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Messages - Nephew Twiddleton

#31
Aneristic Illusions / Re: Pelosi vs AOC feud
July 13, 2019, 08:39:39 AM
Quote from: nullified on July 13, 2019, 05:11:08 AM
Extremely wrong, anti-gun leftists are the norm these days. Tankies aren't popular lately, what with all that latent anti-Semitism lurking in modern Stalinism. I'm one of the anti-gun leftists out there, and I'm actually a firearms enthusiast.

I don't have the focus right now to give you a rundown of the theorizing behind it, but it's a utopian communist idea in terms of where it comes from. Anarchists like their guns a lot, and other communists tend to either accept them as necessary or outright demand arming everyone in the world.

"Sometimes up to and including tanks" should not be construed as meaning that all leftists are Stalinists. If that's what you think I mean, then I can understand how you can reply with the seemingly paradoxical statement that you're an anti-gun leftist gun enthusiast.

I'm not a gun enthusiast. I don't have a gun. I've never found the need for one. It's kinda like how I'm not a car enthusiast because I generally rely on public transportation.
#32
Aneristic Illusions / Re: Pelosi vs AOC feud
July 13, 2019, 04:35:41 AM
Quote from: Norman on July 12, 2019, 08:58:59 PM
Quote from: nullified on July 12, 2019, 08:48:14 PM
I'm not an idiot. Of course we get Baby Benito out of office first, at any costs. And of course purity testing isn't going to fucking help there.

That was exactly my point.

QuoteBut that doesn't mean you shouldn't push further left where things are less crucial, even if you'll lose. Fact: that's how the GOP became the New American Nazi Party, they kept pushing right. A certain, large, fraction of the base will vote GOP even if the candidate admitted to eating babies. They exert influence on their friends. And of course there's no viable third party options at all.

Sure, the problem is that the AOC plank doesn't seem to understand this. They want to swing for the fences on everything.

QuoteAlso, let's remember that "center left" in American politics is "solid right" everywhere else. There is no balance, just a freight train choo-chooing toward the abyss. The "left" is dead weight the train is dragging along, not an actual counter-force. And so long as we push for moderation and centrist policies, that will remain the case.

It's not about pushing for moderation (even though I am a moderate myself), it's about pragmatism. I mean, shit, while I'm to the right of many D's on a lot of things, I'm way to the left of them on guns.  If AOC came out tomorrow to propose a gun ban and repealing the 2nd amendment, I'd be right there supporting her!

Gun bans aren't left, they're liberal centrism. Leftists want an armed proletariat. Sometimes up to and including tanks.
#33
Aneristic Illusions / Re: Pelosi vs AOC feud
July 13, 2019, 04:32:54 AM
Quote from: The Johnny on July 12, 2019, 09:09:07 PM

Im sure that shuffling around chairs on the Titanic is the solution, you guys just need to do it faster  :)

But seriously, moderates are such cancer on your democracy, all while the right is tailoring their brownshirts.

I can't agree more
#34
Aneristic Illusions / Re: Pelosi vs AOC feud
July 13, 2019, 04:32:22 AM
Quote from: Norman on July 12, 2019, 08:41:12 PM
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on July 12, 2019, 08:34:34 PM
Quote from: Norman on July 12, 2019, 08:31:15 PM
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on July 12, 2019, 07:19:48 PM
Quote from: Norman on July 12, 2019, 05:17:26 PM
At the same time, Congress is a numbers game. Which I think, like her or don't like her, is ultimately where Pelosi is coming from.  The Dems in the House can do shit if they are in the minority. With a majority, they may not be able to do what the liberal wing of the party wants done, but they can do more than zero. 

I think that is where the rub is.  Pelosi and establishment want to move the ball to see if they can smash their way to a first down, AOC et al want to get a touch down on first possession. 

Of course the reality is with an R Senate and White House, it's not like there's too much the D's can accomplish, but whatever possibilities there might be, it certainly isn't going to be with a red-meat liberal initiative.

So in other words, we have to accept a moderate centrist agenda to achieve the agenda we need a buck short and a day late.

Yes, because like it or not, the American electorate is, at best, center-left.  AOC will get re-elected in her District all day long.  Meanwhile, in Maine's northern district, we have center-Left Jared Golden.  Now, he's not a Pelosi fan, he voted against her speakership in fact, but overall, much more moderate than AOC.  You will never, get someone like AOC elected in that district.  Golden won his election by miniscule numbers, he was lucky.  It's a center-right district. 

That's what you have to contend with.  To have more progressive/liberals, you have to have massive changes in the electorates in those regions, or catch lightning in a bottle and nominate someone who can win over right-leaning districts with personality to distract from their policy positions.  You might get lucky and do that in a few districts, but not on a scale to significantly tip the House to the progressive left. 

So given that reality, those numbers, is it best to get something or nothing?  That's where Pelosi is coming from.  And she's right.  Because the math is the math.

Or, and hear me out, we can stop thinking of politics in terms of stopping the other side and actually vote on the basis of being an informed electorate. Yeah, I know, but the people who sit out the vote are the ones thinking like this.

That's the ideal of course, and should absolutely be a goal to strive for.  But that's not going to happen between now and election day.  You and I both know that.  Trump needs to go.  Like it or not, that's not happening via the AOC wing, that's going to happen via Pelosi & Biden (or Harris).

I can't disagree more.
#35
Aneristic Illusions / Re: Pelosi vs AOC feud
July 12, 2019, 08:34:34 PM
Quote from: Norman on July 12, 2019, 08:31:15 PM
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on July 12, 2019, 07:19:48 PM
Quote from: Norman on July 12, 2019, 05:17:26 PM
At the same time, Congress is a numbers game. Which I think, like her or don't like her, is ultimately where Pelosi is coming from.  The Dems in the House can do shit if they are in the minority. With a majority, they may not be able to do what the liberal wing of the party wants done, but they can do more than zero. 

I think that is where the rub is.  Pelosi and establishment want to move the ball to see if they can smash their way to a first down, AOC et al want to get a touch down on first possession. 

Of course the reality is with an R Senate and White House, it's not like there's too much the D's can accomplish, but whatever possibilities there might be, it certainly isn't going to be with a red-meat liberal initiative.

So in other words, we have to accept a moderate centrist agenda to achieve the agenda we need a buck short and a day late.

Yes, because like it or not, the American electorate is, at best, center-left.  AOC will get re-elected in her District all day long.  Meanwhile, in Maine's northern district, we have center-Left Jared Golden.  Now, he's not a Pelosi fan, he voted against her speakership in fact, but overall, much more moderate than AOC.  You will never, get someone like AOC elected in that district.  Golden won his election by miniscule numbers, he was lucky.  It's a center-right district. 

That's what you have to contend with.  To have more progressive/liberals, you have to have massive changes in the electorates in those regions, or catch lightning in a bottle and nominate someone who can win over right-leaning districts with personality to distract from their policy positions.  You might get lucky and do that in a few districts, but not on a scale to significantly tip the House to the progressive left. 

So given that reality, those numbers, is it best to get something or nothing?  That's where Pelosi is coming from.  And she's right.  Because the math is the math.

Or, and hear me out, we can stop thinking of politics in terms of stopping the other side and actually vote on the basis of being an informed electorate. Yeah, I know, but the people who sit out the vote are the ones thinking like this.
#36
Quote from: nullified on July 12, 2019, 07:56:31 PM
Mm, fair. I'd say it had the highest high points, at least. When God Emperor was on, it was rock solid through and through. The scene with the advisor and the ghola in the catacombs remains lodged in my mind's eye, I doubt I'll ever forget it.

It was a solid novel, but parts of it were definitely... It was like a solid TNG episode in writing but also pacing
#37
Quote from: Juana on July 12, 2019, 07:48:09 PM
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on July 12, 2019, 06:57:03 PM
Quote from: Juana on July 12, 2019, 03:52:36 PM
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on July 12, 2019, 01:35:45 PM
Quote from: Juana on July 11, 2019, 09:52:05 PM
I'll survive. I'm just poor and cheap, lmao

That reminds me. I'm probably going to have to shell out quite a bit for admissions applications to PhD programs this fall
Yeah, that shit ain't cheap from what I've heard.

On the one hand, I'm only going to apply to Boston area.

On the other hand, I'm applying to Boston area
Yeah, I imagine that's more expensive than elsewhere.


Also, I have a rib misaligned and I'm mad about it bc I can't figure out how I did it.

Get well soon!

It's more the amount of places I can apply. Though I'm pretty sure that I can expect not to get into Harvard or MIT due to competition. To be fair, even though MIT is prestigious, I hear their biology department is more interested in what I can do with bacteria than what I can find out with bacteria
#38
Quote from: nullified on July 12, 2019, 07:52:48 PM
Seems like it's the month of rib injuries. That's the third one.

Goddamn
#39
I really enjoyed the prequels though. It was fun to see the origin of the Bene Gesserit, Mentats, and Navigators, as well as the Butlerian Jihad
#40
Quote from: nullified on July 12, 2019, 07:51:16 PM
God Emperor is definitely the high point. Leto II is a horrible/wonderful character, and it's the most convincing writing about precognition in the series. Full agreement with you there.

I'll agree, but even God Emperor had parts that were hard to get through
#41
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on July 12, 2019, 07:44:02 PM
The Dune series goes downhill pretty quickly after God Emperor, IMO.

I mean, it goes Downhill after Dune. Children was pretty good because it was Dune-like
#42
The weird focus on sexuality is why I couldn't get through Heretics when I was, laughably, in my 20s (I turn 38 in a few weeks).
#43
Quote from: nullified on July 12, 2019, 07:32:46 PM
Wasn't Chapterhouse the last Frank book?

Either way, Herbert hasn't aged well. I read Dune in 2012 and loved it, all the way through Chapterhouse. I reread it all about six months or so ago and it was painful. Joe Biden defending his record on racial segregation painful.

Okay, bit of an exaggeration there. Unlike Biden, when judged as a product of its time, it's fine or better. Today, though, it just comes off as horny for dominatrices at best, and everything goes downhill from there. Shame, really: the cultural elements outside of the Bene-connected stuff (G or T, irrelevant really) holds up strong as nails, still some of the best worldbuilding I've seen done.

I agree with your assessment. It's hard to get through and frankly I prefer his son's additions to the series more readable
#44
I'm indirectly bitching about a needing a better work/life balance. I apologize for getting a little cranky at you
#45
Quote from: nullified on July 12, 2019, 07:18:16 PM
The correct thing to do is to simply add it to your pleasure reading backlog, silly.

Unless you don't like hard sci-fi, in which case I guess you can spoil yourself, but that'd be a major disservice to that story and I'd rather let others around here be able to go in blind on it. PM me if you want the spoiler.

EDIT: wrote the above up veeeery slowly, while distracted, before your second post. To be clear here, I have books I've been meaning to get to since 2005. I only just finally got around to reading The Thread That Binds The Bones this past September, and well... That's one I'd meant to read since 2003. I fully expect people to read stuff years after I suggest it to them, it's inevitable. A simple hazard of existing in information overload: even once you sort the noise from the signal, you still have far more to consume than you ever can possibly hope to.

There's a downside to academia. I've been trying to finish the entire expanded Dune for years. I'm about 20% through Chapterhouse and have been for months. I'm probably going to have to start from the beginning. And then there's the two sequels to that.