CuriousCat Archive Page 160 of 202

  1. I would have asked Shaun, but he seems to have deleted his curiouscat. probably had too many bad faith questions on it to consider it worth his while. Unfortunate.

    in response to How do Breadtubers decide what right-tubers are worth responding to?

    I am the poor man's Shaun.

  2. Hi there. I'm sorry for this really basic question but I'm hoping you have some sort of potent insight. Wikipedia tells me that the right wing holds that social orders and hierarchies are desirable, natural, and inevitable. The left wing, then, opposes the idea of hierarchies, and seeks to abolish them.

    Are there any nuances to that spectrum that you find get lost in that characterisation?

    Can you link me to the page in question so I can see how they phrased it?

  3. So I am talking with my friend who is a ‘dirtbag leftist’ about how useful political correctness is. His basic thrust is it actually reinforces the social and economic hierarchy because it causes political impotence. Meaning a tendency to police language makes solidarity and thus direct collective action harder.

    He ostensibly understands the concept of ‘don’t use gay as a pejorative because it reinforces the idea that queerness is bad.’ But counters that we should instead try to find solidarity through vulgarity since It smooths over the tension of language policing and is a faster path toward dealing with these hiearchys. Basically Zizek’s main points. I am unsure of what the best method of response is here, since the thrust of my point is a coalition led by AOCs and Omars would put together the largest possible base of people, and that is only possible if we start respecting how people of those demographics prefer to be addressed but he seems to reject the premise to start with.

    The idea that "straight people can't say f*g" is more divisive than homophobia is a galaxy brain take. Tell your friend to shut the fuck up.

  4. First Midsommar then Trump & A$AP Rocky - why is the western world trying to vilify Sweden?

    you asked Harry this

  5. When will we all finally switch to Mastodon

    you asked Harry this

  6. Should advertising be illegal in journalism

    I think if there were literally *any* viable alternative to advertising as a means of funding journalism, most sources would take it in a heartbeat. Illegalizing it wouldn't be necessary.

    Unfortunately, we live under capitalism.

  7. Do you think you'll ever try to run for a political office? Have you ever tried to run for one previously?

    I think about it in that abstract way everyone wonders "what would I do if I were President?" I think I could do good things in political office, but I don't think I'd enjoy it, and I don't think I could win a campaign in the first place.

  8. What's been your most recent pet peeve you've not gotten to properly articulate? What's your most recent joy you've similarly not been able to quantify?

    People who stand in the way of the only empty seat on a crowded train. They don't sit, but they prevent anyone else from sitting.

    Reading novels?! I have been reading nonfiction almost exclusively for years, and now I'm reading fiction again, and, y'all... novels are freakin' awesome!

  11. I know you don't have the answers to the socialist revolution or dealing with fascists, but where do you feel on them?

    I mostly just want to believe I'll be alive when it finally happens :)

    I don't know how I feel. It's hard to imagine fixing the problems with capitalism without revolution, and as much as I want to believe in a bloodless one done with labor strikes and political pressure, that's hard to imagine as well. And I don't know the first thing about how a good revolution operates. So I live in a space of constant, vague anxiety, not knowing what is or isn't possible or how to do what is possible correctly.

    It's something I have loose plans to research properly down the line, but it's a ways off yet.

  12. How do Breadtubers decide what right-tubers are worth responding to?

    You're asking the wrong breadtuber, I don't do response videos.

  13. As I slept I received a vision, perhaps even a revelation. In my dream I was sitting awkwardly at a party where everyone was arguing about US politics except for two people holding a plate in which stood a simple ham sandwich.

    They were debating what a sandwich is.

    Suddenly a girl came forward and grabbed the top bread directly in her mouth. She swallowed it with great speed as she took the ham in her left hand and the bottom bread in her right.

    Standing there, arms raised she said : "nothing is a sandwich if you eat it from bread to bread". Then she ate the ham and the remaining bread.

    This wasn't a question.

    welp.

