aleph
@aleph@lemm.ee
- Comment on The Antiquity to Alt-Right Pipeline 3 months ago:
Aesthetics, plus the seductive appeal that pre-modern, pre-liberal-democratic societies (where the women were submissive and “the men were men”) have for reactionaries, incels, and cryptofacists.
- Comment on [Discussion] What did you think of Matrix 4? 4 months ago:
It was bad. Not sure it was quite as terrible as #3, but definitely bad.
- Comment on Britain ignored its far-right threat and demonized Muslims. Now racist mobs have spiraled out of control. 4 months ago:
But as I noted above, the average UK citizen is not in favor of strict immigration controls (legal or otherwise) and certainly not supportive of the recent riots.
Of those who are, the majority comes from lower-income areas that suffered the most under years of Tory austerity, which is understandable. But even then it’s really a case of the socioeconomic elites pointing the finger at immigrants rather than themselves.
As for the Muslim community, again there is good evidence to suggest that a lot of the fears you mentioned are unfounded. Surveys have shown that most feel British and have no problem with integrating with the culture. Again, the problem you tend to find is extremists like Anjem Choudary tend to be amplified by the press, giving the impressions that the Muslim community is incompatible with British values, when in fact the vast majority disagree with that statement.
- Comment on Britain ignored its far-right threat and demonized Muslims. Now racist mobs have spiraled out of control. 4 months ago:
It’s ironic you mention ‘reality’, since the hysteria surround immigration is largely built on misinformation and xenophobic propaganda being spouted by right-wing politicians and media for well over a decade, and people’s subjective fears about immigration are largely based on that.
The mass migration of peoples seeking refuge from war and other geopolitical disasters is a global issue rather than something that is unique to the UK, and even then the UK has taken in far fewer asylum seekers relative to other EU countries.
For instance:
- When measuring the number of asylum applications per 10,000 citizens, the UK only ranks 20th when compared to other EU countries.
- In terms of migrants arriving by boat, the UK is well behind other EU countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain.
- Despite the obsession with small boat crossings, they represent only a tiny fraction of overall arrivals. The vast majority of immigrants still come through official channels for work, study, etc.
Also, the UK population is actually pretty positive when it comes to immigration:
- In a global survey, 55% of UK citizens said immigration was a net positive, and only 30% were in favor of strict limits.
The paranoia about immigrants causing higher crime rates is also based on a myth:
- The overall rates of violent crime has been steadily falling for decades despite a steady rise in the number of foreign-born citizens.
- There is no evidence that an increase in the rate of foreign-born citizens even correlates with a rise in burglaries, thefts, and other property crimes.
All this is to say that a lot of the anger inflaming these racists riots come from a combination of political and media misinformation and many people’s innate prejudice towards non-Europeans.
- Comment on Why are people downvoting the MediaBiasFactChecker not? 4 months ago:
Just don’t take it too seriously, I would say. Not every news piece from the same source is going to be of the same quality or bias.
- Comment on Why are people downvoting the MediaBiasFactChecker not? 4 months ago:
When I was on in Reddit I used to do it all the time, but writing everything out, organizing it and including citations etc. can be rather time-intensive.
These days, I’ll leave a quick comment on a post if I have enough time, but nothing major.
- Comment on Why are people downvoting the MediaBiasFactChecker not? 4 months ago:
I used to be a fan of it, but in the past few years I’ve seen MBFC rate sources as “highly credible” that are anything but, particularly on issues involving geopolitics. That, plus the inherent unreliability of putting a media source at a fixed point on a simple Left <> Right spectrum, has rendered it pretty useless, in my opinion.
There days I’m much more of the opinion that it’s best to read a variety of sources, both mainstream and independent, and consider factors like
- is this information well-sourced?
- is there any obvious missing context?
- is this information up to date?
- what are the likely ideological biases of this writer or publication?
- What is the quality of the evidence provided to support the claims made in the article?
And so on instead of outsourcing your critical thinking to a third party who may be using a flawed methodology.
- Comment on Harris Clinches Majority of Delegates as She Closes In on Nomination 4 months ago:
It doesn’t get ignored; it’s one of the most common criticisms of US politics.
- Comment on A Quiet Place: Day One Box Office Breezes Past Major Domestic Milestone, Prequel Close To Double Its Budget 4 months ago:
I’m not sure that lack of jeopardy was the issue with Furiosa – after all, that’s always the case with prequels.
I also don’t think that Day One introduced enough new developments to keep things interesting. The concept of the monsters is so simple that the main characters figure out the “rules” (don’t make noise) within minutes of the first attack. And that’s pretty much it - we, the audience, are none the wiser about what they are, where they come from, or what they’re about by the end of Day One than we were by the end of the second movie. Personally, I didn’t find the character development as interesting as Furiosa, either.
Either way, i agree that the quality of the story matters and I think Furiosa succeed here, personally.
If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the differences in the box office outcomes come down to the facts that the Mad Max franchise has more of a niche appeal than A Quiet Place, is more violent, and the movie was quite a bit longer in duration.
- Comment on A Quiet Place: Day One Box Office Breezes Past Major Domestic Milestone, Prequel Close To Double Its Budget 4 months ago:
It’s success is interesting as it doesn’t appear to have suffered from prequel fatigue, unlike, say, Furiosa, depsite being noticeably weaker than the first two movies.
- Comment on The shooter donated to ActBlue according to AP. 5 months ago:
Right, which is a bit odd why OP chose to highlight this one fact as the headline for this article.
- Comment on The shooter donated to ActBlue according to AP. 5 months ago:
Ah, ok - I assumed that you linked an outdated source but yes, it does appear that they are the same.
For the record, here’s confirmation of the donation address:
- Comment on The shooter donated to ActBlue according to AP. 5 months ago:
20-year-old, registered Republican, Thomas Matthew Crooks is the shooter, yes, but the donation to ActBlue referred to in the healing of this post was apparently made by somebody else.
- Comment on The shooter donated to ActBlue according to AP. 5 months ago:
Looks like it wasn’t even him anyway – the ActBlue donation was registered to a Thomas Crooks, not Thomas Matthew Crooks:
- Comment on Which IELTS exam is necessary for work visa in UK? 5 months ago:
General is for work visas, whereas Academic is for applying to university courses. Generally speaking.
You should always double check with the institution you’re applying to, though.
- Comment on Josh Johnson Asks Black Voters: Biden or Trump? | The Daily Show 5 months ago:
It’s literally just boredom and dissatisfaction driving people to change from one party to another. Thanks to the two-party corporatocracy that the US pretends is a democracy, what other options do they have?
- Comment on why isn't anyone calling for Trump to drop out. 5 months ago:
Because
- None of the above legally prevent him from running.
- Republicans voters will still vote for him en masse.
It’s really quite simple.
- Comment on It's painful to not be able to see everything at once. 5 months ago:
Nobara may well use a non-stock configuration, but by default a three-finger swipe left or right on the trackpad will switch between workspaces. As for keyboard shortcuts, I believe they are disabled by default but you can always set your own by going to settings > keyboard shortcuts > navigation > switch to workspace on the left/right.
- Comment on It's painful to not be able to see everything at once. 5 months ago:
Stock Gnome has this too.
- Comment on The justices of the supreme court ruled that Trump was immune and effectively above the law while being president. What is now stopping Biden from bringing a gun to the next debate? 5 months ago:
It’s not that simple; A court must rule that the action in question is an “official act”. As the SCOTUS intentionally declined to elaborate further on who this is defined, it will be up for the courts to decide what is and what is not covered by immunity.
Not that this couldn’t become subject to abuse and partisan rulings, but it’s more complicated than the presidental equivalent of
- Comment on Most Americans have no idea how anti-worker the US supreme court has become 5 months ago:
From the article:
A 2022 study found that of the 57 justices who have sat on the court over the past century, the six justices with the most pro-business voting records are the six members of today’s 6-3, rightwing super-majority, all appointed by Republican presidents
- Comment on Jon Stewart's Debate Analysis: Trump's Blatant Lies and Biden's Senior Moments | The Daily Show 5 months ago:
Being a narcissistic, bloviating despot is exactly what everyone expected of Trump. In fact, he came off rather well from the time constraints, muted mics, and the total lack of fact-checking because the format of the debate didn’t expose his weaknesses like it did for Biden.
- Comment on Jon Stewart's Debate Analysis: Trump's Blatant Lies and Biden's Senior Moments | The Daily Show 5 months ago:
hasn’t Biden had a stutter from a very young age and struggled with it most of his life?
That would be a no.
- Comment on NOSFERATU - Official Teaser Trailer 5 months ago:
Ooh, Robert Eggers? Now I’m interested.
- Comment on Is it just me or do Lemmy communities tend to skew left wing? Why might this be? 6 months ago:
That’s true, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the FOSS ethos runs in direct conflict with the ideals of capitalism and private ownership, and libertarians are nothing if not fans of those things.
- Comment on Jon Stewart Tackles The Trump Conviction Fallout and Puts The Media on Trial 6 months ago:
Bless Jon Stewart. It’s so refreshing to see someone accurately describe how things actually are in the US’ utterly batshit political/media landscape.
- Comment on Rep Jordan urges Congress to 'defund lawfare activities' of Trump prosecutors 6 months ago:
The party that revolutionized political lawfare and has gone after their political rivals via the criminal justice system on several occasions is now clutching their pearls and heralding the end of American democracy?
The audacity.
- Comment on Why Toyota Is Intentionally "Falling Behind" On EVs | Morning Brew (10:10) 6 months ago:
It’s not so much of a problem for brand new modela but there are still many older ones that suffer from battery failure and degradation outside of warranty.
- Comment on Why Toyota Is Intentionally "Falling Behind" On EVs | Morning Brew (10:10) 6 months ago:
Yup.
- Comment on Why Toyota Is Intentionally "Falling Behind" On EVs | Morning Brew (10:10) 6 months ago:
That certainly is news to me. After all these years and the almost total lack of hydrogen infrastructure in the US, I had assumed that it was considered a dead end.
That said, it does makes sense; I hadn’t considered that hydrogen tech was more in competition with ICEs than with EVs.
