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SubstantialFrivolity

I'm not even supposed to be here today

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joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
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SubstantialFrivolity


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
I'm not even supposed to be here today

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Amanda Marcotte is a terrible person. Or at least she was a decade ago, and I doubt she's gotten better since. There's a reason that even Scott Alexander (who normally is very nice to even those with whom he strongly disagrees) described her as "a Vogon wearing a skin suit" or something to that effect.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I guess our disagreement hinges upon that last point, because I read "endorsed by the Bible" to mean desirable. I would phrase "permissible under some circumstances" as "condoned by the Bible".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's not true. The official stance of the Catholic Church (the largest Christian denomination) is that the death penalty and war are both bad, and must only be engaged in when there's no other choice. This is very mainstream Christian belief, not some fringe position.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I disagree that this is a normative statement.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I certainly would not argue that war is endorsed by the Bible, nor would any other Christian I know. Nor capital punishment for that matter.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I’m unpersuaded by the typical religious argument that life is so sacred we cannot take it. We do take it, all the time, in war and executions.




You seem to be alleging that this is hypocritical on the part of the religious argument, but I think in fairness one must acknowledge that religions which oppose euthanasia generally oppose war and executions too.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm fine with cutting off SS taxes immediately. Though from what @sarker said, that would mean that the money runs out immediately so I guess maybe it amounts to the same thing. I was under the impression that there was money left in the pot, but it sounds like I was mistaken.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think that would be a significant challenge for sure. The only way it works is if there are no exceptions. Not for teachers, not for our troops, not for Grandma who has cancer, none. I'm willing to grit my teeth as the things I care about get hit, but I don't think most Americans are.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That I don't know, unfortunately.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Accordingly, your demand that you benefit




That is not actually my position. I demand that, after I have been forced to pay money in, that money isn't just ripped away to balance the budget. I accept that, if we stop trying to prop it up, social security is likely to run out of money long before I see a dime. I'm ok with that (relatively speaking). My demand is that we let the money run out first, not just pull the plug. The former is unfortunate but unavoidable, the latter is a vicious slap in the face to everyone who has been forced to pay into this bad program.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not saying it's the best solution. I'm well aware it would have problems! But we absolutely have to stop racking up debt. The problems you mention are real, but less bad than the status quo.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I want to fix the budget, but I'm less than stoked about robbing me of the money I was forced to pay to social security in order to do it. Personally, I think that if politicians can't agree on what to cut (which is a likely outcome TBH) we should just cut all budgets at the federal level by x% in order to make it happen. For example, if we need to cut spending by 20%, every single department budget gets slashed by 20%. No exceptions. While it would be better if our representatives could agree what needs to be cut, this would at least be better than the current status quo where the US just keeps borrowing money it's never, ever going to pay back.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
None of which changes the fact that I, as a person who lives here, has not experienced what OP is saying. Homeless people are around (and have been for the decade I've lived here), but the camps are not super common and get broken up by police from time to time. I've never seen a homeless person committing crimes. I've never had my car stolen, nor has anyone I know.


Stats are all well and good. I'm not even saying your stats are wrong. But the claim I was responding to was "we've all experienced this", and the answer is "no we haven't". Just because something is happening statistically does not mean it is actually affecting the experience of people.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Have we not all experienced basically the same thing across many different cities?




No, I haven't. Currently living in Denver, CO and I have yet to see the kind of things OP described. I agree with @OliveTapenade that it is beneficial to the discussion to say where one is talking about. No shame if someone declines to specify, of course, but it's perfectly reasonable to ask


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I definitely think they shouldn't be. But unfortunately, some people think it is OK to hand down guilt through the generations like you describe, which is why we have the land acknowledgements to begin with.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, I don't think some guy doing sexual things with his daughter is funny either. More, "wow there are some degenerate people in this world".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Dude, that looks beautiful. I salute your skill at creating something so nice, it must have taken quite a bit of practice to get to that point.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Bungie is similarly good at making games that feel good - say what you will about Destiny or Destiny 2, it is fun to shoot guns in those games. Unfortunately, they are also pretty iffy these days on translating those good fundamentals into games that are overall fun.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for August 9, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not here to change your mind, but to agree with you. BotW was a huge disappointment and I stopped playing it after 10-20h (guessing) and I did the first divine beast (the mammoth). I didn't even bother with TotK because I had no desire to get that disappointment again.


First, I'll say that I play Zelda games for the dungeons. I want to go to cool places, solve fun puzzles, and get neat items that unlock more puzzles. I'm not interested in the world, which is really just connective tissue between the actual good parts of the game (though some games have more interesting overworlds than others). So right off the bat, BotW was off on the wrong foot. Only four dungeons? Not a good sign. But the shrines do exist, so I figured that might make up for it.


Turns out that the shrines don't really do it for me at all. They are so short that right as I'm getting into the groove and having fun, it's all over. Additionally, as you get all the items at the beginning of the game they don't engage you in new ways the way other Zelda games do. On top of that, the one divine beast I did (the actual dungeon!) was super short and simple. It took me maybe 20-30 minutes. So the main draw of Zelda for me was a big fat bust.


On top of that, the game screwed up one of the other things I love about Zelda, which is the music. Most Zelda soundtracks are packed with bangers, so I figured that I'd like the music at least. But no, it's all ambient piano shit. I know opinions vary, but ambient music is fucking boring. It was awful having to listen to that everywhere I went. I know they recorded real music for the game, it was in some of the trailers. But I never heard it when I played. Huge letdown.


On top of all that, I hated traversing the world. Ostensibly the main draw of the game, I found it to be both unreasonably big, and devoid of anything interesting. So not only were the shrines and dungeons not very good, they were connected by a painful slog through the world every time I wanted to get to one. The world, by itself, would have put a serious damper on my opinion of the game. But when it wasn't firing on any other cylinders either, it was unbearable.


Overall, I rate BotW 2/5 stars at best. It's beautiful to look at, and the physics are fun, but there's nothing interesting there in the long run. It's a terrible Zelda.


Edit: oh yeah I forgot to mention the equipment durability system. It fucking sucks (as all such systems do). People hated it in Skyward Sword, so why on earth did Nintendo think it was a good idea to bring it back? And from what I've heard it's even worse because it applies to the Master Sword (albeit just disabling it temporarily rather than destroying it). At least in SS, they had the sense to make the iconic Hylian Shield exempt from the durability system. If they had to keep durability (which they shouldn't have), they at least should've made the Master Sword similarly exempt.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it's nothing too exceptionally different than what everyone else in America has accepted as par for the course for flying nowadays




That's probably true, but the status quo of flying nowadays is already a gross violation of our civil liberties. It is absolutely reprehensible that the TSA is allowed to exist on that basis alone, let alone the massive waste of taxpayer funds that they incur. And on top of that, it turns out that there's politically motivated harassment going on? Hell no! These organizations never should've been allowed to form in the first place, but they must not be allowed to stay.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't understand how that disagrees with what I said?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure, I'm not saying the elected representatives necessarily correctly deliver on the will of the people. Lord knows they rarely do in the US. I just think it's inaccurate to claim that the people living in the UK don't have the right to decide to let in a flood of migrants.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It isn't up to the current people to give it away to strangers.




It actually is. For better or for worse, having a democratic society means that the people get to make such decisions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I read this and was pretty outraged, though unsurprised. I have felt from the very beginning that the DHS (and by extension the TSA) is one big violation of our civil liberties waiting to happen, so it's unfortunately not shocking to me when I see them doing police state shit like this. I would love for both departments to be utterly abolished, but unfortunately that's not going to happen in my lifetime.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
According to Wikipedia, yeah his father was purged during the Cultural Revolution. Not that I'm a fan of Pooh-bear, but it makes me kind of happy in the schadenfreude sense to learn that. Mao was an utter shit-bag, and I am amused by imagining how mad he would be if he found out that the son of the guy he purged is now running the country.