  14. I really like the sans-serif font you use in your videos (such as the recent bloopers video). I know it's kind of a silly question, but I'm a complete font nerd, so would you mind telling me what font it is? Thanks!

    Avenir Next!

  15. Would you watch a YouTuber biopic?

    I guess? Probably out of morbid curiosity. Unless it's one of the shitty YouTubers.

  16. any good movies/tv shows that actually makes a good arguments against the trolley problem thought experiment?

    "Against?" I dunno. The Good Place did a prolonged discussion of it. That was pretty neat.

  17. you've talked before about your "meh" attitude towards the mcu. I was wondering if you've ever seen the Guardians movies and what you thought of them? Love your channel!

    I agree with the take that the first Guardians is a genuinely delightful comedy scribbled in the margins of a generic Avengers retread. The second one gets more leeway to be its own thing, so it fares better. I'd give that one a B+ instead of my usual MCU B-.

  18. Aren't you going to watch Hereditary?

    Is this reverse psychology?

  19. are you a fan of zombie movies?

    I'm neutral on them.

  20. WILL YOU DEMAND TO GET A BEPIS?

    who's to say I don't already have one? or several?

  21. Wait, is Dream your Endlesssona?

    You know, none of them are a perfect fit, but I think I'm actually closest to Death! With a bit of pre-transition Delight in the mix.

  22. Have you played the old Thief games, what do you think about them?

    I played a bit of the demo for Thief II when it was new, got overwhelmed, and quit. By the time I started to feel Thief was something I should try out, the original trilogy was over and hard to track down copies of. And then I switch to Macs for school and that's kinda kept them inaccessible. I even own the entire trilogy thanks to a GOG sale, but I don't have a computer to run them on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  23. This is not a question.

    "Also, I was going to hand-animate a woman doing a can-can with penises for legs, but I ended up cutting the whole thing to a brief aside for time."

    NEW. PATREON. TIER.
    WE. DEMAND. THE. CAN-CAN.

    maybe, when I get a new tablet

  24. How do you respond to conservatives when they badmouth California?

    I don't have a lot of conversations with conservatives, unless you call strangers yelling at me on Twitter a "conversation."

  25. Are you sure? The left definitely needs to be more marketable in some form. The right currently runs YouTube and has the de facto voice of authority right now. And popular doesnt matter if the right can dismiss the few blue dots on the electoral county map as not REAL AMERICA. So with that being said how do we be Ice Cold Mofos?

    in response to Is it possible for the left to be made marketable?

    So... the reason I get cagey around this idea is that the Right is currently winning by way of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and gaming the electoral college. And for us to say "our solution will be to use Better Branding on the people who can still vote" instead of "let's fucking fix all those problems" is concerning.

    Like... yes the Left needs better branding, but it also needs better policies. We can't just repackage the same old "appeal to the centrists" shit that lost the last election; the branding needs to change because the content changed. And whatever brand shift goes on needs to happen in conjunction with serious efforts to combat the ways conservatives are breaking democracy to stay in power, which needs to happen *before* the next election.

    If all that happens, I won't be super fussed what form the rebranding takes, so long as it communicates what we're doing effectively.

  26. Hi! I have a confession to make.

    I've never actually gotten around to watching much of your YouTube content. I started to watch one video of yours, but never found time to finish. However, I've spent quite a lot of time reading your responses to curiouscat questions on here.

    The answers you give are often interesting, informative, and/or amusing, and have provided me with a source of much entertainment and curiosity.

    I really need to finish watching that one video of yours and hopefully watch some others as well. You seem like a nice guy.

    Have a great day! :)

    That was really nice! :D

  27. I asked nothing about the law, Mr. Danskin. Let me rephrase this: Is it justifiable to believe that the people voluntarily participating and distributing this pornographic outrageous filth (as fmr senator Fritz Hollings would put it), should deserve a good amount of public scorn? All given that their material can worsen people's mental health. Thus, can there be a justifiable rationale to a "SWERF" or anti sex work position? I hoped this helped. But to answer, no making heroin illegal didnt wholly solve the problem.

    in response to If pornography and superfluous sexuality becomes a compulsive habit and occupies so much of the mind all the time, would taking the position of a "SWERF" be acceptable? For example, could you make the argument that these people who contribute to content impacting your daily livelihood deserve a good amount of public scorn, assuming their involvement was 100% voluntary? You have probably looked into this problem more than me, thanks Mr. Danskin!

    I'm going to reject your premise outright: "I'm going to attack sex workers and exclude them from my feminism because I hate porn" is a bad position. It's just bad. If you don't like porn, advocate for better porn.

    I also reject the premise that sexually explicit material "can worsen people's mental health," and can't tell if you believe that or if you're arguing that a person can be a SWERF because they believe that. Because, no, you shouldn't become a bigot because you believe something untrue. Like... obviously.

    Finally, the reason I compared this to heroin is that you can attack sex workers all you want, you can set the whole of feminism against them, you can hold rallies about the evils of pornography, but porn and sex work aren't going anywhere. It exists because there is a demand for it, and no efforts to fight the product have ever decreased the demand. And, in my opinion, the worst abuses in the porn industry exist because no one wants to talk about porn, no one wants to regulate it ethically, everyone just wants to look the other way or pretend they can eliminate it. And vilifying sex workers makes their treatment in the industry *worse*.

  28. I'm not saying we should trust a politician to do it. I would never vote for any politician on the basis of them claiming such a thing. I was more asking what if they did do it, and what then, once they did, or what would stop them from doing so (presuming, of course, that they began their ascent to power with a deliberate intent to do something like this)

    in response to What if a left-wing politician accrued power by gaming elections and playing the money game, running on and enacting policies in the interests of the corporate class, and then showed their true colors once they got to the top by turning around and backstabbing their corporate sponsors with policy going the opposite direction of what they ran on up till that point?

    Nothing's stopping them. But the set of incentives that drive politicians don't favor it.

  29. do you have any thoughts on the divide between critics and mass audiences? audience seem to love the Lion King, but critics find it empty; audiences loved Beauty & the Beast, and critics were more muddled. more broadly, you have massive successes like The Greatest Showman, which audience love so much they see over and over again, and critics find distasteful

    has this divine always been there, and is it just more visible now because of the audience?

    Critically panned movies have done great box office numbers for ages, I don't know that audience reviews are telling us much we didn't already know.

  30. If Antifa is officially labeled a terrorist organization, doesn't that mean we'll just have to call it something other than Antifa? Y'know, this, new thing, that we're having now, that sounds like Antifa but is definitely NOT Antifa?

    Y'know, like... Dogwhistling?

    Come to think of it, I've never actually heard of leftist movements using dogwhistles to obfuscate their aims and beliefs in the same way the right does. Is there a reason for that?

    My concern is that the people who would label antifa a terrorist group are the kinds of people who'll arrest basically anyone they don't like and claim they're antifa.

  31. What if a left-wing politician accrued power by gaming elections and playing the money game, running on and enacting policies in the interests of the corporate class, and then showed their true colors once they got to the top by turning around and backstabbing their corporate sponsors with policy going the opposite direction of what they ran on up till that point?

    I feel like trusting a politician to do that is extremely dangerous.

  32. From what I’ve been hearing, The Lion King remake was as soulless as I expected it to be. I don’t plan on watching it while in theaters

    this is not a question

  33. I think everyone should be taxed, after gaining a CERTAIN higher salary, (eg. more than $8000 per month)

    Not just the rich being taxed all the time

    Explain how you think taxes work.

  34. Do you think it's purposefully weird or just careless cash-grab weird? Again, I seriously can not tell anymore.

    in response to Do you consider the CGI in Cats good or bad? Cause I honestly can't tell anymore

    I think it's weird because some very weird people thought it was good. Which makes it much more fascinating than if it looked good by any traditional standards.

  35. Is it possible for the left to be made marketable?

    Yes, we need to be Ice Cold Motherfuckers.

    But, also, no, the Left is already more popular than the Right and they only win by gaming elections.

  36. If pornography and superfluous sexuality becomes a compulsive habit and occupies so much of the mind all the time, would taking the position of a "SWERF" be acceptable? For example, could you make the argument that these people who contribute to content impacting your daily livelihood deserve a good amount of public scorn, assuming their involvement was 100% voluntary? You have probably looked into this problem more than me, thanks Mr. Danskin!

    yeah, we illegalized heroin to address addiction and that worked perfectly, didn't it?

  37. Do you consider the CGI in Cats good or bad? Cause I honestly can't tell anymore

    Weird.

  38. How often do you watch other people's YouTube videos in search of inspiration and such?

    I'm pretty much always doing this passively when I watch YouTube.

    Like... my whole thing is, when I'm reading books or watching movies or playing games, a part of my brain is grinding on what effect it's having and how it's creating that effect. I take the conclusions I come away with and turn them into #content. The same part of my brain is grinding away when I watch other video essayists: not just receiving the information but also looking at how the information is communicated. It's especially interesting when video essayists tackle overlapping subjects; how does Shaun tackle PragerU vs. Big Joel? How does Dan Olson approach Rent vs. Lindsay Ellis? How does Contrapoints discuss TERFs vs. PhilosophyTube?

    When I'm figuring out how to approach a given topic, I don't consciously seek out specific YouTubers to see how they do things, but I think I instinctively lean towards people whose approach might teach me something. Does that make sense?

  39. What?!?!

    They suck blood and kill people too like dengue, yellow fever

    They're parasites. We should rid them off this world

    in response to Do you feel bad for mosquitoes?

    nobody asks to be what they are

  40. Do you feel bad for mosquitoes?

    ...well I do NOW, thanks a lot!

  41. ever think about how theirs an ace cafe

    is that like a cat cafe? are the asexuals already there or do I need to bring my own?

  42. Hi there. I was vegetarian for twelve months until health problems arose that made me need to eat meat again. Those have passed, and with clearance from my doctor, I'm going for vegan 5/7 days a week. One issue I am struggling with is just how to create filling meals. Do you have any good resources which talk about vegan meal creation, the basics? I don't have a working vocabulary of ingredients within vegan cooking like I do with meat.

    Any advice would be appreciated. Saw you were vegan in an earlier question!

    Oh gosh! I stopped eating meat in 6th grade, so trying to describe a vegan diet is like asking a fish to describe water. I would say that going straight to vegan 5 days a week is jumping into the deep end. Logistically, you'll probably have an easier time if you ease in, though I understand if your ethics are such that that doesn't feel good (it probably wouldn't for me).

    I would say, generally, to just try and keep things balanced? Make sure you're not replacing meat and dairy with the same thing all the time. WheezyWaiter did a video a little while back where he went vegan for a month and felt like garbage because he started eating way too much fiber. That's the big thing. Most concerns about getting enough protein or calcium are overblown; a regular plant-based diet will probably give you most of what you need. You have to supplement one of the B vitamins, I forget if it's 6 or 12.

    Most every vegan household has a copy of The Veganomicon, which has a shit-ton of recipes and is a good addition to any kitchen, but if you want something less overwhelming and more immediately practical? Grab The Vegan Epicure. The first two chapters are just notes on stocking a vegan pantry and a lot of dietary information on fruits/grains/vegetables, so if you find yourself low on iron or anything you can easily look up sources for it. (The recipes are not bad, either, but grab Vegan with a Vengeance ASAP.)

    West Soy vanilla is my favorite soy milk. Silk is my favorite chocolate soy milk. Yves makes the best plain seitan, West Soy the best chicken-style seitan, and Upton the best seitan chorizo. Tofu ranges from Extra Firm to Silken, and you can basically ignore everything in the middle. Earth Balance is the go-to for vegan butter, Tofutti for vegan cream cheese. Daiya has become the default regular cheese, and it's pretty good, but it's a bit boring now that every single vegan restaurant uses it, but I can't think of any other readily-available vegan cheeses so I guess it's what we're using now. The Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger are both... fine. I don't get what the fuss is about, but they're fine. You can get a complete protein from eating a grain and a legume, and quinoa has a complete protein on its own. Justin's makes a great vegan peanut butter cup. Everyone is quick to tell you that Oreos are vegan but so are Newman-O's and they're better. Oh, and Mi-Del vanilla snaps are vegan!

    There's lots of other goodies out there, but I think you'll do fine!

  43. Thoughts on cancel culture?

    Oi.

  44. After J.K. Rowling has passed, do you think her estate will insist on upholding and respecting the additional canon added to the Harry Potter universe by her tweets should they continue to create/permit the creation of derivative works in the canon?

    Rowling's tweets exist in this liminal space where they are ostensibly canon but will never, ever appear in a piece of "official" media (i.e. why isn't Dumbledore macking on Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts?!). They are essentially author headcanon. So, no, I don't think they'll be depicted in media after she passes, because they aren't now.

  45. Have you played through the rest of Telltale's Walking Dead series since your Season 2 video?

    nope.

  46. Is it okay to become so obsessed with saving money that you'll forget to invest in the life that's quickly passing you by?

    This is not a thing you need to ask me permission for.

  47. “Fascism is just capitalism in decay. It's a last ditch attempt to hold onto patriotic values like free markets, even in the face of the global, national, regional, local extreme violence wrought by free market ideals themselves.”

    That's the completely underrated Mexie (who I suspect the original asker was quoting), and who you can find here: https://youtu.be/VEKUVff7fLk

    Fascism as capitalism decay goes back some time in socialist thought. Mexie is taking the it and adapting a little to explore how capitalist systems reproduce and generate instances of typified violence. The classes unite instead of fighting each other, and rather than being internationalist (as socialists are), they become fervently nationalist. It's a system reliant on people's fear of the unknown and the reactionary nature of the uneducated (in terms of class consciousness) masses. It is a final attempt by the bourgeoisie to preserve capitalism, by infighting with other capitalist nations — a distraction from the true cause of crises, capitalism itself. You can seen some of the premise within Mexie's above quotation, because that's the structure of the original argument.

    Sorry for the spam, Danskin. Just figured I had some context to provide and that I should! Hopefully you like Mexie too!

    in response to Hi. Was watching a YouTube video and the woman who made it said, “Fascism is just capitalism in decay.” Do you think that's true, or that there is some truth to it?

    I know Mexie! She's good shit.

  48. Hi. Was watching a YouTube video and the woman who made it said, “Fascism is just capitalism in decay.” Do you think that's true, or that there is some truth to it?

    It's a phrase I'm familiar with. I'm sure it has historical context that I'm not privy to, but, at a glance, yeah, I agree.

  49. ACAB is a phrase bandied about a lot, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I'm curious to learn more about what practical things can be done to improve the role of police in people's lives, such that the C's aren't B's, or to find out other systems that can provide better alternatives than what a police force could do. Do you have any thoughts or recommendations?

    Not at this moment, sorry.

  50. Are you concerned that you're bad in someone else's story?

    It does not actively weigh on my mind, but I suppose that's always a concern.

  51. Are you planning an Alt-Right Playbook about libertarianism?

    If you already did and I've just forgotten about it sorry I'm useless

    Nothing planned at the moment, but I mention Elizabeth Sandifer's chapter on the Austrian School in the Origins of Conservatism video, which is a good place to read about libertarians.

  52. Do you think that Stranger Things overall would be any better in your eyes, had it been picked up by a normal cable tv network instead of Netflix and/or produced in another format (such as a book, a film, longer/shorter form series, or even perhaps a radio drama)?

    in response to What's up with season 2 compared to season 1? Was it the abrupt happy ending?

    I very rarely play the game of "what medium should this have been?" The Duffer Brothers made it as a TV show, and how the story plays out is determined by that choice. It would be a fundamentally different story in another medium.

    I think what parts of Stranger Things work are kind of dependent on the creative freedom Netflix allows its producers, but the fall-off in the back half of Season 1 is also endemic to the the streaming format. A friend was telling me at VidCon that Netflix tends to put all the hard work into the first few episodes because people rarely give up on a series after episode three or so, and they also don't get to adjust their storytelling mid-season based on audience reaction, so you get a lot of weak endings on the platform. But it very clearly wouldn't exist at all on any other channel, so... iunno.

  53. Do you have a favourite BNL album?

    (I just finished watching your latest video).

    Rock Spectacle, probably.

  54. What's up with season 2 compared to season 1?

    Was it the abrupt happy ending?

    in response to Do you now unabashedly still like Stranger Things S3, after seeing how they frame the American Dream vs Communism?

    Most of the plot and imagery was just rehashing Season 1. What was new was of variable quality: it's been a while since I saw a character that telegraphed "I will die or turn out to be evil" as nakedly as Bob; the infamous mess that was episode 7; the completely unnecessary rivalry Eleven feels with Max (where would she learn to see other women as competition?); the frankly contrived way they brought Eleven back from the dead at all; etc.

    I think the Morse code interrogation scene was about the only new idea and set of images that worked for me. Overall, it just didn't really hold together.

    I also thought Season 1 was weak in the back half, so it's not like I was surprised by all of this.

  55. Do you now unabashedly still like Stranger Things S3, after seeing how they frame the American Dream vs Communism?

    I haven't watched it. Dunno if I will. Season 2 wasn't very good.

  57. is glitter a spice

    in response to Is grated parmesan a spice?

    I feel like there must be a corollary to Rule 34: if you can think of it, there's glitter of it.

  58. how ethical is human semen when it comes to veganism

    completely ethical and in high demand

  59. Is grated parmesan a spice?

    I'm vegan

  60. What did you think of Lindsay and Natalie's panel? (Super cool to see they have their own panel)

    Had a great hang-out vibe, and I got to mingle with some YouTubers I admire. 11/10.

  61. Is stupid less ableist when it's directed towards an idea — for example, a "stupid" strategic move, or a stupid idea?

    in response to Is "stupid" as an insult ableist?

    I don't see why we need to split these hairs about degrees of ableism in "crazy" or "stupid" when talking about objects rather than people. If you decide that a word is troublesome, and you're already going to the effort of swapping out different words when referring to people, why cling to it in other contexts? What is so special about these words? Either give them up or don't.

  63. Relating to the earlier questions: Do you think that using words like "crazy" or "insane" when referring to non-human things is ok? Like "that party was crazy".

    It's easy enough to say "that party was wild."

  64. What do you think of response videos to CinemaSins that point out all of the mistakes and/or inaccuracies in their "work"?

    They're fun!

  65. Since my previous (unanswered) question about whether it's common for managers to be in unions, I've learned that it is illegal for managers to unionize in the US. I can understand keeping them out of the same union as those they manage, but I can't see why it should be illegal for them to organize, when low level supervisors are only *almost* as screwed by high level ones.

    Do you think that it should be illegal for managers to unionize? Do you know how it works out in countries where it isn't illegal?

    Sorry I didn't answer your earlier question, I just don't know much about unions.

  66. I'm new to this conversation, but my strategy in that kind of situation is to address the idea rather than the person making it. "That's a ridiculous idea", &c.

    in response to what would be a good non-ableist alternative in the context of saying someone is not particularly smart, aware or considerate?

    I still don't see the need to dismiss the idea outright when it's genuinely worth at least *asking* why "retarded" is deemed unacceptable but "idiot" is not. I don't see what it costs people to at least entertain the notion that more words are ableist than the ones we've agreed upon.

  67. Should we socially motivate someone to engage with fringe media, like stuff that includes sexual abuse, or excessive violence, nasty stuff, that they may immediately find distressing, either because of PTSD or knee-jerk repulsion, in the hopes that their perspectives would be widened by engaging with material that necessitates the inclusion of said uncomfortable topics?

    Obviously not pressuring someone into inducing a panic attack, but in the sense that acknowledging that your perspective on issues are framed by your own lived experience and that consuming stories from people with different perspectives is a good way to widen your understanding.

    For instance, I have a friend who refuses to watch anything with sex workers in it because they find the practice repulsive and disgusting, even including material which frames sex work as a last resort for lesser advantaged folks. Should I be encouraging them to widen their perspective through media, or do they have a right to insulate themselves as they see fit?

    So... exposing someone to media with sex workers in it serves some purpose, because attitudes about sex work in this country are super backwards and people need to learn how to see them as people and as laborers. But what is the purpose of acclimating people to excessive violence and sexual abuse? Are those things we need people more desensitized to? I suppose it would depend on the portrayal. If it's revealing something about the nature of violence, the nature of abuse, that people often don't understand, then maybe it's worth pushing to watch it, but it's super dependent on the media itself, and how it approaches the subject, and the person's specific relationship to it.

    Also, you should never pressure anyone with PTSD to watch something triggering. That is *not* going to lead to anything good.

  68. what would be a good non-ableist alternative in the context of saying someone is not particularly smart, aware or considerate?

    in response to Is "stupid" as an insult ableist?

    So, OK, if we're gonna do this, I guess we can do this.

    Most terms for unintelligence - like stupid, moron, idiot, dumb, etc. - were, at some point, medical terms for physiological problems that got genericized into insults. The fact progressives have all agreed not to say "retarded" anymore but still use idiot and moron is kind of weird, right? Because the same logic should apply.

    If we dig under the surface, the common thread here is accusing a person of being unable to think intelligently. And that's more or less the same as saying they have a cognitive impairment. So I favor language that implies a person is acting *beneath* their intelligence. It's a little odd, because most of the words are either cutesy - fool, ding-dong, dweeb - or vulgar - dipshit, most often. There aren't a lot of connotatively-neutral terms for acting beneath one's intelligence, because they've generally been treated as synonyms for "stupid," which retained the most neutral connotation.

    Probably one of these or a new term would take on a more generic, neutral connotation if we phased "stupid" out, but, for now, you tend to sound kind of funny or kind of harsh.

    This is not yet a hill I'm willing to die on. I have stopped using those terms myself (and other ableist terms like "crazy"), but haven't yet started calling people out for them, because the discourse isn't there yet and I don't think it will be productive. I'm happy to talk about it when people ask, or if they seem receptive to the idea, but I don't encourage people to drop it the way I do with "retarded." But I think talking calmly about it now will make it easier to request change later.

    Folks like Hasan dismissing the conversation outright just isn't thoughtful or helpful, and it's that kneejerk dismissiveness that troubles me about the dirtbag left.

  71. How do you reach people in the position that games (other mediums too, I suppose) are for entertainment, and any criticism or analysis that suggests there should be a wider message or purpose to the game is harmful or unnecessary.

    E.g "Ruining my games with politics" or "I just want to shoot people in my video game, why would anything else matter?"

    If I knew I would've told you.

  72. have you played Psychonauts and if so do you have an opinion on it?

    (if you haven't, I recommend it, it's a really awesome game.)

    I played it for a while when it got ported to Mac, but the port was buggy as hell and I eventually gave up partway through. I've heard the port has been improved since so one of these days I'll re-download it and try again.

    It was really interesting and creative, but the gameplay was kinda janky? It wasn't an issue during the parts I played, but I know it gets really hard at the end and I can't imagine that core loop being entertaining at a higher difficulty.

  73. How good are you at chess?

    I know how to win in 4 moves provided the person I'm playing against doesn't know that trick. That's about it.

  74. Is "stupid" as an insult ableist?

    in response to Do you like Hasan Piker?

    I have, personally, stopped using it.

  75. what about ghouls?

    in response to ghosts or spirits?

    what about geists?

Anon commented:
Ian replied: