maaruin

[maaruin]

I don't think this take is very helpful. The Nazis had their own ideology which was very different from the progressives of their time, even if both were racist and antisemitic. The Nazis belived that all "races" were locked in an unending war for survival and if they wanted to win, they needed to strike first and aggressively, both internally (against Jews) and externally (conquering Eastern Europe to settle with Germans). This particular version of us-vs-them would today probably find more support under conservatives than progressives. Like it did back then - it was conservatives who helped the Nazis into power in Germany, though the didn't fully anticipate the consequences.

Modern progressives that have recently shown antisemitism have their own us-vs-them-thinking, which is that the world can be neatly divided into oppressor and oppressed and that any violence against the oppressor is justified and moral. Just like the Nazis could slot antisemitism into their larger category of enemies, these progressive can to so as well. But the definition of enemy this is based on is very different for both groups.

I think people forget that the Nazis never said they were the bad guys. If someone says, hey, I’m evil! You don’t let them take over your country. They presented themselves as scientific, not hateful. By their own account, they were progressives, and the superiority of White Europe over the other races was a proven and immutable fact. They had scientists and archaeologists and historians to prove it. They didn’t tell people they wanted to kill the Jews because they were hateful. They manufactured evidence to frame us for very real tragedies, and they had methodological research to prove that we were genetically predisposed to misconduct. Wouldn’t you believe that?

Hollywood has spent the last 80 years portraying the Nazis as an obvious and intimidating evil. That’s a good thing in some ways, because we want general audiences to recognize that they were evil. But we also want them to be able to recognize how and why they came to power. Not by self-describing themselves as an evil empire, but by convincing people that they were the good guys and the saviors. They hosted the Olympics. Several European countries capitulated and volunteered themselves to the Empire. There were American and British Fascist Parties. They had broad public support. Hollywood never shows that part, so general audiences never learn to recognize the actual signs of antisemitism.

People today think they can’t possibly be antisemitic, because they’re leftist! They abhor bigotry! They could never comprehend Nazi ideology coming from the mouth of a bisexual college student wearing a graphic tee and jeans. How could they? The only depiction of antisemites they’ve ever seen have been gaunt, pale, middle-aged men in black leather trench coats with skulls on their caps.

If the Nazis time-travelled from the 1930s and wanted to take power now, they’d change their original tactics, but not by much. They would target countries suffering from an identity crisis and an economic collapse. They would portray themselves as the pinnacle of what that society considers progressive. Back then, it was race science. These days it’s performative wokeness. Once they’d garnered enough respect and reputation, they’d begin manufacturing propaganda and lies to manipulate people’s anger and fears at a single target— Jews.

If the Nazis made an actual return, they wouldn’t look like neo-Nazis. They wouldn’t be nearly as obvious about their hatred. Their evil wouldn’t give them yellow eyes, and no suspenseful music would play when they walked in the room. They’d be friendly. They’d look like you. They would learn what things your community fears and what things you already hate. They would lie and fabricate evidence to connect the rich elites and the imperialists you revile to a single source of unequivocal Jewish evil. It wouldn’t be hard— they already have two-thousand years of institutional antisemitism they can rely on to paint their picture.

If you’re curious why antisemitism today is coming from grassroots organizations, young, liberal college campuses, suburban neighborhoods with pride flags and All Are Welcome Here signs? That’s why. It’s because, as a global society, we’ve forgotten that the world didn’t used to see the Nazis as bad guys. And what is forgotten about history is doomed to be repeated.

#antisemitism #nazis #progressivism #progressivism critical #leftism #politics #friend/enemy distinction

[maaruin]

I watched the trailers for the Furiosa movie, and it seems to me like the movie just doesn't have the guts.

It is a prequel - but a sequel, Furiosa taking and defending power at the citadel, would be much more interesting. In such a situation she would need to make hard choices, even more difficult than the ones she made in Fury Road. But then the movie would need to show the inner workings and problems of a society after a revolution - much more easy to have the romanticized image at the end of Fury Road stand.

