CuriousCat Archive Page 152 of 202

  1. I have a question with regards to your Why Are You So Angry series and Contrapoints controversy. I'm not asking for an opinion about contra, its just a good example. Also I'm talking about the last controversy with the tweet about pronoun circles, not the one about buck angel which i haven't looked into at all yet. So basically what if there had been a problem with "ethics in games journalism"? In my opinion contra has said some dismissive or uneducated things about NB people that warrent criticism, but obviously not harassment. Whenever i said on twitter or reddit or something "I think contra was wrong" i was accused of being part of a harassment brigade against her. And it reminded me of your videos on how the 4chan chuds essentially used jack to mask harassment. But from my perspective my legitimate concerns were dismissed because other people were using those same concerns as an excuse for harassment. How do you think you have a conversation about "ethics in games journalism" when harassers hijack the conversation? Or when we're so militant about harassers we assume everyone is acting in bad faith?

    I always feel weird asking creators things since i can never figure out how to word it without sounding like I'm asking a DEFINITIVE SOURCE to form my opinion for me but mostly I'm just asking for your thoughts on this conundrum since your whole thing basically is talking about rhetoric and junk.

    If the active harassment of a public figure makes it hard for you to discuss your legitimate criticisms of them, then it is in your best interest for the harassment to end so you can discuss the problem without amplifying the harassment. Your comments cannot be heard earnestly when they are barely distinguishable from arguments made in bad faith.

  2. You have two choices: Either be stuck only able to walk really, really slowly for five years, and then have super speed for the rest of your life, or have super speed for five years, after which you will return to normal speed. Which do you pick?

    the second thing

  3. wait... your suggestion was already being made to live-screen TV show

    Breaking Bad.. Walter White.. Heisenberg?

    in response to Who is the most boring villain? If you were tasked with plotting a story that made this boring villain as interesting or as exciting as possible, what sort of story would you write?

    I see where you're coming from but it's not quite the vibe I'd wanna go for. Walt revealed his awfulness on numerous occasions, and the uneasiness you feel about seeing how evil he could be while still empathizing with him was kind of the point. The fact that some people liked him uncritically is unsettling.

    Also Walt was the protagonist.

  4. Do you remember the first book you learned to Read from? What was the book?

    I remember sitting in my dad's lap as he taught me to read, but I don't remember what the book was.

  5. Who is the most boring villain?

    If you were tasked with plotting a story that made this boring villain as interesting or as exciting as possible, what sort of story would you write?

    I tire of menace.

    Like, you know the villain who seems normal and likable, but as soon as their true plans are revealed they tip into a really nondescript maliciousness? You know, like Hans in Frozen? The normal guy who is secretly generically evil has run its course.

    What I've wanted to do for a bit is write a villain who is extremely likable well after their villainy is exposed. Like, even after you know their plan is to murder your entire family, you still kinda wanna get a beer with them. I think the juxtaposition of people being incredibly warm and empathetic interpersonally but have evil political goals is particularly relevant in an "Ellen hangs out with George W. Bush" world. We seemingly want that moment where a politically evil person reveals themself to be evil on a personal level, the moment the eminently respectable Hans Landa screams and strangles Bridget von Hammersmark, and I want to play with never giving that to an audience.

    Oh, I'm also sick of the inverse: where an evil person has a sympathetic streak, like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street or Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave. Holy Shit Evil Men Are Still People is not an interesting revelation anymore, like people think making a cishet white male movie star likable is an achievement.

  6. most recent cat you've seen

    there's not really an interesting story here. there was a cat on the sidewalk yesterday. it didn't want pets.

  7. Closest you ever came to being a Normie

    you think I wasn't raised normie?

  8. horniest non-sexual word you've heard

    coxswain

  9. People are talking about Natalie collaborating with Buck Angel, a person a former comedian who dislikes trans people liked. What's the take here

    I have too much cis privilege and not enough context to give you a take on Buck Angel.

    Andy's thread may be useful: https://twitter.com/AndyEyeballs/status/1184075886963970048

  10. BreadTube often tries to be funny. Is there any brand of humor you think is either under- or over-represented in the BreadTube space?

    nah, the funny ones are all hilarious in different ways.

  11. If we were to ultimately fail to stop climate change, would you accept migration to another planet as a last resort?

    beats going extinct

  12. Do you think curiouscat is a useful platform for building social capital, or do you see it as largely for fun/wasting time?

    I don't know that many people build social capital ON Curious Cat. It mostly seems to be adjunct to capital built on other sites. Maybe it can serve as a modifier? Or maybe there's a whole ecosystem of Curious Cat stars I am somehow ignorant of. If that exists, it is not good at advertising itself.

  13. Are there any videos you regret?

    I regret the advice I gave at the end of Why Are You So Angry, and much of The Alt-Right Playbook has been walking it back because I've learned it doesn't work that well and puts people at risk. But I'm still proud of the series as a whole.

    I am fortunate to be quite happy with everything I've put out.

  14. What is your favorite fruit, and what is your favorite way to serve it?

    dapple dandy pluot, cold and sliced

  15. do you play any musical instruments?

    guitar

  16. What video topics you tackling right now?

    I never tell people what I'm working on.

  17. Why do you keep using this website?

    get out of my room, mom

  18. Little bit of a tip: You can change the text that appears in the empty box when people ask a question, that normally says "Ask something!" to something to the effect of "Please DO NOT ask me any more questions about the Joker" or whatever else you want

    that might at least get some people to think twice about it

    that is charmingly naive

  19. rather than talk about Joker, you mentioned thinking Mimes were cool. Do you have a favorite Mime?

    the one in A Bug's Life

  20. What media do you think deserves more attention?

    There's this little indie adventure game Tsioque that I absolutely adored that seems to have flown under a lot of folks' radars.

  21. What about Heath Ledger's and Jared Leto's Jokers?

    also, given all versions of Joker that you're familiar with, across all forms of media, ever, which one is your favorite?

    in response to What do you think of Mark Hamill's Joker?

    what's really fun is if I say "stop asking me questions about joker" it will guarantee my inbox gets flooded with them, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for giving me another incentive to stop posting here

  22. What do you think of Mark Hamill's Joker?

    fun

  23. Have you heard of Little Pink Best Buds and if so Where Can I Play It

    Heard of it from the Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight doc. Presumably you'd have to buy the bundle to play the game.

  24. What's a movie you *have* seen and had thoughts about lately?

    El Camino.

  25. What do you think of the YouTube Premiere feature? Have you ever used it, and, if not, would you ever consider using it? Why or why not?

    I don't like it and don't use it.

  26. Would you rather see the legalisation of polygamy or the abolishment of marriage (or do you have absolutely no interest in either of these things)?

    Well, the in-between that I would support is the abolition of marriage as a legal entity. Marriage is traditionally a religious institution, so the fact that the government incentivizes it with tax breaks is already a dodgy merger of church and state. Now marriage is often a secular, social event, but I still don't see why the government has to legally recognize it in order to let people own things jointly and visit each other in the hospital. Those are legal relationships we can just allow people to create at their own discretion, rather than tying it to the institution of marriage, at which point the government no longer has a say who who can and can't get married.

    That is what I'd prefer: the government no longer having any legal sway over what marriage is or isn't.

  27. Ian you wound me, a Libra.
    this really hurt my feelings but I sat on it for a little while and tried to think of things from your perspective and I just want to say that while I disagree with you I still respect you as a person and a creator.

    what can I say, I'm such an earth sign

  28. I use a find-and-replace wordfilter, to make the internet bearable honestly. My most recent add has been "can't meme"
    -> "isn't short, snappy, and wrong" but someone saw it and said i should ask what you thought of that...
    What do you think of that?

    You're not wrong, but it's not a perfect translation.

    "The Left can't meme" denies rather a lot of memes progressives and leftists are behind. I feel like the Right's memes aren't just short, quippy, and wrong, but also MEAN. And they don't consider our memes legitimate because they don't dehumanize people. Also, we're willing to let memes die when their time has come, something the Right takes much, much longer to do, because their memes serve a greater political purpose.

  29. Do you think "capitalist realism" as Mark Fisher described it is a phenomenon unique to capitalism, or might some similar phenomenon have once applied to feudalism as well?

    While I do own that book and have it in my backpack as we speak, I generally recommend asking me questions that assume I've read the thing you think I should have read.

    I haven't read the book yet. I will hopefully read it soon. Until then, I can't really answer this.

  30. Where do you draw the line between writing that is genuine and thought provoking and writing that shows how much the writers unironically think there the next Shakespeare?

    Like, How do you know how to separate the Jordan Peele's from the M. Night Shyamalan's?

    "Thought-provoking" implies that it provokes thoughts that you find interesting.

    Peele has provoked interesting thoughts in me. Shyamalan never has.

  31. Can you recommend me a good intro to Samuel R. Delany's work?

    Depends on what you're into!

    if you want some old-school sci-fi: Nova
    if you want something weirder and queerer and don't mind it being kinda plotless: Trouble on Triton
    if you want something REALLY weird and REALLY queer and REALLY plotless, not to mention very difficult to read: Dhalgren
    if you fancy non-fiction and want something short and compelling: Heavenly Breakfast
    if you fancy non-fiction and want a more substantial memoir: The Motion of Light in Water
    if you want a bunch of neato essays about genre, narrative, and/or writing: The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, Starboard Wine, and About Writing

  32. how would you react if your girlfriend brought you flowers and lunch at work one day? tried this once in my ex got real pissed and said being given flowers in front of his co-workers emasculated him.

    this is not an advice column

  33. Do you find it problematic that internet lefties learn about controlling the conversation yet never actually, ya know, control the damn conversation?

    I haven't done a comprehensive survey to see how many internet lefties do or don't control the conversation, so I would steer clear of anecdotal evidence of such. The fact that it annoys me will make me notice it more when it happens and ignore when it doesn't.

  34. Has your research ever led you into exploring things like Robert Jay Lifton's work on thought reform and cult de-programming? It might be a facile observation, but I don't think its a coincidence that when confronted by outsiders, the church of scientology and similar groups react with almost textbook Control The Conversation/Never Play Defense tactics.

    One of the resources for the video I'm working on now was Alexandra Stein's Terror, Love and Brainwashing, which is about how people get into and out of cults. She quotes Lifton on thought-terminating cliches. She draws a continuity between cults/totalitarian governments and abusive relationships, arguing the former is largely the same as the latter, just on a grander scale. My feeling is that Far Right groups are somewhere in the middle between those extremes. So, yeah, there's a lot of overlap in tactics.

  35. > it's ok if I just don't see a movie sometimes

    Louder for the people at the back tbh

  36. Say for the sake of argument that you saw the Joker; you'd have the take that most adequately validate my own reaction, right?

    my hypothetical opinion of Joker is exactly the same as whatever you think of it, you nailed it

  37. Happy early birthday!!!!!

    in response to Happy late birthday!

    ok

  38. Are you the sort of person who would ever consider consuming a particular piece of media simply to see what the fuss is about and be able to say that you did indeed watch it, just to get people to stop asking you about it, when you would otherwise have no interest?

    in response to presumably because people were like "boo, it's incel apologetics" before it came out and now it's like "yay, it's about class warfare!"

    yeah, that's why I saw Avatar and The Passion and 300, and it's never really been worth it

  39. Would you watch the Joker movie if it had come out in the 70s, starred John Travolta, and was directed by Stanley Kubrick?

    *sigh*

    I tire of this

  41. presumably because people were like "boo, it's incel apologetics" before it came out and now it's like "yay, it's about class warfare!"

    in response to Does your judgement comport or differ?

    look, if you tell me there's a movie out about class warfare where the protagonist is severely mentally ill and ends up murdering a lot of people, I'm going to say "wow, that's really thorny and there's a lot of ways to do that wrong"

    telling me it's part of the DCEU* and directed by the guy who did The Hangover is not going to inspire confidence

    * EDIT: PRODUCED BY THE DCEU YOU FUCKING PEDANTS

  43. Who is the hero of the story in a curiouscat question?

    me

    im the hero of every story

  44. Wait is today not your birthday? That doesn't make any sense because you're definitely a 10/10

    in response to HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!!

    that's actually really sweet and cute :3

    but don't call me a fuckin libra

  45. Happy late birthday!

    in response to HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!!

    really more of an early birthday at this point, but thanks?

  47. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!!

    ?

    do people think I'm a Libra?

  48. Do you think BreadTube videos are too often too long?

    In pure aesthetic terms, I prefer to make and watch videos in the 15-20 minute range and am disgruntled that I and all my compatriots are skewing longer these days, but I don't feel the need to get prescriptive about it. Long videos are not weakening our arguments or limiting our reach. It's not just my personal ideal.

  49. Have you ever considered expanding the scope of topics covered in your videos to matters of politics that specifically apply outside the US? For instance, Brexit or the Hong Kong protests?

    The narrow scope of "Far Right rhetorical strategy" has given me more work to do than any other project I've undertaken in my life, and you want me to go WIDER?

  50. what is the best idle animation in video game history?

    I mean... I'm going to say, ON THE RECORD, that Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 had the best idle animations.

    (but off the record it's the monkey from Metal Slug who accidentally pulls out his penis while trying to take a banana from his loincloth)

  52. hey ian, do you have any thoughts on tankies or their presence in leftist spaces?

    I can't talk about tankies without getting yelled at, and don't have enough to say to weather that storm right now.

  53. umm.. go see it?

    what's wrong actually?

    in response to are we now a part of the minority that dislikes the recent Joker movie?

    it doesn't look like a movie I would enjoy, so I'm not going to see it

    I don't need a reason not to see a movie. the movie has to give me a reason to see it. I'm guessing it gave you one, and that's cool. I personally don't need to see Travis Bickle in clown makeup.

  54. Hi there, Ian! Just wondering, how do you handle working on multiple projects simultaneously?

    When I've tried to do so myself in the past, I've often ended up either a) getting caught up in one project and only working on that until it's done, at the expense of all the others or b) barely working on any of the projects at all, and, unable to decide how to effectively manage them or choose one over another, not getting any of them done.

    Have either of these happened to you, and if so, can you offer any pointers for avoiding or mitigating these tendencies?

    I don't get to juggle a lot of projects these days. I have a pet project I'm trying to write on weekends but more often than not don't find the time. And I only occasionally manage to do some work on the next video before the current one is out the gate.

    But when I was juggling school with the channel with freelancing, the only thing that worked was a lot of scheduling. Breaking projects down into priorities, estimates of how long they'll take, and looking at the week ahead and fitting things where they make sense. I've been writing a Weekly Goals document every Monday for years now, which helps me keep track of all the plates I'm spinning. That and a dayplanner are how I get by.

    Dunno if that'll work for you, but it does me.

  55. Hey so you might have gotten this question before, but how do you reconcile a piece of media that was made by a problematic person? Ender's Game was my favorite book growing up and I still enjoy it, even though it has some iffy themes and Orson Scott Card is a piece of shit.

    Once you get used to being critical of the media you love, it gets easier to deal with shitbag artists.

    People advocate for "separating the art from the artist," which I and a lot of progressives push back against. If someone's a shitbag, maybe that DOES change how I look at their art, and maybe that's the way it should be. But looking at it differently doesn't mean you have to stop loving it. None of the art I love is perfect; if you've watched my videos about media I adore, you know I spend a lot of time criticizing it. The bad comes packaged with the good.

    So I guess I would suggest just sitting with the complexity of a shitbag making something that deeply affected you, and know that what Ender's Game means to you may not be what Card wanted it to mean, and his intentions do not rob you of the value you found in his work, and that value does not erase the awfulness that he put into it and you're probably noticing now. Art is complicated, and all we can do is get comfortable with that fact.

  56. Did you see Shaun's response concerning the fact that Garfield is also able to consent? Assuming John and Garfield were able to communicate, could they ethically engage in a sexually intimate relationship?

    in response to have you seen Lindsay's Beast Question and if so Where Do You Stand

    it would be ethical, but unwise

  57. are we now a part of the minority that dislikes the recent Joker movie?

    in order to dislike Joker I would have to see Joker, which I don't really plan on doing

    so I guess you're on your own

  59. Irrespective of his showmanship qualities, is Bill Nye, in your opinion, a good scientist?

    I didn't grow up on Bill Nye so I don't really know his methodology.

  60. I was starting to listen to some marketing videos for an interview im preparing for and the speaker is like... You with a high pitched voice?? Did you do any voiceover work in the past for a not very big marketing channel lol?

    no

  61. Is it your policy to avoid voicing your opinions about any specific other BreadTubers? If this is the case, are there any exceptions to such a rule?

    in response to What do you think of Vaush?

    I just literally don't think about Vaush. I am barely aware of who he is. I gather he did something problematic recently? I think I heard about it at the time, don't remember what it was.

    I am not abreast of the totality of BreadTube. Of the people I am familiar with, I don't have a policy of when I will or won't talk about them. The fact that they are my friends and colleagues is a factor, as is whether or not me sharing my opinion is helpful. If somebody does something I think deserves comment, and I think commenting isn't going to fuck things up for anyone, I'll weigh in.

  62. Do you think plants should have rights as humans and animals do?

    animals don't have rights

    EDIT: but they should

  63. Do you know any good job searching tips?

    I haven't worked a real job in years and most of the ones I've had paid shit. Sorry.

  64. Do you have a list of your videos grouped by subject & a suggested order?
    Most of what you're talking about is a bit over my high-school-grad head, but I'm taking notes & rewinding the tricky parts to watch them twice.
    It's important to me to do Twitter & family dinners "right" & to teach this way of thinking and arguing to my kids.
    I'm glad you're taking the time to do this. A great thing about the internet is being able to learn. Some of my learning is finding the words to talk about the things I've always believed but got stuck at the "I feel" level, which doesn't have a whole lot of force behind it. You're great at this.

    Thanks! Anything that has a recommended order is in a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrskimps/playlists

    Anything else, watch how you please!

  65. Have you seen any fiction that depicts a polycule in a way you liked or felt close to your lived experience?

    I haven't watched a lot of movies or shows that feature polyamory. Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17 features a triad that is very clearly based on one he had been in recently, but his nonfiction memoir depicts it better. I saw a bit of this movie Paper Castles (which is just called "3some" in English, blehhh) which had a really wholesome triad, but I didn't see the whole thing. The movie Together is supposed to be good.

  66. When will Mimes become cool

    they're already cool fucko

  67. What should the next Mario game be like

    soulsborne

  68. Genuine question from a still-evolving leftie: ACAB, but, so, what do we replace them with? What's the alternative to law enforcement? I realize there are probably a variety of opinions on this, but I'm curious to hear yours, or ideas you've heard.

    not my area, sorry

  69. When will Solar Punk get a video game

    make one

  70. Should we support cop unions?

    enh

  71. Do you think

    constantly

  72. What is the difference between Control the Conversation and Never Play Defense? I understand the former is a type of moving the goalposts and the latter is nitpicking the opposition's arguments but they appear to achieve the same outcome. For example in Control the Conversation example the chud trying to frame the situation as 'just words' and 'president is not perfect' does seem like an attempt at boxing the opposition as 'easily offended snowflake' and 'nitpicky perfectionist' while the Never Play Defense example involves the chud moving the goalposts from the feminist's content to 'libs support a thief' to 'feminist did not produce a satisfactory job for the money she was given'. Do you have a hypothetical example of each where one is done without the other?

    Not really. The reason I released them back-to-back was because they're deeply interrelated. I'd say the main difference is one is primarily about rhetorical strategy and the other is about attitude.

  73. What do you think of Vaush?

    I don't think of Vaush.

  74. how much would you be willing to bet on Trump attempting to stage a coup

    I don't predict the future.

    Be ready for some bullshit.

  75. Different anon, but your point about valid criticisms of Sanders not being addressed is interesting because I have noticed that some of his supporters will try to bend over backwards to make him seem perfect, but then when someone brings up something iffy from his record (e.g., voting for Afghanistan despite voting against Iraq, his vague promises of "comprehensive immigration reform"), they either deny it or write it off as some kind of smear. I don't think this is a majority of his supporters who think this and I have seen some Sanders supporters agree with those specific criticisms, but it does make me wonder if the people who engage in these talking points actually like Bernie Sanders or they like their idealized version of who they want Bernie Sanders to be. What say you?

    in response to two follow-up questions: 1. Surely you've seen the infighting between Sanders supporters and Warren supporters, both on twitter and from publications like Jacobin. Especially in the wake of the working families party endorsement of Warren. Is this something you're worried about, or is it not as big a problem as a pants-wetting liberal Warren backer might think it is? 2. On a scale from 1-10 how hard are you going to celebrate if Warren defeats Biden to become the nominee, especially after all of this time with Biden as the frontrunner?

    I mean, that's all politics. Sanders and Warren are not as dramatically different as people like to paint them. Bernie *represents* a socialist reform, but, in practice, he is a liberal. A further left liberal than most, but a liberal. He seems to bring out that idealization in people stronger than most, and, frankly, that's a valuable quality in a campaigner. If he can extend that beyond his base it'll be a showstopper. But I think the way he 2016 primaries went give him this idealized air of "the President that could have been," and, if he doesn't start growing his coalition, he's gearing up to be the same in 2020.

Anon commented:
Ian replied: