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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   26619 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024

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Musk is by no means a centrist, he has actively campaigned as a partisan this election in order to secure a position for himself in the Trump ecosystem. He may have some kooky ideas that do not align with the rest of the Republican base but he has entirely abandoned the 'centre' position one could have argued he held years ago in favour of one side of the political spectrum.

By centrist I don't mean someone who is in the political centre as party politics are concerned, just someone with no firm ideology or agenda.

Apart from his opposition to transgender issues, what politics does he have?

Wanting an efficient government that obeys the law and preferences of citizens and that isn't getting in the way is pretty much a non ideological.

Nobody but certain very narrow segments of political class desire infinity migration.

... because the other side called him a doge before they had a cause; if he is a doge, beware his fanges. (wow. very revenge plot. which caskete choose? argument much clever.)

I don't understand at all what you're trying to convey with this comment other than the first part.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice#Plot_summary

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/doge

https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/insights/from-dogecoin-to-the-department-of-government-efficiency-elon-musks-history-with-the-doge-meme

Just an aside and nothing personal against you, but I really dislike:

  1. the use of embedded links as glosses of esoteric terms.

Why: I dislike the continual minimizing/maximizing of windows and the break in flow of thought

  1. linking to a website instead of simply explaining in words what it is you yourself have intended in your post. (You intended as the hypothetical you, not necessarily you.

Why: it seems dismissive and rude, like when someone asks where the restroom is and you just point at a sign instead of speaking. Sometimes one might intend to be dismissive and rude, and sure, maybe this is just me clinging to more traditional mores. Could be.

I realize people are sometimes short of time or impatient but damn.

I dislike the continual minimizing/maximizing of windows and the break in flow of thought

I forgot that not everyone here is using a desktop browser. Would footnotes¹ be a better alternative?

linking to a website instead of simply explaining in words what it is you yourself have intended in your post.

OK, I will try to explain it in words. "wow. very revenge plot. which caskete choose? argument much clever." is a description of the plot of The Merchant of Venice in the dialect associated with the 'doge' meme, for which Elon Musk has a particular fondness.

The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, containing the line "Thou calledst me dog before thou hadst a cause. But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.", meaning that Shylock was treated as villainous before he had done anything questionable, and therefore was not incentivised to be forgiving. (Act III, scene 3.) I was alluding to that line in the first part of my comment, in that Mr Musk was also treated as deplorable by the chattering classes prior to having thrown in his lot with the Trump campaign²; the spelling of 'doge' and 'fange' was an allusion to the same meme.

¹Like these.

²A comparison can also be made to the Dazexiang Uprising in late-3rd-century China, in which two officials realised three things:

  1. The then-ruling dynasty imposed the death penalty for being late.

  2. The then-ruling dynasty imposed the death penalty for rebellion.

  3. The roads being impassable due to rain, they had no chance of arriving on time.

Much clearer now that this is a set of allusions that not unsurprisingly flew over my head. Thanks. The Motte really does keep me on my toes.

You're welcome. Again, We Apologise For The Inconvenience¹; I usually connect to the Internet using a desktop browser with a mouse-and-keyboard interface, in which I can open a new tab by pressing the scroll wheel, and forgot that some people are using systems in which opening a link is less convenient.

(That was what the phrase 'check your privilege' started out as meaning [e. g. a dog forgetting that a gecko is less able to withstand cold] before it got twisted into "I am a member of the oppressed class, you are a member of the oppressor class, therefore ipso fatso I am right and you are wrong.")

I will try to explain things in footnotes in the future, so that you and anyone on a smartphone, non-tabbed browser, or otherwise unable to open links conveniently can still be part of today's lucky 10,000².

¹Spoiler for a 1980's sci-fi novel: God's final message to his Creation, in book four of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide To the Galaxy series.

²From an xkcd comic making the point that if 'everyone' knows something, 10,000 people (in the U. S.) are first hearing about it today; therefore, one should not judge people for not knowing something.

So the Doge of Venice wasn't part of the pun?

Not necessary to it, although I did notice, and it adds another level to it....

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