So you’re just gonna sit there and act like propaganda influence on voters is not a thing

You chose to speak to me, someone who is talking about the word tankie and it’s application here. If you’d like to talk about “propaganda influence” outside of the word tankie, I invite you to make your own top-level comment.

If you’re implying tankies themselves have amazing propaganda brainwash powers that caused Harris to lose the election, I invite you to touch grass.

There are definitely tactics being used to divide the left and the word tankie is not one of them. Purity politics is the death of left wing politics.

Why, then, are we running around calling people tankies when that is an ill-defined word that tends to change from person to person? I’ve seen it applied to everyone from left anarchists to starry-eyed idealists who call themselves communists, to actual Stalin-Did-Nothing-Wrong types (this last group deserves criticism, all twelve of them).

The fact that people moved out of the way of blocking a legitimate facist government because Harris wasn’t quiiite right is utter insanity

Focusing on an incredibly online, vocal minority is insanity, especially when your previous statement is about purity politics.

Shouldn’t you question why Harris and the democratic establishment couldn’t beat actual fascism? Could it be that Trump used real issues in our political environment for his messaging? He lies constantly about why the cost of living is going up, why good jobs aren’t here anymore, etc, but Harris ran on a platform of “Vote for me, nothing will fundamentally change” and voters didn’t find that attractive for some reason.

Even when voices within the party point out problems they are shouted down. Sure, Bernie is an independant, but he’s been voting with the Dems the entire time, and they even pretended to let him run for nomination for president.

The democratic party has been shifting right for decades, and the only messaging they have to offer is that approved by their donors. It’s bullshit and it repels people.

“Tankies” made no measurable difference in the 2024 election. There’s next to none of them in the USA. Go ahead: ask real people in your offline life what a tankie is, and see if even one single person has even heard that word.

Unless, of course, you’re just applying that word to anyone whos not a Republican that’s criticizing the dems. Then I suppose you’ll find “tankies” everywhere.

It feels like a word that’s just being used to divide the left.

Ok… but is the picture art??? I don’t think anyone would try to argue it is. Miyazaki was specifically talking about how no algorithm can produce art, and I agree.

What makes this screenshot funny is the human element, the performance! It’s all ridiculous.

Glorified Matrix Algebra: [Presents an image of a caked-up gnome]

Internet goblin: “Make it’s butt even bigger.”

Glorified Matrix Algebra: “Sorry, that’s a bridge too far for me.”

I know right? Have any of these posters met a baby? They’re too short for this.

Yeah, this shit is on purpose. These people have no respect for national security (and no respect for our allies), so it makes sense to me that at least one of them is playing dumb games. Pete should have never risen to this position in government.

As it stands, people who like the trump admin will see nothing wrong with these messages (if they even read them). Maybe they’ll even think those goobers are doing a good job.

The people who hate the trump admin will not change their opinions of them after this (it can’t possibly be lower for most people who hate these fascists). Critiques of the signal meeting will be met with comments like “so the journalist should be in jail for leaking!” or “Does it matter? Look at trumps men going after the terrorists! Do you love terrorists or something?”

Facilitating the of leaking this stuff is win/win if you don’t value the lives of military personnel, records acts, security clearances, international opinion, etc.

In addition to the replies you got already, discord has screen sharing/streaming. An experience kind of like zoom (I don’t use it and dont see the appeal but maybe someone who does can elaborate more. My partner uses this feature sometimes).

Sorry, I thought this was in another thread that was actually talking about IQ. I’ve clicked through too many articles.

This article doesn’t mention IQ at all, even though your response does. IQ isn’t an absolute quantitative measure for intelligence even though many people conflate them - this is probably why the article doesn’t mention it.

I’d dig into the Financial Times article that this Neoscope article is about but it’s pay-walled. The neoscope article makes some case for intelligence declining (I don’t have time to read those citations right now), but I’d point out this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with less intelligent parents having children. It could be evidence that the material conditions for us ordinary citizens is declining as a whole (I think we would both agree on that point). Cost of living is up, people are working longer. Long COVID probably has something to do with it, and stress.

Im not going to write some big long podt, just two things:

1. people, on average, are not getting dumber. Anything you noticed observationally about dumb people having more children does not seem to have any effect on the world. Human nutrition has improved vastly over the past 100 years, as has education, etc.

2. IQ increases every year. I don’t think this is evidence people are getting smarter because I think IQ is a poor measure of intelligence. I’m pointing this out to you because your statement about “IQ drifting toward the bottom’” is factually untrue.

the kneejerk reaction that the statement always gets is annoying.

I agree with everything you said, but I’m going to point out something. If there is a common kneejerk reaction to some particular topic, there’s probably a reason for that. You yourself said its annoying? I suppose its predictable then. If you can predict that people are going to react in some way, you can write with more explanation to clarify that you aren’t actually supporting something like eugenics. The poster I’m responding to did not do this.

I took this lack of explanation as support (which, on reflection, might be leaping to conclusions). The overall tone of the comment is rather judgemental.

The commenter is also wrong; IQ hasn’t been “drifting towards the bottom”, the average IQ increases every year. Its why they have to constantly adjust the tests, because 100 is meant to be an average score by design. This is primarily why I chose to respond to him. He’s not saying " which is why we should invest in family planning" or “we should invest in children’s education”, he’s making an untrue statement, and then pretending that this will cause some sort of feedback loop. Dumb people making more dumb people.

IQ is not some absolute quantitative metric of intelligence. The people who treat it like it is… I find that a lot of them are pushing some sort of angle or simply don’t understand it.

This is the plot to a fictional movie. Intelligence is a factor of many things, and most of those factors are not genetic.

Your observation seems close to the opinions of old school eugenicists. “The wrong people are having children”.

I agree, we shouldn’t be coddling folk triggered by messages like “Everyone is Welcome”. They need to toughen up and learn to accept messages of inclusivity.

They SHOULD feel uncomfortable if they don’t like this sign. It’ll put hair on their chest.

Yes exactly. Without writing too much more, I’ll just say I wish it had been done a bit different, and there’s no shame in critiquing a finished product for what it is (within reason. I’m not a huge fandom person so I don’t really know how toxic this all got for some people). It’s still quite good.

Yeah. Valid. I’m just going to leave it up and take my downvotes.

I’m sorry to do this but “its a children’s cartoon” isn’t a reason to not think critically of this show. It takes itself VERY seriously and deserves serious thought. We’re not examining the Deep Lore of Spongebob here.

The critique was overblown but its still not wrong. If we weren’t shown the planetary destruction/genocide the Diamonds (the antagonists) were doing, I would agree entirely that people were thinking about a cartoon too hard. But the show makes a point to explore the destruction, the genocides and “human zoo” and its effects. It tells us directly why it happens and who is responsible. It takes it seriously, dwells on it, and then expects us to move on. Its reasonable to ask why the show chose to do this.

Someone chose to write this show this way. We don’t actually need Steven’s mother’s family to be literal fascists (they are the heads of an alien government if you did not watch the series) on top of being emotionally constipated and abusive. Pick one plot thread or make more characters. Send the Space Nazis to Space Jail for their Space Crimes.

There’s plenty of good in the show, though. That’s why people spend so much energy complaining about it. If it were simply bad people would have forgotten about it immediately. The haters are fans whether they will admit it or not.

The problems with Steven Universe are similar to the reasons I hated Harry Potter as a kid. I knew what slavery was, and I knew Hermione was right to fight it even when the author tried to frame her as a silly busy-body. It wasn’t even the only problem I had with the series as a kid, just the last straw. Kids are thoughtful and deserve good media.

(Steven universe is better than that series, just an observation)

Are you talking about plan B type pills? They are not an abortifacient. Common misconception (important to correct though).

Per FDA link:

Q. Is Plan B One-Step an abortifacient (causing abortion)?

A. No. Plan B One-Step will not work if a person is already pregnant, meaning it will not affect an existing pregnancy. Plan B One-Step prevents pregnancy by acting on ovulation, which occurs well before implantation. Evidence does not support that the drug affects implantation or maintenance of a pregnancy after implantation, therefore it does not terminate a pregnancy.

I nabbed this from some meme chat earlier:

Disgusting. Why the FUCK would you talk to our allies this way? The guy is a polish government official.. (I mean obviously I know why, Elon is a megalomaniac).

“Small man”??? WTF. I hate it.

But he also said he wanted cuts, and that Musk would remain a power center: “If they can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”

Its not time for celebration. This is just to take heat off Elon. Now the media will be able to spread the blame around or excuse it. “People inside the department know how best to make cuts. Everything is normal”.