CuriousCat Archive Page 7 of 202

  1. That might be true for specifically Stalin nowadays because of the legacy he created, but the people who most dislike China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. aren’t democratic socialists, it’s people who lived through it. No one who leaves Venezuela is going to think "the problem with my country isn’t socialism, it’s the wrong TYPE of socialism being implemented!" You could say that they should become liberals instead, but the Democratic Party does harbor self-avowed socialists like Bernie Sanders, so why would they feel comfortable sharing that space?

    in response to No but conservatives are more anti-communist than liberals, conservatives practically make it part of their identity. So of course people leaving those countries are going to be more enticed by the right than by liberals.

    I think a lot of people leaving socialist countries are themselves socialists who are furious with the way their movement was wrested from their hands and given to authoritarians, and I think many would be highly skeptical of a conservative party because "promising to empower the people and then taking all the power for themselves" is all conservatives DO.

    I get that this "well, I think some people are amoebae whose politics are entirely defined by moving towards or away from stimulus" is an ass-pull meant to win an argument, but c'mon dude. people have brains and come to all kinds of conclusions. I've been burned by many lefty politicians, and it didn't do anything but radicalize me further left.

  2. With or without the wing cap from Mario 64?

    in response to YOU ARE NOW MARIO. Your first act?

    obviously can't do that first thing, gotta unlock the wing cap by standing in the castle entrance and looking up at the rotunda and then pushing the red button in the special stage, GAWD

  4. If voters who would otherwise vote Republican choose not to based on a lie perpetrated by the Democratic party, then the dems have utilized the spread of misinformation for political gain. Just like Trump and the alt right do with impunity. Which only serves to further the dissolution of American democracy.

    in response to (DA) Misinformation is misinformation, and its use as a campaign tactic on *either* side undermines our democracy.

    your contention is that some Republicans not only believe Vance fucked a couch but that, while they would have otherwise voted for a man accused of 26 counts of sexual assault including the rape of a 13-year-old, his VP pick fucking a couch is the bridge too far?

    c'mon dude. I know it's against "the rules" to bring these abstract arguments down to reality, but you don't actually believe these voters exist.

  5. What do you think of Kamala cutting off Palestine supporters in her speech?

    not feelin' good about that

  6. Why do all socialist countries become dictatorships?

    the most common way for a socialist country to become a dictatorship is for the US to overthrow the head of state and install a dictator

  7. Do conservatives ever do ANYTHING good at all?

    sometimes they fuck couches and it's real funny

  9. (DA) Misinformation is misinformation, and its use as a campaign tactic on *either* side undermines our democracy.

    in response to Ian, what do you make of the JD Vance “rumours”, and the use the left is currently getting out of them? We’ve been used to petty lies and outright libel being used by the right to push their agenda and endanger both people and progressive causes. Do you think this is borrowing from the alt right playbook?

    wat

  10. boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobs

    *sheds tear* hell yeah

  11. YOU ARE NOW MARIO. Your first act?

    triple jump

  12. You get 500k, no strings attached, straight to your bank account. What are your first 24 hours spent doing?

    paying debts

  13. Favorite moment in melee commentary

    I have a lot of really random ones that I repeat to myself but don't expect anyone to recognize ("WAUW, Jeapie, WAUW!" and "WHERE is my AIRHORN?!"), but I really love the end of that Falcon round robin where Toph just loses his mind: "oh- OH- OHHHHHHH. LORD! WHAT THE CRAP?! DID THAT JUST HAPPEN??? LOO-OORD!!. WHAT? WHAT? (I just knocked my bike over, bro.)"

  14. Which low tier Melee character would you enjoy becoming an A tier character (just below Falcon) the most?

    Ness, probably. Young Link, Mario, and Bowser are all really fun to watch at a high level, and I'm always sad that they're so unviable that you never see them in tournaments. but Ness is probably the MOST fun to watch when he's ON.

  15. No but conservatives are more anti-communist than liberals, conservatives practically make it part of their identity. So of course people leaving those countries are going to be more enticed by the right than by liberals.

    in response to Do you think people who become conservatives because they flee authoritarian socialist countries are bad people? You’ve said conservatives are all racist but I don’t think it’s fair to people like Yeonmi Park who only became conservatives because they oppose the Stalinist government that oppressed them.

    no one hates Stalin more than democratic socialists

  16. Should we purge tankies from our ranks?

    what "ranks"? you mean Twitter?

  17. Is there a difference between apartheid done purely for the superiority of one ethnic group over another like in South Africa and apartheid done for the protection of one group from another that has attacked them multiple times before, like in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories? Not trying to justify it but it might give a better idea of how the situation could be resolved.

    that's how every apartheid views itself

  18. (DA) I thought Al Gore was more to the left than Bill Clinton. Clinton was a third-way centrist, wasn't he?

    in response to Does Harris picking the most progressive VP pick give you confidence that the party is moving further left?

    so... in the same way that Hillary Clinton was, in some ways, slightly to the left of the Obama Presidency, Gore was, in some ways, slightly to the left of Bill Clinton's Presidency. the reason Hillary represented a swing back to the center is that Obama CAMPAIGNED as a reformer. he governed as a centrist, but still had a lot of clout from having positioned himself as left-of-the-establishment. being succeeded by a centrist meant a continuation of what Obama WAS and an abandonment of what Obama had originally PROMISED.

    basically all the same is true of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Clinton was remembered as this progressive hippie who managed to sneak his way into the establishment by being a savvy strategist. he campaigned as left-of-the-establishment, mobilizing the Black and youth vote, and showing off his progressive bona fides. honestly, until Obama came along and took over that role, that's how we remembered him. this reassessment, where we admit he was a third-way centrist, is recent. he was the goldenboy for YEARS.

    it's already happening with Obama's legacy, too. we're forgetting how progressive his campaign was, how it flew in the face of all liberal common sense, and it's why the inevitable pivot back to "boring white centrists" with Biden was so galling. seeing Harris borrow more from Obama the upstart candidate than Obama the centrist President has been nice, and might mean we're ready to reassess his legacy same as we did Clinton. but I'm also bummed that her progressive bona fides are starting out even less impressive than Obama's, and I wonder how hard she's gonna pivot to the center once she's in office (assuming she makes it).

  19. Do you think people who become conservatives because they flee authoritarian socialist countries are bad people? You’ve said conservatives are all racist but I don’t think it’s fair to people like Yeonmi Park who only became conservatives because they oppose the Stalinist government that oppressed them.

    it's not like the only thing to be other than a Stalinist is a racist, fam

  20. Have you read The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson? Based on your videos it seems right up your alley! Some of the most affective fiction I’ve read recently.

    a friend raved about that series on Cohost, I might check it out

  22. Ian, what do you make of the JD Vance “rumours”, and the use the left is currently getting out of them? We’ve been used to petty lies and outright libel being used by the right to push their agenda and endanger both people and progressive causes. Do you think this is borrowing from the alt right playbook?

    are we drawing a parallel between Trump claiming Obama isn't an American citizen and The Left saying Vance fucked a couch? is that where we are now?

  23. Would you date a libertarian?

    I don't have a rule against it, but it's hard to imagine us vibing, you know?

  24. I think Fing the Father may lead into a new Son, tho

    in response to FMK: Father, Son, Holy Ghost

    wait, is there a possibly that I'm pegrent?

  25. In your opinion do politicians who present themselves as progressives like Obama really intend to govern as progressives but then get bullied by the party power brokers & donors into governing as centrists; or is it a deceit from the get-go?

    I don't know and I don't really worry about it. the system we have built is institutionally resistant to reform. this means people who promise reform, more often than not, with either be liars or failures. I dunno which one Obama is, there's no way for me to know for sure, and the outcome is the same either way.

  26. Danskin sounds like a spell in a souls game

    in response to Do you have a thick skin?

    no it doesn't

  27. Do you think Hamas could have been deradicalized if Israel responded to October 7th diplomatically instead of with military action?

    I think Hamas would have less political influence in Palestine if Israel were less of an imperial presence

  28. Do you have a thick skin?

    I have danskin

  29. Does Harris picking the most progressive VP pick give you confidence that the party is moving further left?

    it tells me they are following the Obama playbook of presenting yourself as progressive instead of the Gore/Kerry/Hillary/Biden playbook of presenting yourself as centrist. that did not result in much leftward movement in the Democratic Party in 2008-2016; Obama governed as much more of a centrist than he campaigned as, and the Party tried to swing back to the center with Hillary just like they tried to follow Bill with Gore.

    we'll see what a Harris/Walz cabinet actually looks like - assuming they win and the results aren't overthrown by the ACTIVE MILITANT FASCIST MOVEMENT THAT ALREADY ATTEMPTED A COUP - but so far this is less shitty than I was expecting. that's as close to "hopeful" as I get with Democrats.

  30. If ancient Greek mythology is any indication, the worst-case scenario for sex with a god is considerably worse than "a good story."

    in response to FMK: Father, Son, Holy Ghost

    you give me an FMK with the Greek pantheon, you'll get VERY different answers

  31. adding to the pile of "hey talk about why you hate d lynch movies"

    I find this a weird question. if you've seen David Lynch movies, you can gather they're not for everyone.

  33. FMK: Father, Son, Holy Ghost

    F Father cuz worst-case it's a good story
    M Holy Ghost cuz I'm a gambler
    K Son cuz he's proved he can take it

  34. Do liberals think they’ll benefit everyone?

    in response to Do conservatives actually think their ideology will benefit everyone?

    oh yes, liberals think they're the bestest best and that voting for them is in everyone's interest, no matter how many decades pass without doing a damn thing for huge parts of their constituency

  36. How much of our life is determined at birth?

    very little is DETERMINED at birth. more like, certain spectra of possibilities are defined by your genes. these spectra are very wide, but some things will be possible for you that aren't for others, and vice versa. no guarantee you'll have/do those things - being seven feet tall doesn't guarantee you'll play basketball, but being 4'10" all but guarantees you won't.

  37. Any hopes for the next Spider-Verse movie?

    I feel like the last one had a lot going on with, like, how tragedy and failure does or doesn't define us. it seemed like, with Miles' parents/Gwen's dad, that was manifesting as "you gotta let your kids make their own mistakes." but with Miguel, it was "you gotta let the bad things happen even if they could be prevented." so I'm curious how they're gonna reconcile those two themes.

  38. did you see that video of the mouse sitting in his home which is an apple

    THIS JUST SHOWED UP ON MY FEED IT'S SO GOOD!!!!!

  39. Who made the best Mrs Coulter? Nicole Kidman or Ruth Wilson?

    in response to (DA) Better than the Daniel Craig version though, right?

    Kidman was closer to what I imagined in the book, but Wilson was just PHENOMENAL.

  41. What sparked the smart video essay music video?

    I noticed how often Gymnopedie No. 1 was used, and then noticed the ascent of Clair de Lune. and I remembered how many film projects in art school used Moonlight Sonata. and then I just committed to the bit.

  42. How did the show fall short? I thought it was a very smart adaptation that stuck the landing.

    in response to What's your favorite story featuring multiverse shenanigans? Everything Everywhere All At Once or His Dark Materials (book or TV show)

    dæmons were amazing but clearly so expensive they were barely onscreen, costuming was bland, and, while I liked Dafne Keen in Logan, she was ALL WRONG for Lyra. just episode after episode of neutral expressions.

  43. Zak Gariss doesn't work at Deck Nine anymore if it makes you feel better.

    in response to (DA) Are you looking forward to LiS Double Exposure?

    I think I knew, but the fact he was there so long points to bad management. not a cancelable situation, but takes the wind outta my sails, you know?

  45. (DA) Are you looking forward to LiS Double Exposure?

    in response to What's your favorite story featuring multiverse shenanigans? Everything Everywhere All At Once or His Dark Materials (book or TV show)

    I'm not actively looking forward to any of the LiS games since Dontnod stopped making them, and feel even shittier about them after the toxicity and layoffs at Deck Nine. but Deck Nine has done some good work with the series in the past, so I'm not counting them out with making a good entry. waiting for reviews.

  47. Do conservatives actually think their ideology will benefit everyone?

    everyone who "matters"

  48. (Diff anon) Does it have to be movie studios or could it be one particularly wealthy sugar daddy?

    in response to how to get buff like Hugh Jackman

    I suppose, assuming your sugar daddy specifically wants you to look like Hugh Jackman

  49. What's your favorite story featuring multiverse shenanigans? Everything Everywhere All At Once or His Dark Materials (book or TV show)

    both excellent choices (but HDM book > show). I also love the Spider-Verse movies. Coherence was a good movie. oh, and the Life is Strange comic (not counting the first game only cuz it's less multiversal than time travelly).

    probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

  50. tried out balatro?

    I'm steering clear of the procedurally-generated card games. I know myself and don't need a new addiction.

  51. What would be the funniest thing to put in a trick or treater’s bag? At first I thought loose baked beans but that would be too mean spirited to be worth it since you’d be getting the other candy dirty. The funniest thing I’ve come up with so far is loose, dry beans.

    loose pixie stick powder

  52. Are you afraid of getting older?

    yes, and also no. I am afraid of death, sad about missed opportunities, struggling with the ways my body changes and fails. I have also unambiguously become a better and happier person with each passing decade. so maybe it's worth the tradeoffs.

  53. Can parasocial relationships be healthy?

    yup!

  54. how to get buff like Hugh Jackman

    have movie studios pay for 25 years of trainers

  55. Was the Iraq war really about oil?

    the Iraq war was about a lot of things. having influence in an oil-rich region. having an ongoing crisis to justify conservative policy now that the Cold War was over. giving Bush an achievable win like "kill Saddam" rather than "find Bin Laden." reestablishing the US as an imperial rather than diplomatic force.

  56. a photo of Brennan Lee Mulligan

    *screenshot*
    *twitter post*

  58. Why do you answer some questions seriously?

    in response to Why don't you answer questions seriously?

    some questions spark worthwhile conversation

  59. In your experience, what are the best methods of infuriating conservatives, forcing them to play defense, and turning the public against them?

    oh, I don't know. I would've told you if I did. I think one of the issues is that liberals and lefties are looking for some kinda rule that they can employ in every instance, but conservatives are an evolving animal. right now, calling them "weird" is working. that probably wouldn't have worked ten years ago because they hadn't gone so obviously batshit and too much of the liberal establishment wanted to play nice with them. they had to go DEEP into Qanon and Pizzagate and Flat Earth before enough of the establishment was ready to call them li'l freaks. LeftTube has been calling them weirdos this whole time, but it couldn't catch on.

    so I can give broad advice: yes, ridicule is effective; yes, shows of organized strength are effective; yes, pushback from authority is effective; yes, radicalizing to the Left is effective. but what FORM should that take in any given instance? varies wildly.

    I wish I were savvy enough to tell you HOW to employ these tactics, but I haven't discovered that insight in myself. I can tell you why one thing worked and another didn't, and hopefully a better tactician can make use of that. but I seem to be more of an after-the-fact guy.

  60. Are some Christians not against pornography?

    of course. plenty of people who make pornography are Christians. you know Jesus hung out with sex workers, yeah?

  61. Why don't you answer questions seriously?

    bazinga

  63. Diff Anon:
    Wait, then who are you using Michaels Cera for?

    in response to Thoughts on Ian Danskin casting?

    hey fuck you

  64. Which of his roles do you most see yourself in?

    in response to Thoughts on Ian Danskin casting?

    Ian Danskin

  65. Do you have a Sex Bacon Number (degrees of people you've fucked that gets you to Kevin Bacon)

    I do not have a list of everyone Kevin Bacon has ever fucked handy, but if you can provide one I'll do some calculations

  66. Thoughts on Ian Danskin casting?

    in response to Thoughts on the Dr Doom casting?

    Edward Norton

  67. (different anon) Speaking as a man who has never had sex and has also never felt remotely compelled to call himself an incel, volcel, or any related term, it's my opinion that there is no such thing as being an incel "without the woman-hating." I maintain that the only way you get to be an incel is if you look at the connotations associated with that word and think they apply to you.

    Frankly, I think it's rather unhealthy to define oneself by what one is not or what one hasn't done, but that's a whole other discussion.

    in response to Is it still a bad thing to be a technical incel, without the woman-hating?

    I agree that's what it means now. the term was originally coined by a woman writing a blog about her sexual frustration, and wasn't about woman-hating so much as commiserating in the difficulties of modern sexual politics. but, similar to "men's rights activism," as soon as shitty dudes heard about it they colonized it to shit and it's beyond reclamation.

  68. Was Israel basically founded by Holocaust survivors that saw how Nazi Germany oppressed them and thought “now it’s our turn”?

    I don't know the history very well, but my understanding is Israel was GIVEN to Holocaust survivors by the Allies. it was a colonial project backed by the most powerful nations on Earth. do not ascribe this oppression to the Jews at large; it's not like they had the means to displace Arabs on their own. every evil this Israel has done has been condoned an bankrolled by majority white, majority Christian nations. most Israeli Jews aren't descended from Holocaust survivors; I would sooner point to the nature of Israel's existence than some characteristic of surviving trauma - that's some Ken Levine shit. you found a nation on settler colonialism, the nation is gonna perpetuate settler colonialism.

  69. Thoughts on the Dr Doom casting?

    none whatsoever

  70. Is it still a bad thing to be a technical incel, without the woman-hating?

    I wouldn't use that term, it's irrevocably tainted now. but it's not bad to be a virgin. frustrating, I'm sure.

  72. is there any reason I can't seem to find any democratic socialists? am I just not looking hard enough, or is there something about the ideology that makes unpopular?

    in response to Is social democracy a subset of liberalism?

    ...they're the largest leftist group in America. https://www.dsausa.org/

  73. Do you think categorizing people as "normies" is a healthy way of viewing the world?

    depends on your connotation, I guess

  74. Different anon. This is why I’ve always said Pascal’s Wager is bunk. If God is real and He wants us to believe in Him, I don’t think He’d be satisfied with you believing just for the chance of going to heaven!

    in response to Was Hitler a sinner? He didn’t personally break any of the 10 commandments or the 7 deadly sins as far as I’m aware.

    if He didn't want you to do things just to get into Heaven, He probably shouldn't have told you He'd reward you with Heaven if you do what He says

  75. Favorite Overwatch character?

    in response to TF2 or Overwatch?

    Zangief

Anon commented:
Ian replied: