CuriousCat Archive Page 136 of 202

  1. why do I keep confusing you with both the errant signal guy and the folding ideas guy

    confuse me with Mike Rugnetta sometimes and that's all the beardy smartmen!

  2. You must be close to done with the alt right playbook by now right?

    I've got 4 or 5 mainline videos left, hoping to get them all out before the election. There'll still be a conclusion, probably an Endnote or two, and some "what we can do to fight the Alt-Right" videos, so I don't see it being truly COMPLETE until 2021. But we're in the wind-down now.

  3. What fashion trend makes you cringe or laugh every time you see it?

    I hate the t-shirt and blazer combo, but I get a HUGE kick out of Alan Wake's reductio ad absurdum version of it.

  4. Thoughts on House of Leaves?

    Was one of my favorite books in my early 20's. I'm not sure it has enough to say to justify its pretense, and it's kinda hokey in places, but there are still some beautiful passages, and I have a high tolerance for pretense anyway. The whole triple-layered narrative - a nonfiction book about a film that doesn't exist by a guy who died writing it and annotated by a guy slowly losing his mind - is just exactly my kind of nonsense. And its commentary on art and obsession, with the seeming message that the thing you obsess over may never make sense and will eventually consume you but you may yet survive it, resonates a lot as I hunker down making each new piece of #content.

    But, also, when people rip into it as "pretentious white guy shit," I'm inclined to agree.

  5. Was that guy HOT? I mean like handsome hot?

    And how often he used that line to pick up ladies?

    in response to Best pick-up Line? 🤧

    I think he only pulled it off once, and, yeah, he was pretty attractive.

  6. 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?

    saying *any* Democrat is in the same league as Trump is, to me, demonstrating how abstract and philosophical all of this has become

    like, I'm sorry, but there is not a *single Democrat* who would've invaded Iraq in 2002; that's over *one million* Iraqis who would still be alive if Gore had been President

    there is not a *single Democrat* who would be willfully denying medical aid to states they didn't like during a pandemic

    there is not a *single Democrat* whom white nationalists would bomb synagogues and temples in the name of

    there is not a *single Democrat* who would impose a Muslim ban

    there is not a *single Democrat* who would participate in a decades-long plan to stuff courts and overturn Roe v Wade

    Biden, Bloomberg, Buttigieg, and much of the rest of the party are utter trash, but their worst characteristics are *the shit they let Republicans get away with*

    acting like there is no difference between the Parties is utter nonsense, and this is coming from someone who *fucking hates* the Democratic Party

  7. What if all of the states that Trump is neglecting/refusing to help all seceded from the United States and banded together to form their own nation (or nations)?

    then we'd have a civil war with the opposing side having the most formidable military in the world

  8. With regards to the talk you gave at Indivisible on (roughly) "how to talk to the alt-right," – how well has that talk aged? Is it still a good guide to use when we (unfortunately) must speak to our alt-right sympathizing friends, or have you since made significant revisions? Do you know of any trusted resources, with well researched strategies, on how to move people's perspectives further left?

    I don't disagree with anything I said in that video, I just have *more* opinions now.

  9. Would you mind elaborating on that? Cause this is pretty much the first time I've ever heard of the guy to be honest.

    in response to I'm a bit curious (heh) why you'd consider the "refusing to vote for the lesser evil" to be a liberal sentiment, since most of the people online I've seen saying that are the hardcore Bernie fans who uses "liberals" as an insult so frequently the word has kinda lost all meaning.

    Ralph Nader ran as a Green Party candidate in the 2000 election, and as an independent in 2004. He was significantly more progressive than Gore and Kerry, a lot of liberals preferred him, and he often said "don't vote for the lesser of two evils" on the campaign trail. Many knew he wouldn't win but hoped to at least get him to 5% of the popular vote, at which point a Party is entitled to some of the funding, political coverage, and access to debates as the two main parties. Being that he appealed to people on the Left but not the Right, and being that Gore lost by an *extremely* narrow margin in 2000, Nader is generally brought up when discussing "spoiler" candidates. He only got 2-3% of the vote, and had that gone to Gore instead - the likely second choice for Nader voters - Bush wouldn't have been President and we probably wouldn't have had the Great Recession or the War on Terror.

    We still would've had shitty, milquetoast centrism and probably still violence in the Middle East after 9/11, but we probably would never have invaded Iraq as Gore was vocally against Bush's reaction.

    This is a hard pill to swallow because, at the time, I was a Nader supporter, and I voted for him in 2004 even knowing how things turned out in 2000 (when I was 16 and couldn't vote). I took the stance of refusing to vote for the lesser of two evils, because Kerry and Bush were in this pissing match of who was the better soldier and who would kill bin Laden, and I didn't want to feel responsible for what Kerry did in the Middle East. That didn't matter as much in 2004, because it's been solidly proven that Nader voters had little impact on that election, but, still, I was willing to allow a second Bush term rather than sully myself by voting for Kerry. And I was not yet a leftist at the time, and neither were any of the other Naderites I knew.

    My comments on "lesser of two evils" logic are a brief summation of how I've moved away from that thinking, and how I can no longer justify it from my more consequentialist worldview.

  10. TAYLOR SWIZZLE
    that got me, that really got me

    :D

  11. 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 think they're good!

  12. Why did you sneak communism into the end of I Hate Mondays?

    if you're only just now learning that I'm a leftist I dunno where you've been

  13. I'm a bit curious (heh) why you'd consider the "refusing to vote for the lesser evil" to be a liberal sentiment, since most of the people online I've seen saying that are the hardcore Bernie fans who uses "liberals" as an insult so frequently the word has kinda lost all meaning.

    because I lived through two Nader campaigns

  14. What are some good resources for learning about internet moderation?

    I did an interview with a MetaFilter mod that I think was kinda interesting. It's on page 56 of this magazine: https://issuu.com/24magazine/docs/24mag_issue05

  15. Would you say voting 3rd party is the same as not voting, morally speaking?

    in response to Well, what is your argument for it being an unethical act?

    as someone who thinks voting is about achieving the most ethical outcome, as an individual act, yes, it's about the same

    as a collective act - i.e. organizing a sizable bloc of people and broadcasting "this is how we will vote if our demands are not met" - the two have different results, and I would say voting third party is nominally more ethical, since, with enough organization, you could actually get the third party candidate the 5% cutoff necessary to get them comparable participation to the two main parties. so, if your demands aren't met, at least you accomplished *something*. not sure this justifies the potential harm of giving the greater of two evils the win.

  16. I have to change my art thesis from a gallery showing to something else, what's something cool I can do in a month

    make a video essay

  17. Can you dance

    since you didn't ask "can you dance WELL" the answer is yes

    yes I can

  18. Strongest opinion you have on Grass

    Gunter Grass: I got about 2/3 through The Tin Drum and gave it up. Not sure what the fuss is about.

    Leaves of Grass: a deeply important poetry collection, not just historically but qualitatively. if you haven't read it you probably haven't lived.

    Paul Greengrass: I am a soft apologist for shakycam, at least in certain contexts, and I think the Bourne movies justify it, so Greengrass gets a pass even if the newest Bourne wasn't very good.

  20. Should leftists start becoming landlords if only to destroy the institutions from the inside

    that never works

  21. Have you played Transistor? It's from the studio who made Bastion, and I've been finding it pretty good so far (I think you mentioned in one of your tumblr posts that you've played it)

    A little, and I found it interesting, but for whatever reason I've never felt a strong compulsion to get into it.

  22. Endnote 3 was just over a year ago now, and i just wanna toss some additional thanks for that one, because I've spent a year showing this to fellow economics students and getting the exact same response every time, they wanna argue the point until you namedrop Walras and then shut the fuck up and end the video going "SO THAT'S WHY!" (the economists until the Austrian school in full bloom making all their theories under the assumption that even a free market has an overbearing all powerful state at the reins making sure everybody "plays fair")

    Also wanted to say calling Leon "wealth distributing omnipotent state makes my theories work" Walras a "valjean lookin motherfucker" never fails to get a laugh.

    HE LOOKS JUST LIKE ALFIE BOE!

  23. What's your fursona?

    I've gotten this question many times, and, while I still don't have an answer, I kind of love it? Furries as it and I'm like, "oh, I'm not a furry," and they're like "I didn't ask if you were a furry, *I asked what's your fursona*."

    Furries are the only socially marginalized group I know of who are like, "please, appropriate our culture!"

  24. do you trust the tastes of curiouscat randos?

    in response to So, I haven't seen Money Heist, but this does raise a question. If someone says you should watch or play something, what does it take to get you interested? Like, do you need a summary, or a good review, or someone trying specifically to appeal to your existing tastes (i.e., "New Indie Adventure Game X is a lot like LOOM, so you would enjoy it!") or some/all of the above?

    nope

  26. what do u think of the adam mckay’s last two movies?

    I didn't see Vice. The Big Short was... okay? As a video essayist, seeing someone use film to essentially make an essay was a bit weird because I disagreed with a lot of their rhetorical tactics. Like... half the movie is people using elaborate metaphors to explain how subprime mortgages work, but did you come out remembering any of it? The Anthony Bordain bit worked pretty well, the Jenga and Margot Robbie bits not so much. But, whatever, after The Wolf of Wall Street it was nice to see a movie angry at the right people and pointing out that they're not glamorous sharks on a mountain of coke and quaaludes but just a bunch of dipshit capitalists. So... enh, I'd say it's at least worth watching.

  27. Why do you think some people always reduce point and click adventure games to rub everything on everything else while other people manage to consistently engage with the game on it's own terms even after a puzzle had become difficult?

    you asked Chris this question

  29. Are your Patreon subscribers your employers?

    I would argue they're my customers

  30. Best pick-up Line? 🤧

    I knew a guy who actually used "nice shoes, wanna fuck?" and went home with someone

  31. So, I haven't seen Money Heist, but this does raise a question. If someone says you should watch or play something, what does it take to get you interested? Like, do you need a summary, or a good review, or someone trying specifically to appeal to your existing tastes (i.e., "New Indie Adventure Game X is a lot like LOOM, so you would enjoy it!") or some/all of the above?

    in response to Should you not?

    factors will include:
    - trusting the person's taste
    - liking the pitch
    - liking the people who made it/star in it
    - being a fan of the genre
    - boredom or desperation

  33. Isn't the "if you're acknowledging race you're the racist" a specific version of the rhetoric where they wedge the political spectrum into "individualism vs collectivism" either directly (see: those cringey memes of the political spectrum on Facebook) or indirectly (see: the "I'm racially color blind" cliche), then liken systemic critiques leftists make, to the pseudo-scientific "race realist" nonsense that fascists push?

    I think that's a solid observation. My angle on it is more "acknowledging the divisions in society is the same as creating them," where they ask things like "why all the labels? why can't we just be people?" as though trans people invented transphobia and if they simply stopped using labels there'd be no discrimination anymore

  34. What would you title the 3rd video game you make

    OK, if I could stop everything right now and make games and, thinking on my pile of game ideas, which order I would probably do them, the third would be probably One-Eyed Monsters.

  35. Is there any chance whatsoever anyone under 30 will see universal health care passed in their lifetime?

    I'm flattered that you think I'm Tiresias but I can't see the future.

  36. Should you not?

    in response to Watching Money Heist?

    should I watch everything?

  37. Why don't people ever use "bullshat" as the past tense of the verb "to bullshit [someone]"?

    I have done this! I agree it should be standard.

  38. Watching Money Heist?

    should I be?

  39. are parents who kick their kids out of the house after they turn 18 as bad as landlords who evict tenants?

    in response to Alt-Right Playbook on Evangelicals when

    it's not a competition

  40. oh neat! I was expecting you would ignore that or say "I don't plan on it" but wow! Looking forward to it!

    in response to Alt-Right Playbook on Evangelicals when

    Temper your expectations, the video *talks* about the Religious Right but isn't exactly *about* it.

  42. I just needed someone to gush about the game to. The game is a masterclass in environmental storytelling. Also, this game that's almost as old as I am somehow feels more immersive than any multimillion dollar AAA game released today? No high fidelity first person shooter has ever given me the same feeling of motion as traveling in those rail guided vehicles do.

    in response to So you're a big fan of adventure games right? Have you played Riven? I just beat it and I can't get over how good it is.

    hehehe, here's me, RagnarRox, and Michael Saba talking for almost two hours about Myst and Riven

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fdQ2KqZR60

  43. I've also heard "Republicans see everybody equally and Democrats being up identity politics all the time. That means they're the real racists". Like they don't think systemic problems are real.

    in response to This is true but I've definitely heard arguments saying that Republicans Now are still the same as Republicans Then because during the Civil Rights movement Democrats also voted against that. It never goes as far as Reagan or the Bushes unless they just swerve to economics and Clinton being bad.

    the tactic of "if you're acknowledging race you're the racist" is probably going to come up in a video at some point

  44. why is it The Alt-Right Playbook, and not the Alt-Right Praybook

    atheism mostly

  45. This is true but I've definitely heard arguments saying that Republicans Now are still the same as Republicans Then because during the Civil Rights movement Democrats also voted against that. It never goes as far as Reagan or the Bushes unless they just swerve to economics and Clinton being bad.

    in response to Growing up in the south, this was a common argument for why republicans can't be racist, because they ended slavery. I remember both my grandpa and my 8th grade history teacher making this argument. man public school was wild in georgia

    they know full well that the people who revolted against the Union in order to preserve slavery were conservatives and that the parties have realigned more than once since the 1800s

  46. So you're a big fan of adventure games right? Have you played Riven? I just beat it and I can't get over how good it is.

    Oh yeah, Riven is a top 5 fav adventure, along with LOOM, Grim Fandango, The Last Express, and Tales from the Borderlands.

  47. Growing up in the south, this was a common argument for why republicans can't be racist, because they ended slavery. I remember both my grandpa and my 8th grade history teacher making this argument.

    man public school was wild in georgia

    in response to Still feels weird. It goes into the reason why people want to deny that the civil war was about slavery, debunks common counterarguments, then goes on a patriotic screed about how he's proud to be apart of the side that got rid of slavery. It's weird because nothing has stopped them from lying in their other videos.

    they always say "Republicans ended slavery" and not "conservatives ended slavery," you'll note

  48. What do you do when people recognize you?

    in response to Has anybody ever recognized you irl?

    I say hi, chat for a minute.

  49. Has anybody ever recognized you irl?

    I think it's happened about 4 or 5 times now. Mostly in Brooklyn.

  50. Still feels weird. It goes into the reason why people want to deny that the civil war was about slavery, debunks common counterarguments, then goes on a patriotic screed about how he's proud to be apart of the side that got rid of slavery.

    It's weird because nothing has stopped them from lying in their other videos.

    in response to PragarU video: Was the Civil War About Slavery? PragarU: "The evidence is clear and overwhelming. Slavery was, by a wide margin, the single most important cause of the Civil War" I've slipped into an alternate universe.

    Wait... does he argue the Republicans ended slavery?

  51. PragarU video: Was the Civil War About Slavery?

    PragarU: "The evidence is clear and overwhelming. Slavery was, by a wide margin, the single most important cause of the Civil War"

    I've slipped into an alternate universe.

    Still serves the purpose of treating "was the Civil War about slavery?" as a legitimate question. 98% of people who see the title don't watch the video.

  52. What about as an alternative to staying home altogether? People talk about protesting by not voting for either real candidate, & while refusing to vote is definitely not a protest, isn't it some type of protest to vote for someone else?

    in response to If someone is *that* adamant about not voting for Biden nor Trump, is voting third party/independent a valid decision?

    If you got a large group of people together early in the election process and, as a bloc, stated that you will vote third party unless your demands are met, it would be a protest. A single individual voting for a candidate they know isn't going to win is not a protest because it makes no concrete demand and offers no real threat to power. It is a symbolic act, and, again, I see no ethical argument for it.

  53. Speaking of music, have you listened to the recordings of Chopin's Ballade no.1 and Ballade no. 4, played by Krystian Zimerman? IMO they're probably some of the best classical piano pieces of all time.

    I will give them a listen.

  54. Have you read Capitalist Realism?

    I am reading it currently, though I'm not very far. I need to adjust my reading habits to pandemic life.

  55. If antifa had a mascot would it be basically Sonic the Hedgehog

    Am I not antifa's mascot? :(

  56. Hi Ian! I just saw your video on Smash Bros and I absolutely loved it! I've never really understood sports either, and I don't play or watch video games, but it was enthralling hearing you describe how they both encourage this collective storytelling. It was also just nice to hear you so excited about something. Are you planning on making more Things of Beauty videos in the future?

    I don't have anything more to say about Smash, if that's what you mean. Fun as it would be to make another video gushing about a thing I love, it's not enough to just love a thing, I have to have something interesting to say about it. Like, I absolutely adore Tales from the Borderlands but I don't have a *take* on it. But I wouldn't be surprised if something I love scratches that itch again.

  57. Are you aware that Dee Snider voiced a SpongeBob character called Angry Jack?

    well dang

  58. If someone is *that* adamant about not voting for Biden nor Trump, is voting third party/independent a valid decision?

    No. I have never heard an argument for this that made any ethical sense.

  59. How do you often find new music to listen to? Spotify, Youtube, radio, etc?

    Maybe it's just my work habits seeping into all aspects of my life, but nowadays I seem to pick a thing and dive into it? So, when I'm like, "you know what was cool? trip-hop," I go read that Fact Magazine list of the 50 best trip-hop albums and start working my way through it, visiting trip-hop forums and subreddits, listening to songs on YouTube and seeing what other bands get mentioned by commenters, etc. etc. etc. Sometimes it's more general, like just making a list of bands I like whose newer stuff I haven't listened to, or albums I've heard are great that I never checked out. Seeding a Pandora station with stuff I like used to be pretty useful, haven't been to the site in a while so I don't know if it's still any good. I haven't found the generated playlists on Spotify or YouTube very helpful, they tend to just play a lot of stuff they know you already listen to. Occasionally I'll go to a forum I like and check out the inevitable music recommendation thread.

    None of this is very consistent. Being that I don't have a commute and I have trouble listening to music while I work, I kind of have to make music a ~project~ because I won't hear much incidentally. Been fiddling with ways of incorporating it into my life but it's stop and start.

  60. My question when i get asked that is always "what nation though?" And i never get a clear answer.
    Amazon works at global scale, and just like capitalist national economies require the state to set the markets up and (in theory) counterbalance buisness, the response would have to be global too unless you really WERE going to gut everything in revolt.
    What's the other option here besides "one world government; the crackpots were right for once" "revolution" or "one world government; it's still just america pretending its not an empire"

    in response to Should we nationalize Uber and Amazon?

    what? Amazon is based in the US. there's no reason it can't be nationalized here and still ship products overseas. how do think China sells products to us?

  61. Would you consider George Carlin vulgar? As an aside, I've seen him crop up a bit more in lefty spaces semi recently in spite of often being hoisted up by the same kind of asshole who says nobody could make Blazing Saddles nowadays

    in response to Who's a funny, vulgar comedian/reviewer that isn't a shithead? Genuinely interested to see that, because I know it must be doable, but I've never seen someone do it.

    Yeah, he was definitely vulgar, but, while he had some very progressive stances, he also had some shithead opinions, so I'm not sure he counts.

  62. Should we nationalize Uber and Amazon?

    I'm no expert, but, on a gut level, I think nationalizing Amazon would be an ok idea, but why nationalize Uber when you can just add some smart phone functionality to buses and cabs?

