Stomatopod

You are probably right that he suits America, but to the rest of the world, especially the global south - supporting Biden makes you the extremist. That's a tough perspective to swallow for American liberals.

So the people who know and worked with him confirmed the obvious

His mom was literally a counter revolutionary, who called for the return of Chiang Kai-shek. Can we assume she knew what would happen to communists like her son and husband, if the fascists had come back in power? Had I been in his shoes, I would have reported her too. That is just how tense the environment was back then.

Reading 'To Kill a Nation' by Parenti as well as 'The New Military Humanism' by Chomsky completely changed my perception of what happened with Yugoslavia. Living in a NATO country in the 90's we were absolutely deluged with propaganda about Serbia, and it was pretty shocking for me to learn just how far from reality the media portrayal of the conflict actually was. In my opinion It was the NATO countries themselves that created a conflict where there was none, to justify a so called "humanitarian intervention" that ended up destroying the whole region. Whatever political nightmare you are living with today is a direct result of that. If the West had kept their noses out of your business, and let Yugoslavia decide it's own future, we could have had a highly developed independent socialist nation on the borders of the EU. But of course that could never be allowed to happen.

I think Sam Harris has some extremely bad takes on Islam. Even when he is right in a technical sense, and makes an argument why "Islam is not a religion of peace" it ends up antagonizing those same moderate muslims that he claims don't even exist. It's not a good way to reach out.

Oh sweet jesus... I just saw this story is based on a tweet from "human rights activist and author" Jennifer Zeng, who is actually from The Epoch Times FYI: The Epoch Times is recognized as the leading professional conspiracy and fake news operation in the world. It's run by the far-right apocalyptic cult, Falun Gong. Famous for it's spreading of pro-Trump QAnon conspiracies, Covid-19 and anti-vaccination propaganda, as well as various UFOs alien mind control, and other complete nonsense. The cult was banned in China, is now operating in the US with the stated intention of fomenting anti-Chinese sentiments in order to affect US policy towards China. They believe Donald Trump was "sent by heaven to destroy communism", and they specialize in fearmongering fake news about the Chinese government. So without checking I can't say for sure that this particular story is made up, but it's a safe assumption that it's fake news. @Alfonsoo I worry that you are vulnerable to being mislead if you are fed stories like this.

Fearmongering about China is what is out of control. Naturally systems of power (countries) will use various forms of coercion and force within their sphere of influence to maintain and expand their standing in the world. There is nothing China could do that would even put them in the same category as the US. Any time China (or Russia) attempts to do just a smidgen of the things the US has been routinely doing all over the world, we hear this hypocritical furor about "China/Russia taking over the world". Notice their "foreign meddling" is usually limited to their direct neighbors or countries right within the local system (ex. Taiwan, Tibet or Crimea, Chechnya), because their ability to project power remains minuscule compared to the US. The fearmongering about China would be appropriate if they had actually overthrown dozens of foreign governments on every continent, had been militarily involved in 190 different countries, and routinely carried out bombing, terror, torture, and assassination campaigns in every corner of the world. There is only one country that has done this on a global scale. And there is no chance of China or anyone else being able to rise to this level of international villainy. Even if they one day become the dominant power, they won't be able to get away with the things the US has done because there is much more accountability in today's world than just 50 years ago. None of that implies that China is good/bad or the US is good/bad. It is just accidents of history that certain powers rise to prominence in certain eras. If the timeline had been different, the roles could have been reversed. So this is not what-about-ism.

I don't even have to add anything. We can just let these beautiful quotes stand on their own.

Straw man. Nobody is advocating for equality of outcomes. You could easily provide everyone a base line comfortable life with reasonable work hours, a living wage, affordable housing, education, health care and still send rich people into space. It's purely for ideological reasons that these issues have not been solved. These libertarian types would literally rather flush money down the toilet than give it to homeless people.

I just typed "flat earth" into youtube and instantly got hundreds of videos, including entire channels dedicated to flat earth conspiracies even with the words FLAT EARTH in the channel name. I clicked on it and of course it also includes obligatory covid conspiracies and anti-vax/anti-mask videos. If they are trying to censor it, they are not doing a good job.

Considering the brain isn't even fully developed until age 25, I suppose can already congratulate you on being the single most advanced human in the history of the world.

Well, I agree with this. That's the one area where I get frustrated with stage green people. Just because they are way more developed than the "fascists" they are demonizing, they think they are at the top of the moral pyramid. It seems extremely confusing and counterintuitive that not judging the "bad people" is the morally superior position. They can't understand it. But regardless of the limitations of stage green, we want as many people as possible to become green ASAP because time is running out on climate change. What's the point of discussing what is the correct form of socialism is when the house is on fire?

What is a hatchet job then? If you want to critisize a public figure I suppose it's fair enough to quote mine their old streams and tweets to find dumb statements, but it's pretty obvious what it is when he also throws in random stuff like "btw, he also once sent a dick pic, he sent inappropriate texts to girl, he is showing signs of personality disorder, i think he is a narcissist and sex addict, etc"... What do you call that other than trying to smear the person in any possible way you can think of? That book sounds like it's just one long late night rage tweet on print, sold for $18.00 on amazon. Haha, are you kidding me?? And I don't even care for him personally. Vaush is very smug and arrogant for 20-something year old who often doesn't know what he is talking about. I don't want to defend him. The same goes for Thought Slime. They are not nefarious people. I would much rather young impressionable minds listen to them over someone like Tim Pool or Steven Crowder.

Wow, what a ridiculous hatchet job. What is this guy's personal grievance with Vaush? He's a streamer kid who shared hundreds if not thousands of hours of videos of himself talking off the cuff about every kind of political subject. Of course he says dumb shit from time to time. From what I have seen of his content, he is pretty immature but he is on the right path generally speaking. Hell I might have said some of the same shit when I was his age. I just saw this.. he also wrote a similar chapter on Though Slime? Haha, how did he get this published in an actual book?

I'm sorry if I also responded off topic. You were referring to the specific issue of certain words falling out of use. I can understand why some people get annoyed and confused that language evolves. Like some older people here in Europe genuinely can't comprehend why it's no longer socially acceptable to use the N-word. If you want to make a slippery slope argument, I suppose you could say that sometimes people can be a little over cautious. Like for example is it impolite to called a person deaf instead of hearing impaired? Can I still say a person is black, or do I say "of African descent"? It really depends on how people feel about it, I would not deliberately use certain words if I know it offends people. Your example of "riding black", what would really be the problem with saying "riding illegally" instead? It's not dumbing down language, it's actually more nuanced and easy to understand. But I know, it is about the principle of not wanting to be constrained.

But that isn't happening in the US and Canada. Besides it would be completely irresponsible not to attempt to regulate misinformation, fake news, and hate speech in today's media landscape. The Jan 6. storming of the capitol is proof that in the information age, you can not have absolute freedom of speech if you also want to maintain a functioning society. Sometimes it's hard to tell when the line is crossed, but it's obvious that someone like Alex Jones should not be allowed unrestricted access to media platforms.

How about you don't scrutinize other people's genitals in the changing room? Too much to ask. Most transwomen would be afraid to even go to a public changing room. The ones who do, I'm sure are very discrete to avoid exactly this kind of reaction. But odds are you would suffer worse abuse in the mens room, so either you stay home or be prepared to deal with that kind of shit.

First some friendly advice. If you really want to use 1984 comparisons, maybe say something like "this strikes me as vaguely reminiscent of 1984" and not "this is EXACTLY like 1984". If you want to avoid being instantly dismissed and ridiculed. This comes across like Marjorie Taylor Greene comparing wearing a mask to the Holocaust. To answer the question. Political correctness is dangerous in the way that it causes some people the minor inconvenience of having to show a little more sensitivity when speaking publicly. But even that of course is enough for some people to break into tantrums. Nobody is being tortured and killed for misgendering. It is true however in the current climate, that some people who repeatedly step way outside the bounds of common decency may risk losing their job or being de-platformed, if they refuse to follow company policy or terms of service. That is it. But the biggest reason why it is not even remotely comparable to 1984, is because today's "political correctness" is mostly a bottom up phenomenon. It is simply the natural outcome of more and more people having evolved their consciousness to become sensitive to the experience of minorities. To the small extent that government policies accommodate the rising inclusiveness in society, it is because they will lose support if they don't. In that sense it is actually the opposite of what is described in 1984. The top down censorship in 1984 exclusively serves to protect the authority of the state and to maintain the strict social hierarchy. Where as what you are describing is institutions and corporations reluctantly having to placate the inclusive sentiments of the population, the outcome of which is a softening of the social hierarchy. But of course you won't be able to see this if your perspective is from below (coming from Stage Blue).

Here's an optimistic take from Daniel Mackler, a former therapist and psychiatry critic. His opinion is basically that everyone has the potential to be "fixed", although few will actually succeed in the current paradigm.

The OG has passed. A full life spent dedicated to spreading unmitigated devilry to tens of millions of Americans. A lot of people will probably call him a piece of garbage lunatic windbag but honestly he has my genuine sympathy. I can only imagine the kind of trauma and neglect little baby Rush must have endured to become such a monster. Think of how he must have been humiliated in school, slapped around by his father, mother leaving him to cry for hours in his crib. Teased, bullied, ignored, invalidated. And nobody noticed. But he built a hard shell around that broken heart. He toughened up and took his revenge on the world. Sure he became hated and reviled by all of civilized man - but a leader and savior to bullies and bigots everywhere. A channel for the rage and hatred of all the broken children of America. Inside that decrepit, bloated, drug addled, bag of hate.. all along was a broken little baby boy, who never was seen, never heard, and never loved for simply being. You deserved much better. We love you Rush. You did bad. Really bad. Harmful even. But it's not your fault. RIP

I always liked Jesse. To me he is like the most quintessentially american guy ever. Just the image of a loud and proud, working class, patriotic veteran riding a Harley with a gun in one hand and an American flag in the other. How is that "muscular class" vibe not resonating with the Trumpists? He will even entertain the conspiracy nuts. Unlike Trump he is an actual tough guy and his heart is in the right place. But I doubt that he would be competent enough to be the president. He is a bit of a circus act. But still his populist appeal is something that could be harnessed.

Have you actually watched anything from the channel Leo posted? I think you'll find this guy is an incredibly good-natured and reasonable fellow. Just some lighthearted jokes about silly people, and never a hint of anger or hate to be found. He is actually making fun of how polarizing and demonizing the content is on youtube. How is that bad?

Unfortunately in the current political climate, if you don't put forth a left leaning populist, there will be another Trump. Biden only barely squeaked by, and he did so by not campaigning. People on the left can't even pretend to be excited by that old robotic fossil. There's a huge segment of the US population that simply are not interested in politics, economics, or philosophy. They are mostly concerned with things like finding work, paying the bills, taking care of their families, saving up for retirement, etc. At the end of the day, they just want to relax and watch some Netflix or ESPN. They are caught in the treadmill. But they are not stupid. They know that they are being screwed over and lied to. They hate politicians, and they don't trust the media. 1/3 of the US don't even bother voting, and most of the voters don't have the faintest idea what the actual policies are. These people are never going to be swayed by some egghead talking about economics in language they can barely understand. They want it real stupid, like "Drain the swamp", "Lock her up". The problem was Trump is such a colossal liar and con artist that didn't mean a word of what he said. He did nothing for his supporters. In fact he screwed them over more than anyone. But they still support him, because he tapped right into that emotional lizard brain with his fake populist rhetoric. That's why an honest populist would be devastating to the status quo. Someone who will not divert people's anger away from the real problems. Bernie was pretty decent and did a good job. But he is far too polite to bring the thunder to someone like Trump. Imagine Jesse Ventura in a debate with Trump. I swear he would call him a chickenhawk coward to his face and challenge him to a fight. He would bully the hell out of a fake tough guy. Red America would eat that up. And I'm sure he could sell progressive policies to Trump supporters. They just need it wrapped in the right packaging and delivered with the right amount of emotion.

Yes, but his conspiracism was nothing like the QAnon/David Icke kind. He never pretended to know something he didn't know. It was always about asking questions and wanting more transparency from government. Apparently, on Covid-19 he is spot on (IMO):

I'd love to see Tucker Carlson run for office, anything that would get him in to a moderated debate on TV. It takes an amazing amount of of willful ignorance to not see through his grift. We have seen what happens when he gets called out. He flips out because he knows has no arguments.