anything other than a loser, same with your average German far rightist in 1920.

I mean the average Russian communist in 1900 was likely some kind of urban intellectual or other educated or semi-educated young man with big plans. The average German far rightist in 1920 was in the Freikorps if he was a younger fellow maybe, but they spanned a wide range of social classes and status categories.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I'm not voting to support a cause. I'm voting to find the most qualified candidate.

The way our system works in practice is that our votes are only for causes. Biden isn’t Biden, Biden is the team of qualified agents behind the name who promote a particular agenda. The same with Trump (perhaps to a lesser degree because he’s not well-trained in politics). They are not writing policies, agendas, calendars or speeches. They don’t even write their own biographies.

Your view hinges on the idea that a blank ballot is more meaningful than a 0.0000001% influence on the country. But it’s not. No one will care about your blank ballot. It’s healthy to be disillusioned and not give a shit about the election, and that’s why it’s only every so often that you have to vote. It’s worth it given the minuscule amount of time invested. You concede that there is a lesser of two evils and that’s what life is about, you should always pick the lesser of two weevils.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

So let me try to clarify: I do think most of the incels complaining about how society has done them wrong and just wait and see, they're going to rise up, are weak and ineffectual men who aren't going to do shit, and this does correlate with them being sexually undesirable.

Yes, I agree with this mostly. I just think that this also probably applied to most the early supporters of most movements that were eventually successful. I doubt your average communist in Russia in 1900 was much of anything other than a loser, same with your average German far rightist in 1920. Now does this guarantee the revenge of the nerds? No, because there have also been plenty of losers who were supporters of fringe ideologies who have gone nowhere. But it does mean that them going nowhere is hardly guaranteed.

Does that mean I think it's "mostly impossible" that lonely, unhappy men in general might cause social change and even unrest? No, but I do not see that taking the form of your LARPs.

What's the difference between my "LARPs" and the actual forms in which they might cause such unrest in your view?

To answer your question literally, yes, I agree that the probability "is by no means guaranteed to be zero." Is that really what you're asking? Because almost no prediction has a probability "guaranteed to be zero."

Well fair, but what I was getting at is whereas I would put it as probably no less likely than 1 out of 1000, it seems like you would put it at more like 1 out of 10 million. And again, just based on how many people it affects, I simply don't see the justification for such a low valuation.

This is not 1928 Germany. Or if it is, not on the sexual front.

I mean yes, you're correct. On the sexual front, it's far worse.

I don't scoff at traditionalism so much as compelled traditionalism, which is what guys like you usually turn out to be after.

In the aggregate and long-run, there is no traditionalism other than compelled traditionalism, same as there are no pigs who don't wallow in mud who haven't been forced not to. As individuals, humans are weak, lustful, and impulse-driven animals. Only a strong social structure can free them from their base desires.

So short of that, I think all the various culture wars we discuss here regularly are pretty bad for society and contributing to widespread unhappiness.

They contribute to widespread unhappiness worse than at least 20-25% of the population (at least) being denied one of the most basic human psychological needs and all of the knock-on effects that result (along with all of the other maladies of abandoning traditionalism, like the proliferations of addiction, pornography, and obesity)? Somehow I doubt that.

In general, however, as individuals we could do a much better of job of extending charity, grace, and compassion, rather than darkly rubbing our hands together as we await the Day of the Knife.

Nah. I genuinely psychologically value savoring even a .1% chance of a grand Day of the Rope over the mutual extending of charity, grace, and compassion with those who I feel are evil and deserve punishment. My enemies are my enemies. I want their misery, not their charity. Anything else is simply a tactic or unfortunate but necessary compromise.

Btw, why did you even suggest we discuss "more practical solutions" if you were just planning on readily admitting right after that you don't really have any (other than substance-free "Let's just all try to get along!"-ism (which I both don't think has ever worked in human history and is almost always, at least as far I've seen, simply an excuse for one side to try to more covertly suppress the other without their opposition, as I think it still is in your formulation))?

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

The population did not grow by a factor of 100.

Also, the pipeline of qualified candidates to maintain civilization does not grow as fast as unchecked 3rd world immigration, even if the bureaucracy could grow at that pace. 3rd world behavior fills the gaps.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

I don’t think it’s really coping about being ‘ugly’, looks aren’t negatively correlated with intelligence (and are likely somewhat positively correlated with it given obesity and class etc). 2 is more true. I’ve heard beautiful women complain about men not liking them because they’re “smart”, and some even were very smart! It’s more of a cope around personality, especially because many type A people have great difficulty realizing they have a repulsive or standoffish personality. A relatively attractive young(ish) woman has no issues getting male attention, so if she gets dumped it can either be because of ill treatment (of her) or her own personality, and the latter is much harder to stomach.

Men have their own equivalents. “Women just don’t like [immutable feature about me]” is an easier cope than admitting you’re boring or have a bad personality.

Wellness Wednesday for June 12, 2024

Couple of minor responses:

social media has a lot of upsides and there could always be a counter cultural push back against the all encompassing sides of it.

Inequality growing is a contested issue and I don't know how strongly to feel about it. I live in a low CoL city in Canada and I have lots of friends with highschool or less who own homes and have families. I think the extremes make it to our attentions. That said, housing prices are controversially a big problem right now but it can be solved, and there's lots of mainstream attention pushing that direction.

AI may not devalue certain kinds of labour in the short/medium term. And there's always a chance of it ushering in so much productivity that material needs are much more abundant and cheap. It's cheaper and easier than ever to purchase low-risk index funds and at least get a piece of the productivity pie.

Online dating sucks but again, you only really hear the horror stories. I used it for the first time after a divorce and met a long term partner within 2 weeks. I did not optimize for the system, I was 100% honest and straightforward in my profile and got a minor number of matches but they seemed to be higher quality for me.

Politicians have always done this. It's easier to find out what's going on and discuss it meaningfully than it used to be. I'm cynical about this one though so I say focus on local politics and things you can actually affect.

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

My brother is half-owner of a small business. Most of his workers are temporary contracts rather than full time. But he regularly employees a few dozen of these contract workers at a time. So I guess I've seen it up close and its lost all the magic to me. My brother is good at details and finance, he isn't great at the "being a boss" thing so he sticks to contractors when he can.

Most industries like to think they work hard. I think some of them are objectively wrong when they think this. Media seems like one of the objectively wrong ones. You need certain knacks to succeed and get by in media, and that limits the playing field. Its a bit like basketball. Since extreme height is such a glaring requirement, there is more differentiation on other traits. Like if anyone could be made into a 7ft giant, would the current crop of NBA players remain? I doubt it. Almost all of them would be out-competed by harder working more conscientious guys. MJ is like a god to the NBA, but he wasn't anything impressive at baseball where height is not as strict of a requirement.

I listed a few reasons above why I think Alex Jones would be a good businessman for that size company. I fully believe you when he say he runs a tight ship and a successful business. I just also fully believe that such skills do not prevent you at all from making dumb legal mistakes, dumb mistakes about who to marry, or dumb lifestyle choice. Most of the guys I've seen that have tanked their businesses did so for one of those reasons, not because they messed up on the business side. My brother made a dumb mistake about who to marry, and when they get around to having a divorce she will destroy his business.