  63. Is the Myst series colonialist?

    the lore is self-contradictory so it's either a hard yes or a soft maybe, depending

  64. Are all poly relationships required to get one big bed for everybody to sleep in, like the grandparents in Willy Wonka

    always, if you don't have enough partners to fill a california king you will be assigned some

  65. Can you tell I'm asking these Qs at 3am

    I know what time you posted them but not what time zone you were in

  66. What verbs would be able to utilize the same crisp level of animations from, say, an Arc System Fighter while also being non-violent. What non violent thing can be easily Combo'd

    kissing

  67. Hey Ian, hope all is well. After re-watching a lot of your videos and observing The DiscourseTM over the last little while, I've begun noticing a disturbing uptick in "The Card Says Moops" style rhetoric but from Biden supporters, at least on twitter. Its not an exact one-to-one match, twitter liberals don't lean into the nihilism nearly as much or claim they just want to watch the world burn, but what they share is that they both seem to be increasingly abandoning the idea of having any consistent politics or principles in favour of an aesthetic argumentation style that seems to prioritize winning above all else. Owning the Bernie Bros is the #1 priority, if doing so means you have to contradict what you've stated are your core beliefs, and/or reply to any criticisms with non-sequiturs and thought-terminating cliches, then so be it.

    Is this something you've noticed as well, and if you have, do you think there are any ways we can, for lack of a better word, circumvent these tactics and still get through to liberals? I always try to extend an olive branch and meet liberals where they're at when I'm trying to radicalize them, but doing so is getting increasingly harder and more frustrating.

    Elections bring it out of everyone, because, as much as we claim to support people for purely rational reasons, there comes a point where wanting your guy to win outpaces the desire to be internally consistent. Let's not pretend we haven't seen this in some Bernie and Liz fans as well.

  68. Why are Prager U videos so easy for leftists to make memes out of?

    b... because they're hilariously bad?

  69. Do you think right-wing libertarians who believe in the "free market" and prize innovation can be converted to leftists if sufficiently convinced that the free market is an oxymoronic fantasy and then sold leftism on the basis that under a more egalitarian economic system, everyone would be free to master their craft and innovate as they pleased?

    Most right-wingers like the "free market" because they have a deeply internalized believe that humans are fundamentally unequal and we need "natural" systems for revealing who is better than whom. So, no, you're not going to get people onboard with mutual cooperation by trying to frame it in "free market" terms. That's misunderstanding *why* people claim to like markets.

  70. If Tara Reade's allegations against Biden are true, or at least credible, what can or should leftists do to oppose Trump?

    I mean... any means you can think of to oppose Trump we should already be doing? Not sure why they'd be contingent on Biden being a piece of shit.

  71. What “old person” things do you do?

    throw my back out

  72. Who's a funny, vulgar comedian/reviewer that isn't a shithead? Genuinely interested to see that, because I know it must be doable, but I've never seen someone do it.

    I dunno, I kinda feel like he swears a bunch and makes jokes about urination and penises but we still don't consider John Mulaney "vulgar" per se, which might imply that a condition of vulgarity is being a shithead.

  73. Saw on twitter a while back you were playing Heaven's Vault. Any thoughts on it? I find it an enjoyable game with a cool concept, but has its fair share of flaws (like the wonky travel system and not letting players revisit certain planets, which I find annoying and made little sense)

    I really liked it. I'll probably do a write-up at some point, but I'm trying to get a video finished at the moment.

  74. "I recommend we start doing that work immediately because it's only a matter of time til the next one comes."

    Okay, so, what in specific are you personally going to do to contribute to that work? And what should I do on my end?

    in response to We should keep doing this as long as we can even after the pandemic is done https://twitter.com/joyceestick/status/1242502689289719808

    If I had all the answers for how to organize a nationwide labor movement, I would have been doing it already. What I'm going to do is start looking into how such things have been done historically and what people are already working on such things in this country. Rather than asking a YouTuber to tell you what to do, I recommend you do the same.

  75. okay, so, I'm not totally 100% familiar with how the US government runs all its shit, but why exactly are they bothering with getting Trump's approval to produce and send ventilators around for patients? why can't Congress step up and be like, "no, screw you, we're gonna do a democracy over here and pass an order to put the DPA into effect whether you like it or not"

    There are specific privileges the President can invoke in an emergency that will make things happen very quickly, rather than Congress having to write, debate, and vote twice on a bill that then has to get signed by the President.

Anon commented:
Ian replied: