CuriousCat Archive Page 102 of 202

  1. Another related question: Why are so many conservatives desperate to paint anyone even slightly to the left of Bush as a communist?

    in response to Related question: I've noticed quite a lot of conservatives like to use communism as the big bogeyman, comparing it to fascism, positioning it as against "democracy" and "freedom" How effective would you judge this red scare tactics, especially with the politically uninformed (aka most people)?

    Strategically? Because they hate communism and yelling about it rallies their base. It's also pretty effective at getting centrist Dems to back off a subject for fear of seeming "too extreme."

    Philosophically? To a conservative, there are no "degrees" of communism. ANYTHING that serves to regulate, challenge, or distribute power is communism. If power consolidates in the hands of the already-powerful, that is good. Everything else is communism.

    Given that my whole attitude on economics is "I can't see how you can believe in democracy without rejecting capitalism," in a SENSE they have a point.

  3. What's a question you think most people should be asked?

    "can I have a bite of that?"

  4. You played badminton before? Have you been a fan before and watch several tournaments live on TV? Who's your favorite badminton player of all time?

    I liked badminton in gym class, it made sense to me. no, I've never watched a professional match.

  5. Why can't I be cool, hot, or rich :(

    it's impossible to be cool AND rich

  6. How so?

    in response to What do you think of the term "relationship anarchist"?

    "relationship anarchy" is usually used to mean "nonmonogamy with no rules whatsoever; fuck whoever, love whoever, use whatever protection or lack thereof you feel like, no one's allowed to have a problem with any of it"

    whereas actual anarchism is usually more like "there are many sets of rules and obligations, but they are formed organically between individuals rather than imposed by societal standards, and we reject hierarchies and power imbalances and all kinds"

    so, honestly... traditional polyamory is more akin to relationship anarchy than what "relationship anarchy" usually refers to

  7. Have you ever trolled people on the internet simply because you were bored?

    define "trolled" in this context

    like, I give lots of troll answers here, but mostly in a good-natured "I don't have a real answer but I thought of something funny" way

  8. This shouldn't bug me as much as it does, but technically that quote isn't even accurate. It's "The alt-right is a *veritable* box factory..." (emphasis mine).

    in response to The Alt-Right is a box factory. - Ian Danskin

    whoa that's way better

  9. The Alt-Right is a box factory.

    - Ian Danskin

    damn, that guy's smart

  10. was browsing a torrenting website for audiobooks and I happened to see a chomsky book that said something to the effect of "The consequences of capitalism". I decided to just check the comments and a few of them were like "Gross, a socialist. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Capitalism incentivizes hard work, efficiency and profit." They say this...on a pirating website where they can get things they are otherwise unwilling to pay for for free.

    Is this just lack of self awareness or something else?

    I have loose thoughts for a lecture I would give on college campuses called "The Lived Experience of Capitalism" which points out how the idea of "capitalism" is so abstract that we don't even notice how it bears no relation to our actual lives. I couldn't possibly fit it all here, but, yes, it's kind of a lack of self-awareness, but it's one endemic to American life that you almost certainly exhibit in other contexts yourself.

  11. Who's Steve Jobs?

    in response to What is ligma?

    dick joke

  12. Related question: I've noticed quite a lot of conservatives like to use communism as the big bogeyman, comparing it to fascism, positioning it as against "democracy" and "freedom" How effective would you judge this red scare tactics, especially with the politically uninformed (aka most people)?

    in response to Where does the idea that communism has never been tried come from? How was the USSR not communist?

    Millennials and Zoomers don't actually remember the Cold War, so all we know is Republicans keep saying all these ideas like public healthcare and universal basic income, which would all make our lives better and are actually quite popular, are "socialism." This has done more to make socialism sound rad than any leftist movement has achieved.

  13. I assume when they said "useful" they mean sufficient in terms of the political engagement needed to get the things that the working class needs. Like, will there be a time when you vote to get what you want, not, vote to get who you don't want but think you can oppose more easily than the other choice?

    in response to Is it possible that we will ever create a society where voting is useful?

    I cannot tell you the future, sorry

  14. Do you possibly remember a twitter thread or study which estimated the number of content moderators youtube would need to effectively moderate everything uploaded?

    I seem to remember a twitter thread which ran the numbers but can't find it.

    I remember that thread, but not well enough to dig it up, either

  15. What about adjectives that don't end in '-ian'? It might be a well-established enough joke to mess with the form.

    in response to Why no wacky -ian Twitter handle this month?

    like 2/3 of followers don't get the joke as it is

  16. Been seeing debates about the solution to social media platforms, whether to nationalize or regulate them I feel like either solution is pretty hard to get passed, but what are your thoughts on it?

    I mean, getting either idea passed is hard to do in the current system, and neither idea will do everything we want under the current system, but either would be an improvement. things being the way they are, regulation is more plausible than nationalization, but nationalization within a post-capitalist society is the actual solution.

    but, you know. one thing at a time.

  17. Extremely disappointing coming from someone who advised to make up our own bad words if the common ones are too derogatory

    in response to Why no wacky -ian Twitter handle this month?

    why would I use a bad word as an adjective describing myself?

  18. Do you think we could use "cyberpunk" as a verb? If so, what would it mean to "cyberpunk" someone or something? Or what would you envision when someone says they are "cyberpunking"?

    "cyberpunking" is when Ashton Kutcher fucks with you over Zoom

  19. What's a Game you wish you had more to say about?

    Virginia, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Disco Elysium are all games from the past few years I've adored but don't have much of a *take* on. I considered doing a CO-VID Disco Elysium's Dros, and how strict adherence to a moral code in an immoral world can, in fact, turn you into a monster, but never felt enthusiastic enough about the subject to go through with it. Maybe it'll make it's way into something eventually.

  20. Why no wacky -ian Twitter handle this month?

    I made it a point never to reuse adjectives except Lovecraftian in October and Dickensian in December, I was running out of good ones, and decided it was time to lay the joke to rest. Maybe now that my actual name is in my profile people'll stop calling me Dan.

  22. Do you think ballot box socialism can actually work at creating a leftwing society? If it can't, is it still worth pouring energy into?

    Hell if I know. My day-to-day attitude is that electoralism cannot create a true leftist society, but it help create conditions that put us in better positions to create one, and mitigate harm. I think voting is a necessary but insufficient part of leftist activism.

    But I'd have to look at history to see if I'm wrong about that. Maybe ballot box socialism has worked, or has shown more promise. Maybe it's been demonstrated that voting is largely useless. I'm skeptical of both ideas, but I haven't checked.

  23. How useful/relevant is the Angry Jack series now? Does it cover any ground that you think isn't covered by the Playbook, besides the obvious "spelling out how rightwing politics infiltrates games"?

    I've tried pretty hard not to tread too much of the same ground as Why Are You So Angry? I've referenced it a few times specifically when I want to cover something that is tangentially related, partly because I'm like "I'm not going to go into this because I've done it before, go watch that video if you wanna know more." That series was much more about the psychology of the budding reactionary, where TARP is more about the actual techniques people use to gain power and the worldviews behind them. I think they complement each other.

  24. Are there any topics that you've considered for ARPB but decided you'll absolutely never do? If so, why?

    There are a few topics I might not end up doing, because they feel redundant or not important enough or I cannibalized parts of them in other videos, but nothing I've been, like, "whoa, gotta back off that one."

  25. If we're talking super-long-term here, do you think that an ideal society would be one where everyone (who is able to be) is vegan? Is eating meat inherently immoral since it involves exploiting living things which feel pain?

    in response to Hi! I'm a big fan. Three? questions - 1. How do you feel about leftists who aren't vegan? 2. I hear leftists complain about liberals and I feel like I've never not had to deal with that feeling my entire life (raised vegetarian, went vegan). If your answer to q1 says that you still care about them... I don't even know what I'm trying to ask here. I've rewritten this question like fifteen times. How do you get people to ally against a common opponent even if their beliefs don't align? 3. Got any vegan media you like?

    If I say "yes" people are gonna scream at me.

  26. What is the best question you've ever gotten here?

    heck if I know, I've answer 7 1/2 thousand questions

  27. I've been thinking about it and wanna ask: do you have some take/thought about the perceived epidemic of loneliness?

    [by the way, I sent this same question as if it was related to some random post. Sorry, it was an accident]

    Tell me more about the perception of an epidemic and I'll let you know!

  28. Have you written your thoughts on What Remains of Edith Finch somewhere (that is, if you have played it, which I am sure you have)? If not, would you like to share them here?

    I didn't do a full write-up, but here's the blurb I added to my Adventure Game Masterpost:

    "A curious concoction, taking 100 Years of Solitude’s family curse and magical realism, plopping them the Pacific Northwest, and giving it the Gone Home treatment, wherein you discover a family’s story by exploring their home. But, instead of diary pages, you get vignettes about each relative, going back generations, experimental mechanics and fantastical images telling the story of how each one died. Strange, beautiful, and sad."

    https://innuendostudios.tumblr.com/post/130815436242/adventure-game-masterpost

  29. What is ligma?

    nothing much dog what's up with you

  30. Where does the idea that communism has never been tried come from? How was the USSR not communist?

    Before I try to answer that, can you tell me more about the idea you're referring to? Like, who are you hearing that from, and what are they saying?

  31. Are authoritarians likely to commit large-scale, mob-directed violence like the Capitol Siege without incitement from public leaders in their movement? I mean, there were lots of protests before and around Jan 6 but was it likely that they would've stormed the Capitol if Trump hadn't spoken during one of the rallies? Could another large coup attempt be prevented by preventing Trump from speaking publicly?

    The large majority of authoritarians are followers desperate for someone to tell them it's time to storm the gates. So, in general, yes, if you want to prevent violence, deplatform the leaders who tell them it's time. That said, they are *clamoring* for that person, and, if Trump can't do it, they will appoint someone else, because it's what they need on a deep level. Trump having an unprecedented level of power meant he could reach more of them and his incitement carried the most weight, so they can't replace him with someone as effective. But they'll find someone to follow, and they'll pick someone who tells them to do similar things.

    What I'm saying is: the next one won't be as effective as Trump, but there will be a next one.

  32. How worried should we be that another far-right coup attempt would be made in the next four years?

    worried enough that you take steps to prevent it

  33. I was too young to understand it at the time, even with context—what the hell was occupy actually about? Am I reading it wrong to think that it was an anti-capitalist movement led by college students who camped out on Wall Street?

    in response to Really? It was used a lot in 'torn from the headlines' shows at the time, and was obviously the analogy The Dark Knight Rises was going for. I don't think it'll ever be the focus of a feature, but it seems like an easy way of characterization and it might play as a minor part in a biopic of somebody who isn't yet famous.

    It was more than college students. It began with a sustained protest with people setting up camps in Zuccotti Park in NYC and refusing to leave until the government addressed the massive wealth inequality laid bare by the subprime mortgage scam and the ensuing recession. It was clustered around the idea of "we are the 99%," referring to the fact that 50% of American wealth is held by 1% of the population. Bush's bailouts had saved the banks on the taxpayer's dime, which largely meant the people responsible for the recession got big-ass paydays while the public got comparatively little. Obama's stimulus package helped address the poverty and unemployment, but to nowhere near the extent that the bailouts helped bankers, and he'd campaigned on being an economic reformer and had at least IMPLIED he was going to restructure the banking industry and maybe even prosecute the people responsible. Instead, he put several of them in his cabinet. So we took to the streets.

    The occupation in Zuccotti Park was the beginning, but other Occupy demonstrations sprang up in every major city in America. I attended a number of marches and general assemblies in Dewey Square for Occupy Boston. Being that "wealth inequality" was a fairly broad subject, Occupy became a locus for a LOT of left and left-leaning issues, and, especially when marches started having clashes with the police, one of the major issues that got wrapped up in it was police brutality. Occupy Oakland was central to that, being a city still stinging from the murder of Oscar Grant. Being the first major protest movement of the social media age, where every demonstrator has an HD camera in the pocket, Oakland was where a lot of the world saw for the first time how cops hide their badge numbers, escalate crowds to violence, tell people to disperse *after* they've kettled them with no exit, pepper spray pacifists, and arrest people without charge just to break up the demonstration and face no consequences after the fact. (This was 3 years before Ferguson.) It became clear that any demonstration could be declared unlawful at any time and, though most everyone would be acquitted after the fact, it meant even demonstrations with permits were only valid so long as cops felt like allowing it.

    It was, at the time, the longest sustained protest movement in US history, and became a hub of all kinds of leftist activism that didn't get as much press as the demonstrations.

    Then, all on the same day, cops the country over tore down the camps, and it was later revealed that Obama had helped coordinate the effort. Things continued in a less formalized way for some time after, with Oakland holding out the longest, but, eventually, the movement petered out when it became clear their demands were being ignored.

  35. Can you maybe expand on this? Isn't the function of the police to preserve power and the status quo? Am I off there? And, if not, wouldn't that make sense for police to apply more violence to protesters who challenge power than those who don't?

    in response to How will this affect Dem or left ability to protest in person? Like, the first impeachment coincided with protests in every state, BLM had huge marches in DC, but won’t police presence be even worse now that they’re worried about coups?

    and yet they arrest hundreds of peaceful protestors but take selfies with the people attempting a coup.

    you have to understand that they do not see a bunch of angry white people as a threat to the existing power structure. they ARE the status quo, just an unruly element. they were an insurrection to prevent Biden from becoming President; they were LITERALLY FIGHTING TO KEEP THE STATUS QUO FROM CHANGING.

    so, yes, they apply more violence to protesters who challenge power. and nonviolent Black protesters are a bigger threat to the existing power structure than white people with guns.

  36. Why is every single Republican I talk obsessed with demonstrating hypocrisy whenever anyone points out bad things they do, an example recently being the reaction to "BLM burning cities to the ground" vs an attempted coup? What is the best way to counter this rhetorical technique?

    you can't logic someone out of a position they didn't logic themselves into

  37. If someone wrote in their will that they wished for their remains to be eaten when they died, would it be disrespectful to not eat them?

    once they're dead they don't get a vote anymore

  38. What do you think of the term "relationship anarchist"?

    it usually shows a poor understanding of anarchism

  40. I can’t stop thinking about the bit in your “How to Radicalise a Normie” video where you talk about the life cycle of extremist movements rising into prominence only to get real-world exposure, then humiliation before scurrying back into their hellhole. Do you think the attempted coup could be that moment that shames the lot of them into shutting up?

    one of the themes of How to Radicalize a Normie is that the distributed nature of internet radicalism has blunted the effects of that cycle. most associated will claim these were fringe elements, some movements associated with rebrand, and the politicians directly responsible will make token condemnations (they already are). and the mainstream media will believe all of it because they only recognize radicalism when it looks like it did in the 40s.

  41. Is it possible to be every sexual orientation, romantic identity, and gender, at the same time?

    the Kinsey Singularity has been theorized but is yet to be observed in nature

  42. Do you plan to make a video (even if it's a blend summary) about your researches on militias? I eagerly read your thread when you were LTing it, I think the conflict dynamics (with all the standoffs and stuff) you mentionned were very important (Thanks for all your job btw!)

    Probably not as a subject, no, but I can't imagine it won't come up here and there as I keep talking about politics.

  43. What is your favorite type of dog? I am asking more about the personality than breed.

    obligatory "every dog is the best dog"

  44. Why do united statesians love the to parrot the fake dichotomy of "first and third world" countries?

    nobody loves that dichotomy more than the self-described "first world"

  45. How will this affect Dem or left ability to protest in person? Like, the first impeachment coincided with protests in every state, BLM had huge marches in DC, but won’t police presence be even worse now that they’re worried about coups?

    in response to How much did the attempted coup matter today politically? Why?

    How much violence cops use against Black protestors has little correlation to the threat to power those protestors pose.

  46. How much did the attempted coup matter today politically? Why?

    It matters a heck of a lot, but we'll have to wait and see how. Dems are rapidly drafting articles of impeachment and demanding Pence invoke the 25th Amendment, and apparently several Republicans have said (anonymously, of course) that they support it, and none will say they oppose. So that's big. What we needed in 2016 was for Trump to not just lose but to lose SPECTACULARLY, such that the Republican Party is humiliated by him, has to disavow his audience, and anyone seen to have been too closely associated with him is tainted. That's not what happened, but it might be what happens now. If Trump is the first President ever successfully impeached, the Republicans are gonna have to dramatically restructure their party, and maybe them being in disarray would give the leftmost Dems room to drag the Party left now that they don't have to focus on opposition. Reps have been waffling about Trump's attempt to overturn the election by throwing out votes, and I was genuinely worried that, once they lost the Senate in the Georgia runoffs, they'd stop waffling and start supporting it now that it benefits the rest of them. But, after yesterday, that is much more blatantly a coup, and they're having to distance themselves from him even harder.

    On the flipside: after years of watching how cops treat Black protesters no matter how peaceful, Trump's fascist base just got the message that they cal literally storm the Capitol building and the cops will JUST FUCKING LET THEM IN. Make no mistake, authoritarians will do whatever authority actively or passively allows, and they just learned the authorities will let them try to overthrow the government without consequence. If some kind of hammer doesn't come down, they're going to try this again. American conservatism has been dangling its feet in the waters of overturning democracy, with McConnell's destruction democratic processes in the Senate to Trump's hundreds of impeachable offenses that they've allowed; hell, the same day a literal insurrection happened outside their door on the false premise that Dems stole the election, over a hundred Republicans refused to confirm Biden. They're unabashedly saying Trump should be removed from office for promoting a treasonous conspiracy theory WHILE VOTING AS THOUGH THE CONSPIRACY IS TRUE.

    So, yeah, this could be the moment the Republican Party tears itself apart or the moment it fully embraces fascism, and it's REALLY gonna depend on how things play out the next few days.

  47. What do you make of Breaking Bad's portrayal of neo-nazis? I feel real weirs about it but I can't quite articulate why

    I like how the car shot them all

  48. Is this true? Do you not drink alcohol at all, or just never to the point of drunkenness? Not judging, just curious.

    in response to What is the question the drunkest part of you wish you were asked?

    Yeah, I don't drink. Never have. I decided to have A Beer a few years ago, and that was interesting, but haven't felt a need to do it again.

  49. Fun.

    WE CAN BURN BRIGHTER THAN THE SUU-UU-UU-UUUNNN

  50. Is it ok to be leftist and emo?

    Sincerely,
    A leftist and emo

    in response to I feel like some people genuinely believe that only pain and despair will lead to any positive social changes, and expressing any kind of hope is counter-revolutionary. And I'm just wondering... why? What is it with this seemingly accepted common wisdom that "happiness = liberalism complacency" and "pessimism = radicalism"?

    if being a leftist emo means thinking nihilistic fatalism is praxis, no

    if being a leftist emo means wearing a lot of black eyeliner to protests, FUCK YEA

  51. Pack the courts?

    well, step one is UNPACKING the courts, but, yeah, that would be a viable short-term strategy

    really we need to fix the process by which court appointments happen so they more accurately reflect the will of the public and cannot be packed by partisans of either side, but the Reps will never do that so we'd have to remove as many Reps from office as possible to make that happen, which... means packing them

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  53. What is the question the drunkest part of you wish you were asked?

    I've never been drunk

  54. Any chance we can get you to look into that Dennis Institute video sooner by forwarding you embarrassing Gravel Institute videos? I mean, if it were just Gravel I wouldn't bother, but my impression is this is a wider trend and your tweet is hitting the nail on the head IMHO.

    Gravel has been steadily improving, but I do wanna lay out a map for how to do things better. Can't rush these things, to. Gotta do them right.

  55. Seems simple to me. If it's not plausible it's imperialist propaganda. If it is plausible that the country isn't "really" communist, and was/is in fact fascist.

    in response to Do you have any advice on weeding through capitalist propaganda about nominally communist countries? I imagine many things that I "know" about countries like Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. are either exaggerated, fabricated, or simply framed in the least charitable way possible. That said, I also want to avoid dismissing any problems with those countries as entirely imperialist propaganda. Any tips on identifying what is and is not propaganda when learning about the history and current affairs of these countries?

    oh shush

  56. Also hitler did win elections

    in response to He learned his lesson from 1923 and managed to play the factions of the reichstag against eachother with Hindenburg and von Papen. The reichstag fire worked pretty well, even if that was goebbels. The night of the long knives and the oath from the army created a loyal paramilitary to support him

    Hitler lost the election and was appointed by the Kaiser to placate his violent supporters.

  57. Considering there's a new TikTok conspiracy theory popular among lefty zoomers that Helen Keller either didn't exist or was some kind of fraud, I xss m gonna say the answer is either no or, if Trump did have this effect, it isn't going to last

    in response to Has the Trump presidency united American conspiracy theorists along political lines? It seems like in the past, some conspiracy theories like anti-vax & 9/11 trutherism were heavily favored by liberals, but now thanks to COVID & QAnon it seems like conspiracy theorists are pretty much right-wing; does this seem like an accurate read on the current situation?

    Comparing "teens assume HK was a hoax because they're kinda ignorant and haven't been taught properly" to "thousands of grown-ass adults think Democrats are pedophile Satanists who drink blood and planned 9/11" is a wee bit of a reach.

  58. Have you ever been in a casino? How do you think casino games compare to video games, beyond the obvious abuse of addiction?

    Yes, and they don't really? Like, there's a lot of bells and whistles that employ similar tactics to loot crates, but, at the end of the day, a slot machine is just sitting there pressing a button and deciding when to cash out.

    My rule was: put money in, and, as soon as you have more than you started with, cash out. No exceptions.

  59. Depicted _positively_ on the silver screen. Occupy and others have had plenty representation, as misguided weak liberal hippies or outright terrorists.

    in response to Like the Vietnam protests, which have been forgotten and no one knows about

    where? they've been alluded to metaphorically, haven't seen actual depictions.

  61. Which fictional language do you know the most words from?

    lapine

  62. Leftists should be talking about nuclear power more, would you please do that

    nuclear power

  63. I feel like some people genuinely believe that only pain and despair will lead to any positive social changes, and expressing any kind of hope is counter-revolutionary. And I'm just wondering... why? What is it with this seemingly accepted common wisdom that "happiness = liberalism complacency" and "pessimism = radicalism"?

    some leftists are emos

  64. Do you have any advice on weeding through capitalist propaganda about nominally communist countries? I imagine many things that I "know" about countries like Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. are either exaggerated, fabricated, or simply framed in the least charitable way possible. That said, I also want to avoid dismissing any problems with those countries as entirely imperialist propaganda. Any tips on identifying what is and is not propaganda when learning about the history and current affairs of these countries?

    I would like to know the answer to this myself. :-/

  66. You sound just like Ian Danskin!

    in response to You sound like a rational egoist.

    I've been told I sound like Jacob Geller

  67. Should we be more vocal about how Game Of Thrones whitewashes rape? It seems to have flown under everyone's radar.

    I recall there being a lot of Discourse about at the time. GoT just isn't relevant anymore.

  68. He learned his lesson from 1923 and managed to play the factions of the reichstag against eachother with Hindenburg and von Papen. The reichstag fire worked pretty well, even if that was goebbels. The night of the long knives and the oath from the army created a loyal paramilitary to support him

    in response to He wasn’t particularly smart or competent, but you could definitely argue he was a bit more politically savvy than trump

    I dunno that he "played factions against each other" so much as he bulldozed his way into politics at a time when German factionalism allowed for it. hell, you could argue Trump is, in some ways, MORE competent; he actually won an election.

    it's weird to think one day people will talk about Trump as though he were politically savvy as opposed to just having some intuition for how to play to people's worst emotions and the culture having deteriorated to the point where that's all it takes.

  70. What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets? A featherless biped? Mysterious as the dark side of the moon?

    grow up, men aren't real

  71. Who where why and how are next video, Gunnabee Buckaroo?

    in response to What's the next video gonna be buckaroo

    there was an extremely stressful election, I contracted an extremely virulent disease during a pandemic, and then it was The Holidays. bear with me, it should come out this month.

  72. If corporations had to make 50% of their board members represent their employees, would that be enough to end capitalism?

    tick that number up to 100%

  73. Do you ever want to have kids? Do you think polyamory could make parenthood easier or more difficult? Will a lot of societal structures have to change to accomodate it if it becomes widespread?

    that is an incredibly personal question

  74. Has the Trump presidency united American conspiracy theorists along political lines? It seems like in the past, some conspiracy theories like anti-vax & 9/11 trutherism were heavily favored by liberals, but now thanks to COVID & QAnon it seems like conspiracy theorists are pretty much right-wing; does this seem like an accurate read on the current situation?

    Seems like, yes, but I haven't researched it, so my view is no better than yours.

  75. I know it’s Biden but DEM TRIFECTA FTW

    best birthday ever

Anon commented:
Ian replied: