CuriousCat Archive Page 135 of 202

  2. Portrait of A Lady on Fire or The Handmaiden?

    Yes.

  4. If a chair was made but never sat on, would it still count as a chair

    if it's put on a stage, then it's a chair pretending to be a chair

  5. Have you ever written fanfic

    I'm trying to.

  6. So, I guess the anti-SJ left now also feels the right to determine if an artist can take their own videos down?

    what?

  7. Do you really believe Hayek was a conservative?
    You listed him as a conservative on your video on the topic, when he is completely opposed to the moviment, and literally has an essay, on why he has no common ground with conservatives of any ideal. He has called in several ocassions, the belief in natural hierarquies of conservatives as evil. He also heavily criticised anyone wanting to guarante privileges, based on nationality, gender or race, using the coercion by the state. This is basically the entire conservative agenda, that he is in direct opposition with, because he believes in the rule of law, and that there is no way the state can descriminate among any individual.

    *sigh*

    I didn't say he was conservative, I said he was formative to conservative thought. Ayn Rand was pro-choice and hated Reagan, that doesn't stop conservatives from putting her thoughts to their own ends.

  8. What's your take on the (predominantly) right-wing stance of "societal problems only exist because people keep talking about them"?

    "you smelt it you dealt it" as political ideology

  9. Why should someone's opinion on policymaking be taken seriously if they don't read primary documents and peer-reviewed journals and actively try to find the best possible counterarguments to their claims? "A friend of mine once said: You know what the problem is with being an economist? Everyone has an opinion about the economy. Nobody goes up to a geologist and says, 'Igneous rocks are fucking bullshit.' "

    I mean, the premise of democracy is that everyone is impacted by policy so everyone gets a say in it? You are expected to vote on things even if you haven't researched them thoroughly. Even if you don't understand it, the economy affects you. Most people lives aren't fundamentally shaped by igneous rocks.

  10. There appear to be a lot of people in your inbox who have forgotten the slogan of the 2020 Sanders campaign.

  11. Why is it the case that the left seems to have almost universally accepted that boycotts of products to protest the immoral actions of a corporation don't work and therefore are pointless to try ("there is no ethical consumption under capitalism," etc) but they haven't applied this logic to voting and political candidates?

    If I were to hazard a guess:

    Capitalism is something you can't walk away from. You have no choice but to consume. So "no ethical consumption" can be understood by deontologists and consequentialists alike. But you *can* walk away from voting.

  12. Hi I SWEAR these are your friend's naked pictures leaked here, check it out - w­w­w­.­­h­o­t­n­i­­g­h­t­­.­f­u­n

    sweetie, if I wanna see my friends naked, I can see my friends naked

  13. Is there anything you regret researching?

    no, knowledge is always power

    horrible, horrible power

  15. Do you think that perhaps the only way a Youtuber's Strike could work would be if it was coordinated with a hypothetical strike being organized by all Google employees?

    I think that would make it stronger, but I don't think it's a necessary condition. I actually have some thoughts about how to make a YouTube strike fund, should really run it by some people and see if it has legs...

  16. What would you think if, in the far off future, the Alt-Right Playbook was displayed in a museum?

    that would be a weird venue for them

  17. Could one person ever know what "the ideal form of government" is?

    Seems like there's too many variables to ever be able to say.

    in response to I think surity in a specific ideological visision of the future, and of future peoples, is why tankies, liberals, AND the alt-right keep dumping on me when I talk about leftism. So hearing someone I like to watch admit "yeah this current system sucks but maybe also I need to read more before I can set my course to anything else" is refreshing and Good Content, which I needed right now.

    I'm gonna blow you mind when I point out that this is true of *all* knowledge.

    But, yes, with a system that hasn't been properly tried, you can't ever know what is best in practice. But, as with anything, you can make educated predictions. You won't know whether you're right til you put them into practice, but you'll at least know what you're working towards. And you don't need to know whether a system *works* to judge whether it's *moral*. My problem with capitalism isn't just that it's unsustainable, it's that, even if it weren't, it would be unethical.

  18. I think surity in a specific ideological visision of the future, and of future peoples, is why tankies, liberals, AND the alt-right keep dumping on me when I talk about leftism. So hearing someone I like to watch admit "yeah this current system sucks but maybe also I need to read more before I can set my course to anything else" is refreshing and Good Content, which I needed right now.

    in response to In your latest video, you ended by talking about social revolution. Do you have any particular philosophy (eg Anarchism, Communism, etc) that you would like implemented?

    I set the task for myself of trying to understand the mentality of the American Far Right and that's taken me three years and counting. I take this stuff seriously, and don't know how people a decade younger than me have already made up their minds about something as complex as "what is the ideal form of government?" If I'm gonna advocate something as drastic as reshaping our entire society, I need to do my dang homework.

  20. Your most recent video has illuminated things that I've felt but never could articulate about conversations with my father so thanks

    <3

  21. My high-school English classes made me so delusional about writing because of how catastrophically boring they were. I never thought I would EVER write analytical media essays FOR FUN as an adult. But lo and behold, after watching your videos for the past 5 years, this is now a new hobby of mine. And it feels wonderful.

    Thank you. Writing is a miracle again.

    I never thought history could be interesting because it's always the worst class in school! I swear, our public education system ruins us, and we have to spend our twenties teaching ourselves how to enjoy learning again.

  22. Strongest opinion you have on Stone

    The 2010 film starring Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, and Robert de Niro? A career high for Jovovich, it was nice to see de Niro giving a shit for the first time in like a decade at that point, and, as far as Norton doing his Norton, thing it's not near the top but not near the bottom. Overall noteworthy, though not as memorable as it's trying to be.

  24. Could this stretching of the Overton Window be seen as a short-term victory while we work to move the center further left in the long run?

    in response to Do you think the Overton window has been stretched instead of moved?

    The stretching is not only on the Left, is the problem. We have legitimate fascist talking points in common usage on the Right. While socialist and anarchist beliefs are getting more mainstream, we're not gaining ground as quickly as the Right is. The center is still moving away from us.

  25. Hey, Ian!

    I'm really enjoying The Alt-Right Playbook series! Please keep it up. Regarding the most recent video (I Hate Mondays), you make excellent points. However, to me it seems like this is more of a broadly conservative mindset thing rather than a specifically alt-right thing.

    As much as I enjoy the video, I'm wondering why it was included in the Alt-Right series...

    Often, in order to talk about how the Alt-Right gains influence in politics, we have to discuss the conservative mindset that the Alt-Right both grows out of and that it manipulates to its own purposes. The function of I Hate Mondays is to discuss this binaristic, puritanical thinking so common on the Right and then segue into how fascists take advantage of it.

  26. you use the a photo of Waiting for Godot when arguing that most evil "is a chaotic mess born of human fallibility" and that is depressing but also potentially empowering. Is that what Waiting for Godot is about?

    Waiting for Godot is more about the world being an existential misery with no deeper meaning, less so about that being empowering.

  27. In your latest video, you ended by talking about social revolution. Do you have any particular philosophy (eg Anarchism, Communism, etc) that you would like implemented?

    My general attitude has been "I believe capitalism must be replaced, I'm not sure what to replace it with." There is a *lot* of theory I'd want to dive into before picking an -ism, though, so far, I'd say I'm a democratic socialist if I'm anything.

  28. I think if anything it'll make him more likely to win because the people who are most likely to vote against him are also the people who are most likely to die

    in response to Is there evidence that 45's abysmal handling of the pandemic will make him less likely to win the election?

    dunno about that, blue counties are doing the most to protect citizens while red counties are where people think it's a hoax, and the average Republican is older than the average Democrat and the elderly are more at risk

    not that I'd like this to get solved with preventable deaths, more that there's a chance Trump's base will turn on him when they start to suffer unduly

    though I'm having trouble predicting anything good at the moment

  30. Do you think the Overton window has been stretched instead of moved?

    that's a good way of phrasing it, yeah. but, weirdly, the center is moving right even as one edge moves left

  31. Do you have much advice for how to deal with the despair regarding Bernie dropping out?

    I know I'm struggling to do much except ignore it and watch some wholesome show, which doesn't seem like the healthiest option.

    it just happened yesterday, if it's really getting to you than self-care right now is an excellent option. none of us are giving up the fight, but we can give ourselves some space to feel like shit and console each other.

    also, there's a freaking pandemic going on, so it's going to hit even harder than it would normally.

  32. My ADHD is wrecking my short term memory atm so sorry if I have already asked this.

    Thoughts on Breaking Bad?

    good

  33. Is there evidence that 45's abysmal handling of the pandemic will make him less likely to win the election?

    Too early to call. In a crisis, people reflexively put their trust in the authorities, and his poll numbers actually shot up at the beginning. They've been going back down but I don't know where they'll settle.

  34. Are you going to tell women who've been the victims of sexual assault that they should vote for a rapist?

    I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to this. Both candidates are rapists. There is going to be a rapist in the White House no matter what we do. Abstaining from the vote won't change that. It's fucking horrible. I'm feeling more despair today than I've felt since 2016. But what little agency I have can be put towards not letting the guy who stole two Supreme Court seats overturn Roe v Wade, so that, at the very least, rape victims won't have to carry their rapists' babies to term.

    It's a phenomenally fucked up decision to have to make. But I have the ability to do *something*, and I can't defend not doing it because I don't want to get my hands dirty. All our hands are dirty; there's no escaping that at this point.

  35. How are leftists supposed to build any political power until we make it clear we won't vote for right wing Democrats? They can ignore us because we always fall in line.

    They can also ignore you because you don't vote, meaning they don't have to appeal to your demographic.

    And when you cost them an election, all they do is scold you and move further to the center because they think they'll have better luck pleasing swing voters.

    Abstaining from the vote communicates little and demands nothing. It is legitimately less effective than making a change.org petition, and those don't accomplish shit.

  36. To be brutally frank, leftists who scorn social justice were never really leftists to begin with.

    in response to Is the anti-"identity politics" shitty left growing, or just getting louder? Because starting with the coffeespoonie thing, I've been feeling like the pitch keeps rising, and honestly pretty depressed. I will admit that a lot is from one particular figure especially who keeps pulling variations on this shit, but he really doesn't seem to lack support, and every time I see that brand of self-righteous anger on the ostensible left, often directed at vulnerable groups, that wouldn't be out of place on the far right, I start feeling like maybe horseshoe theory isn't as inaccurate as I would like. And I hate it.

    I dunno, that's kinda like saying activists who aren't socialists aren't really activists. There's some value in that argument, but it's maybe more useful to just say it's a quality problem, not a category error.

  37. Is it just me, or does every time we have to vote for harm reduction, the harm being reduced gets smaller and smaller?

    not sure that's a straight line - Hillary was more progressive than Kerry or Gore, I feel - but that does seem to be the trajectory

    voting for harm reduction is necessary but it's a stopgap; we have to keep working for real change between elections

  38. How likely is it for Bernie-or-Busters to cause problems in the general vs the amount of media coverage saying its a problem

    I don't believe BoB folks are large enough in number to actually affect the election. There are going to be a far more significant number of boring-ass Democrats who are going to stay home because Biden doesn't inspire them, and if he loses it's going to be because of that far more than because of Bernie stans.

  40. Hey! Loved the most recent alt-right playbook video and there's something I usually don't see addressed fully: in the case of lesser-evil voting, why isn't withholding a vote (implicitly voting against establishment institutions) considered a viable, pragmatic option? Choosing not to vote, for example, could meaningfully signal that the lesser-evil should not exist and could move towards its revolution. Or do you think it's still wrapped up in a mostly moral/integrity-based thinking?
    Thanks so much!

    2/3 of the country doesn't vote every election. Do you see politicians getting any "message" from that?

    If you wanna organize some collective effort, get people to sign on in swing states in enough numbers that they could actually determine who wins, and have them all pledge to abstain or vote third party unless their particular demands are met, you can influence policy. It strikes me as risky, but at least worth trying. But staying home with no larger messaging just signals to the Dems that they don't need to cater to you, which is probably a relief for them.

  41. Welp, that wraps it up for Sanders. To clarify, I will vote Biden in the general election and will encourage everyone around me to do so. However after the general election what should leftists do?

    I dunno, cry?

  44. hey, I know you always like to see when people think to include you on these lefttube alignment charts so here https://twitter.com/GutianGang/status/1247708162075103235

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  45. I just don't understand how you can refer to yourself as a leftist and resent social justice, or view disability and sexuality as somehow "bourgeois excess". I mean, you'd know better than me, does the right-left thing originally only refer to economic policy, not social issues?

    in response to Is the anti-"identity politics" shitty left growing, or just getting louder? Because starting with the coffeespoonie thing, I've been feeling like the pitch keeps rising, and honestly pretty depressed. I will admit that a lot is from one particular figure especially who keeps pulling variations on this shit, but he really doesn't seem to lack support, and every time I see that brand of self-righteous anger on the ostensible left, often directed at vulnerable groups, that wouldn't be out of place on the far right, I start feeling like maybe horseshoe theory isn't as inaccurate as I would like. And I hate it.

    I mean, I don't know how feminists can throw trans people under the bus, or how suffragettes could through Black women under the bus, or how race activists can be homophobes. But fighting oppression on one axis and enforcing it along others is a time-honored tradition.

  46. What made the YouTube comments so generally reactionary?

    I've said before: any community that lacks effective moderation will, on a long enough timeline, approximate 4chan.

  47. Is the anti-"identity politics" shitty left growing, or just getting louder? Because starting with the coffeespoonie thing, I've been feeling like the pitch keeps rising, and honestly pretty depressed.

    I will admit that a lot is from one particular figure especially who keeps pulling variations on this shit, but he really doesn't seem to lack support, and every time I see that brand of self-righteous anger on the ostensible left, often directed at vulnerable groups, that wouldn't be out of place on the far right, I start feeling like maybe horseshoe theory isn't as inaccurate as I would like. And I hate it.

    I don't know if it's growing bigger, but I think there's been a passive alliance between leftists who resent social justice and leftists who embrace it, and those groups are starting to come into conflict with each other more and more, and lines are starting to get drawn in the sand. And people who kept mum to keep the peace are starting to make their positions explicit.

  49. I’ve seen it in other leftist spaces. I suppose I’ve been lucky enough to not run in anti gun control on the left. At least not in the context of US politics where I wake up every day to another mass shooting. Seems like guns are more likely to get school children killed than dismantle capitalism here. But I’ll admit that I find work by anti racism/feminist thought over class to be more useful to me personally despite being impoverished with no health care. To me, giving white men access to easy killing machines means more opportunities to get me and mine killed and brutalized not a potential tool for liberation.

    in response to Did not expect people to take so much issue with your basic points on gun control. O.o guess you’re liberal now

    It annoys me because it buys into the Republican canard of equating "gun control" with "taking all the guns away." There are a lot of ways to make it harder for people to commit mass shootings without making guns inaccessible, primarily by making it harder for black market dealers to get their hands on them.

  50. Is a work of art an extension of the artist? Like, I know it's more of a continuum than a yes or no deal. But all works of art are, at least in part, an extension of the person that created them, right?

    a work of art is an extension of the artist

    the meaning of a work of art is a meeting of the viewer and their assumptions about the artist

  52. Are there any depictions of explicitly good cowardice in media?

    Falstaff is famously a coward, isn't he?

  54. I feel like your argument against not voting "lesser of two evils" is based more on seeing your younger self's views as cringy (as many people often do) rather than trying to understand why other people feel that way today.

    Hi. You don't know me. I have made a series of fairly complex arguments as to why I believe what I believe. I have heard dozens of arguments to the contrary, considered them, and found them unconvincing. Believe me, I would like to be convinced that staying home on election day is moral, because I don't for a moment want to vote for Joe Biden. But if you want to take a tidbit you've gleaned about my past, extrapolate a character flaw in me, and use it to discount my arguments rather than engage with them, feel free.

  55. w/r/t the ethics of voting 3rd party or not voting - What about people in states that swing heavily conservative (I'm talking like =>20% voting margins)? At that point, aren't you just swapping one version of accomplishing nothing with your vote for another that makes you feel marginally better? (This doesn't apply down ballot, just for the presidential election).

    I mean, yes, the whole argument takes for granted that your vote matters. I grew up in California, so when I voted for Nader it didn't really affect Gore. I think it's Chomsky who says "if you're in a swing state, vote the lesser of two evils; otherwise, do whatever you want." Or something to that effect.

    At that point, voting third party is as meaningless as voting for the candidate you already know is going to win your state. Neither more or less moral.

  56. [question that is actually asking Are You Part Of My Tribe Or An Other To Be Shunned]

    [answer that deconstructs underlying assumptions rather than answering question directly]

  57. Your Alt-Right Playbook videos are so well paced and presented.

    I get chills at the end, and I re-watch them like good movies.

    thanx!

  58. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/terrorist-label-white-supremacy-Russian-Imperial-Movement.html

    Yay!

  59. Why did you refered to Joi as a person in your last video? She is clearly just a computer program to simulate human.

    if you don't understand how computer programs and replicants can be people you have missed the entire point of Blade Runner and arguably cyberpunk as a genre

  60. (Different anon) I knew you were a lefftist, but it felt weird to me because it seemed like you were advocating for revolution when you were really ambivalent about it on here.

    in response to Why did you sneak communism into the end of I Hate Mondays?

    I think "revolution" is a pretty broad term that can take many forms, and I'm not sure what form it should take. I like the idea of revolution through general strikes, though I don't know how plausible or effective they are. but I am increasingly unconvinced that capitalism can be reformed from within, though I'd love to be proven wrong on that.

    also the fact that the icon I used when I "advocated revolution" was a character from Grim Fandango means you should maybe read it as a little tongue-in-cheek

  61. i'm a white, bi, working class man. irrespective of whether it's right or wrong, would it be in my interest to vote for trump?

    on the axis of whiteness, somewhat; and, if you pass as straight, somewhat on that axis of orientation. but, overall, no, I think anyone who isn't a white male billionaire loses more voting for Trump than they gain.

  62. If I am responsible for my inaction for not voting for a lesser evil, allowing a greater evil to take power, am I also responsible for my actions for voting for a lesser evil, since that lesser evil still causes harm and suffering?

    yep.

    this is what we mean by "there is no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism." existing in an unethical world often means you cannot operate ethically within it. bad things will happen and you will have a hand it them. there is no way to ethically vote when both your candidates are trash. there is no way to ethically be white when society is racist. there is not way to be ethically male when society is sexist. this is the reality of living in a deeply flawed society.

    so what you do is work your ass off trying to to replace these broken systems with something less evil and, in the meantime, try to minimize the harm you cause by simply existing. you vote for the lesser evil until you build a system that doesn't reward evil.

    but you have to do both! choosing harm reduction with no effort at systemic change is also unethical.

  63. Yeah, but I can understand people having issues, past a certain threshold of shittery. Like, Bloomberg having been clearly, openly racist and misogynistic, and Biden has plenty of problems on his own. From a consequentialist POV, it would absolutely still at least marginally better to have him than Trump, but it can still feel morally wrong to do it.

    To be clear, I agree with you, and I'm genuinely not trying to play devil's advocate. Just saying I can understand that mentality.

    in response to I think maybe what sometimes happens is when people feel (not necessarily incorrectly) that someone like Bloomberg - or even Biden, especially with the new allegations of sexual assault - is just as horrible a *person* as Trump or any Republican, based on what they've said and done. Which may well be true, and there's an understandable impulse to not want to help someone like that into office. It just misses the point that they generally wouldn't do the things you mention, even if it's just because it's not in their interest, rather than any moral judgment.

    Of course, I understand it too, it used to be my morality! It's just very frustrating to engage with now from people who have this complex understanding of corrupt systems yet this reductive "don't get your hands dirty" thinking when it comes to operating within that system.

  65. I think maybe what sometimes happens is when people feel (not necessarily incorrectly) that someone like Bloomberg - or even Biden, especially with the new allegations of sexual assault - is just as horrible a *person* as Trump or any Republican, based on what they've said and done. Which may well be true, and there's an understandable impulse to not want to help someone like that into office. It just misses the point that they generally wouldn't do the things you mention, even if it's just because it's not in their interest, rather than any moral judgment.

    in response to In the situation where you feel as though both evils being offered are roughly equal, with the distinctions between the two of them being marginal, what then would you suggest is the most ethical course of action? I'm not suggesting that this is applicable to our current likely two choices (on the fence about that with Biden but I do think that would have certainly been the case had Bloomberg been the nominee), but if there isn't a lesser of two evils but two comparable evils, is not voting a reasonable course of action?

    I think expecting politicians to be good people is a bad idea.

  66. what's the symbolism/intent behind your icon with the tape over your mouth?

    meaning belongs to the viewer! how do you interpret it?

  67. would eating meat be more ethical (even if still ultimately not ethical) if agriculture more accurately recreated the life of an animal in the wild?

    you mean if chickens didn't live their whole lives in cages with their beak tips, toes, and wingtips amputated without anesthesia?

    yeah, less cruelty is better

  68. Have you researched the Quakers and the Shakers at all in the US? They're not perfect but they have on the face of it more left leaning views than many denominations

    in response to Obviously when you're talking about the religious right and how there's no religious left you are referring to Christianity in the United States. But what about examples of religious left in other countries like Catholic Liberation Theology in South America and the deep ties between Jews and Judaism and leftist politics?

    I'm not saying there's no progressive religion in the US, I'm saying there's no bloc of religious voters on the Left that have to be catered to that compares with the political influence of the Religious Right.

  69. when did individualism in the US become so important

    ...since 1776?

  70. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding but there were plenty of Democrats that supported the invasion of Iraq back in 2002... Hillary Clinton, Biden, Kerry, and many more.

    in response to In the situation where you feel as though both evils being offered are roughly equal, with the distinctions between the two of them being marginal, what then would you suggest is the most ethical course of action? I'm not suggesting that this is applicable to our current likely two choices (on the fence about that with Biden but I do think that would have certainly been the case had Bloomberg been the nominee), but if there isn't a lesser of two evils but two comparable evils, is not voting a reasonable course of action?

    Supporting the President's proposal in a time of crisis is not the same as wanting to make that proposal yourself. Invading Iraq was a longtime Republican goal, and one of Bush's speechwriters was told to use 9/11 to justify it. It was not a Democrat goal and I can't think of a Democrat who would've proposed it had they been in the White House at the time.

    This is not to say they aren't still a bunch of warmongers in the pocket of defense contractors, just, you know... less so.

  71. What career(s) did you think you were gonna have when you were a kid? Do you think they're similar to the career you have now?

    I wanted to be a filmmaker, and, before that, a game designer, and, before that, an author. I still kinda think I'm gonna pull off all three to some extent before I kick it.

  73. If we make it to 2030 alive and functioning as a society, how will you celebrate?

    oh, dragging my broken body over the finish line like every other decade

  74. Did not expect people to take so much issue with your basic points on gun control. O.o guess you’re liberal now

    by "people" do you mean a handful of folks on r/breadtube?

  75. So, I have to ask, was releasing a video called "I Hate Mondays" on a Monday intentional or just a coincidence?

    oh, completely intentional, I could've released it as early as the previous Wednesday

Anon commented:
Ian replied: