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Mantergeistmann


				

				

				

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Mantergeistmann


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 05 00:52:03 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 323


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean, orcs are said to be very clever at devices of destruction and mischief. RoP's sin isn't that it wants to discuss orc culture, it's that it wants to claims orcs have culture without discussing it. One orc has.a wife and child? Well, what does that mean for orc society? How do they rear/partner/etc? Is he an outlier, or is this the way most of them are? But it doesn't care, it just mentions it and says "oh, you should feel bad for Daddy's children, they can feel emotions too!" without going in to "well, are they always cruel to the men around them, do some want to learn to be farmers, do they have songs and art and anything that would actually make them a culture rather than just violent mooks?"


RoP claims to want to start a conversation, but the writers either don't want to or don't know how to say anything.


That said, whoever is doing some of the background stuff and minor writing bits clearly knows their LotR and cares very deeply. There's a lot of little stuff that's sadly overshadowed by the main writing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


There's also some other issues like the instance where wellwater was poisoned with nitrates in at least one instance which probably contributes to the fears though I can find like a grand total of like 2 stories on water contamination (this and the Morgan County story).




Was that a data center specific issue, though, or just "this could happen with any construction but we don't like this construction so we're using it as a negative example"?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wasn't that a specific workaround of a court ruling? That the companies could use books, as long as they a) had physical copies, and b) destroyed them as part of the process? So it was people getting upset over companies complying with a law, because it was never about what the process was, just that people didn't like the end result of "the companies trained AI on all these books".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-22
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think what they're saying is that whatever the market has them at is what the appropriate P/E is.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would he interested in seeing a principled defense of why what happened to Arday was a "lynching" whereas the constant hate for Rowling is not, that doesn't try to define it as "only being lynching if it happens to someone of colour."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-22
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I didn't even realize WM was publically traded. I presume they do far more than just bin pickup?


Also seems odd to me that TSMC is so low, relatively speaking. I'd have assumed them to be ahead of Walmart at the very least.


Also, competitor context would be interesting to see -- Boeing's vs Airbus, for instance.


But all this is why I fully admit I am not capable of playing the markets, and stick to my dumb index funds.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I will entertain arguments for vigilante justice in a circumstances where there is no lawful way to achieve redress




I lean towards supporting vigilante justice only in cases where the vigilante then turns themselves in and pleads guilty to a hostile court. If you believe an injustice has been done and must be redressed outside of the law, very well, but it must then end with justice done within the law, to its fullest extent.


Still gameable, and still has issues, but better than many alternatives.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Palantir is named after the evil orb in Lord of the Rings




Tolkien is pretty clear that the Palantir are not evil, were not created by evil, but merely perilous because evil had one of them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


though possibly this is state-supported trolling.




Didn't MEE also claim Israel was evaporating the bodies of civilians so they couldn't be counted?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's a separate problem, and possibly the most divorced public opinion is from reality on almost any topic out there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


specifically adaptions




When were adaptations good in your experience? How did, say, Hitchhiker's Guide and Princess Bride pull it off whereas other adaptations didn't? And are there truly more worse adaptations (or a higher percentage), or just a chunk of high-profile... well, not flops, since a lot of what I'd consider "bad adaptations" are still popular and making bank, as you yourself say.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm sure the guys running slave markets, both today and in history, were largely 'regular guys' who made stupid jokes and fucked around a lot.




There's that classic medieval joke from the one Pope at a slave market, after all...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Per capita GDP is not terribly different (UK wins slightly)




I wonder how the two capital cities influence that? I know that in the UK, London is an absurd amount of the entire UK's GDP.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The added irony/unfairness is that if Cofnas were to kill himself as a result of this, the result would not be one of soul-searching or questioning on anyone's part. It would almost certainly be celebration, and confirmation that Arday was firmly in the right and a flawless victim.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, most of the commentary I've seen is that it has to do with Cofnas's remarks after Arday's resignation and suicide.  Now, that may very well be a fig leaf and they were planning on getting rid of him regardless, but...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Nathan Cofnas, first to expose the plagiarism and lies of Jason Arday




Technical point of order: didn’t others do so first, but it didn't gain traction because they were muzzled? First to successfully expose him, yes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sadly, more cynical but perhaps more realistic is Thomas Browne's Religio Medici:




Many from…an inconsiderate zeal unto truth, have too rashly charged the troops of error, and remain as trophies unto the enemies of truth: A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet be forced to surrender.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Also, if we're using Reliable Sources, I'll note that the actual, official Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it ever was in the Cold War.




Is that reflective of the world situation, or is it being used as a commentary on "we dislike Donald Trump"?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, I was thinking of one case in particular:




the woman’s work visa expired around 2017, and she was marked for removal from the United States a few years later. She and the Coast Guardsman were married early this year [...] when the woman and her Coast Guard husband were preparing to move into their on-base housing on Wednesday, they went to the visitor control center to get a pass so she could access the Key West installation. During the routine security screening required for base access, the woman’s name was flagged as a problem.




I saw a lot of people referring to it as a paperwork issue or ICE targeting servicemember spouses, but this case seemed... well, what did anyone expect? The timing of the husband's ship was such that the marriage must have taken place only a few weeks prior to this event, at most. All I can think of is that either the husband didn't know her status (and maybe she didn't,  either, somehow, despite having lived and presumably worked in the US illegally for nearly a decade?), or that they assumed (erroneously) that marriage would automatically resolve any status issues. In which case... well, I can forgive her for not knowing the law, but a USCG man should presumably at least think to speak to base counsel or his CO prior to marrying any foreign national, let alone one who has immigration status issues?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Third option: they plead ignorance to those claims, and argue that they only looked at his academic and interview credentials, and didn't know about anything else other than that a routine background check came up clean. Also damning, but less obviously so to the public eye (who is likely to be unfamiliar with how Arday's work compared to any other sociologist or academic), and therefore able to be clung to.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Iran's ability to project force across the Middle East involved individual men crossing borders clandestinely with guns and bombs, which is not a capability they have lost.




They were transporting significantly heavier weapons than that. I'm pretty sure the Houthi missiles aren't (at least mostly) domestically produced, shall we say.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Reading that, I imagine that's what it must have been like to listen to Tokyo Rose or Lord Haw Haw on the radio during WWII. Except I always had the impression those two were at least a bit entertaining, and willing to reach out emotionally to listeners with something other than blatant contempt and hatred.


Also, as someone who overuses italics themselves, that writing style is grating. I may overuse them, but he misuses them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Abraham Lincoln was essentially in the group you criticize, he didn't think black people would turn out as capable as white people, but he didn't think they should be slaves




Or, to hear it from the great man himself (slightly adjusted by Teddy Roosevelt):




I think the authors of the Declaration of Independence intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal-equal in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were actually enjoying that equality, or yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all - constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and, even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, everywhere.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I also just admire a guy who managed to get into the history books by being virtuous and hard-working.




If you think about it, those are some of the few things that are completely within one's control. We cannot control our height, or our ability to grasp complex subjects instantly. We can control how hard we work and be good people.


A lot of people hate the so-called "Protestant work ethic", but at its core, there's something very egalitarian about it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


almost nobody thinks that deporting military spouses over paperwork issues is a good idea




Caveat: if you've been in the US illegally for several years, get married, and then immediately try to move onto a military base without adjusting your immigration status first... well, I can see how some people might describe that as a "paperwork issue", but I don't think it's an unfair result. And if it isn't a "paperwork issue" in your estimation, sadly, it'll be conflated with those cases that are by people trying to gin up negative publicity, and so I have to eye every story with suspicion that there's more going on behind the scenes than a sob story.