American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant.
It’s written at a higher than 6th grade target, so it might be a challenge for anyone who’s not used to that. Please give it a good faith effort to read.
Thinking about it, the low literacy rate in the US might be an aggravating factor. Something like half of US adults cannot read at a 6th grade level. That’s going to hurt their ability to deal with complex topics.
Belief is social. If you’re surrounded by people that all believe a thing, you’re more likely to also believe. If challenged on something that threatens group membership, your brain reacts like it’s a physical threat. Group membership is that important. Facts matter far less.
Is there a way to make it stop recommending weird “step-” stuff? Like, the top page right now (incognito, but I guess it’s possible they fingerprinted my device so it’s not entirely a “new” user)
stepsister
roommate
step sister
step siste
step sister
"i met her in the elevator" - ok at least this one isn’t a family member
step daughter
step sister
"snapchat leak" - ok this is differently gross
"best friend" - sigh fine
thick asian - acceptable
"best friend", again.
step sister and so on.
Everyone I’ve talked to about this hates it, but I guess enough people either like it or click it anyway for it to be the dominant theme.
Would like there to be less stigma around sex work.
As with all work, I want better work protection. Unions. All that.
Specifically, I’m really tired of the “step-” stuff that the major free sites seem to push a lot. I don’t know why it’s trending but I don’t like it.
I think in a couple years ai is going to be good enough to make video, and that’s going to be weird. Like today you can type “big tit redhead” and hope you get results that do it for you, but in the future it’ll probably be able to create results. That will open whole new fronts in ethical debates.
Wondering how much of the Lemmy user base wouldn’t use an adblocker. If you do use one what other blocking do you use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
Lady I used to sit next to at work didn’t use an ad blocker. She also would have like the “do you want to install this plugin?” thing open in her ide for weeks. I don’t know how she did it. She’s a software developer so she’s reasonably tech literate. It just didn’t bother her enough to think about doing something about it.
The common “curse” words like “shit” and “fuck” are pretty impersonal. They can signal an escalation, but are typically pretty minor. They don’t even do that when the speaker is like “I just took a huge shit. Don’t go in there for a while”
Other words, like racial slurs and anti-queer stuff, invoke more history and violence. If someone calls someone an asshole that’s probably not that big a deal. If they call someone a n-word f-gay-slur, there might be a hate crime about to happen.
So I don’t use those words. I don’t want to bring the stuff they import into the scene.
People who are the typical recipients of the slurs using them themselves is a related topic I’m not very qualified to speak on, and I wouldn’t try to police their language.
There was an old PC game called “Dominus”. I don’t really know much about it. My dad just randomly picked it up as an xmas gift one year for me. It was pretty sweet.
You’re the lord of a kingdom that gets invaded by like eight armies. You have your own monster units you can deploy. You can deploy traps. You can cast spells. You can go down and fight hand to hand. If they make it to the throne room and kill you, it’s game over.
If you capture enemy troops, you can interrogate them. There’s a little animation where they get poked with a red hot iron poker. If you capture a leader, you can sometimes negotiate peace. If you capture an enemy mage, you can learn part of a secret spell. I never got a secret spell working, though.
It was super cool. Never met anyone who’s played it.
I don’t think anyone is in favor of relaxing DUI laws.
If it remains a black market good, that precludes a lot of safety and regulation. Humans love drugs. If I was writing a sci-fi setting, drugs would probably be the Human Special Thing. They’re not going away. Focus on harm reduction. And as far as harm from drugs go, marijuana is pretty low on the danger factor.
As a Christian most of the circles I’m around are pretty chill…no stone-cold fundamentalists. But I have been around people (and even had family members) who are 100% convinced that rock music is evil and will lead people to engage in witchcraft and draw pentagrams all over their home....
Have you by chance read Dante’s Divine Comedy? Or Milton’s Paradise Lost? Just to name two works that are widely considered Fucking Classic off the top of my head. Do you have much background in literature?
One, those are famous works that used characters they didn’t create. Just off the top of my head. Also The Aeneid, which I haven’t read but the internet is telling me is basically Ascended Fanfiction.
Two, you don’t really seem to have an informed opinion on this topic. Which is, like, fine. Most of us don’t know most things. But maybe consider there’s good reasons many people are disagreeing with you.
I’m still slightly mad that everyone wanted to use AIM instead of ICQ, even though icq was better. It had offline messaging and you could change your display name, neither of which aim supported.
Anyone younger than like 30 probably has no idea that those were noteworthy features at one time. You could only send someone a message if they were actively connected at the same time as you.
I have a hypothesis I can’t really test because I’m not into men, but I feel like more men are unattractive than women. I’m going to guess it’s because a lot of men put zero effort in.
In my mind, forums and reddit-likes are a different category than Facebook and other social media. Mostly because they tend to be content-first and organized around content, rather than user-first.
Like on Twitter it mostly wanted you to follow users. On a forum I go to the section for, say, elden ring. I don’t usually pay attention to the users in any detail. I don’t feel like people are chasing clout.
Met a partner of ~5 years ok okcupid some years ago.
Met a partner of ~8 years on ok cupid after that.
I get a fair amount of dates on Tinder now, even though I’m getting old and have at least one major deal breaker.
It turns out a lot of people are really bad at using the dating apps. People don’t write anything useful in their bio. They waste their first message with “hey”. When they get a question they dead end it. Like “hey your profile says you love NK jemisen. Have you read her new books?” -> “no”. And then they’re like "why isn’t this working?'. My friends please be better at this.
Tinder still sucks and you can see where they’re putting profit ahead of a good experience, but you have to go where the people are.
I vaguely remember a friend in middle school telling me about how The Weird Kid stuck his head under the stall wall and into my friend’s stall while shitting was happening. I don’t even remember what The Weird Kid allegedly said. Something like “HEY BEN WHATCHA DOIN?” probably. My friend panicked and kicked him in the face, and I don’t think any adults were informed.
it’s not my responsibility to bail them out of their problems.
Counter argument: Yes it is. As much as any responsibility exists at all, you have a responsibility to your fellow people.
“Well it’s not my responsibility” leads to a shittier world. And since you apparently have a degree and no debt, you can spare the energy to be better.
Other than your carrier give it for free or cheap, I don’t really see the reason why should you buy new phone. I’ve been using Redmi Note 9 for past 3 years and recently got my had on Poco F5. I don’t see the point of my ‘upgrade’. I sold it and come back to my Note 9. Gaming? Most of them are p2w or microtransaction...
I buy a new phone when my current one breaks. So like every five years.
Lots of people are bad with money or don’t prioritize the same things I do. I try not to worry about this. I worry about other unimportant shit like why do people roll for stats in DND 5e.
Are Americans more prone to conspiracy theories than people in other countries?
It’s wild.
the fuckgraph (mander.xyz)
researchgate.net/…/245634594_Chains_of_Affection_…...
Why in the year 2024 and with all the knowledge humans have now do people still believe in religion?
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I wish it need not have happened in my time. (startrek.website)
18+ What do you think about the porn industry ?
Electric cars: The equivalent of switching from binge drinking whiskey to binge drinking wine. (lemmy.ml)
Who doesn't use an adblocker and why?
Wondering how much of the Lemmy user base wouldn’t use an adblocker. If you do use one what other blocking do you use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
What's the consensus on swearing here
Noticed not many people use curse words....
What is an obscure piece of media or videogame that you think nobody else here has heard of? (kbin.social)
It could even be a youtube video or movie that you don't think anyone reading this has heard of besides you.
Biden is pardoning thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington (apnews.com)
Does "Rock music is evil / of the devil" have racist roots?
As a Christian most of the circles I’m around are pretty chill…no stone-cold fundamentalists. But I have been around people (and even had family members) who are 100% convinced that rock music is evil and will lead people to engage in witchcraft and draw pentagrams all over their home....
And Tigger Too - Danby Draws Comics (i0.wp.com)
Source: And Tigger Too - Danby Draws Comics...
"Millennial lingo" by Shen Comic (file.coffee)
Source: Webtoon - RSS
I can cook at least (lemmy.world)
My face staring back at me (lemmy.world)
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Ominous positivity (startrek.website)
What a moment! (lemmy.world)
Denver experimented with giving people $1,000 a month. It reduced homelessness and increased full-time employment, a study found. (www.businessinsider.com)
cross-posted from: lemmit.online/post/1021018...
What's the point of buying new phones every years?
Other than your carrier give it for free or cheap, I don’t really see the reason why should you buy new phone. I’ve been using Redmi Note 9 for past 3 years and recently got my had on Poco F5. I don’t see the point of my ‘upgrade’. I sold it and come back to my Note 9. Gaming? Most of them are p2w or microtransaction...