domain:themotte.org
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
17m ago
The psalms(psalm 95/96 depending on whether you use protestant or Catholic numbering)
Are you talking about this one? Because with the exception of the Wycliffe Bible that doesn't sound very demonic, just impotent.
St Paul repeats this condemnation in his epistles.
I found this, which kinda fits (though note the translation differences); are there others?
Lewis2
31m ago
I think plenty of people know who Moldbug/Yarvin is under both identities. Until now, I didn’t realize anyone knew BAP’s real identity. I definitely wouldn’t have recognized the name if Goodguy had used it.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
32m ago
weird double-parens-looking symbols
FCfromSSC
Nuclear levels of sour
34m ago
I recall a discussion of "((( )))" use trigging and auto-admin response).
We had a Russian regular here by the name of Ilforte. Really interesting guy, quite prolific. The russian language apparently uses these weird double-parens-looking symbols rather than quotation marks, and some newbie mistook them for the triple-parens "echo marks" of infamy. Someone else responded explaining the difference, saying, "these:[wierd unicode double parens things] are russian quote marks, these: "((())) are triple parens, it's a different thing."
The reply explaining the difference got flagged for anti-semitic content by the reddit admins.
The_Nybbler
Does not have a yacht
39m ago
It wasn't "((( )))". It was "<< >>", taken by the admins (or maybe "anti-evil operations") to be "((( )))".
Hoffmeister25
American Bukelismo Enthusiast
39m ago
But it is a thing that exists, and has common shibboleths and cultural convergences.
So, I think that this is true to some extent now under Trump, because he has provided a specific rallying point for these groups to converge around/against. However, I don’t think it was true at all when Scott actually wrote the essay in question.
orthoxerox
If you can read this, you're using a custom theme
43m ago
My sinuses were completely full as well and the doc was quite surprised I had no complaints about them: no headaches, no sensitivity. I guess I was lucky.
hydroacetylene
47m ago
Yes, I will agree with you that 'tribe' is a stupid description, although many of the component groups can be fairly described that way. But it is a thing that exists, and has common shibboleths and cultural convergences.
hydroacetylene
49m ago
The psalms(psalm 95/96 depending on whether you use protestant or Catholic numbering) refer to the gods of gentiles as being demons and St Paul repeats this condemnation in his epistles. This pattern at least as far as Christianity goes is based off of the bible's descriptions of other religions.
2rafa
50m ago
justmotteingaround
51m ago
Why did they put us there? I suggest you ask them.
This is a genuine curiosity of mine. Iirc, the reddit mods were explicitly not going to explain their actions beyond vague gestures to the Eye of Sauron somewhere around the time Scott (happily) landed in the financial security provided by substack.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
53m ago
I can't help but ask: why the real name for Moldbug but pseudonym for BAP? I'm not trying to claim that either choice is evil or anything, it just looks weird to see both styles juxtaposed.
Celestial-body-NOS
🟦 All human beings are equal, **even when they aren't.**
55m ago
That won't work forever.
It doesn't have to work forever, just until we can get nuclear plants built and direct CO2 extraction running.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
58m ago
By "weird vbulletin forum" do you mean DSL, or...?
I mean, it doesn't actually use vBulletin (it uses Simple Machines Forum), and I wouldn't say it's "less extreme" than theMotte (it's higher-brow and does retain a couple of SJer regulars, but there're still plenty of witches there), but it's the only BBS I'm aware of in the SSC diaspora, so I'm a bit confused.
2rafa
58m ago
Palin has a very polarizing personality. She certainly has charisma, but she’s also abrasive and loud.
Hoffmeister25
American Bukelismo Enthusiast
59m ago
I don’t think there’s anywhere near enough commonality between these various groups, nor enough history of voting together, to constitute anything remotely like a “tribe”. There have been significant political realignments over the last fifty years, including ones even within my lifetime. Entire demographic groups, income brackets, and occupations which used to reliably vote for one party now vote for another. Working-class laborers in the Midwest used to be a very reliable Democratic voting bloc, but the Republicans started peeling them off less than 20 years ago. To me, this sort of thing does not make a “tribe”. Tribes have a long history. What we’re talking about today are just people who watch the same cable news programs and follow the same content creators on Twitter.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
1hr ago
Well, yes, this pattern goes back over a millennium, though I wasn't aware it had gone back quite far enough to wind up in the Bible (I've read some of the Bible, but not all of it).
how is this legal? it seems like the legal theory is just add 'in minecraft' after the illegal act and then its ok. the people involved are very clearly receiving consideration for their vote as long as the 'in minecraft' clause was not added.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/597
Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote—
https://www.thefederalcriminalattorneys.com/expenditures-to-influence-voting
In simpler terms, this means it is illegal for anyone to use money or anything of value to influence someone's vote.
i'm going to solicit people to kill other people but make them check a box that says 'in minecraft' or 'this does not really create a legal agreement' and everything is ok.
ah: i missed the link that explains the courts have decided no money involved no problem:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2007/08/06/0655517.pdf
Whatever the wisdom of using vote-swapping agreements to communicate these positions, such agreements plainly differ from conventional (and illegal) vote buying, which conveys no message other than the parties’ willingness to exchange votes for money (or some other form of private profit). The Supreme Court held in Brown v. Hartlage, 456 U.S. 45, 55 (1982), that vote buying may be banned “without trenching on any right of association protected by the First Amendment.” Vote swapping, however, is more akin to the candidate’s pledge in Brown to take a pay cut if elected, which the Court concluded was constitutionally protected, than to unprotected vote buying. Like the candidate’s pledge, vote swapping involves a “promise to confer some ultimate benefit on the voter, qua . . . citizen[ ] or member of the general public” — i.e., another person’s agreement to vote for particular candidate. Id. at 58-59. And unlike vote buying, vote swapping is not an “illegal exchange for private profit” since the only benefit a vote swapper can receive is a marginally higher probability that his preferred electoral outcome will come to pass. Id. at 55 (emphasis added); cf. Marc John
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
The Christian scriptures literally refer to pagan religions as basically being satanism.
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
Because we were in the eye of Sauron. Why? Well, because the admins put us there. Why did they put us there? I suggest you ask them.
justmotteingaround
1hr ago
please engage with the substance instead of doing so with mockery.
Fair. As I've said here a few times, I loath safteyism. I find the hypothetical threat scenario so implausible that mentioning it screams of a persecution complex. I should have engaged more substantively.
I was against the move from reddit. I actually never saw a full explanation of why that was necessary. I recall a discussion of "((( )))" use trigging and auto-admin response). Iirc zorba said a full explanation would be forthcoming, but I missed it. I could be misremembering and no explanation was offered, but I remain open to one. That said, I thought having a backup motte was a good idea.
I dont know what bar you're setting for "major movers and shakers" but David Friedman Peter Thiel and Glenn Reynolds, were all regular commentors on SSC prior to the community moving to reddit.
Either Thiel or Reynolds already establishes a maximum of 2 degrees of Kevin Bacon from Scott Alexander to JD Vance (and amusingly enough) Trump.
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
Clinton has the 'corrupt, unprincipled liar' treatment and Carter gets a 'too good for this sinful earth' aura among democrats. Both Bushes seem to be treated as pretty decent folks by the media. Obama's still Star Trek Jesus, Biden is treated as senile and incompetent. Kamala seems to be getting a lackluster Strong Black Woman treatment.
So no, I don't think this is a universal rule.
One of the things that alienates educated Westerners from Trump is the way that he talks. He hardly ever talks in abstract terms. He doesn't qualify or hedge; everything is direct and concrete. Rather than say that he was on one of the later episodes of Oprah's show when they were coming to an end, he will say he was on the last episode. He won't just say that one of Lincoln's sons died, but instead he will name that son Tad. He's always including specific details that he misremembers or aren't all that important. He can't just say that people like Liz Cheney send people into warzones but will never face any real danger themselves, but rather he makes that idea concrete by describing her being fearful in front of a firing squad.
I think this is why Trump actually has a lot of cross-cultural appeal, because it's the educated Westerners who are strange. Most people aren't very good at thinking and talking in lawyerly abstractions, studiously avoiding any implication that might not hold up in court. For most of human history, people have used stories about specific people, in specific places, and about specific events to communicate general ideas about society, politics, morality, and even science. Most people aren't good at remembering abstract statements about general categories. However, give them a story fleshed out with questionable details, and they'll remember the gist even after they've forgotten most everything else. Educated Westerners are very good at communicating in abstractions, and they expect their audience to infer details from context. For many people, this kind of speaking might as well be in some kind of secret code language.
One of the most charismatic storytellers I know is an old Christian missionary women who would abhor the thought of voting for Trump, but she is very much like him in personality. She has made her entire life out of convincing people to fund her charitable missionary work. She has an incredible capacity to reach across national, ethnic, and cultural boundaries and communicate with so many different types of people, and she talks just like Trump. Her stories are all too good to be true, and that's because they're not, at least not literally. She didn't really escape from a country descending into civil war on the very last flight out of the airport. The miracles and coincidences in her stories were not really quite so serendipitous or unexpected as she makes them sound. She always embellishes with details that are often lazily misremembered or partially fabricated because they make for a better story. I don't think for a moment she is trying to be manipulative or deceitful, because she implicitly expects her audience to extract the general meaning from the particulars. The specific names, times, and places are used as placeholders, either approximately true or for illustrative purposes. She does not seem to know how to communicate in any other way.
What's interesting about Trump is that he can't turn this off either. He can't code switch between the two different ways of communicating, and it continually suprises him when he is misinterpreted. This is, I think, one of the reasons he comes across as stupid to educated Westerners, because to them this kind of communication is associated with stupid people. And they're not wrong--this is how stupid people communicate abstract ideas. However, not everyone who commicates like this is stupid, and Trump is certainly not stupid.
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