smoontjes's recent activity

  1. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Yeah leave it to online spaces to take one off-hand comment about something and suddenly it turns into this, or that Epstein is the one that created microtransactions in video games (because he...

    Yeah leave it to online spaces to take one off-hand comment about something and suddenly it turns into this, or that Epstein is the one that created microtransactions in video games (because he wasn't already bad enough) haha

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Yeah I 100% get that. A couple years ago we actually got a new spokesperson for the socialist party and he has been really good about dropping the identity politics stuff. Not because he or the...

    Yeah I 100% get that.

    A couple years ago we actually got a new spokesperson for the socialist party and he has been really good about dropping the identity politics stuff. Not because he or the party doesn't still believe it, but because they know it's a losing issue. Their focus or in your words marketing is great because he never bites when the right try to talk up and import American culture war stuff like what we have been discussing here today. And it seems to have won him and the party some ground.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Yes and I am agreeing with you. I explicitly said above that woke has not gone far enough. So I tried to say: so what? Where do we go from here? How do we make progress now? This is not pragmatic...

    Yes and I am agreeing with you. I explicitly said above that woke has not gone far enough. So I tried to say: so what? Where do we go from here? How do we make progress now?

    This is not pragmatic politics. This will not create societal, cultural, wide, progress. This will create camp A and camp B and each will dig into trenches instead of finding common ground. That is not realpolitik. It is ideology which 90% of the planet will not agree on in any foreseeable future.

    Realpolitik is to deal with what you have. Sticking to our ground not moving an inch is very much what I want to do as well. But it is not how we convince everyone to come along with us.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    I'm with you on all of that. They don't think pronouns are scary, but they do think it's dumb and they don't want others to police how they speak. Be it how they (to them, out of nowhere and...

    I'm with you on all of that. They don't think pronouns are scary, but they do think it's dumb and they don't want others to police how they speak. Be it how they (to them, out of nowhere and suddenly) can't use the r-word anymore, the fa-word, and in the past the n-word. It's uncomfortable more than dangerous or scary I guess.

    But we won't win a culture clash by yoinking at the rope and making them fall over. It's won in many small tugs over a long period of time so that everyone gets used to their new footings and come to meet somewhere in the middle. Like it or not, being non-binary is not really something you see anywhere else than the far left. Not going to ever convince the far right of anything but maybe the center and center right can be.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Yes exactly. And I wrote a paper on Stonewall actually! And on gay rights. It's a few years ago now so my facts and stats are a bit muddy but my conclusion more or less was that trans rights/trans...

    Yes exactly. And I wrote a paper on Stonewall actually! And on gay rights. It's a few years ago now so my facts and stats are a bit muddy but my conclusion more or less was that trans rights/trans acceptance is where gay rights/gay acceptance was 30 years ago. I still think that's true and I still think that that's the pace of change.

    People not usually engaged in LGBT+ circles need to get used to us because we are, by the very definition of the word, not normal. That's the way it was, the way it is, and the way it always will be. And progress is extremely slow but it will get there eventually as more conservative folk realize we aren't for some reason dangerous or anything.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link
    As long as civil rights and human decency and mutual respect etc. are not equal, then woke still has not gone far enough. However as pertains to real world politics, actually changing things, at...

    As long as civil rights and human decency and mutual respect etc. are not equal, then woke still has not gone far enough.

    However as pertains to real world politics, actually changing things, at all possible of getting things done? Way too far.

    It is realpolitik in a nutshell. Or rather, isn't.

    You have to meet your opponents where they are. Like it or not, the US as a whole was not ready for non-binary people. Talking LGBT+ rights, it has for decades been warming up to, and increasingly accepting, gay people. Maybe transgender people. But non-binary people for some reason was too much and so the opponent lashed out and dragged the rope way to the other end into regressive politics. Society and politics will always be a back and forth between the wings, sometimes towards the center and unfortunately now going to the extremes.

    6 votes

  7. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Of course it is!!!! The person they've known and loved for decades suddenly made a huge change in their life. That's a huge deal, especially the parents. They probably nurtured and loved someone...

    Eh, I don't know... Is it?

    Of course it is!!!! The person they've known and loved for decades suddenly made a huge change in their life. That's a huge deal, especially the parents. They probably nurtured and loved someone in a certain way, always thought of their child that way, bought gendered toys, had gendered expectations of the future.

    I'm happy for you that it seems to have clicked so fast with most of your family and friends. 1-2 days is definitely not the norm in my experience + friends' experience.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Then we're talking past each other. I thought we were talking about the article you linked above? With the picture of the sign that is in both the native language and the English language?

    Then we're talking past each other. I thought we were talking about the article you linked above? With the picture of the sign that is in both the native language and the English language?

    4 votes

  9. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Proven? No, that whole thing is a conspiracy theory at best

    Proven? No, that whole thing is a conspiracy theory at best

    6 votes

  10. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    In my city there's a few street signs in Chinese - this is Odense, Denmark which has very few actual Chinese immigrants, it's solely to cater to tourists. The signs are also in Danish right next...

    In my city there's a few street signs in Chinese - this is Odense, Denmark which has very few actual Chinese immigrants, it's solely to cater to tourists.

    The signs are also in Danish right next to them. So it seems very easy to ignore. Why does it irritate you?

    5 votes

  11. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Yeah usually uninitiated people just call it as they see it. I sure as hell wouldn't expect anyone (except those close to me) to ever get it right ever when I'm a stranger to them. And I think 99%...

    accept that people are going to screw it up and as long as it isn't coming from a hateful place they should just accept that is how it is going to be.

    Yeah usually uninitiated people just call it as they see it. I sure as hell wouldn't expect anyone (except those close to me) to ever get it right ever when I'm a stranger to them. And I think 99% of us don't either. Yeah, it really sucks, and it would be nice if things were the other way, but people don't usually go out of their way for random people.

    Thankfully I now pass as what I feel and so I can hardly recall the last time I got called wrongly by a stranger. I got sad, upset, annoyed, etc. in the past when it happened but that was my lot in life and the world isn't a safe space. It sucks, but that's the way that it is, and the vast majority of us do accept it (and really, really, really dislike those videos like the it's ma'am one which no matter how you slice it only serves to give the hateful ones more ammunition).

    4 votes

  12. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    I agree that it's a big deal, and I'm not sure why people pass it off as not being a big deal. But it depends on the relationship you have to the person in question. It definitely should not be...

    It’s like you’re trying to one, inconvenience people by changing what they’ve been used to calling others for decades and then secondly pretending it’s not a big deal and that actually it’s such a minimal statement. The pronoun stuff requires a lot of active participation from everyone that it’s just not reasonable to be like “well actually it’s not even a big deal just call them what they want.”

    I agree that it's a big deal, and I'm not sure why people pass it off as not being a big deal. But it depends on the relationship you have to the person in question.

    It definitely should not be minimized that it's a pretty big change if it's someone you've known for years and decades that's transitioning. If you are close to that person, you make an effort and it will become second nature after a while.

    If you are not close to that person.. well who cares? If people expect you to remember pronouns of some far removed cousin or acquaintance who you never really talk to, then the problem is with them. But if you get reminded of their pronouns, you just say: oh right my bad. And then you move on with your day. It's not a big deal to forget it when they aren't really in your social circle.

    8 votes

  13. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    The usual number that gets thrown around is that 0.5% of the population is in some way shape or form transgender. I feel like that's way too high but let's just say that that's the number....

    The usual number that gets thrown around is that 0.5% of the population is in some way shape or form transgender. I feel like that's way too high but let's just say that that's the number. Probably less than 1% of those 0.5% want to use these neopronouns. So yeah, vanishingly small percentage - yet brought up over and over as a point by anti LGBT+ people. I have met exactly 1 person who used something out of the ordinary, "it" as a pronoun. Then maybe 2-3 people using "they". The rest dozens of trans people that I know and have met are all the usual binary he or she. It could definitely be an age thing too. People 30+ don't really hang out in those online spaces.

    They exist, yes, but it's a minority of a minority of a minority. But it's so useful for the anti crowd, it's such a great feeling of outrage for them. Free speech right!? But yeah, it's just the same deal all over again that was (still is) a thing that racists like to do about criminals of a minority ethnicity or minority immigrants. It exists, yes, but they're blowing it up to be a big deal when it isn't at all.

    8 votes

  14. Comment on Did wokeness leave us worse off? (gifted link) in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Ugh, that one.. could have been nice to finish reading it but it just reeks of professional bullshitting and it's impossible to take any of what he said at face value. Feels like it's just another...

    Ugh, that one.. could have been nice to finish reading it but it just reeks of professional bullshitting and it's impossible to take any of what he said at face value. Feels like it's just another role he's playing, so had to stop reading.

    11 votes

  15. Comment on Lost/losing the drive for friendship in ~health.mental

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    A little rusty on my psychoanalysis.. what's this mean again?

    have your ego overpower the id and superego

    A little rusty on my psychoanalysis.. what's this mean again?

    10 votes

  16. Comment on Music streamer Deezer allows users to filter out AI music, so why does Spotify not offer the same? in ~music

    smoontjes
    Link
    Purely replying to the title, sorry for the low effort. But Spotify recently implemented an AI radio DJ that cannot be removed from your library, so that should answer that question.

    Purely replying to the title, sorry for the low effort. But Spotify recently implemented an AI radio DJ that cannot be removed from your library, so that should answer that question.

    25 votes

  17. Comment on Why America is so much better than Europe at immigration in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    That's something that's largely ignored whenever I come across threads about immigration because people always want to compare the US and EU when it comes to racism and immigration. But this is...

    The U.S. immigration system benefits from low geographic distance to culturally more proximate countries and institutional filters that select for employability.

    That's something that's largely ignored whenever I come across threads about immigration because people always want to compare the US and EU when it comes to racism and immigration. But this is exactly why it's not really a valid comparison.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on Why America is so much better than Europe at immigration in ~society

    smoontjes
    Link Parent
    Well in NA liberals = left wing, whereas in EU liberals = right wing. But the authors of the article are American. So yeah, doesn't make a ton sense either way.

    Well in NA liberals = left wing, whereas in EU liberals = right wing. But the authors of the article are American. So yeah, doesn't make a ton sense either way.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on MKBHD - Glass is glass || Or how the wording "scratch resistant" and "shatter resistant" misleads customers in ~tech

    smoontjes
    Link
    5 minute video but if that's still long to watch, all you need to know is at about 1:55 to 2:30.

    5 minute video but if that's still long to watch, all you need to know is at about 1:55 to 2:30.

    7 votes