gulliver
gulliver's JournalThe paradoxes of identity games are no fun below the minor league level
It's all soccer ball chasing, red carding, tantrums, and parent misbehavior. The fundamentals of the sport are lost. The entertainment value is redundant with pro wrestling.
Can people just go back to time travel or something that the kids can play with too?
Mass harassment of people by occupation
The Internet has made it no fun to be in a lot of jobs. To me, it's just silly. The peanut gallery, the tiny fringes on the left and right, now have access to too much information and too little access to inhibitory social feedback.
Good healthcare workers get grief from COVID vaccine deniers and hydroxychloroquine bozos.
Good teachers get grief from...everyone.
Good cops get grief from FTPers, DTPers, and other fools.
Good politicians get grief from...everyone.
Imo, we have to be careful. If we can't, as a democratic majority group of wise people, shield good workers from the harassment of unelected, self-selected, attention-seeking, inadequately thoughtful fringe actors (on the left and right), we risk making key jobs untenable. Then, the better people will leave those jobs and the worse people will stay in and gravitate toward those jobs, even getting higher pay for the work.
Does Putin actually want to kill off a bunch of young Russian men?
A lot has been made of the fact that Putin seems to "not care" that he's causing the deaths of a lot of young Russian men. But, as with a lot of cases where someone appears to "not care" about something, the next question becomes, "do they actually want what they supposedly don't care about?"
Is culling potentially politically troublesome, perhaps disaffected Russian young men from the Russian population part of Putin's motivation? Is he, in fact, glad that potentially politically troublesome young men are leaving Russia, either to other countries or the afterlife?
Is the Media Racist? (Or Just Tending to Mr. Wallet)
I think much of the media sees race as a story supply, specifically a theme supply. I wouldn't say it's "racial animus" in most cases, just a need to eke out a living. In the case of race, some of the media rationalize race-angled stories as good for society, whether supplying the stories to a right- or left-leaning audience. It's very similar to Big Pharma and the junk food industry. "Someone's gotta buy this stuff to keep my house payments flowing. Good thing it's good for them!"
Scott Adams, whose cracked rant brought this up for me, probably correctly perceives that there is a market for making fun of the left now. Bill Maher has also noted that. It used to be—and very recently—that rightwing humor wasn't feasible. For example, consider Dennis Miller or the failed Fox News show (The 1/2-Hour News Hour) that attempted to be funny and failed miserably. The left was basically just a little too "nicey-nice," and that's pretty tough to make fun of reliably.
Now we have a situation where the images of the left and right are devolving into caricature in the popular imagination. Trumpism is a cartoon universe as much as it is a movement. The left suffers equally, although we don't yet have a Trump. We have a whole bunch of Trump wannabes, though, and the media portrayal of us gives rise to comedic opportunity at our expense.
There's no source of comedy so reliable as someone who thinks they're cool.
Not sure why all Wagner Group members wouldn't be subject to arrest and extradition to Ukraine
It looks like we're designating the Wagner Group a criminal organization and sanctioning at least some members.
US Labels Russia’s Wagner Group a Criminal Organization in New Bid to Blunt Its Power
But why are all of its members not simply considered felons, arrested, and extradited to Ukraine (or whichever country they commit the crime of belonging to Wagner in). Please don't tell me an American citizen could sign up with Wagner, fight against Ukraine, and vacation in Orlando while on leave. That "citizen" would be working against American security interests, not to mention costing taxpayers the money necessary to provide Ukraine with the weapons needed to kill that citizen on the battlefield. Just outlaw employment by Wagner internationally and with no statute of limitations.
Gotta keep the lights on
Sure, Abbott is a worthless jerk. But you do have to keep the lights on. Beto would also be doing whatever it takes for that if he were governor.
The challenge of climate change needs people to work together. It's why I'm so strongly in favor of strong democracy. The 95% of voices (on any given issue) get 95% of the power. The remaining 5% ahead-of-their-time geniuses, saints, provocateurs, zealots, and fraudsters get their say, but get 5% of people's attention, no more.
Fairly dividing the political spoils of a MAGA collapse
The collapse of MAGA—which I sincerely hope is coming—could result in a leftward shift. In fact, I think it already has if we look at the results of the recent election. Losses in influence by the so-called "far right," however, shouldn't be hogged as gains solely by the so-called "far left." All folks to the left of MAGA should share equally on a one-person-one-vote basis. A vote against the so-called "Oath Keepers" is not a vote for so-called "Antifa." There's a line at the buffet.
I was worried it was going to make Trump a lot of money
But I'm feeling better. Trump's name is well known, but it's also mud. Who would want to money launder using something connected with Trump? Who would want to speculate?
It's money laundering and crypto grift in one. He's going to make a lot of dough
I hope not, but it could be the best financial play he has ever made. And he could capitalize on a win from it to improve his political standing.
He makes money on market fluctuations in an asset he made up out of thin air. Yes, it's just another NFT, but Trump's infamy gives it a "trading card" flavor that raises its profile as a playing field for speculation. I wouldn't be surprised if he cleared billions by the time it runs its course. Someone talk me down!
The party of Pizzagate, QAnon, and Donald Trump wonders why their laptop story didn't take off
Once again, I'm mystified. Republicans have embraced lying and the lying liars who lie (apologies to Al Franken). Yet here we are. Ridiculously, Republicans are in high dudgeon that their laptop story didn't leap to the front pages of the legitimate media.
Here's a clue, Republicans. It was you. No legitimate news outlet would believe anything you say, because you have earned a reputation for lying. You've more than earned it.
Elon Musk has been talking about increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of Twitter. That's great. Can't wait. But I haven't seen Musk talking about the extremely low ratio that was emanating from Republicans—Donald Trump, Giuliani, QAnon, and the servile Republican leadership—when this supposedly "suppressed" laptop story was being "suppressed."
Is Musk suppressing that context? The context of Republican lying leading people to ignore them? Seems like it to me.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleMember since: 2001
Number of posts: 13,280