smitten (borked)

"games are the universal language"

I don't think 'podcaster' or 'influencer' should be used as diminutives. Podcasters are important, the internet is real life. Media and art are important parts of culture, publishing is important, actors are important, writers are important.

A lot of times getting someone to see your point of view, if it's an ethical thing, is not about changing their heart it's just about them saving face. If they give in to look good, they'll always blame you for being the source of the embarrassment. One day they might break down and revoke their agreement, get angry at you for forcing them to adopt a position they didn't really want to. If their embarrassing stance had a religious source, a part of them will always be apologizing internally for going against it. When that contradiction gets too severe, it will break and it will be your fault for causing it.

"ok fine you're right! but why did you have to come at it like that? why did you have to make me feel something? why couldn't you just be chill about me ignoring your concerns and treating you like an outsider? you're always so intense about everything. I hate talking with you about this stuff."

many such cases

You might be able to explain to a Christian that someone they're defending actually said some bad things, you might be able to get them to admit that the person wasn't 100% holy. You might get them to imagine the person had ulterior motives. But you will never get them to notice that their allegiance to the Christian label was so great that it caused them to dismiss your concerns, which ended up being valid. You will never get them to notice that they privileged their own sense of affinity over your very visible frustration, fear, or revulsion. At best, this will be a one-off exception in their memory. Most likely, they will still be resentful of you for having gone through this conversation.

our enemies don't have any ideology because the words to describe them are all being outlawed. they aren't racist or bigoted, they aren't fascists, they aren't anything but passionate. it's just by coincidence that their retribution is all aimed at Black people and gay people and trans people.

Ryan Fecteau, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives this time. He's a gay man.

https://www.wmtw.com/article/police-receive-bomb-threat-speaker-fecteaus-home/66072654

The person who was asking the question when Kirk was shot, Hunter Kozak, said "I couldn’t have asked a worse question". That's an interesting perspective because Kozak was making a good point which Kirk was dodging. He was pointing out that leftists and specifically trans people are a small proportion of shooters, even less than you would statistically expect all things being equal. Hunter now faces likely stalking or harassment campaigns, and needing to apologize for having asked a good question. That's a rarely discussed downside of legitimizing fascist rhetoric with debate, you will be blamed for being nearby and making them look bad, when you are simply engaging with reality.

"Defund the police" was such offensive speech to certain people that they have been itching to go kill everyone who said it ever since. Defund the police is a political statement, made of words. Even if it sounds controversial, is it a stronger position than advocating for public executions? Is it a stronger position than "We must ban trans-affirming care — the entire country"? The right wing has been holding a grudge about certain speech and the solution they favor is executing the person who said it. There's just no way to square the two positions, that freedom of speech is a God-given right, and that certain speech deserves punishment. If they believe some positions are so extreme that they are worthy of death, why are they surprised that some of their followers identified their own speech as in that category?

100% this. the fear suddenly feels personal to a huge group of people, so the fear only now exists to them. This is about people who never were reluctant to express themselves now wondering if self-expression is safe, while they've been making self-expression unsafe this whole time.

RE: @artemis@dice.camp

it must feel nice to go on the bro podcasts and they're so friendly and it's all a nice open conversation. there's a limited selection of people who could do that without facing hostility immediately. Newsom doesn't seem to realize that, and that's a big problem. but he's had such a great time talking with his buddies and how could that be wrong? everything pleasant is good even if it's denied to others.

to add onto everything else, 3I/ATLAS is glowing green now