Also, it seems like they won't be going for the implication that was in Fury Road. There she was wearing a piece of the wives clothing on her arm, which sparked the theory that she was a wife of Immortan Joe herself before she became an imperator - the theory is that she turned out to be infertile, so he found another use for her. A de-facto slave finding a way to improve her situation, but only at the cost of compromising with her owner and throwing other people under the bus, would be an interesting and tragic story, warranting her search for redemption in Fury Road. But instead the movie seems to have her as a warrior on a quest for revenge from pretty early on - which is a much "safer" story to tell.

I will watch it in cinema for the action, especially because I missed Fury Road on the big screen. And who knows, maybe I'll be surprised by the story - it is the same director and writers after all.

#furiosa movie #furiosa a mad max saga #mad max: fury road #imperator furiosa #revolutions #forced marriage #story premises more interesting than the movie

[maaruin]

Talking with Immanuel Kant.

Me: "I don't think I agree with your ideas, but I like your analytic thought process."

Immanuel Kant: "Actually, my though process is synthetic."

#philosophy #humor #immanuel kant #analytic/synthetic distinction

[maaruin]

#d&d #humor

[maaruin]

Every time I think about, “Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise? I thought not. It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. It’s a Sith legend.” I start laughing because IT HAPPENED LIKE TWELVE YEARS AGO and THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE WERE SIDIOUS AND PLAGUEIS like there’s no way for the Jedi to even know this story existed, it’s not a millennia old tale, it was INCREDIBLY RECENT and they were Sith Lords IN HIDING, yet Palpatine just says that entire story with his whole chest like Anakin’s never going to go go the Jedi and say, “Hey, what’s up with never telling me about that Sith Legend Darth Plagueis?” so the Jedi can go “who the fuck is Darth Plagueis????” and Palpatine is RIGHT, Anakin’s brain is just like a hamster on a squeaky wheel, “oh okay I don’t know enough to tell if that’s true or not but I’m just gonna believe it”.  ABOUT A STORY THAT HAPPENED A DECADE AGO, NOT SOME ANCIENT HISTORY.  The absolute gall of Sheev Palpatine, there will never be another villain like him, he’s the bestworst.

#star wars #palpatine #jocasta nu #anakin skywalker #darth plagueis #other people's fanfic ideas

[maaruin]

perfect bot interaction on twitter

#humor #...twitter

[maaruin]

love david and goliath being like one of the main bible stories for kids. like yeah you might be small but with god on your side you can kill someone with a rock

#humor #bible

[maaruin]

Holy shit… please…take this quiz…

#28/30 #i do have a pretty good feel for it #though 'duilin' feels like it could fit equally well in both naming traditions

[maaruin]

If moral realism is false, then why exactly do I ought to push one person onto the trolley tracks to save five people?

professional philosophers are so good at ethical reasoning most of them fail to recognise and then solve the easiest test thereof: is one less than five?

oh yeah also nine tenths of them think physics doesn't real

one third is lower than I thought but still an utterly embarrassing failure rate for another total gimme (atheism)

you cannot be aware of cosmology and evolution and believe in moral realism, come on

physics has conclusively answered the questions of theism, free will, and moral realism -- all in the negative -- and maths the trolley problem (1 is, in fact, less than 5). and yet philosophers not only can't agree with each other, but predominantly get them wrong. this is not a field or set of methods that can produce reliable knowledge.

#philosophy #trolley problem #moral realism #for the other points i would consider op overconfident but i do understand that physics is pointing in that direction #but this one seems like a blatant contradiction

[maaruin]

The Doctor and The Master implies a third, less prestigious renegade timelord named The Bachelor

#humor #james bond #doctor who

[maaruin]

new thing I should start saying to people to sound unhinged is that I've never tried even a single sip of wine in my life but I know exactly what it tastes like

#humor #catholicism #eucharist

[maaruin]

I watched Battlestar Galactica episodes S04E05 "The Road Less Travelled" and S04E06 "Faith" today. Overall good episodes, but I have to ask: After Kara left with the Raptor to find the dissident Cylon faction, why didn't they just jump the Demetrius back to the fleet? As I understood it the Raptor didn't have enough fuel to even return to the Demetrius, so if they failed, there wouldn't really be a point in waiting. Jumping the Demetrius back could have saved Gaeta's leg and informed the Galactica about the dissident Cylons before they jumped to the fleet.

#battlestar galactica #battlestar galactica season 4 #battlestar galactica spoilers #cylon civil war #captain kara thrace #lieutenant felix gaeta #demetrius (sewage recycling ship)

[maaruin]

i need feminism because when jesus does a magic trick it’s a goddamn miracle but when a woman does a magic trick she gets burned at the stake

#humor #jesus #good friday

[maaruin]

Okay, one of the things I find very fascinating about Fulton Sheen is his subversive, purposely scandalous rhetoric.

Christ is a tempter and seducer who lures us towards Him with the promise of unbelievable love.

The Repentant Thief Dismas died repentant, but not of his thievery; after all, "may we not say that the thief died a thief, for he stole Paradise?"

Christ is the Prodigal Son, having gone out into the World and spent His Inheritance on the things of the world (i.e., us)

#christianity #catholicism #fulton sheen #theology #jesus

[maaruin]

Imagine being the only person alive who can say this

#humor #neil armstrong #buzz aldrin #moon

[maaruin]

The "fuck, marry, kill"-game always felt a little wrong to me. Like, those aren't equivalent options. The first two are a sort of ranking, because the second one will (generally) include the first. And the last one goes way too uach in the other direction. So, here are some other sets-of-3-options that I feel fit together more neatly.

"fight, flight, freeze" - either ask about the instinctive reaction or the best strategy when encountering three characters. (That one might already exist.)

"vassal, ally, liege" - place the three characters in a feudal hierarchy with you.

"wife up, set up with someone you know, sign up for online dating" - help these three characters find love ("wife up" is gender neutral in this context).

So, if you may, please send me three fictional characters and one of these three games.

#ask prompts #fight flight freeze #vassal ally liege #wife up set up sign up

[maaruin]

I’ve noticed an overwhelming trend of 20 something/early 30s not adapting well to parenthood, and motherhood specifically (woman to woman, here)

This is the first generation of now adults that have been raised with a default state of rest. The concept of working and doing what needs to be done from sunrise to sunset is foreign, so something as demanding and difficult as motherhood seems overwhelmingly impossible.

If you view life as your default being watching TV and checking off a few things from a list during the day, you surely aren’t going to adapt well to that which forces you to actively live. It’s a complete lifestyle switch — to a life where you must do everything intentionally, even rest. Which is by far a better way of living, but it has been robbed from these younger generations.

And adding to the problem is lack of community. Folks are herded through life like cattle with little interaction with those outside their own age. They don’t have an older, wiser guide to follow through life, neither do they know how to make sense of the little ones. Enter all the atrocious baby and parenting books that do no good but cause stress and confusion for these young parents, but they eat them up because they have no other point of direction through parenthood. They’ve never really cared for the little ones outside of a four hour Saturday night babysitting gig a couple times in high school. They’ve never had to manage a household. They can hardly manage themselves.

And while this post is about a concerning trend of parents not being able to raise their own kids, it’s really just one symptom of the larger problem that I’ve already pointed out: we no longer actively live as much as we passively exist.

There are more and more people who are amazed at the concept of Actively Doing all day.

And I speak with such authority here because it’s a mindset shift I’ve lived through. I can get done in one morning what used to take me a week. And I have hobbies. And I have been learning new skills. And I have more responsibilities. And I have had no trouble taking these things in stride as life has marched on since having this mindset shift.

A lot in life really does come down to mindset. And that is the problem plaguing folks my age and younger.

#yeah #this failure of skill transfer between generations is something I noticed as well #household skills #parenting