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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   19876 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024

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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.

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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