CuriousCat Archive Page 98 of 202

  1. The latter do exist, but they are only popular in porn game circles, and aren't exactly adventure games, like maybe there's some point-and-click and choice-making, but that's it
    the biggest one I can think of is Summertime Saga.

    in response to different anon here but are ya'll talking about like those flash web porn adventure games or are there popular big porn adventure games i just don't know about?

    I guess we'd have to get into the ontologies of dating sims, which I'd probably categorize as a subset of visual novels, and get into whether or not visual novels are a type of adventure game or a separate genre with a lot of overlap, before I could weigh in on whether Summertime Saga is a good porn adventure game

    and that is not a sentence I expected to write today

  2. How so?

    in response to Are Training Day and The Shield copaganda?

    because audiences either agree that Denzel is, despite his methods, a good cop who puts the bad guys down, or they think Ethan Hawke is a good cop for putting him down

    either way, the institution of policing itself is unquestioned

  3. I've been trying to learn a lot about revolutions (inspired by Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast) and I know you've mentioned you've also been trying to learn more about them. If you've started that deep dive in earnest, do you have any other materials you'd recommend as being useful thus far? Books, other podcasts, articles, etc.? Thanks!

    I'm not planning to start any deep dives until I wrap up Alt-Right Playbook, but I got China Mieville's book on the Russian Revolution, I can recommend Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, and I will probably be listening to some of the Revolutions podcast.

  6. (I was actually pretending to be the DNC talking to its queer/minority/women/immigrant/vulnerable voters, I should've made that more explicit)

    in response to Well who else are you gonna vote for? The Republicans?

    yeah, fam, I can't give you the benefit of the doubt when you're anon

  7. Is this more of a statement than a question?

    this is more of a gag than an answer, but...

  8. You should really cite the books you parrot

    in response to I am *not* defending capitalism. I'm simply arguing that it would be better to reform the system we have than adopt or invent a new one. Better the devil you know, etc. A better question, I feel, would be why do *you* think any other economic system would be better than the one we have. Because what you fail to realize is that no economic model *requires* people to seek out as much profit as possible. It's not the economy that's *desperate* to undermine the laws that keep them in check. It's just people. Acting in their own self-interest. And no economic model can incentivize altruistic behavior enough to meaningfully account for that.

    woohoohoo, lookie here and the anon who apparently has the source for every single scrap of information they've ever consumed memorized

  9. Are Training Day and The Shield copaganda?

    I haven't seen The Shield, but Training Day is

  10. Well who else are you gonna vote for? The Republicans?

    in response to What's your biggest disappointment with him so far?

    look, right now the liberal/conservative divide is a choice between "things slowly get worse" and "things get worse quickly." you have to be a monster to allow "things get worse quickly" to happen, but don't shut me down for saying it's a shit choice.

  14. Is it Orwell's fault that conservatives love 1984 so much?

    I don't think he can be blamed for not anticipating an audience that wouldn't exist for another 30-50 years.

  15. I mean, you’re kind of describing japan which famously is a post-gender utopia

    in response to I just got out of an argument with someone claiming that specifically censoring nipples and vaginas in porn (even drawings) would decrease objectification of women, and advocating for outlawing the viewing of such things by anyone without a vagina would lower sexual assault rates. Is there any validity to that, or is it just weird terfery?

    hentai has no shortage of nipples

  16. Say, for the sake of argument, that I actually wanted to hear why you think Broken Sword is so bad

    if I do this series on the history of adventure games, you'll hear it eventually

  17. I am *not* defending capitalism. I'm simply arguing that it would be better to reform the system we have than adopt or invent a new one. Better the devil you know, etc. A better question, I feel, would be why do *you* think any other economic system would be better than the one we have. Because what you fail to realize is that no economic model *requires* people to seek out as much profit as possible. It's not the economy that's *desperate* to undermine the laws that keep them in check. It's just people. Acting in their own self-interest. And no economic model can incentivize altruistic behavior enough to meaningfully account for that.

    in response to The kind of lobbying I'm talking about is the kind done by corporations and special interest groups that's tantamount to legalized bribery. You illegalize it through campaign finance reform and removing conflicts of interest.

    well, first off: capitalism does, in fact, require you to seek as much profit as possible. that's what the incentives are. because, under capitalism, there is no stasis. because you're in competition with others for a finite number of consumers that have finite amounts of money, your business is either growing or shrinking. if you are staying the course, and your competitor is growing, then you are going to shrink as they poach your customers. that's what profit IS: it's getting back more than you put in so your business can expand.

    the argument that selfishness is human nature is capitalist realism in action. like, have you read about cities under siege? how, civilians living in a warzone and society as we know it is not operating? everybody expects it to be like The Walking Dead, where everyone's fucking each other over, but, actually, people tend to be incredibly cooperative in these scenarios, because you need other people in order to survive and acting selfishly means people won't help you. under a different set of incentives, people behave dramatically differently. the narrative that humans can't help but be selfish is a lie, and it's a lie capitalists want to perpetuate so you can't imagine the world being any different.

  18. 1. Can you recommend me some texts/essays about police abolition?
    2. Is there a difference between defunding the police and abolish it?

    https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing

    they are different but not mutually-exclusive. defunding - reducing police budgets and putting it into community-oriented law enforcement that treats crime as a public health issue - can be an alternative to full abolition or can be a step in the process towards it.

  19. I just got out of an argument with someone claiming that specifically censoring nipples and vaginas in porn (even drawings) would decrease objectification of women, and advocating for outlawing the viewing of such things by anyone without a vagina would lower sexual assault rates. Is there any validity to that, or is it just weird terfery?

    wait wait wait, so the porn itself would not change, you would still have unsimulated sex that is often transactional in the narrative, like a woman's car is about to be towed but the towtruck guy says he can bend the rules if she bangs him and she's all "UGH" but then secretly loves it, and though she screams like she's having the time of her life there's never a moment that even pretends to be a female orgasm, and there's all the depersonalizing language of "those tits" or "that ass," never "YOUR" tits, "YOUR ass," and the camera still points at the woman and usually cuts the man's face out of frame because the audience is presumed male by default and wants to pretend it is the man, never acknowledging that the audience might be straight women, or straight men who still find the man aesthetically interesting, and girl-on-girl is still categorized under "Straight" because it's being sold to men

    but you pixelate the naughty bits?

    yeah no

  20. Does it block that annoying purple "Disable Adblock or else, peasant" sign on Twitch?

    in response to which adblocker do you use?

    probably not

  21. Sorry, just time spent following Scott Benson just kinda gaslit me into thinking every single Left Twitter American either grew up in or currently lives in, like, backwoods Alabama

    in response to Q to see what part of the US you live in: -Do you know your local church people (priests/pastors/really devout Christians), and do you have the “normal person” variant or the “swamp fundie” variant? -How many people that you personally know own guns, and how many of them aren’t hardline far-right types, or are even halfway sane and/or decent people?

    nope, I'm from California and currently live in New England

  22. Q to see what part of the US you live in:
    -Do you know your local church people (priests/pastors/really devout Christians), and do you have the “normal person” variant or the “swamp fundie” variant?
    -How many people that you personally know own guns, and how many of them aren’t hardline far-right types, or are even halfway sane and/or decent people?

    I live in Massachusetts

  23. What's your biggest disappointment with him so far?

    in response to so, how're you feelin' 'bout that new president dude so far, eh?

    "$2000 checks for everyone immediately" morphing into "1400 checks eventually for fewer people than last time"

    We hold both houses of Congress, there's no reason not to shoot the moon except that libs don't want to. We knew it was gonna be like this, just... thought he could wait A LITTLE LONGER before pissing his good will away.

  25. Why are all the sidebar ads I see on Youtube gross pictures of earwax, liver injuries, or lotions?

    this is why you get adblockers, mate

  26. What part of speech is 'bjizz'?

    in response to Coolest way to cum a whole bjizz

    oh cum on now

  27. Hows the vaccine distribution been going where you live?

    I don't know, actually. I've been paying attention to when it gets to my friends (several already have it because they are deemed crucial workers) and when it gets to me (not for a while because YouTube isn't "necessary for the health of society" of some shit ::wanking motion::). I don't know how good we've been at getting it to the people who need it most.

  28. When I look at your cc icon I imagine you as a submarine or torpedo flying right toward me, is that cool or bad

    yes

  29. Coolest way to cum a whole bjizz

    "cum" is a noun

  30. what's your favorite thing to do that feels illegal but is in reality perfectly legal?

    be this good at my job

  31. so, how're you feelin' 'bout that new president dude so far, eh?

    he did a bunch of good stuff out the gate but didn't take long to start disappointing us

  32. Would you be interested if there were?

    in response to You could've made an amazing jockey.

    I wasn't much for sport of any kind in high school, and my sister was very much a horse girl, so she would've done it first and I would've refused out of sibling rivalry

    but today I'd regret that I had the chance to ride horses for free and didn't take it

  33. Strict limits on political ads is a thing that a lot of countries have, but that's not going to vibe with your constitution (which is one reason among many that your constitution sucks and should be scrapped).

    in response to The kind of lobbying I'm talking about is the kind done by corporations and special interest groups that's tantamount to legalized bribery. You illegalize it through campaign finance reform and removing conflicts of interest.

    they have strict limits *for now*

  35. It's really fucking bleak. [Peter Coffin Spoilers] Please read no further if you wish to remain in blissful ignorance. Basically for the last 2 days or so Peter has been saying the AOC mislead her audience because she only THOUGHT she was moments from death but after the confusion was over it turns out that she wasn't. Personally I don't see a distinction there. People at the capitol came to do harm to her. She knew she was in danger, and she was. The danger just wasn't as imminent as it must have felt at the time. Doesn't make it less real. They have also been suggesting that her discussing her trauma is inappropriate and manipulative. Oh, and because she endorsed Joe Biden over Donald Trump, thereby ending the metoo movement, it is wrong of her to discuss her sexual assault. Of course, this being Peter Coffin, this is all stretched out over days worth of tweets (interspersed with tweets about how obsessed "breadtube" is with AOC and how they don't talk about working class issues instead.) So, it is possible that I have misinterpreted things. If they read this they would absolutely say that I did. But that's about the long and short of it.

    in response to WTF is going on with Peter Coffin?!? I used to be a fan of theirs and kind of accepted they had class reductionist takes on twitter, but they've really gone off the rails lately?!? I dunno, am I just a neolib girlboss for thinking their hatred for AOC is out of line?

    Peter has cribbed the "long, jargon-filled diatribe that let's you imply awful things but respond to all criticism with 'that's not what I meant'" thing from Jordan Peterson.

  37. Could you name some famous men who exhibit non-toxic masculinity?

    in response to Yeah sure but you just focus on one aspect of it as if it represents the whole. Masculinity also: - gets men laid more - convinces men's families to accept them - makes men physically strong - convinces society to accept men I have an idea in my head of how you think a neo-masculine man should act and I've met men like that who are cool but 95% of the time it does not play out that way. 95% of the time it comes off as stressed out and unlikeable, and men do not want to be seen like that. Just curious, would you support men going to therapy if you knew it would make them *more* traditionally masculine?

  38. And I would love it, if you could list some traits of non-toxic masculinity too. It's quite clear what toxic masculinity is, non-toxic masculinity is not so clear though.

    in response to Yeah sure but you just focus on one aspect of it as if it represents the whole. Masculinity also: - gets men laid more - convinces men's families to accept them - makes men physically strong - convinces society to accept men I have an idea in my head of how you think a neo-masculine man should act and I've met men like that who are cool but 95% of the time it does not play out that way. 95% of the time it comes off as stressed out and unlikeable, and men do not want to be seen like that. Just curious, would you support men going to therapy if you knew it would make them *more* traditionally masculine?

    as I mentioned, strength, protection, providing for loved ones, are all associated with masculinity and are wonderful traits. just, you know, men don't have a monopoly on them.

  39. What if you're old enough to remember 9/11 but what you remember is that in elementary school they turned on the crts in class for the first time and you got to get out of school early

    in response to anyone old enough to remember 9/11 is old, boomer

    who let you use this website, child?

  40. The kind of lobbying I'm talking about is the kind done by corporations and special interest groups that's tantamount to legalized bribery. You illegalize it through campaign finance reform and removing conflicts of interest.

    in response to Just because "money is power" it doesn't mean that without the lobbies these businesses would have no mechanism to petition the government for deregulation. If we pass legislation that removes the ability for corporate interests to influence government then those regulations that you admit have led to economic prosperity in the past can be sustainable. Money may be power, but its not fuckin' magic. Neither is it (or capitalism) the root of all evil, for that matter.

    Okay but what are the margins? It's illegal to donate more than a fairly small amount directly to a candidate, so must financial lobbying is done with fundraisers and Political Action Groups. A fundraiser means some rich guy throws a party where the candidate can hobnob with all the other rich guys and get maximum donations from all of them. A PAC means people make ads supporting the candidate that are not formally associated with them; it's just "hey, we, a group of people with money and media access, just want you to know we think this candidate is great!"

    Do we know how to illegalize these things? Can you control whether or not a candidate goes to a party? Most of these fundraisers are not FORMALLY fundraisers, they're just social gatherings. Okay, maybe you illegalize all third-party donations; every candidate gets the same budget for their campaign, payed by tax dollars. I support that. What about PACs? Can you make it so no TV show, commercial, radio spot, etc. speaks positively of a candidate who is running for office? What constitutes "endorsement"? Is a bunch of people tweeting support for Bernie Sanders endorsement? Because it's fairly easy to drum that kind of response up without any formalized agreement.

    Not saying you can't seriously cap these things with laws, but, remember: PACs weren't really a thing before Citizens United v. FEC, which was a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling. Republicans are the pro-capitalism party, many of them are wealthy businessmen who went into politics to change laws to benefit their friends and families. It's extremely common for people, once they're done working in government, to get jobs on Wall Street, so it's in their best interest to do things Wall Street likes while in office. So Republicans, when they can't get deregulation passed through Congress, they pack the courts. They now own the Supreme Court. We can reform campaign finance, but all they have to do now is challenge it until it makes its way to the Supreme Court and their compatriots will get the laws thrown out.

    And keep in mind how many laws limiting conflicts of interest are already illegal! Trump not divesting from his businesses was against the Constitution - he was impeachable from day one. Laws only matter if the people in power want to enforce them.

    You see where I'm going with this? You have an economic model that REQUIRES people seek as much profit as possible and in which profit yields immense power. There's no roadblock they won't try to erode. Yes, you can pass laws, and they may make things good for a great while, but you've created a system where your government and your economy have polar opposite incentives. You have an economy DESPERATE to undermine the laws that keep them in check. And, if you're willing to acknowledge that the only way capitalism doesn't ruin society is for government to have an antagonistic relationship with it, I have to ask... why are you defending capitalism?

  42. One ANTI-GOP strategy I think could work is controlling the narrative surrounding MTG such that she is widely known as "that violent Nazi in Congress" and the House GOP is widely known as actively enabling this Nazi.

    Would fear of Nazism be enough to rally non-fascists around crushing the GOP?

    I was so confused why we were trying to control the narrative around Magic: the Gathering.

    But no, calling people "Nazi" hasn't been enough in a long time.

  43. If you were going to be given one million dollars for changing a single letter of your name, what letter would you change

    my name is Ion Danskin and I'm a fucking millionaire

  44. https://mobile.twitter.com/deanthrax/status/1353177178935074816?

    Invent a non fighting game the uses this controller to its fullest

    arcade version of GIRP

    http://www.foddy.net/2011/03/girp/

  47. WTF is going on with Peter Coffin?!? I used to be a fan of theirs and kind of accepted they had class reductionist takes on twitter, but they've really gone off the rails lately?!? I dunno, am I just a neolib girlboss for thinking their hatred for AOC is out of line?

    I don't know the details because Peter and I have mutually blocked each other, but yes, it almost certainly is out of line.

  48. anyone old enough to remember 9/11 is old, boomer

    anyone young enough not to is an infant, alpha

  49. Dad jokes or Mom jokes?

    give me one of each and I'll pick

  50. Just because "money is power" it doesn't mean that without the lobbies these businesses would have no mechanism to petition the government for deregulation. If we pass legislation that removes the ability for corporate interests to influence government then those regulations that you admit have led to economic prosperity in the past can be sustainable. Money may be power, but its not fuckin' magic. Neither is it (or capitalism) the root of all evil, for that matter.

    in response to I agree with a lot of that, but I think you could get round the issues by just depowering the ability for businesses to lobby

    how, exactly, do you illegalize lobbying? what do you think lobbying is?

  51. How much of more of a jock do you think you'd be had there been less toxicity within school sports

    in school I weighed 115 pounds soaking when, toxicity is not what kept me out of sports

  52. Do you think working to destroy the GOP by making them unelectable is a worthwhile goal to pursue over the next few election cycles?

    what's your strategy?

  53. Sending pornography to a public figure seems like something that needs more explicit consent than a post on a platform they make sarcastic quips on, so is this you consenting to being sent representative examples, or are you joking around?

    in response to Nope, this question is no more and no less than exactly what it sounds like; I want to know if you have an opinion on pornographic adventure games

    telling me a title is not "sending pornography," let me have my game of chicken

  55. What would you want in a new/fully revised US constitution?

    more vegan donuts

  58. Why is "capitalism made the iPhone" a go-to line among defenders of capitalism?

    oh, probably because they know you own one so criticizing capitalism makes you a hypocrite

    (also Steve Jobs is their god-king because he won at capitalism)

  59. So even if all the major industries and services (e.g. power, water) and infrastructure (transport etc.) was all nationalised, you don't think that would be sustainable?

    in response to I saw your latest video (the Daria one) and you said about leaving the past behind and trying new things politically. Does this mean that, in your opinion, the 1950's-esque soc-dem mixed economy that Jeremy Corbyn was advocating for when he was Labour leader wouldn't have helped? Or is it just 1990's neoliberalism that we shouldn't return to? (Sorry to be throwing UK politics questions at you, I'm just interested in your thoughts.)

    It would be sustainable for precisely as long as it takes for the businesses to lobby politicians into privatizing them again, because capitalism demands businesses make as much money as humanly possible and lobbying costs less than following laws that restrict profit. This is why the heavily regulated markets of the 50's and 60's turned into the deregulated hellscape of the 80's. Like, think about it for a second: we had a massively deregulated economy that utterly collapsed into The Great Depression, then we had ~25 years of economic prosperity under the heavy regulations of the New Deal, and then we got the deregulation of the late 70's and finally Reagonomics in the 80's which have so far lasted for 40 years. So regulated capitalism managed to exist for about 1/6 of the last 150 years.

    Tell me why I should believe it's sustainable.

  60. If you can explain in a relatively small amount of space, what's the difference? I'm relatively new to this whole left-wing thing.

    in response to When people say, "capitalism has always existed," how much of that is true?

    A market is simply the exchange of goods and services. They can be traded for money, they can bartered, they can be sold at a profit or a loss, and any number of economic models can undergird them.

    Capitalism is specifically the economic model that says, when you sell a good for money, you should make a profit. As in: there's the cost of making the good, the cost of the labor that went into the good, there's all your own bills and expenses in your own life that the price has to factor in, and when ALL THAT is summed up, there should still be money left over. And you use that money to grow your business. You don't aim for equilibrium, you aim for expansion. And since every other business is also aiming at expansion, you can't simply coexist with each other serving separate needs; you are competitors. Your incentive is always to make the most money possible, because any business that isn't making the most money possible is going to be out-competed by a business that is, and getting out-competed means eventually going out of business. You can only ever be growing or shrinking.

    It's profit motive + competition.

  61. Can you think of an example of a popular male sex symbol who is not relatively masculine? I honestly can't. Square faces, all their hair, low bodyfat, if there's a public persona they're usually either showy and intense like some UFC fighters or brooding (is that the right word?) and reserved like Clint Eastwood or Don Draper.

    in response to Yeah sure but you just focus on one aspect of it as if it represents the whole. Masculinity also: - gets men laid more - convinces men's families to accept them - makes men physically strong - convinces society to accept men I have an idea in my head of how you think a neo-masculine man should act and I've met men like that who are cool but 95% of the time it does not play out that way. 95% of the time it comes off as stressed out and unlikeable, and men do not want to be seen like that. Just curious, would you support men going to therapy if you knew it would make them *more* traditionally masculine?

    you have apparently never seen a boy band, any anime ever, or Benedict Cumberbatch

  62. I gotta wonder, why do cishet men get so attached to such an abstract concept as "masculinity" that they end up just being miserable? Are they super afraid if they're not "man enough" or whatever, their privilege and identity will get stripped away?

    in response to Yeah sure but you just focus on one aspect of it as if it represents the whole. Masculinity also: - gets men laid more - convinces men's families to accept them - makes men physically strong - convinces society to accept men I have an idea in my head of how you think a neo-masculine man should act and I've met men like that who are cool but 95% of the time it does not play out that way. 95% of the time it comes off as stressed out and unlikeable, and men do not want to be seen like that. Just curious, would you support men going to therapy if you knew it would make them *more* traditionally masculine?

    there's this aspect of masculinity I hinted at in the "cuck" video where they KNOW that "being a real man" does not make you happy, but they believe it is a sacrifice they must make for the greater good. I've yet to hear an argument as to exactly what that greater good is except some vague notion "real manliness" is what kept us alive in prehistoric times so therefore embodying "real manliness" now is also (somehow) keeping society alive.

    also they've never known anything else, and they've been trained all their lives to mock men who deviate from that norm. so they know firsthand one way their lives would be worse: men like them would treat them like shit.

  63. Within 100 years of their loss of the Peloponnesian War Athens fell to Antipater, its democratic government dissolved and replaced with a plutocratic system. Current events have proven that our own democracy is hanging by a thread. In four years if the Right manages to re-elect Trump or install another demagogue in his place it may be over. Our punishment for indulging the same "Shining City on a Hill", ruling by divine right crap of every other felled empire.

    In the same way, socialism *has* been tried and (outside of near-miracles like MAREZ) almost always gives rise to authoritarianism and oppression.

    Whether something's been done before or not, doesn't mean its sustainable.

    in response to There's an argument to be made that true socialism only *exists* in theory outside of relatively small, near-miraculously sustained communities like MAREZ.

    it has given rise to authoritarianism and oppression far less often than it has dramatically improved the lives and freedom of its citizens for a brief period before being overthrown by a foreign power, usually the US

  64. Nope, this question is no more and no less than exactly what it sounds like; I want to know if you have an opinion on pornographic adventure games

    in response to What is your opinion of pornographic adventure games?

    tell me your favorites and I'll tell you if I have opinions

  66. The answer is all of those things help advance our cause and build the movements necessary to enact change, right? I feel like one of the biggest causes of pessimism in the us left is that we're still at the early stages of building socialist movements but we expect change to happen instantly.

    in response to why isn't optimistic socialism more widespread online? It's pretty exhausting seeing people just go "things are bad actually" instead of "shit sucks, but we can fix it together"

    it's not that I expect change to happen instantly. I'm fine with being at the beginning of a long road. my problem is I have a startpoint and an endpoint and no route connecting them.

    part of the goal of The Alt-Right Playbook was to begin surveying the space between Points A and B and trying to plot a course.

  67. Right, I always forget about the 2000 Privilege Dollars (or Privbux, as we call them) that I, as a cishet white man, receive from the Kyriarchy every month. Silly me.

    in response to I hate "go to therapy" as a solution for everything wrong with men, especially if we're speaking about men in America. Oh? Just go to therapy? It's that easy? Maybe I'll put on my therapy helmet, jump into my therapy cannon, and blast into Socialized Healthcare land, where therapists grow on theratrees.

    bro you gotta get direct deposit on that shit

  68. Yeah sure but you just focus on one aspect of it as if it represents the whole. Masculinity also:

    - gets men laid more
    - convinces men's families to accept them
    - makes men physically strong
    - convinces society to accept men

    I have an idea in my head of how you think a neo-masculine man should act and I've met men like that who are cool but 95% of the time it does not play out that way. 95% of the time it comes off as stressed out and unlikeable, and men do not want to be seen like that.

    Just curious, would you support men going to therapy if you knew it would make them *more* traditionally masculine?

    in response to I don't know how you feel about this but talking with a therapist about your problems is not generally seen as a masculine behavior. Many men try to behave in a masculine way because it's a sign of good health (low testosterone is usually very, very unhealthy for men) and non-masculine men are often ostracized. And if you can't understand or even listen to men who think that in good faith it's unlikely you're going to convince them to seek therapy, which I think is one of your goals. It's a tough line to walk and I think many people just choose whom they'll be nice to and stick with it. Otherwise it can like someone's barking down your throat one second then turning around to show how much they care the next.

    most men are - or try to be - traditionally masculine and they commit suicide 4x as much as women, so clearly all these things masculinity "accomplishes" aren't working

    I'm from California and I live in Boston now, so I've known men like me all my life. I have dozens and dozens of role models for non-toxic masculinity. and I've seen zero evidence "traditional masculinity" actually gets men laid more, it's just a think bros insist is true.

    I support any form of therapy that makes people happier and healthier. many traits of "traditional" masculinity can be perfectly healthy - there's nothing wrong with being strong, being a provider, protecting your loved ones - and any decent therapist is going to point men in those directions if that's what makes them happy. (though we need to acknowledge women can be - and often are - all those things.) but I can't see any therapist who deserves their license telling you to repress your emotions, solve problems with violence, and conquer and dispose of women. those are just flatly unhealthy behaviors.

  69. There's an argument to be made that true socialism only *exists* in theory outside of relatively small, near-miraculously sustained communities like MAREZ.

    in response to Any ideas of exactly what capitalism should be replaced *with*?

    and, for centuries, democracy only existed in theory outside of brief pockets here and there and once in ancient Athens

    it's always never been done before until someone does it

  70. Any ideas of exactly what capitalism should be replaced *with*?

    in response to I saw your latest video (the Daria one) and you said about leaving the past behind and trying new things politically. Does this mean that, in your opinion, the 1950's-esque soc-dem mixed economy that Jeremy Corbyn was advocating for when he was Labour leader wouldn't have helped? Or is it just 1990's neoliberalism that we shouldn't return to? (Sorry to be throwing UK politics questions at you, I'm just interested in your thoughts.)

    I'm partial to democratic socialism but I want to read a lot of theory before advocating a specific -ism

  71. I don't know how you feel about this but talking with a therapist about your problems is not generally seen as a masculine behavior. Many men try to behave in a masculine way because it's a sign of good health (low testosterone is usually very, very unhealthy for men) and non-masculine men are often ostracized. And if you can't understand or even listen to men who think that in good faith it's unlikely you're going to convince them to seek therapy, which I think is one of your goals. It's a tough line to walk and I think many people just choose whom they'll be nice to and stick with it. Otherwise it can like someone's barking down your throat one second then turning around to show how much they care the next.

    in response to I hate "go to therapy" as a solution for everything wrong with men, especially if we're speaking about men in America. Oh? Just go to therapy? It's that easy? Maybe I'll put on my therapy helmet, jump into my therapy cannon, and blast into Socialized Healthcare land, where therapists grow on theratrees.

    toxic masculinity is what's killing men. I can't move them away from it by reassuring their sense of masculine identity. all I can do is try to show what a happy, healthy, non-toxic masculinity might look like, which is one of the things I tried to allude to in my semiotics of "cuck" video.

    I need people to understand that, if getting the help that will make you happier isn't masculine, than masculinity is broken. if they can't jump that hurdle, there's nothing I can do for them but plant the seed and hope it sprouts later.

  72. I saw your latest video (the Daria one) and you said about leaving the past behind and trying new things politically. Does this mean that, in your opinion, the 1950's-esque soc-dem mixed economy that Jeremy Corbyn was advocating for when he was Labour leader wouldn't have helped? Or is it just 1990's neoliberalism that we shouldn't return to?

    (Sorry to be throwing UK politics questions at you, I'm just interested in your thoughts.)

    I think soc-dem policies are preferable to neoliberalism and, as a short-term goal, they keep our allies safer and happier and put us in a better position for real change. I believe in Survival Pending Revolution. But I don't believe any form of capitalism is sustainable and it must, eventually, be replaced, and the sooner the better.

  73. Why do so many people on the right, most of whom have authoritarian inclinations, fight for gun rights? Wouldn’t it better help them to be anti gun?

    Because they want to shoot Black and Brown people. The whole thing with authoritarianism is they want authorities to tell them whom they can be violent to.

  74. You say we don't need the right's permission to change the system, we just need to focus on things like reaching out to the disenfranchised and unregistered voters, statehood for Puerto Rico, etc. But, what do we actually do? To what causes and what actionable outcomes can I redirect my unhealthy and meaningless habits of trying to reason online with the worst of the right? How do I encourage other lefties to "think global and act local" and act local myself?

    You can join advocacy groups about those very things. I promise you, there are people working on DC statehood right now. Stacey Abrams' Team Fair Fight was a major factor in getting underserved communities registered to vote in Georgia in time to flip the Senate. Get involved, and, when people need something to do, tell them what you're doing and invite them to help.

  75. The US may never be socialist, but it certainly could become a social democracy if those in power could be convinced to bring this country up to the standard set by the rest of the world with universal health care, social safety nets, gun control and other common sense so-called "progressive" policies that should have been implemented 100 years ago. Any ideas on how we accomplish that?

    in response to why isn't optimistic socialism more widespread online? It's pretty exhausting seeing people just go "things are bad actually" instead of "shit sucks, but we can fix it together"

    No real advice beyond the usual "volunteer with an advocacy group and put pressure on politicians." But I'm of the opinion that social democracy is unsustainable and all forms of capitalism will eventually veer back to late capitalism.

Anon commented:
Ian replied: