This is probably not the kind of answer you were asking about, OP, but: Islam. I'm not religious myself, but I've been blessed by birth with being able to travel, and I've spent some time in...
This is probably not the kind of answer you were asking about, OP, but:
Islam.
I'm not religious myself, but I've been blessed by birth with being able to travel, and I've spent some time in Muslim countries, including the Middle East. There is SO MUCH cool stuff about these cultures, but unless you go there yourself or you're friends with Muslim people (which requires an open mind to start with), you get served this narrow view of Islam that conveniently fits current geopolitical ambitions.
I'm not saying problems such as the role of women or fundamentalism don't exist in these societies, but the media so relentlessly focus on these that the rest is completely lost.
I'm aware Islam is always a touchy subject and I'm not interested in engaging on a debate about it. I just wish more people got to experience Muslim cultures with an open mind. I went to the Middle East because I wanted to experience it for myself and see how it compares with the media's portrayal, and I was amazed. Favorite travel experience in my life, and I've been to a few places.
Very much this for me too. Sufism is one 'order' of Islam in particular I wish more people knew of in the Western world since it defies all the stereotypes to such an amazing degree. They are...
Very much this for me too.
Sufism is one 'order' of Islam in particular I wish more people knew of in the Western world since it defies all the stereotypes to such an amazing degree. They are essentially the mystical, philosophical, hippies of Islam where hashish smoking and alcohol drinking are not as strictly prohibited, and in fact often done to excess to "bring them closer to Wahdat al-Wujud (Oneness/Unity) with themselves and the Universe/Allah".
Rumi was a profoundly insightful and extremely funny/vulgar man (poem about a gourd that starts out "There was a maidservant; who had cleverly trained a donkey; to perform the services of a man" and only gets worse from there... read the rest though, trust me) whose descriptions of search for meaning, love and connection touched me very deeply, even as an Atheist. I reread Essential Rumi at least once every few years because of that.
Certainly! Muslim cultures in general place a huge emphasis on hospitality, and as a traveler you experience this from anyone, whether it's the hotel owners or the old men on the streets. Business...
Certainly!
Muslim cultures in general place a huge emphasis on hospitality, and as a traveler you experience this from anyone, whether it's the hotel owners or the old men on the streets.
Business in the Middle East is really about building rapport. They even have errand boys to get you tea or coffee as a prelude to business. Arabic coffee is goooood...
The Muslim world is SUPER-diverse. From Indonesia to India, from Palestine to Qatar, it's a super-diverse world we barely understand in the West. They have their feuds and their differences, too, but Islam serves as a sort of unifying "meta-culture".
For all the talk about women being subservient in Islam, there's a crazy amount of driven, confident women. Whether they wear hijab or not is not a predictor at all. It's more that men and women have very specific, separate roles in society, with all the issues that arise from rigid gender roles. But man, even those Qatari women in full niqab can boss their way around a souq.
Speaking of hijab... When you spend enough time in Muslim countries, the hijab just becomes another piece of clothing. Some girls really wear it in a fashionable and cute way, too.
The call to prayer is something I've really grown to enjoy. Some muezzins suuuuuck, and it's really too bad when you get stuck right next to a mosque with a crap muezzin. (I always thought that if I was gonna rent a place in a majority Muslim country, I'd go at prayer time to make sure my neighborhood muezzin is decent.) Some muezzins, though, are really, REALLY good. I've heard calls to prayer in Syria (pre-2011), Jerusalem and India that just took my breath away.
Arabs specifically have a strange mix of gentleness and roughness. There's a certain laid-back attitude about life, but they're also strong-headed and even a bit intimidating in social interactions. It's a "low-context culture," which means they really emote what they want to say. Makes for a fun time at the market!
See, I feel like this is only true if you are a male traveller. I've had guy friends tell me the same thing and I couldn't help but feel that if it were me in their place, the hospitality would...
Muslim cultures in general place a huge emphasis on hospitality, and as a traveler you experience this from anyone, whether it's the hotel owners or the old men on the streets.
See, I feel like this is only true if you are a male traveller. I've had guy friends tell me the same thing and I couldn't help but feel that if it were me in their place, the hospitality would have been very different, and those old men on the streets might not be as friendly. Not saying people wouldn't be friendly still, but I feel like their friendliness would be much more dependent on how they viewed me as a woman, and like I would be treated patronisingly at best.
In general, I think a lot of what you said is very different if you're a man vs if you're a woman visiting/participating in the culture. I know a thing or two about Islam, and I think it's fascinating. I went to an event at a local mosque and I chatted with women there (both converts and ones born into the religion), learned about their backgrounds, got a sense of how their local community works, and there were so many positive things there. But the negatives were also there, and it pretty much boils down to women having a lot more restrictions placed on them. As a woman, that makes me feel really sad and at the same time wary about going to any of the predominantly Muslim countries.
I don't want to speak for women in this case, but from my perspective as a man who traveled through the Middle East with my female spouse, that's not entirely the case. My understanding of gender...
See, I feel like this is only true if you are a male traveller. I've had guy friends tell me the same thing and I couldn't help but feel that if it were me in their place, the hospitality would have been very different, and those old men on the streets might not be as friendly. Not saying people wouldn't be friendly still, but I feel like their friendliness would be much more dependent on how they viewed me as a woman, and like I would be treated patronisingly at best.
I don't want to speak for women in this case, but from my perspective as a man who traveled through the Middle East with my female spouse, that's not entirely the case.
My understanding of gender roles in Islam (and much more so in the Gulf) is that genders are strongly segregated. It's not so much that women are considered inferior, is that their "kingdom" is at home, and men and women, traditionally, are two separate groups that mix under very specific circumstances. Women are understood to have a great deal of power within the household, while the outside is the realm of men.
I'm not saying this is great... I think strict gender roles are a huge limit on society, which affects women in the majority, but also men by locking us into cages dictated by our genders. All I mean to say is, a lot of the misogyny accusations that the West levels at Islam stems from a misunderstanding of the role of gender in traditional Muslim society. It's especially disingenuous when you consider how recent we did away with strict gender norms in the West, and how people who don't conform to gender-normative stereotypes (transpeople, for starters) are still fighting for their right to exist.
Many times when in the more traditional areas of the Middle East, when we would encounter a man, he would simply ignore my spouse. He wouldn't treat her with disdain or anything... If anything, he would be almost reverential, avoiding her eyes, etc. I'm not saying this is a positive... But I want to dispel the notion that this comes from a position of superiority.
Likewise, when meeting women, it was mostly my spouse taking the lead. I'd speak to her only, or only if I was prompted by the women to say something to them.
Now, having spoken to female solo travelers, I'm well aware that the Middle East can be a challenging place. The reasons as I understand them are twofold: first, a single woman wandering around without her husband is an oddity in the Middle East. At the very least she would go around with female friends. Second, people in the Middle East get a warped image of the West through our entertainment. Western women are understood to be very sexually liberated and thus open to having sex at the drop of a hat. (I still remember seeing a painted poster for Charlie's Angels 2 in Aleppo where the Angels are in lingerie, and being shocked at how, even though it was straight from the movie, that scene now had a pornographic air to it.)
By the way, I should point out that I'm conflating Islam and the Middle East a bit too loosely, here. If you go to, say, Malaysia, gender roles are definitely not as strict there, although it's certainly not Scandinavia. It's normal for women to interact with men in public in Southeast Asia even if they're devout Muslims, for instance. This intense segregation of genders gets more and more true the closer you get to the Gulf countries. It's also less and less true with younger Muslims.
Thanks, this was a really well-worded reply. I agree with you on pretty much everything, including the fact that people don't understand gender roles in Islam well enough. However, being a woman...
Thanks, this was a really well-worded reply. I agree with you on pretty much everything, including the fact that people don't understand gender roles in Islam well enough.
However, being a woman and all, I would trade the 'kingdom' of a home for the outside in a heartbeat. No matter if the division of social spheres for men and women comes from a place of respect, it's still hugely restrictive and alienating. (And while this is not the place for it, I'd argue that institutional/cultural misogyny is a real problem in Islam - a gilded cage is still very much a cage.) Just wanted to point out that while the cultures of the Middle East are indeed fascinating, and Muslim people don't deserve to be treated with suspicion just because of their religion, they still hold a lot of views that have a real impact on people living in these societies. As a woman, it's really hard to dismiss those when they would be impacting me directly if I lived there.
Thanks. And I'm totally with you there as well. I was trying to explain, not defend. I do sincerely hope gender roles can evolve and break down in Muslim cultures. Your metaphor of a gilded cage...
Thanks. And I'm totally with you there as well. I was trying to explain, not defend.
I do sincerely hope gender roles can evolve and break down in Muslim cultures. Your metaphor of a gilded cage is very apt. The so-called "purity" of the female gender has been used time and again to repress them. (Say, during the Suffragettes Movement, when women were deemed too pure to understand the dirty world of politics.)
How we can effect change is another topic altogether, but I always felt that the best way to effect it is from a place of mutual respect even in disagreement.
For the record, I'm definitely aware that each and every culture has its dark side. One of the most profound statements I've read about cultures around the world is, "Any culture's biggest quality...
For the record, I'm definitely aware that each and every culture has its dark side. One of the most profound statements I've read about cultures around the world is, "Any culture's biggest quality is also its biggest flaw." This is because we're all human and diverse, so any given cultural trait can and will be used or misused depending on the individual who embodies it.
That being said, I was mostly trying to give an alternate perspective on Islam. I realize my experience as a foreign traveler (and a white one to boot) skews my perception and isolates me from many of the negative elements you may have experienced.
I'm curious. As an ex-muslim, what approach do you think is best in regards to reformation within Islam. I get the impression from Muslims around that the younger generations are heading in two...
I'm curious. As an ex-muslim, what approach do you think is best in regards to reformation within Islam. I get the impression from Muslims around that the younger generations are heading in two separate directions. A portion is regressing a reaffirming to more radical ideas and practise while the vast majority is going more in the direction of tolerance and embracing multi-cultural ideas.
Wow, thanks for the detailed response. Your post echoes the sentiment I get from people around me. I'm somewhat invested in trying to battle the ignorance about Islam around me and the most common...
Wow, thanks for the detailed response. Your post echoes the sentiment I get from people around me. I'm somewhat invested in trying to battle the ignorance about Islam around me and the most common view of Muslims is that they are all radical believers that are impossible to reason with. I hear a lot of "if we give an inch, we'll be allowing sharia law next" type of argument.
This is highly correlated to the lack of economic opportunity. This link gets into it in some detail - https://www.ft.com/content/3ec8f126-da29-11e5-a72f-1e7744c66818
A portion is regressing a reaffirming to more radical ideas
As an aside - are you on r/exmuslim? To clarify, I fucking HATE that place, or rather, what it has become. I met my wife on that subreddit, know the mods IRL and was very involved in the local...
To clarify, I fucking HATE that place, or rather, what it has become. I met my wife on that subreddit, know the mods IRL and was very involved in the local exmuslim group, so that subreddit was hugely important to me - but it is essentially a far-right Islamophobia platform now, instead of the community support group it started out as.
I'd be hard pressed to provide a more perfect example of inadequate moderation turning a good community to utter shit
Very well put. I'm in same boat as you. I've gotten to know Islam, not through travel but the fact that my sister converted to Islam and has had two husbands from the middle East. I also have had...
Very well put. I'm in same boat as you. I've gotten to know Islam, not through travel but the fact that my sister converted to Islam and has had two husbands from the middle East. I also have had the pleasure to work with and get know a few Muslims through work.
What most people don't seem to realise is how diverse the culture of Islam is. Not only because Islam is practised by very different cultural groups but also the fact that the culture behind religious devotion and practise is very different even within the same countries. The fact that, relatively speaking, just as many Muslims practise their faith casually as Christians is lost on most people.
Thank you. And yes. It's not even just about Muslims, either... You see this kind of useful narrow-mindedness about all countries in the world. As a Senegalese friend of mine told me, in North...
Thank you. And yes. It's not even just about Muslims, either... You see this kind of useful narrow-mindedness about all countries in the world.
As a Senegalese friend of mine told me, in North America we have a plurality of voices when it comes to local and national issues, but when it comes to international issues the media's views are almost entirely monolithic. And what's worse, people don't even question that singular point of view.
I'm from the UK, and it's the same issue here too. We do have the BBC at least, so they do try and be unbiased. Our newspapers are truly dreadful though.
I'm from the UK, and it's the same issue here too.
We do have the BBC at least, so they do try and be unbiased. Our newspapers are truly dreadful though.
Yes, I've sometimes found myself thinking that Islam are the bad guys and Christianity the good guys. I'm not even religious. I know it's wrong to think like that, I think it's terrible. I think...
Yes, I've sometimes found myself thinking that Islam are the bad guys and Christianity the good guys. I'm not even religious. I know it's wrong to think like that, I think it's terrible.
I think that a lot of recent news regarding Isis and all the terrorism have affected me which is scary. I don't want to think like this, I want to learn about them from many angles and not just the one media portraits them as.
I have to say, that's a really challenging thing to admit, so good on you for saying it. While not exactly relevant to your aims, I think this video speaks a lot to what you said and what some of...
I have to say, that's a really challenging thing to admit, so good on you for saying it.
While not exactly relevant to your aims, I think this video speaks a lot to what you said and what some of the other posts in this thread are talking about when they're talking about how stories are told and empathy/lack of empathy:
You might also appreciate this very short narration of Edward Said's thoughts from "Orientalism" about his anthropological findings about other cultures and communities:
Media Synthesis. Shameless plugging my subreddit, but how can it really be considered shameless when this is going to have such a major impact on things over the next twenty years and the most...
Media Synthesis. Shameless plugging my subreddit, but how can it really be considered shameless when this is going to have such a major impact on things over the next twenty years and the most people know about it is that there was once this trend called 'deepfakes' that apparently got banned. That, and Photoshop is a thing. But this goes so far beyond Photoshop and deepfakes.
Most of these examples were accomplished using algorithms available for free right now on GitHub, which is open source. They'll remain free and open source indefinitely. So have your fun. Be Big Brother, or do what I did when I was a kid and try to imagine editing in various effects and new content into shows and games you like, because these are both going to happen. All this technology will be more refined as time goes on, but like I said, think in terms of "months and years", not "decades and centuries."
It's scary, to be honest. Film is one of our last bastions of record keeping that are extremely hard to be altered. The fact that it's becoming more and more easy to edit is terrifying. How will...
It's scary, to be honest. Film is one of our last bastions of record keeping that are extremely hard to be altered. The fact that it's becoming more and more easy to edit is terrifying. How will we ever be able to know what's real and what's fake?
For me, the last bastion is voice synthesis. Successful prosecutions have resulted from tapes as well as photos and videos. Enter Adobe and their Photoshop for voice. I don’t like it.
For me, the last bastion is voice synthesis. Successful prosecutions have resulted from tapes as well as photos and videos. Enter Adobe and their Photoshop for voice. I don’t like it.
Many seem to be concerned that faked videos will be maliciously passed off as real but I think what you're describing here is a greater concern to the health of democratic societies in general. I...
Many seem to be concerned that faked videos will be maliciously passed off as real but I think what you're describing here is a greater concern to the health of democratic societies in general.
I expect that this will be the response to the next Access Hollywood-type tape.
Already we have a problem with people only believing in things that support their worldview. The understanding that all forms of evidence can be faked will only reinforce that behavior.
The importance of basic encryption, and the fact that it's not "for hackers". HTTPS and the base level of security it provides, especially with online shopping and how easy it would be to steal...
The importance of basic encryption, and the fact that it's not "for hackers". HTTPS and the base level of security it provides, especially with online shopping and how easy it would be to steal credit card information without it, is the best practical example.
The importance of not having backdoors in encryption for law enforcement and how incredibly stupid it is to suggest such a thing, without even considering the very real potential for abuse (and, let's face it, it would be inevitable).
The actual difference between the "surface web", "deep web", and "dark web", especially in that the term "dark web" doesn't mean the part of the internet used by criminals just because it has "dark" in the name.
Basically, tech-related subjects that are incredibly important, are typically not subjects that your average person should need to know about, and tend to have a lot of misinformation spread about them either due to media ignorance or political goals.
Public Librarian here. I wish everyone knew more about what libraries had to offer. So many of them have undergone incredible transformations over the past decade. They offer eBooks and streaming...
Public Librarian here. I wish everyone knew more about what libraries had to offer. So many of them have undergone incredible transformations over the past decade. They offer eBooks and streaming services, non-traditional circulating items like tools, sewing machines, tents and guitars, tax prep help, résumé help, homework help, tutoring and more. Many libraries offer 3D printing services, teach kids to code and have quiet rooms for digital recording and podcasting.
Yet I still see sensationalist articles every few weeks declaring libraries "dead" or "useless," and describing them as dusty book repositories. Yes, we have books, but we're also community centers. Life is hard enough. We're here to make it less hard for you.
I can't throw enough love and respect toward John and Hank Green! John came to my library about 10 years ago and somewhere around here I have a signed copy of "Looking for Alaska" from him. Those...
I can't throw enough love and respect toward John and Hank Green! John came to my library about 10 years ago and somewhere around here I have a signed copy of "Looking for Alaska" from him. Those two are great advocates.
Have they transformed to adopt open technologies yet? Such as using epub formats for their ebooks, instead of proprietary azw format, for instance. Same goes for the streaming services, is it...
So many of them have undergone incredible transformations over the past decade.
Have they transformed to adopt open technologies yet? Such as using epub formats for their ebooks, instead of proprietary azw format, for instance. Same goes for the streaming services, is it based on free software that respects their users, or is it just another proprietary platform that goes out of its way to track what you do, or otherwise limits your use of the content (or the device or software used to view the stream).
Do you offer a free operating system such as GNU+Linux on the computers in use, or is it all Windows, perpetuating this idea that only Windows is a viable option, severely limiting what a user can accomplish with said computers.
I like the concept of public libraries, but I abhorr how they're intertwined with non-public code and services that harm the users. Sadly, this is still the standard today.
He was specifically saying "Public" in his post, and I think that all public, government funded establishments should run with public code. I am not holding them to a higher standard, I'm holding...
He was specifically saying "Public" in his post, and I think that all public, government funded establishments should run with public code. I am not holding them to a higher standard, I'm holding all similar establishments to a minimum standard.
It's interesting you mention the "perpetually-underfunded" part, though. It's actually tremendously cheaper if you can base your infra on free software and open standards. Both cheaper to set up and maintain on the long term. If funding was truly the issue, that'd be an argument for more usage of public code.
Some public libraries do use Linux on their in-house computers or promote Linux via educational programs for their patrons. See here and here and here and here As far as vendor information...
Some public libraries do use Linux on their in-house computers or promote Linux via educational programs for their patrons.
As far as vendor information tracking is concerned, if that's something that interests you, I suggest you read about the ALA's Library Privacy Guidelines, specifically the Library Privacy Guidelines for E-Book Lending and Digital Content Vendors. I'd also encourage you to look at Overdrive's Privacy Policy. Overdrive is one of the major eBook and eAudiobook providers for libraries. You can also email them at privacy@overdrive.com for answers on specifics not addressed within their outlined policy.
What science is and isn't. Specifically what scientifically proven means (Often a 95% confidence interval), what science's relationship to truth is (an approximation), that science is at least in...
What science is and isn't. Specifically what scientifically proven means (Often a 95% confidence interval), what science's relationship to truth is (an approximation), that science is at least in part socially constructed and based on unscientific feelings and opinions. In short, it's a good attempt at truth not an infallible perfect solution.
I agree, but this can be kind of a hard thing to express to the general public since certain people have a tendency to hear "science isn't 100% certain" and think "my ignorance is just as good as...
I agree, but this can be kind of a hard thing to express to the general public since certain people have a tendency to hear "science isn't 100% certain" and think "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
I see the point you're making, but it's a really intricate view. You need a lot of time and discussion to articulate that nuanced of a view to people and typically antivaxxers/climate change...
I see the point you're making, but it's a really intricate view. You need a lot of time and discussion to articulate that nuanced of a view to people and typically antivaxxers/climate change deniers/whoever are not going to engage in that in depth of a discussion and even if they do, their take away will be the simplified idea that "science isn't true".
I feel like this encourages more skepticism of science. While I'm a big fan of healthy skepticism, society's relationship with science is already heading towards a damaging degree of skepticism. I...
I feel like this encourages more skepticism of science. While I'm a big fan of healthy skepticism, society's relationship with science is already heading towards a damaging degree of skepticism. I agree that what you describe is true, but I would be afraid if everyone adopted this sort of mindset without understanding things like what a theory is, scientifical consensus, control experiments, and simple statistics.
This can be misleading when presented in the way that you did. What you said is true, for the bleeding-edge sciences, but not so much for things like whether or not the Earth orbits the Sun, or...
This can be misleading when presented in the way that you did.
What you said is true, for the bleeding-edge sciences, but not so much for things like whether or not the Earth orbits the Sun, or whether or not Astrology is real, or whether or not climate change is caused by humans.
All of those have much greater than 95% confidence, and can be pretty much considered facts.
A healthy level of skepticism, one described in an idealized scientific method, is indeed very hard to achieve. I think they still have a point in highlighting sciences relationship to a/the (T)ruth.
A healthy level of skepticism, one described in an idealized scientific method, is indeed very hard to achieve. I think they still have a point in highlighting sciences relationship to a/the (T)ruth.
I'm absolutely with you there. I wish people understood that science isn't a belief: it's a better system of knowledge than belief, one that actually works. I really, really hate when I hear "I...
I'm absolutely with you there. I wish people understood that science isn't a belief: it's a better system of knowledge than belief, one that actually works.
I really, really hate when I hear "I believe in science" even though people who say it are supporting things I care about. I get the sentiment, but for me it's another sign of failure on basic science education. And whenever we put "belief in science" as the opposing idea to "belief in religious ideas," science loses because it's much less attractive than myths honed through thousands of years of storytelling. Because science is a way to get at the truth, and truth isn't always sexier than an angry man in the clouds.
Conspiracy theories. Most people know at least a little about some of them, but it's often used as the butt of a joke about the more outlandish ones like reptilians, gay frogs, moon landing hoax,...
Conspiracy theories. Most people know at least a little about some of them, but it's often used as the butt of a joke about the more outlandish ones like reptilians, gay frogs, moon landing hoax, etc.
What's amusing to me lately is people who are open to some conspiracy theories which fit a particular narrative, but completely dismiss out of hand others.
Here's a list i made years ago for a comment on reddit of a handful of conspiracies that turned out to be true:
The Dreyfus Affair: In the late 1800s in France, Jewish artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason based on false government documents, and sentenced to life in prison. The French government did attempt to cover this up, but Dreyfus was eventually pardoned after the affair was made public (an act that is credited to writer Émile Zola).
The Mafia: This secret crime society was virtually unknown until the 1960s, when member Joe Valachi first revealed the society's secrets to law enforcement officials.
MK-ULTRA: In the 1950s to the 1970s, the CIA ran a mind-control project aimed at finding a "truth serum" to use on communist spies. Test subjects were given LSD and other drugs, often without consent, and some were tortured. At least one man, civilian biochemist Frank Olson, who was working for the government, died as a result of the experiments. The project was finally exposed after investigations by the Rockefeller Commission.
Operation Mockingbird: Also in the 1950s to '70s, the CIA paid a number of well-known domestic and foreign journalists (from big-name media outlets like Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS and others) to publish CIA propaganda. The CIA also reportedly funded at least one movie, the animated "Animal Farm," by George Orwell. The Church Committee finally exposed the activities in 1975.
Watergate: Republican officials spied on the Democratic National Headquarters from the Watergate Hotel in 1972. While conspiracy theories suggested underhanded dealings were taking place, it wasn't until 1974 that White House tape recordings linked President Nixon to the break-in and forced him to resign.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The United States Public Health Service carried out this clinical study on 400 poor, African-American men with syphilis from 1932 to 1972. During the study the men were given false and sometimes dangerous treatments, and adequate treatment was intentionally withheld so the agency could learn more about the disease. While the study was initially supposed to last just six months, it continued for 40 years. Close to 200 of the men died from syphilis or related complications by the end of the study.
Operation Northwoods: In the early 1960s, American military leaders drafted plans to create public support for a war against Cuba, to oust Fidel Castro from power. The plans included committing acts of terrorism in U.S. cities, killing innocent people and U.S. soldiers, blowing up a U.S. ship, assassinating Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees, and hijacking planes. The plans were all approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but were reportedly rejected by the civilian leadership, then kept secret for nearly 40 years.
The Iran-Contra Affair: In 1985 and '86, the White House authorized government officials to secretly trade weapons with the Israeli government in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages in Iran. The plot was uncovered by Congress in 1987.
1990 Testimony of Nayirah: A 15-year-old girl named "Nayirah" testified before the U.S. Congress that she had seen Iraqi soldiers pulling Kuwaiti babies from incubators, causing them to die. The testimony helped gain major public support for the 1991 Gulf War, but -- despite protests that the dispute of this story was itself a conspiracy theory -- it was later discovered that the testimony was false. It was actually the creation of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for the purpose of promoting the Gulf War.
I'd say the above all fit squarely as a 5 on the conspiracy theory rating scale. There are many more that are worthy of study beyond only content produced by people who have "debunked" them.
It's always a little scary to realise how many developed, democratic Western nations ran large-scale state-sponsered eugenics and forced sterilization programs, and how recently they stopped.
It's always a little scary to realise how many developed, democratic Western nations ran large-scale state-sponsered eugenics and forced sterilization programs, and how recently they stopped.
I know this is a thread about conspiracies, but there's a possibility that there are some that are still going on that we just don't know about right yet.
I know this is a thread about conspiracies, but there's a possibility that there are some that are still going on that we just don't know about right yet.
That's a good question. I'm not really sure I know of (or remember) any specific books that i would recommend. Most of what I've learned has been through the internet, whether on fringe websites,...
That's a good question. I'm not really sure I know of (or remember) any specific books that i would recommend. Most of what I've learned has been through the internet, whether on fringe websites, youtube videos, or just searching for things when they come up in conversation. I'm sure I've read most of the books at my local library on conspiracies and the paranormal, but none in particular stick out in memory.
I'd say that James Corbett at corbettreport.com is pretty good - he has his biases like everyone but his content always feels pretty well-organized and thorough. Doesn't go into some of the more fringe things usually, mostly political and some technological content. He may have a recommended reading list.
I haven't really gotten into that whole world in a while due to anxiety issues (sometimes i get a little TOO involved mentally), so I'm somewhat rusty - but i can take a look at my bookmarks for good stuff if you're interested.
I will definitely check that site out. I'm really interested in political conspiracy theories, I've also been on the look out for some good fiction in that area too, although again haven't found...
I will definitely check that site out.
I'm really interested in political conspiracy theories, I've also been on the look out for some good fiction in that area too, although again haven't found all that much. John Grisham has done a few decent ones, for example.
I do read a lot on the Internet, but nothing beats a good book!
Most of the unbelievable ones are interesting! But then what is believable or not is different for each person (and different depending on the cultural zeitgeist). For example, if you had tried to...
Most of the unbelievable ones are interesting! But then what is believable or not is different for each person (and different depending on the cultural zeitgeist). For example, if you had tried to explain to the average conservative/republican ten years ago Operation Mockingbird, and tried suggesting that deep state neocons or warhawks were using broadcast media companies to push for war, to convince people there were WMDs in iraq, etc., they would have laughed at you and said that was unbelievable. Today, most conservatives would probably say that the 'fake news' broadcast media is quite plausibly influenced by the deep state intelligence agencies, if it were suggested to them. What is actually true here is unimportant, and I hope this example show that believability is relative.
I think the moon landing hoax stuff is generally unbelievable to most people - that's part of the reason i referenced it as being used as a joke initially. Years ago, even when I was (privately) interested in things like JFK and 9/11, a classmate of mine out of the blue mentioned the moon landing hoax and said there was some suspicious stuff if you really look into it. I just kind of smiled and nodded while scoffing inwardly. When I did eventually get around to looking into it, of course I discovered there are reasonable arguments made, evidence to support some of those, and a few things i never realized about the whole mission that changed it from being wholly unbelievable to being, well, uncertain.
Today I think we most likely did go to the moon, and it's not outside the realm of possibility that we did produce some recordings in a studio as propaganda in the event that the mission failed - and that those may have been broadcast. I think that's a conservative, but open minded view on the matter.... but this opens a can of worms because now that it's not outside the realm of possibility that the footage was produced on earth, what are the other possible implications? Maybe Neil Armstrong being weird in his interview immediately after returning home indicated something even bigger was happening and the footage was a coverup of something else that happened, maybe Buzz talking about aliens and life out there is not just poetic speech, maybe, maybe, maybe...
Of course conspiracy theories and ufos/paranormal all have a lot of overlap. To many people, especially people on places like reddit, ANYTHING paranormal is unbelievable, and most UFO stuff is as well (though that seems to be changing some lately). So things like Gary McKinnon's claim of moon base photos, Bob Lazar and area 51, Roswell, Phil Schneider and the alien battle at Dulce, Al Bielek and the Philadelphia experiment, Billy Meier's abduction, cattle mutilation, sasquatch, skinwalkers, chupacabra/jersey devil, occult/satanic conspiracies, etc. etc. all are too fringe for most people to even consider, much less see as believable. (N.B. I make no claims about any of these except that I think most are somewhere in the range of 1-3 on the above-linked rating scale)
Even something as mundane as astroturf was once mocked as being paranoid delusions. Yet it's been proven, and companies like reddit and even Tildes have officially talked about how to combat it. Conspiracy theorists have long said that disinformation and black propaganda are deployed via astroturf on the internet, and those comments would be hand-waved as just another layer to the conspiracy used to explain away reality.
Sorry for the short novel of a post, heh. If you want some rabbit holes to explore, I'd say look into bob lazar, cointelpro, nazi ufos, rosicrucians, MK-Ultra (in particular the unabomber), JFK and RFK assasinations, AE911Truth, sandy hook, crop circles, The Rockefellers and Rothschilds, Jekyll Island & the federal reserve, Deep Underground Military Bases, Blue Book and Bluebeam, Philadelphia Experiment, Rex 84, David Icke, Nikola Tesla, John Titor, bohemian grove... and if you've got a strong stomach and a stable personality, you could look into Jose Delgado, hypnosis and trauma-based mind-control, "gangstalking", occult/catholic pedophilia, exorcism, morgellons, loosh, the 'satanic panic', UN Agenda 21, and basically any of the technologies in this NASA slideshow. Much of that stuff might fall into the realm of 'unbelievable', but might be intellectually stimulating to consider if you're into that sort of thing.
There are more concrete conspiracies that have happened in recent history, but those are a bit more sobering and less... imaginative.
That sex determination is actually rather complex and messy. It's not as simple as just XX or XY; there's genetics, epigenetics, hormones, oh my. Not to say that I know a whole lot intimately,...
That sex determination is actually rather complex and messy. It's not as simple as just XX or XY; there's genetics, epigenetics, hormones, oh my. Not to say that I know a whole lot intimately, biology isn't my cup of tea, but I think a large number of misconceptions are formed from the application of a complete layman's perspective on sex. Here's a fun diagram showing how many deviations can happen in sexual development.
yas! Furthermore, Judith Butler wrote about how gender constructed the sexual binary. Often times TERFs or transphobes will insist that there are two genders because there are two sexes, but...
yas!
Furthermore, Judith Butler wrote about how gender constructed the sexual binary. Often times TERFs or transphobes will insist that there are two genders because there are two sexes, but Butler proposes that our binary gender system informed our views on sex, guiding us to make arbitrary categories for all the things you mentioned, and just leave it at 2. We then assume sex created gender and can’t get past that.
I love this contribution because I think this needs to be looked into across the board. Like, the trans community is so used to arguing for our own validity by saying "sex is the thing with two...
I love this contribution because I think this needs to be looked into across the board.
Like, the trans community is so used to arguing for our own validity by saying "sex is the thing with two clear cut options, gender is different" and I think we're making a mistake by using that. Just makes the rest harder in the future.
Boardgames! In the last 20 or so years boardgames have seen something of a revival, and are a lot better when compared to classics like monopoly or risk. It’s not as obscure an hobbie as a few...
Boardgames!
In the last 20 or so years boardgames have seen something of a revival, and are a lot better when compared to classics like monopoly or risk. It’s not as obscure an hobbie as a few years ago, but I think a lot of people would enjoy it if they found out about it.
Around here, board games have absolutely exploded in the past 5 or so years. It's great. I've been into board games since 2007 or so when they were still considered fairly obscure, and it's so...
Around here, board games have absolutely exploded in the past 5 or so years. It's great. I've been into board games since 2007 or so when they were still considered fairly obscure, and it's so nice to have a wide variety of quality, interesting board games available. I'm especially into co-op board games, which used to be virtually unheard of. Which ones do you like best?
Have you tried The Mind? It’s a really simple and fast co-op, but we’ve had a lot of fun with it lately. And speaking of co-ops, Gloomhaven has been a great experience. We try a lot of new games,...
Have you tried The Mind? It’s a really simple and fast co-op, but we’ve had a lot of fun with it lately.
And speaking of co-ops, Gloomhaven has been a great experience.
We try a lot of new games, but always return to the classics, like through the ages, twilight struggle, Maria.
Thanks for the recommendations! I've not actually played any of these yet. We've been into XCOM recently (I was surprised at how good of a game it is), Betrayal at the House on the Hill, and...
Thanks for the recommendations! I've not actually played any of these yet. We've been into XCOM recently (I was surprised at how good of a game it is), Betrayal at the House on the Hill, and Eldritch Horror - we usually have 4+ people playing.
The British comedy duo Mitchell and Webb and specifically their sketch comedy show "That Mitchell and Webb Look. " The people who know them most commonly just know them for their popular show...
The British comedy duo Mitchell and Webb and specifically their sketch comedy show "That Mitchell and Webb Look. " The people who know them most commonly just know them for their popular show "Peep Show."
This is mostly geared toward my other American friends.
All British humour is amazing, and very... different, compared to the American style of comedy. Along with this suggestion, check out their panel shows. Especially notable are "Would I Lie To...
All British humour is amazing, and very... different, compared to the American style of comedy. Along with this suggestion, check out their panel shows. Especially notable are "Would I Lie To You", and "Quite Interesting".
Yaaay, No Such Thing As a Fish! I'm a nerd and I like to geek out about obscure knowledge, and that podcast makes me so damn happy. They'll throw a random, obscure fact, then there's a moment of...
Yaaay, No Such Thing As a Fish! I'm a nerd and I like to geek out about obscure knowledge, and that podcast makes me so damn happy. They'll throw a random, obscure fact, then there's a moment of silence and they all go, "This is soooo cool!" Warms my nerdy heart.
Mitchell and Webb are superb. Some of their best pieces in my opinion: Corner Shop Hans? Drownings Political Debate Liverpool Fan Scripted Intelligence Policemen
Mitchell and Webb are superb. Some of their best pieces in my opinion:
I love those! One of my favorite sketches is about Cheesoid, the robot who can't tell the difference between petrol(gasoline) and cheese. In fact, if you look just slightly up, you'll see that my...
I love those! One of my favorite sketches is about Cheesoid, the robot who can't tell the difference between petrol(gasoline) and cheese. In fact, if you look just slightly up, you'll see that my username is a reference to how cheesoid says "Petril status: FULL. "
What did you think of it? I liked it - and was especially impressed by Webb's performance - but it certainly wasn't an out-and-out comedy like Peep Show.
What did you think of it? I liked it - and was especially impressed by Webb's performance - but it certainly wasn't an out-and-out comedy like Peep Show.
Agreed, seeing Webb perform his usual mannerisms but as a rather intelligent character was definitely interesting. That said I think I'd describe the show as "good"; it felt a bit too light and...
Agreed, seeing Webb perform his usual mannerisms but as a rather intelligent character was definitely interesting. That said I think I'd describe the show as "good"; it felt a bit too light and silly in contrast to, say, Peep Show's raw gut wrenching humour.
One the one hand, the humour has mellowed - with jokes more centred around TripAdvisor than paedophilia - but I think the themes and characters are both more complex and potentially even darker...
One the one hand, the humour has mellowed - with jokes more centred around TripAdvisor than paedophilia - but I think the themes and characters are both more complex and potentially even darker than those in Peep Show. I love the strange underlying menace of Webb's character, and while Mitchell's character does recall Mark Corrigan quite extensively, I enjoyed seeing the classic Mitchellian cerebral paranoia turned up to 11.
That's an excellent point in regards to the undertones vs overtones, kind of the opposite of Peep Show in that sense. I guess what I didn't really like was the slight fuzzing of reality where...
That's an excellent point in regards to the undertones vs overtones, kind of the opposite of Peep Show in that sense.
I guess what I didn't really like was the slight fuzzing of reality where things are exaggerated a bit, such as the pub being instantly fixed after burning down, or characters stupid to the point of caricature. I tend to prefer more lifelike fictions but that's entirely personal preference.
People consistently complain about flights being delayed due to weather. But in reality, it's much better for you to be late to your next location than to have your flight crash because of...
People consistently complain about flights being delayed due to weather. But in reality, it's much better for you to be late to your next location than to have your flight crash because of microbursts which can cause aircraft to lose lift, directional control, etc. Honestly, the airlines want to get you out of there as much as you want to. But no one wants to take the risk of an airliner crashing due to weather.
The second-hand technology market. Phones, computers, and components are all very cheap on the used market. Most people are so afraid of buying a used video card or smartphone, but I've yet to run...
The second-hand technology market. Phones, computers, and components are all very cheap on the used market. Most people are so afraid of buying a used video card or smartphone, but I've yet to run into a problem. I remember someone on the PCMasterRace subreddit who built a computer out of only "for parts only" components that he bought on eBay. Everything but one component (and I don't remember which) worked just fine. He only spent $100 on it, and it was actually a pretty decent gaming computer.
I have bought my last three smart phones on Swappa, each for around $100. They were older flagships (LG G2, Galaxy S6, and LG G5) but they still have better specs than phones that cost $200 which are considered budget offerings. Half the money for twice as much phone.
Secondly, and this applies to me too, I wish everyone had a good knowledge of cars. The sad reality is that, in the US at least but I know other countries as well, you need to own a car. It sucks and there are better forms of transport but American cities are built around cars. Knowing how they worked better and knowing basic diagnostic procedures can help save a lot of money, especially from less trustworthy mechanics who prey on the mechanically ignorant.
The Canadian "Indian" (Indigenous) Residential School System. 170 years of systemic oppression, assimilation, and abuses c/o the Anglican and Catholic churches and the Canadian government. Our...
The Canadian "Indian" (Indigenous) Residential School System. 170 years of systemic oppression, assimilation, and abuses c/o the Anglican and Catholic churches and the Canadian government. Our communities are still living through the impacts today after generations of trauma, pain and loss.
I have resources of anyone is interested in learning more.
I can't believe how little it's taught. And the few times I've brought it up, people make it sound like it happened centuries ago, when the last school was closed in 1996!
I can't believe how little it's taught. And the few times I've brought it up, people make it sound like it happened centuries ago, when the last school was closed in 1996!
To stop wasting water. My country is slated to run out of water by 2025 and there is 0 awareness about it among people. I myself found out about it on Reddit. I'm blaming the government, they...
To stop wasting water. My country is slated to run out of water by 2025 and there is 0 awareness about it among people. I myself found out about it on Reddit. I'm blaming the government, they should have taken a step towards it by now
Pakistan, there is but most neighbouring countries are dealing with it way way better than us. Experts have been warning us for at least a decade now to start taking precautions; areas like...
Pakistan, there is but most neighbouring countries are dealing with it way way better than us. Experts have been warning us for at least a decade now to start taking precautions; areas like Karachi have a really really bad artificial shortage of water, they have to pay for tankers and stuff for a ridiculous price because of the govt created shortage. Elections are coming up this year and I just hope that people don't vote for the same party that they have been voting for the past 20 years.. the leader of that party/our pm was ousted because of the Panama papers in his most recent term. Voting here in pk is a family sport
Check my reply above, and none that I am aware of. I didn't even know that we had a water shortage, and people here waste so much water... Especially in Punjab where if you go out you can see...
Check my reply above, and none that I am aware of. I didn't even know that we had a water shortage, and people here waste so much water... Especially in Punjab where if you go out you can see people washing the roads with water. And that's a daily chore for a lot of people
For the "layman" with regards to computers: Free software alternatives are actually pretty good. Most people dismiss the idea of using GNU+Linux with the idea that it must be hard or simply worse...
For the "layman" with regards to computers:
Free software alternatives are actually pretty good. Most people dismiss the idea of using GNU+Linux with the idea that it must be hard or simply worse than what they're already using, when in fact, it often performs better, gets more regular and faster updates, and doesn't try to fuck over the user at every occasion.
For people with computer interests:
The Perl 6 programming language. Many people hate the name "Perl" even though they've never tried it, and only know the name from hearsay. It's a great programming language with all modern features that you'd want as a programmer. It currently sports the best Unicode support out of all programming languages, closely followed by Swift. There are no other languages that come close to those two, nowadays.
For the hard left and hard right politically inclined:
It's not a black and white area on the political spectrum. People aren't plain wrong because they chose the wrong side. And it's not a "them vs us" playing field. I see this clearly in the USA, where there's effectively two parties, and if you're supporting one of them, you must be against the others. It seems to have become impossible to support policies from either side. You can't be in favour of controlled immigration, you're either for immigration or against it. This way of thinking only leads to further fragmentation, which helps no-one in the end.
I work with a guy who just turned 21. I was talking about Reboot with my brother because he had forgotten about it. A few minutes later he's explaining it to our 21-year-old co-worker and I...
I work with a guy who just turned 21. I was talking about Reboot with my brother because he had forgotten about it. A few minutes later he's explaining it to our 21-year-old co-worker and I thought "Why the fuck is he explaining what Reboot is?" I realized a moment later that the show is hella old now :(
This is probably not the kind of answer you were asking about, OP, but:
Islam.
I'm not religious myself, but I've been blessed by birth with being able to travel, and I've spent some time in Muslim countries, including the Middle East. There is SO MUCH cool stuff about these cultures, but unless you go there yourself or you're friends with Muslim people (which requires an open mind to start with), you get served this narrow view of Islam that conveniently fits current geopolitical ambitions.
I'm not saying problems such as the role of women or fundamentalism don't exist in these societies, but the media so relentlessly focus on these that the rest is completely lost.
I'm aware Islam is always a touchy subject and I'm not interested in engaging on a debate about it. I just wish more people got to experience Muslim cultures with an open mind. I went to the Middle East because I wanted to experience it for myself and see how it compares with the media's portrayal, and I was amazed. Favorite travel experience in my life, and I've been to a few places.
Very much this for me too.
Sufism is one 'order' of Islam in particular I wish more people knew of in the Western world since it defies all the stereotypes to such an amazing degree. They are essentially the mystical, philosophical, hippies of Islam where hashish smoking and alcohol drinking are not as strictly prohibited, and in fact often done to excess to "bring them closer to Wahdat al-Wujud (Oneness/Unity) with themselves and the Universe/Allah".
Sufi dhikr (devotional) ritual chanting/dances are also absolutely hypnotizing to watch [1] [2] and undeniably one of the greatest (and best selling) poets of all time was a Sufi mystic named Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, whose translated poem collection ‘Essential Rumi’ I cannot recommend enough!
Rumi was a profoundly insightful and extremely funny/vulgar man (poem about a gourd that starts out "There was a maidservant; who had cleverly trained a donkey; to perform the services of a man" and only gets worse from there... read the rest though, trust me) whose descriptions of search for meaning, love and connection touched me very deeply, even as an Atheist. I reread Essential Rumi at least once every few years because of that.
Ah, yes, Rumi is fantastic. I had never read that poem about the gourd, though... That's hilarious.
The gourd poem is hilarious and vulgar, and still contains a message!
Can you give some examples of what struck you?
Certainly!
That's it off the top of my head!
See, I feel like this is only true if you are a male traveller. I've had guy friends tell me the same thing and I couldn't help but feel that if it were me in their place, the hospitality would have been very different, and those old men on the streets might not be as friendly. Not saying people wouldn't be friendly still, but I feel like their friendliness would be much more dependent on how they viewed me as a woman, and like I would be treated patronisingly at best.
In general, I think a lot of what you said is very different if you're a man vs if you're a woman visiting/participating in the culture. I know a thing or two about Islam, and I think it's fascinating. I went to an event at a local mosque and I chatted with women there (both converts and ones born into the religion), learned about their backgrounds, got a sense of how their local community works, and there were so many positive things there. But the negatives were also there, and it pretty much boils down to women having a lot more restrictions placed on them. As a woman, that makes me feel really sad and at the same time wary about going to any of the predominantly Muslim countries.
I don't want to speak for women in this case, but from my perspective as a man who traveled through the Middle East with my female spouse, that's not entirely the case.
My understanding of gender roles in Islam (and much more so in the Gulf) is that genders are strongly segregated. It's not so much that women are considered inferior, is that their "kingdom" is at home, and men and women, traditionally, are two separate groups that mix under very specific circumstances. Women are understood to have a great deal of power within the household, while the outside is the realm of men.
I'm not saying this is great... I think strict gender roles are a huge limit on society, which affects women in the majority, but also men by locking us into cages dictated by our genders. All I mean to say is, a lot of the misogyny accusations that the West levels at Islam stems from a misunderstanding of the role of gender in traditional Muslim society. It's especially disingenuous when you consider how recent we did away with strict gender norms in the West, and how people who don't conform to gender-normative stereotypes (transpeople, for starters) are still fighting for their right to exist.
Many times when in the more traditional areas of the Middle East, when we would encounter a man, he would simply ignore my spouse. He wouldn't treat her with disdain or anything... If anything, he would be almost reverential, avoiding her eyes, etc. I'm not saying this is a positive... But I want to dispel the notion that this comes from a position of superiority.
Likewise, when meeting women, it was mostly my spouse taking the lead. I'd speak to her only, or only if I was prompted by the women to say something to them.
Now, having spoken to female solo travelers, I'm well aware that the Middle East can be a challenging place. The reasons as I understand them are twofold: first, a single woman wandering around without her husband is an oddity in the Middle East. At the very least she would go around with female friends. Second, people in the Middle East get a warped image of the West through our entertainment. Western women are understood to be very sexually liberated and thus open to having sex at the drop of a hat. (I still remember seeing a painted poster for Charlie's Angels 2 in Aleppo where the Angels are in lingerie, and being shocked at how, even though it was straight from the movie, that scene now had a pornographic air to it.)
By the way, I should point out that I'm conflating Islam and the Middle East a bit too loosely, here. If you go to, say, Malaysia, gender roles are definitely not as strict there, although it's certainly not Scandinavia. It's normal for women to interact with men in public in Southeast Asia even if they're devout Muslims, for instance. This intense segregation of genders gets more and more true the closer you get to the Gulf countries. It's also less and less true with younger Muslims.
Thanks, this was a really well-worded reply. I agree with you on pretty much everything, including the fact that people don't understand gender roles in Islam well enough.
However, being a woman and all, I would trade the 'kingdom' of a home for the outside in a heartbeat. No matter if the division of social spheres for men and women comes from a place of respect, it's still hugely restrictive and alienating. (And while this is not the place for it, I'd argue that institutional/cultural misogyny is a real problem in Islam - a gilded cage is still very much a cage.) Just wanted to point out that while the cultures of the Middle East are indeed fascinating, and Muslim people don't deserve to be treated with suspicion just because of their religion, they still hold a lot of views that have a real impact on people living in these societies. As a woman, it's really hard to dismiss those when they would be impacting me directly if I lived there.
Thanks. And I'm totally with you there as well. I was trying to explain, not defend.
I do sincerely hope gender roles can evolve and break down in Muslim cultures. Your metaphor of a gilded cage is very apt. The so-called "purity" of the female gender has been used time and again to repress them. (Say, during the Suffragettes Movement, when women were deemed too pure to understand the dirty world of politics.)
How we can effect change is another topic altogether, but I always felt that the best way to effect it is from a place of mutual respect even in disagreement.
Cheers!
For the record, I'm definitely aware that each and every culture has its dark side. One of the most profound statements I've read about cultures around the world is, "Any culture's biggest quality is also its biggest flaw." This is because we're all human and diverse, so any given cultural trait can and will be used or misused depending on the individual who embodies it.
That being said, I was mostly trying to give an alternate perspective on Islam. I realize my experience as a foreign traveler (and a white one to boot) skews my perception and isolates me from many of the negative elements you may have experienced.
I'm curious. As an ex-muslim, what approach do you think is best in regards to reformation within Islam. I get the impression from Muslims around that the younger generations are heading in two separate directions. A portion is regressing a reaffirming to more radical ideas and practise while the vast majority is going more in the direction of tolerance and embracing multi-cultural ideas.
Wow, thanks for the detailed response. Your post echoes the sentiment I get from people around me. I'm somewhat invested in trying to battle the ignorance about Islam around me and the most common view of Muslims is that they are all radical believers that are impossible to reason with. I hear a lot of "if we give an inch, we'll be allowing sharia law next" type of argument.
This is highly correlated to the lack of economic opportunity. This link gets into it in some detail - https://www.ft.com/content/3ec8f126-da29-11e5-a72f-1e7744c66818
As an aside - are you on r/exmuslim?
To clarify, I fucking HATE that place, or rather, what it has become. I met my wife on that subreddit, know the mods IRL and was very involved in the local exmuslim group, so that subreddit was hugely important to me - but it is essentially a far-right Islamophobia platform now, instead of the community support group it started out as.
I'd be hard pressed to provide a more perfect example of inadequate moderation turning a good community to utter shit
Very well put. I'm in same boat as you. I've gotten to know Islam, not through travel but the fact that my sister converted to Islam and has had two husbands from the middle East. I also have had the pleasure to work with and get know a few Muslims through work.
What most people don't seem to realise is how diverse the culture of Islam is. Not only because Islam is practised by very different cultural groups but also the fact that the culture behind religious devotion and practise is very different even within the same countries. The fact that, relatively speaking, just as many Muslims practise their faith casually as Christians is lost on most people.
No that's ok and great reply!
Fantastic reply, education is so important. The media is so dead cert on having a 'bad guy' to aim all our hatred at.
Thank you. And yes. It's not even just about Muslims, either... You see this kind of useful narrow-mindedness about all countries in the world.
As a Senegalese friend of mine told me, in North America we have a plurality of voices when it comes to local and national issues, but when it comes to international issues the media's views are almost entirely monolithic. And what's worse, people don't even question that singular point of view.
I'm from the UK, and it's the same issue here too.
We do have the BBC at least, so they do try and be unbiased. Our newspapers are truly dreadful though.
Yes, I've sometimes found myself thinking that Islam are the bad guys and Christianity the good guys. I'm not even religious. I know it's wrong to think like that, I think it's terrible.
I think that a lot of recent news regarding Isis and all the terrorism have affected me which is scary. I don't want to think like this, I want to learn about them from many angles and not just the one media portraits them as.
I have to say, that's a really challenging thing to admit, so good on you for saying it.
While not exactly relevant to your aims, I think this video speaks a lot to what you said and what some of the other posts in this thread are talking about when they're talking about how stories are told and empathy/lack of empathy:
https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_richards_a_radical_experiment_in_empathy
It's one of my favorite TED talks, actually.
You might also appreciate this very short narration of Edward Said's thoughts from "Orientalism" about his anthropological findings about other cultures and communities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QYrAqrpshw
Have you ever been to the UAE?
Only through the airport, I'm afraid! But I did spend a week or so in Qatar.
Media Synthesis. Shameless plugging my subreddit, but how can it really be considered shameless when this is going to have such a major impact on things over the next twenty years and the most people know about it is that there was once this trend called 'deepfakes' that apparently got banned. That, and Photoshop is a thing. But this goes so far beyond Photoshop and deepfakes.
Remember deepfakes? AI can do more than just faces— they can transfer whole bodies.
Deepfake technology can even transfer species and time of day.
Generative networks can generate music. It can do this the easy way— listening to music and playing around with a music-creating program— and it can do it the right way— listening to music and "imagining" what instruments and voices are supposed to sound like and generating new music entirely from scratch from its imagination.
With the aforementioned technology, you can almost perfectly synthesize speech. We've come a long way from Microsoft Bob!
Style transfer can turn ten-second Microsoft Paint doodles into art masterpieces, or detailed designs far beyond your own capabilities
Generative AI can design assets for video games. More (in)famously, it's capable of procedural generation.
AI can animate a still image, predicting what's supposed to happen next
Generative networks can create photorealistic images. It's only a matter of time before they translate this to video and, potentially, video games!
Generative networks can take a text description and turn it into an image
Style transfer can create psychedelic dreamscapes and nightmares
Generative networks can smooth out animation, turning even low-budget anime into something coming close to movie quality
AI can even bring 'Enhance!' out of CSI!
OpenAI’s co-founder Greg Brockman thinks in 2018— yes, this year— we will see “perfect“ video synthesis from scratch and speech synthesis. I don't think it'll be perfect, but definitely near perfect.
We already see Nicholas Cage spammed into every movie ever made, and you can edit certain parts of movies in action. Not to mention that you can put words into a world leader's mouth and use their faces while you're at it. The future's gonna be wild, but the wildest part is that when I say "future", I mean the 2020s. Anyone who thinks this technology is twenty or thirty years off or that it'll only be available to the government and wealthy with its initial release, just click away now to spare your brain because I'm about to blow it apart.
Most of these examples were accomplished using algorithms available for free right now on GitHub, which is open source. They'll remain free and open source indefinitely. So have your fun. Be Big Brother, or do what I did when I was a kid and try to imagine editing in various effects and new content into shows and games you like, because these are both going to happen. All this technology will be more refined as time goes on, but like I said, think in terms of "months and years", not "decades and centuries."
Already, we're seeing the effects. In Iraq, deepfakes technology was used to create fake sex tapes of female candidates in their recent election season. I don't think it led to anything substantial, but it was a proof of concept.
That took me down a rabbit hole haha
It's scary, to be honest. Film is one of our last bastions of record keeping that are extremely hard to be altered. The fact that it's becoming more and more easy to edit is terrifying. How will we ever be able to know what's real and what's fake?
For me, the last bastion is voice synthesis. Successful prosecutions have resulted from tapes as well as photos and videos. Enter Adobe and their Photoshop for voice. I don’t like it.
Imagine how footage that could once be used to blackmail you can be dismissed as fake. We live in fun times.
Many seem to be concerned that faked videos will be maliciously passed off as real but I think what you're describing here is a greater concern to the health of democratic societies in general.
I expect that this will be the response to the next Access Hollywood-type tape.
Already we have a problem with people only believing in things that support their worldview. The understanding that all forms of evidence can be faked will only reinforce that behavior.
This comment was such a rabbit hole for me. Very interesting!
The importance of basic encryption, and the fact that it's not "for hackers". HTTPS and the base level of security it provides, especially with online shopping and how easy it would be to steal credit card information without it, is the best practical example.
The importance of not having backdoors in encryption for law enforcement and how incredibly stupid it is to suggest such a thing, without even considering the very real potential for abuse (and, let's face it, it would be inevitable).
The actual difference between the "surface web", "deep web", and "dark web", especially in that the term "dark web" doesn't mean the part of the internet used by criminals just because it has "dark" in the name.
Basically, tech-related subjects that are incredibly important, are typically not subjects that your average person should need to know about, and tend to have a lot of misinformation spread about them either due to media ignorance or political goals.
Public Librarian here. I wish everyone knew more about what libraries had to offer. So many of them have undergone incredible transformations over the past decade. They offer eBooks and streaming services, non-traditional circulating items like tools, sewing machines, tents and guitars, tax prep help, résumé help, homework help, tutoring and more. Many libraries offer 3D printing services, teach kids to code and have quiet rooms for digital recording and podcasting.
Yet I still see sensationalist articles every few weeks declaring libraries "dead" or "useless," and describing them as dusty book repositories. Yes, we have books, but we're also community centers. Life is hard enough. We're here to make it less hard for you.
I keep hearing about public libraries in Nerdfighteria and my local newspaper lately, y’all are great and underappreciated <3
I can't throw enough love and respect toward John and Hank Green! John came to my library about 10 years ago and somewhere around here I have a signed copy of "Looking for Alaska" from him. Those two are great advocates.
Have they transformed to adopt open technologies yet? Such as using
epubformats for their ebooks, instead of proprietaryazwformat, for instance. Same goes for the streaming services, is it based on free software that respects their users, or is it just another proprietary platform that goes out of its way to track what you do, or otherwise limits your use of the content (or the device or software used to view the stream).Do you offer a free operating system such as GNU+Linux on the computers in use, or is it all Windows, perpetuating this idea that only Windows is a viable option, severely limiting what a user can accomplish with said computers.
I like the concept of public libraries, but I abhorr how they're intertwined with non-public code and services that harm the users. Sadly, this is still the standard today.
He was specifically saying "Public" in his post, and I think that all public, government funded establishments should run with public code. I am not holding them to a higher standard, I'm holding all similar establishments to a minimum standard.
It's interesting you mention the "perpetually-underfunded" part, though. It's actually tremendously cheaper if you can base your infra on free software and open standards. Both cheaper to set up and maintain on the long term. If funding was truly the issue, that'd be an argument for more usage of public code.
Some public libraries do use Linux on their in-house computers or promote Linux via educational programs for their patrons.
As far as vendor information tracking is concerned, if that's something that interests you, I suggest you read about the ALA's Library Privacy Guidelines, specifically the Library Privacy Guidelines for E-Book Lending and Digital Content Vendors. I'd also encourage you to look at Overdrive's Privacy Policy. Overdrive is one of the major eBook and eAudiobook providers for libraries. You can also email them at privacy@overdrive.com for answers on specifics not addressed within their outlined policy.
That's very interesting. Thanks for the links!
I agree! Libraries have been more innovative than Barnes & Noble!
What science is and isn't. Specifically what scientifically proven means (Often a 95% confidence interval), what science's relationship to truth is (an approximation), that science is at least in part socially constructed and based on unscientific feelings and opinions. In short, it's a good attempt at truth not an infallible perfect solution.
I agree, but this can be kind of a hard thing to express to the general public since certain people have a tendency to hear "science isn't 100% certain" and think "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
True, it's but we need to try. I think pretending otherwise actually helps antivaxxers and climate change deniers.
I see the point you're making, but it's a really intricate view. You need a lot of time and discussion to articulate that nuanced of a view to people and typically antivaxxers/climate change deniers/whoever are not going to engage in that in depth of a discussion and even if they do, their take away will be the simplified idea that "science isn't true".
I feel like this encourages more skepticism of science. While I'm a big fan of healthy skepticism, society's relationship with science is already heading towards a damaging degree of skepticism. I agree that what you describe is true, but I would be afraid if everyone adopted this sort of mindset without understanding things like what a theory is, scientifical consensus, control experiments, and simple statistics.
This can be misleading when presented in the way that you did.
What you said is true, for the bleeding-edge sciences, but not so much for things like whether or not the Earth orbits the Sun, or whether or not Astrology is real, or whether or not climate change is caused by humans.
All of those have much greater than 95% confidence, and can be pretty much considered facts.
Yeah, their comment did also make me confused a bit
A healthy level of skepticism, one described in an idealized scientific method, is indeed very hard to achieve. I think they still have a point in highlighting sciences relationship to a/the (T)ruth.
I'm absolutely with you there. I wish people understood that science isn't a belief: it's a better system of knowledge than belief, one that actually works.
I really, really hate when I hear "I believe in science" even though people who say it are supporting things I care about. I get the sentiment, but for me it's another sign of failure on basic science education. And whenever we put "belief in science" as the opposing idea to "belief in religious ideas," science loses because it's much less attractive than myths honed through thousands of years of storytelling. Because science is a way to get at the truth, and truth isn't always sexier than an angry man in the clouds.
Conspiracy theories. Most people know at least a little about some of them, but it's often used as the butt of a joke about the more outlandish ones like reptilians, gay frogs, moon landing hoax, etc.
What's amusing to me lately is people who are open to some conspiracy theories which fit a particular narrative, but completely dismiss out of hand others.
Here's a list i made years ago for a comment on reddit of a handful of conspiracies that turned out to be true:
I'd say the above all fit squarely as a 5 on the conspiracy theory rating scale. There are many more that are worthy of study beyond only content produced by people who have "debunked" them.
It's always a little scary to realise how many developed, democratic Western nations ran large-scale state-sponsered eugenics and forced sterilization programs, and how recently they stopped.
I know this is a thread about conspiracies, but there's a possibility that there are some that are still going on that we just don't know about right yet.
Do you know of any good conspiracy theory books? There's so many out there, and it's difficult to know where to start.
That's a good question. I'm not really sure I know of (or remember) any specific books that i would recommend. Most of what I've learned has been through the internet, whether on fringe websites, youtube videos, or just searching for things when they come up in conversation. I'm sure I've read most of the books at my local library on conspiracies and the paranormal, but none in particular stick out in memory.
I'd say that James Corbett at corbettreport.com is pretty good - he has his biases like everyone but his content always feels pretty well-organized and thorough. Doesn't go into some of the more fringe things usually, mostly political and some technological content. He may have a recommended reading list.
I haven't really gotten into that whole world in a while due to anxiety issues (sometimes i get a little TOO involved mentally), so I'm somewhat rusty - but i can take a look at my bookmarks for good stuff if you're interested.
I will definitely check that site out.
I'm really interested in political conspiracy theories, I've also been on the look out for some good fiction in that area too, although again haven't found all that much. John Grisham has done a few decent ones, for example.
I do read a lot on the Internet, but nothing beats a good book!
This podcast series is quite good: https://www.parcast.com/conspiracy/
Thank you, I'm also trying to find some decent Podcasts, so this is killing two birds for me.
Most of the unbelievable ones are interesting! But then what is believable or not is different for each person (and different depending on the cultural zeitgeist). For example, if you had tried to explain to the average conservative/republican ten years ago Operation Mockingbird, and tried suggesting that deep state neocons or warhawks were using broadcast media companies to push for war, to convince people there were WMDs in iraq, etc., they would have laughed at you and said that was unbelievable. Today, most conservatives would probably say that the 'fake news' broadcast media is quite plausibly influenced by the deep state intelligence agencies, if it were suggested to them. What is actually true here is unimportant, and I hope this example show that believability is relative.
I think the moon landing hoax stuff is generally unbelievable to most people - that's part of the reason i referenced it as being used as a joke initially. Years ago, even when I was (privately) interested in things like JFK and 9/11, a classmate of mine out of the blue mentioned the moon landing hoax and said there was some suspicious stuff if you really look into it. I just kind of smiled and nodded while scoffing inwardly. When I did eventually get around to looking into it, of course I discovered there are reasonable arguments made, evidence to support some of those, and a few things i never realized about the whole mission that changed it from being wholly unbelievable to being, well, uncertain.
Today I think we most likely did go to the moon, and it's not outside the realm of possibility that we did produce some recordings in a studio as propaganda in the event that the mission failed - and that those may have been broadcast. I think that's a conservative, but open minded view on the matter.... but this opens a can of worms because now that it's not outside the realm of possibility that the footage was produced on earth, what are the other possible implications? Maybe Neil Armstrong being weird in his interview immediately after returning home indicated something even bigger was happening and the footage was a coverup of something else that happened, maybe Buzz talking about aliens and life out there is not just poetic speech, maybe, maybe, maybe...
Of course conspiracy theories and ufos/paranormal all have a lot of overlap. To many people, especially people on places like reddit, ANYTHING paranormal is unbelievable, and most UFO stuff is as well (though that seems to be changing some lately). So things like Gary McKinnon's claim of moon base photos, Bob Lazar and area 51, Roswell, Phil Schneider and the alien battle at Dulce, Al Bielek and the Philadelphia experiment, Billy Meier's abduction, cattle mutilation, sasquatch, skinwalkers, chupacabra/jersey devil, occult/satanic conspiracies, etc. etc. all are too fringe for most people to even consider, much less see as believable. (N.B. I make no claims about any of these except that I think most are somewhere in the range of 1-3 on the above-linked rating scale)
Even something as mundane as astroturf was once mocked as being paranoid delusions. Yet it's been proven, and companies like reddit and even Tildes have officially talked about how to combat it. Conspiracy theorists have long said that disinformation and black propaganda are deployed via astroturf on the internet, and those comments would be hand-waved as just another layer to the conspiracy used to explain away reality.
Sorry for the short novel of a post, heh. If you want some rabbit holes to explore, I'd say look into bob lazar, cointelpro, nazi ufos, rosicrucians, MK-Ultra (in particular the unabomber), JFK and RFK assasinations, AE911Truth, sandy hook, crop circles, The Rockefellers and Rothschilds, Jekyll Island & the federal reserve, Deep Underground Military Bases, Blue Book and Bluebeam, Philadelphia Experiment, Rex 84, David Icke, Nikola Tesla, John Titor, bohemian grove... and if you've got a strong stomach and a stable personality, you could look into Jose Delgado, hypnosis and trauma-based mind-control, "gangstalking", occult/catholic pedophilia, exorcism, morgellons, loosh, the 'satanic panic', UN Agenda 21, and basically any of the technologies in this NASA slideshow. Much of that stuff might fall into the realm of 'unbelievable', but might be intellectually stimulating to consider if you're into that sort of thing.
There are more concrete conspiracies that have happened in recent history, but those are a bit more sobering and less... imaginative.
That sex determination is actually rather complex and messy. It's not as simple as just XX or XY; there's genetics, epigenetics, hormones, oh my. Not to say that I know a whole lot intimately, biology isn't my cup of tea, but I think a large number of misconceptions are formed from the application of a complete layman's perspective on sex. Here's a fun diagram showing how many deviations can happen in sexual development.
yas!
Furthermore, Judith Butler wrote about how gender constructed the sexual binary. Often times TERFs or transphobes will insist that there are two genders because there are two sexes, but Butler proposes that our binary gender system informed our views on sex, guiding us to make arbitrary categories for all the things you mentioned, and just leave it at 2. We then assume sex created gender and can’t get past that.
wait till you get into gender... that's where it gets complicated
I love this contribution because I think this needs to be looked into across the board.
Like, the trans community is so used to arguing for our own validity by saying "sex is the thing with two clear cut options, gender is different" and I think we're making a mistake by using that. Just makes the rest harder in the future.
That's a really cool diagram. I didn't know it was all that messy.
Boardgames!
In the last 20 or so years boardgames have seen something of a revival, and are a lot better when compared to classics like monopoly or risk. It’s not as obscure an hobbie as a few years ago, but I think a lot of people would enjoy it if they found out about it.
Around here, board games have absolutely exploded in the past 5 or so years. It's great. I've been into board games since 2007 or so when they were still considered fairly obscure, and it's so nice to have a wide variety of quality, interesting board games available. I'm especially into co-op board games, which used to be virtually unheard of. Which ones do you like best?
Have you tried The Mind? It’s a really simple and fast co-op, but we’ve had a lot of fun with it lately.
And speaking of co-ops, Gloomhaven has been a great experience.
We try a lot of new games, but always return to the classics, like through the ages, twilight struggle, Maria.
Thanks for the recommendations! I've not actually played any of these yet. We've been into XCOM recently (I was surprised at how good of a game it is), Betrayal at the House on the Hill, and Eldritch Horror - we usually have 4+ people playing.
The issue I find I have is there's so many good games I'd love but at generally £20-£50 it's hard to try out new ones.
Depending on where you live, there might be groups that have regular encounters in public spaces. It’s the best way to try new games.
I need to look into that.
The British comedy duo Mitchell and Webb and specifically their sketch comedy show "That Mitchell and Webb Look. " The people who know them most commonly just know them for their popular show "Peep Show."
This is mostly geared toward my other American friends.
*edited for clarity
All British humour is amazing, and very... different, compared to the American style of comedy. Along with this suggestion, check out their panel shows. Especially notable are "Would I Lie To You", and "Quite Interesting".
QI is a hidden diamond of the British comedy.
Check out No Such Thing As A Fish!
Yaaay, No Such Thing As a Fish! I'm a nerd and I like to geek out about obscure knowledge, and that podcast makes me so damn happy. They'll throw a random, obscure fact, then there's a moment of silence and they all go, "This is soooo cool!" Warms my nerdy heart.
That, plus the gang is frickin' hilarious.
Mock the Week is another one I like.
Mitchell and Webb are superb. Some of their best pieces in my opinion:
Corner Shop
Hans?
Drownings
Political Debate
Liverpool Fan
Scripted
Intelligence
Policemen
I love those! One of my favorite sketches is about Cheesoid, the robot who can't tell the difference between petrol(gasoline) and cheese. In fact, if you look just slightly up, you'll see that my username is a reference to how cheesoid says "Petril status: FULL. "
Another great sketch.
If you weren't aware they just released the first series of a new show called Back.
What did you think of it? I liked it - and was especially impressed by Webb's performance - but it certainly wasn't an out-and-out comedy like Peep Show.
Agreed, seeing Webb perform his usual mannerisms but as a rather intelligent character was definitely interesting. That said I think I'd describe the show as "good"; it felt a bit too light and silly in contrast to, say, Peep Show's raw gut wrenching humour.
One the one hand, the humour has mellowed - with jokes more centred around TripAdvisor than paedophilia - but I think the themes and characters are both more complex and potentially even darker than those in Peep Show. I love the strange underlying menace of Webb's character, and while Mitchell's character does recall Mark Corrigan quite extensively, I enjoyed seeing the classic Mitchellian cerebral paranoia turned up to 11.
That's an excellent point in regards to the undertones vs overtones, kind of the opposite of Peep Show in that sense.
I guess what I didn't really like was the slight fuzzing of reality where things are exaggerated a bit, such as the pub being instantly fixed after burning down, or characters stupid to the point of caricature. I tend to prefer more lifelike fictions but that's entirely personal preference.
I did! Thanks.
People consistently complain about flights being delayed due to weather. But in reality, it's much better for you to be late to your next location than to have your flight crash because of microbursts which can cause aircraft to lose lift, directional control, etc. Honestly, the airlines want to get you out of there as much as you want to. But no one wants to take the risk of an airliner crashing due to weather.
Everyone wants to get there and no one wants to crash. People just need to understand that they're not flying so they don't crash.
The second-hand technology market. Phones, computers, and components are all very cheap on the used market. Most people are so afraid of buying a used video card or smartphone, but I've yet to run into a problem. I remember someone on the PCMasterRace subreddit who built a computer out of only "for parts only" components that he bought on eBay. Everything but one component (and I don't remember which) worked just fine. He only spent $100 on it, and it was actually a pretty decent gaming computer.
I have bought my last three smart phones on Swappa, each for around $100. They were older flagships (LG G2, Galaxy S6, and LG G5) but they still have better specs than phones that cost $200 which are considered budget offerings. Half the money for twice as much phone.
Secondly, and this applies to me too, I wish everyone had a good knowledge of cars. The sad reality is that, in the US at least but I know other countries as well, you need to own a car. It sucks and there are better forms of transport but American cities are built around cars. Knowing how they worked better and knowing basic diagnostic procedures can help save a lot of money, especially from less trustworthy mechanics who prey on the mechanically ignorant.
The Canadian "Indian" (Indigenous) Residential School System. 170 years of systemic oppression, assimilation, and abuses c/o the Anglican and Catholic churches and the Canadian government. Our communities are still living through the impacts today after generations of trauma, pain and loss.
I have resources of anyone is interested in learning more.
I can't believe how little it's taught. And the few times I've brought it up, people make it sound like it happened centuries ago, when the last school was closed in 1996!
It's frankly horrifying. And what most people know, those who know any of it, is the tip of the iceberg.
To stop wasting water. My country is slated to run out of water by 2025 and there is 0 awareness about it among people. I myself found out about it on Reddit. I'm blaming the government, they should have taken a step towards it by now
South Africa? or is it a problem is way more countries than that?
Pakistan, there is but most neighbouring countries are dealing with it way way better than us. Experts have been warning us for at least a decade now to start taking precautions; areas like Karachi have a really really bad artificial shortage of water, they have to pay for tankers and stuff for a ridiculous price because of the govt created shortage. Elections are coming up this year and I just hope that people don't vote for the same party that they have been voting for the past 20 years.. the leader of that party/our pm was ousted because of the Panama papers in his most recent term. Voting here in pk is a family sport
Hopefully it'll improve. Doesn't sound like the best of situations to be in.
What country are you talking about? Are there any proposed solutions for this problem?
Check my reply above, and none that I am aware of. I didn't even know that we had a water shortage, and people here waste so much water... Especially in Punjab where if you go out you can see people washing the roads with water. And that's a daily chore for a lot of people
The staggering amount of privacy violations that go on daily, from Facebook to PRISM.
and how hard they are to avoid as well.
For the "layman" with regards to computers:
Free software alternatives are actually pretty good. Most people dismiss the idea of using GNU+Linux with the idea that it must be hard or simply worse than what they're already using, when in fact, it often performs better, gets more regular and faster updates, and doesn't try to fuck over the user at every occasion.
For people with computer interests:
The Perl 6 programming language. Many people hate the name "Perl" even though they've never tried it, and only know the name from hearsay. It's a great programming language with all modern features that you'd want as a programmer. It currently sports the best Unicode support out of all programming languages, closely followed by Swift. There are no other languages that come close to those two, nowadays.
For the hard left and hard right politically inclined:
It's not a black and white area on the political spectrum. People aren't plain wrong because they chose the wrong side. And it's not a "them vs us" playing field. I see this clearly in the USA, where there's effectively two parties, and if you're supporting one of them, you must be against the others. It seems to have become impossible to support policies from either side. You can't be in favour of controlled immigration, you're either for immigration or against it. This way of thinking only leads to further fragmentation, which helps no-one in the end.
Reboot. It's a Canadian animated series in the 90s.
💖 Dot. That show was so ahead of its time too... I would love to see a reboot (heh) of Reboot, for sure.
I work with a guy who just turned 21. I was talking about Reboot with my brother because he had forgotten about it. A few minutes later he's explaining it to our 21-year-old co-worker and I thought "Why the fuck is he explaining what Reboot is?" I realized a moment later that the show is hella old now :(
Philosophy. I quite enjoy having philosophical discussions with people, and I find it a great way to learn new points of view or ways of thinking.
How delicate modern tech is.
Credit card churning. You can get paid to use credit cards if you use them correctly.