thebardingreen

@thebardingreen@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨While Democracy Burns, Democrats Prioritize… Demolishing Section 230?⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  This is something I wrote on a recent post. I think it’s something that we should help as many people as possible understand:

  ---

  This really tracks for me. I grew up around wealthy liberals and am intimately familiar with how these motherfuckers think. I have been telling my friends for months that we cannot expect the Democratic establishment or our current batch of elected Democratic representatives to address the problem.

  People are like “Don’t they understand that it’s a war?” Most of these people think we’re idiots for thinking of it as war. Their high spending donors think we’re idiots for thinking of it as a war. They think Republicans are angry idiots who have to be negotiated with so we can “get on with business.” They see Republican voters MAGAing and rioting on Jan 6th and they think “What a bunch of yahoos!” (my multimillionaire boomer dad’s literal words). They see Leftist protests turning out en-masse and they think “What a bunch of yahoos!” (again, my multimillionaire boomer dad’s literal words). My father has literally said about the second Trump presidency.

  “This will all blow over.” “You just watch, the system will slow all of this down.” See, it’s not just our “elected dems in office,” who don’t seem to get it, it’s the entire leftish / center leaning, privileged ass, rich ass, mostly white, mostly older demographic, all comfy with their owning of multiple homes and their inflated stock portfolios and their rubbing shoulders with billionaires. We complain about the “elected dems in office,” because we see them out there being like this in public, in the news in front of everybody. But this whole demographic is like this and that’s why we keep seeing it.

  EDIT:

  The only way we’ll change this is to STOP ELECTING DEMS FROM THAT DEMOGRAPHIC. They’re not “spineless cowards,” they just DON’T ACTUALLY REPRESENT YOU. They represent other neolibral rich people (people just like them, in other words). Those people’s highest values are

  Stability. Business Economics (the price of gas and eggs doesn’t really effect them that much). Maintaining their comfy “compassionate upper class” culture. They DO genuinely care about

  Philanthropy (usually of a sort of egocentric variety). Social safety nets (most of them genuinely value compassion especially when it doesn’t really cost them anything). Sound fiscal policy. Science (they believe in climate change and worry about their children and grandchildren). They LOVE to reassure and prop themselves up by talking about all the good they’re able to do because they’re rich / influential. On that note, they tend to embrace a kind of leftist, New Agey take on Prosperity Gospel and see wealth as something that enables them to do good in the world and help people (See? Greed is GOOD!). Some of that has merit, but it is NOT nearly as true as they tell themselves and others it is. Faced with chaos and instability they will

  Try to negotiate with the people causing it, to get things “back to normal.” Compromise with those people to keep things as stable as possible Every. Fucking. Time. Run off to meditation retreats and vacation homes and time shares in Hawaii or ritzy parts of Mexico to “find their center.” Abandon their higher values to circle the wagons around the first, basic three (Stability, Business, Culture). Importantly,

  They DO NOT see you as being “like them,” “their people,” or “part of their culture.” They’re actually VERY aware that you are NOT part of their culture. They usually honestly think that that’s because they made better choices than you. They ARE able to acknowledge that there are people less fortunate then them, and even that they may have an obligation to these people. But they don’t think they OWE you anything. When I say culture, I’m not talking about your Italian heritage, your black southern cuisine or how you abuela only speaks Spanish. I’m talking about private school / charter jets / fundraiser dinners / owning a mint condition classic car / keeping your boat in the garage of the OTHER house you own on the same street as your primary home. They do not feel obligated to go out of their way to defend your culture. Although if your culture is artistic, entrepreneurial, agitates for social justice, or is tangential to their own religious beliefs (looking at you Buddhism), they might be willing to fund it. They DEFINITELY feel entitled to exploit or profit off your culture, if they see an opportunity to do so, and will pat themselves on the back for “the good they’re doing in the world” and “how they were able to help people” the WHOLE WAY TO THE BANK. This doesn’t mean they’re bad people or lack compassion for you. When we’re asking our congressmonsters to fight, we’re asking them to take up our values in ways that many of them (rightly or wrongly) see as abandoning their own core values. THAT’S why they’re angry.

  They’re NOT cowards. They just don’t actually value the same things you do and their core priorities aren’t in the same place yours are. They never have been. And as long as we primarily elect Dems from this demographic, they NEVER will be.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨THE EARTH IS SPHERICAL, DIPSHITS⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  100%. I watched a video on TFE where there was a minister guy saying the Earth is flat because the bible says so and that any evidence to the contrary is manufactured by (literally) Satan and the US government and that they may not be able to prove it one way or the other, but they have to have faith in the word of God.

  There’s literally nothing you can say to that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Elon's understanding of science.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think Elon knows about second year.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna) passed on directing new Star Trek but has returned to science fiction with Foundation⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  TIL! Cool.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Film Discussion | Star Trek: Section 31⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m glad people are finding it tolerably fun, I guess. I’m about 30 minutes in and don’t know if I can keep watching.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Star Trek: Section 31 Review: An Open Window on a Side of the Galaxy Not Seen Before⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I wanted to say something snarky about how “Section 31 aren’t the good guys! Don’t you get it? Stop telling stories where they are!”

  But I actually suppose that in 2025 the message of “You will lose utopia if you don’t defend it by whatever means necessary” may actually be a tragically positive message.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cutting-edge Chinese “reasoning” model rivals OpenAI o1—and it’s free to download⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I was curious about the exact same thing, but it’s a 671B model and I only have 3 GPUs.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Knowing less about AI makes people more open to having it in their lives – new research⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Interesting. I bet it’s more like this.

  Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Politics All the Way Down - Critics are right: the algorithms that increasingly run the world can be dangerous. Are human systems always better?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “embed the values, aims, and interests of mostly white, mostly male technologists working in mostly profit-driven enterprises.”

  This is the correct take, I think. Algorithms could (and can) produce much better outcomes than human driven systems. But when they’re wielded by capitalists, that not what they’re built to do. Human wielded by capitalists suck, but they also (often) have compassion, conscience and some awareness of the outcomes they might be contributing to, and so they don’t always make decisions / take action exactly the way the capitalists would have them do so. Algorithms on the other hand do exactly what they’re told to do, exactly the way they’re told to do it, no matter who is telling them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Star Trek:Section 31 Premiere Reaction (ft Emily Inkpen) and Q&A with Michelle Yeoh and Rob Kazinsky [Spoiler-free mini-review]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  the person who saw the movie described it as “fun,” “silly,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy meets Fifth Element meets Mission: Impossible”.

  I have a feeling I’m gonna be like “This was a good sci fi movie, but should it have been a Trek movie?”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New coding model just dropped⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh, you ain’t seen this shit yet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Luigi Mangione Content Is a Challenge for Social Media Moderators - B…⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Hopefully this shit backfires on the platforms like fuckin crazy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GET REKT⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Deceased! Passed it’s due! Joined the choir invisible!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GET REKT⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Can’t you just literally put an [X] for Twitter?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New IT Support in Town⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I read Secrets of a Super Hacker in the 90s when I was a teenager. There’s a whole chapter on this, except back then he used to walk straight into the offices of targets and get hired as a consultant.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Amazon starts selling Hyundai cars, more brands next year⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You wouldn’t download a car.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's all a little bit mathy.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I once experienced the carpet morphing into an Aztec mandala, which I then fell into and spiraled downwards through into a vast lime colored underground sea in a cavern full of purple bats.

  This happened while I was trying to have sex (amazingly, we succeeded, it helped that my wife was sober).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Destiny⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  "And of course, the bombs and the rockets and the bullets are all shaped like dicks. It’s a subconscious need to project the penis into other people’s affairs. It’s called: “FUCKING WITH PEOPLE!!!” -George Carlin

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨CENSORED!!!!!!!!!!1⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Tekeli-li!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Yeast⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  marmite yummy

  I’m really sorry, but you lost me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AND THEY DIDN'T STOP EATING⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Indeed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨BACK IT UP⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I could see a world where all politicians are required to do a guided LSD trip prior to taking office being better than this one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨BACK IT UP⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I actually met this mother fucker in Mexico in 1999, giving a talk on habitat preservation at Lagoona San Ignacio to a bunch of C list celebrities who were there to support the Natural Resource Defense Council and it’s efforts to stop Mitsubishi from building a salt extraction plant in the middle of a gray whale breeding sanctuary (super good cause).

  I was there with a bunch of high school students who’s rich white parents paid for them to go on an expensive ass field trip to watch whales fuck (and do eco protest activist tourism). Coincidentally, the NRDC was there too and they got really excited to invite a bunch of American highschool students to their media shindig.

  RFK Jr. got SUPER drunk and gave a sloppy, rambling, barely coherent speech, thanking people for their generosity. The kids were like “WTF is up with this dude? We’ve never seen grownups act like this!”

  We did get to hear some really cool marine biologists talk about grey whales. Then one of THEM (Roger Payne, I think) got really drunk too and told us “Whales are people damn it! But you can’t publish that! You can’t fucking publish that!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨can they??⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Silly human, clams are for squids.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Guerrilla Women⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think I’ve dated a couple of those and narrowly avoided dating a couple more.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Creamy Cartilage⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It is indeed EDS.n 🙁

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Creamy Cartilage⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My wife has a genetic disorder that (among many other things) causes her spine to herniate at the drop of a hat. She’s had to have emergency surgery multiple times.

  About a year and a half ago, a neurosurgeon was operating on her and came to talk to me and my mom who were waiting. She was extremely excited, in that like “academic who just saw something new” kind of way, because my wife had the third biggest herniation she’d ever seen, and the largest in a patient under 70 (my wife was 34 at the time). She asked if it would be OK if she invited a professor from the local university and a couple of his grad students to come look at it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Caption this.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Is very danger! Too strong magnet will pull away! Keeping far the electron and metal toys!

  危险 设备运行时存在强磁场 操作时请远离铁磁性金属和电子设备

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨pump up the jamz⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There is absolutely only one choice, no need to even think about it it’s this.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GORILLA GORILLA⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Gorilla used repetitiveness.

  It was very effective.