#intellectual debate??

[clockwork-solus]

local sorcerer of eld looking for friends, feel free to hit me up or follow me or whatever

will tag stuff im interested in, discord provided in dms upon request

i promise, i don't bite

[bixels]

Just gonna have to wait and see, right? Just wait and see! Just gotta wait and see! Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see! It's anybody's guess, we'll just have to wait and see! The future is exciting, we just gotta wait and see!

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

i think a major thing that is overlooked in the x files is that when they do their little cutscene of them driving from washington dc to the bumfuck middle of nowhere at the start of each episode, their roadtrips must be SO long. so what are they doing in that time? are they fighting over which radio station to listen to? filling the silence with conversation? is that how they become inseparable, over mind-numbing hours on the road where stories slip off of the tongue with ease?

[thealmightyven]

I could honestly see myself turning this into a small comic or fic series

[awakefor48hours]

Thinking about Nimona again and I fully think that this was a great way of showing how people become transphobic. No one had ever seen the supposed monster and no one had been directly affected by the monster. Yet, everyone hated the monster because that’s what they were told to do and it’s a pretty common way that people end up following rabbit hole about hating any community.

Even using myself, I only heard about what it meant to be trans from people who had already decided that the trans community was bad which kept me in an echo chamber where all I heard was “trans people bad.”

This is also why you can’t really reason with transphobic people because they’ve chosen to only listen to one part of the story which is why debating with them at all is meaningless.

[zoobus]

there actually are complexities to be mined from a story that contains casual slavery that most characters aren't particularly bothered by, including some of the slaves themselves, but you undermine that complexity and any claim to "nuance" when your immediate response to a true and verifiable claim ("Izutsumi was a slave") is to wax at length about how nice the slave conditions were compared to their previous slave conditions, then do some sleight of hand to reframe it as an issue with allowing minors to do whatever they want without a guardian.

"sure a scary monster came out to murder her whenever she tried to escape but the family clothed her and fed her and gave her a warm bed" You need to eat this L.

[kujousaramybeloved]

[phireco]

Why I think that voting is pointless. Vote with your dollar. Stop buying from Amazon and Walmart. And take the time that you spend trolling the internet to put out intellectual writing for others to absorb, instead of memes, that provide a unique point of view. We can't all possibly think either point A or point B is right. That motion is completely ridiculous if you have any respect for probability and math. The people that are running do not represent us and we have been stupid enough as a citizenry to put them back in office again and again.

I've been to over 20 countries and traveled all over this world and seeing all different ways of living it I'll tell you what, we are looking less and less like one of the Premier places to live. I give it 20 years before I would like the places I've been in Southeast Asia where you look to your left and right on the bus, and you see a goat in a chicken. There's already more tents in the major American cities than there are good jobs. God forbid the Democrats or the Republicans have a solution. The Republicans have the same man running in his third consecutive presidential election representing half of the country. The Democrats have a ANOTHER First time nominee that no one thinks is the best their party has to offer.

So I'm not even going to blame the awful selection of people that represent us. I'm going to blame the idiots that register Democrat and Republican which make up the vast majority of this country. All of you are willing to make up your mind on an issue before you even hear it based on which party is arguing in the issue's favor. Anyone who makes up their mind before they hear an issue is a moron. And our country, in both parties, is chock full of moron!

It’s not the politicians we should criticize anymore. Consider how they pander to people whose interests they consistently neglect. They represent none of their true needs, yet still, half of the population admires them while the other half despises them. The opposing figures experience the same divided loyalty—this cycle is fundamentally flawed.

The blame doesn’t lie solely with the politicians; it rests on us. We should have demanded better a long time ago, even rising up for change. It’s not the politicians who are at fault; it’s the public that deserves scrutiny. Let go of hope for a moment.

If the politicians were truly the sole problem, where are the bright and principled individuals who should be stepping up to lead this nation with integrity? In truth, we seem to lack such visionary leaders in our society. Most people appear consumed by trivialities, distracted in shopping malls rather than engaging with the critical issues we face. For my part, I’ve accepted a personal resolution: on election day, I stay home. I do not vote. My reasons are twofold.

First, voting feels meaningless. This country was bought and sold long ago. What transpires every four years is simply a reshuffling of the same rhetoric.

Secondly, I’ve come to believe that those who vote relinquish their right to complain. Others often suggest that abstaining from voting strips one of that very right—a notion I reject. Where's the logic in that? If you cast your ballot and elect dishonest and incompetent leaders who mismanage the country, then you shoulder the responsibility for their actions. You bear the weight of our current state, the dismal future we hand our children, and the decline in intellectual capability that increasingly permeates society.

I, having not participated in the electoral game—staying home on election day—hold no responsibility for the choices made by those in power. I know that shortly, there will be an exciting election that many seem to relish. I’ll be at home that day, doing very little, but I know one thing: the only difference between me and the people that vote is that I'll actually produce something that represents my interests, even if in a small way.

I don’t vote. I see through the charade. It's a diversions that distract us from the journey of intellectual growth. When confronted with the issues of low intelligence and poor decision-making, people often leap to the conclusion that education is the remedy. They call for more funding—more books, teachers, classrooms—believing more resources will solve everything. Yet when we point out that despite these efforts, children continue to struggle academically, the response is often to lower standards instead. This results in a temporary boost in passing rates, making the school look good while the national IQ quietly declines. Before long, gaining access to college might just require possessing a pencil, and understanding the complexities of the end that writes versus the end that erases.

And then we scratch our heads, wondering why 24 countries produce more scientists than we do. We wonder why we are no longer in the top 25 and overall quality of education. Barely the best in this continent. We're just one slot above Mexico.

Politicians know how to wield the word “education,” and they often shield themselves behind three pillars: the flag, the Bible, and children. They tout programs like “No Child Left Behind,” yet it wasn’t long ago they were advocating for a “head start.” Are children gaining ground or losing it?

There is a fundamental reason why education falters, and it's not going to improve. Don’t expect a miracle; accept the reality as it is. The true owners of this country—wealthy business interests that orchestrate decisions and maintain control—are not interested in an educated populace capable of critical thinking. They benefit from a workforce obedient enough to follow orders, yet just intelligent enough to operate machinery and handle paperwork but not to challenge the deteriorating quality of their jobs, benefits, hours, or retirement security.

They have their sights set on your social security funds, too, seeking to reclaim that money to line the pockets of their Wall Street allies. They will achieve this eventually because they own everything—your future, your choices.

This is a vast, intertwined club, and neither you nor I are included. It’s a club that beats its members over the head with messages on what to believe and consume. The playing field is uneven; the game is rigged, and it appears that few notice or care.

Good, honest people from every walk of life—whether blue-collar or white-collar—continue to elect wealthy figures indifferent to their plight. The owners count on this ignorance, banking on the fact that Americans remain blissfully unaware of the injustices they tolerate.

The truth is simple: the American Dream exists because you must be asleep to believe in it.

When the terrorists attacked our country on September 11th 2001, we United as one and vowrd to never forget. Never in a million years did I think that's what we actually met was that, we're going to commemorate the anniversary of the year but they will accomplish their goal and destroy America and everything it stands for by knocking down a few buildings and killing a couple thousand people. Are teenagers have killed more since with guns. And don't mistake me. I'm not downplaying that tragedy. I'm saying that the terrorists knew what they are doing and we are playing right into their hands by standing here divided. Check out my video if you want to flash back to hell it felt To be an American in the weeks following that awful day.

[echojedis]

Tech and Phee emerge from the same room in the morning looking tired and disheveled but they’ve actually been awake all night debating philosophy or something

[communistkenobi]

“gender ideology” is such a patently bad faith and reactionary term that anyone using it can be instantly dismissed and publicly mocked

[mzannthropy]

You wanted to know about Elizabeth Gaskell and John Ruskin @batrachised

I took these pics at Elizabeth Gaskell House which is now a museum. I posed about it on my Wordpress blog so just click this link if you want to see more.

[starlene]

Never have I been less true to myself than back when I just nodded and agreed and said yeah when a very opinionated coworker told me they can't stand old men in fiction and there's nothing more boring than their stories.

[sleepyseals]

[Image Description: A digital sketch of Porphy from Outer Wilds. They are leaning on an implied surface, resting their head on their right hand while the other hangs down. They are looking to the right, winking with their left set of eyes. They are framed by an orange rectangle in the background. End Image Description.]

porby ::)

[cctinsleybaxter]

was going to reblog the post debunking all those other posts about how crucifixion in Japanese media is insignificant imagery because 'um actually very few Japanese people are practicing catholics,' but now feel like i have to debunk the debunking post because it's insane to say there's rarely an intentional theological message- japanese people know what catholic iconography is; american movies are huge in japan, russian literature is huge in japan . what are you talking about

[chaoskirin]

"But I WANT Chat GPT To Finish this Fanfic! :( :( :("

The most frustrating thing about the rise of the techbro is that they don't understand copyright because they've never had to. It's never been a concern for them, so why would they have ever thought about it?

This leads to a plague of asshats with chronic Dunning-Kruger-itis just deciding they know more about copyright than people who have been well-versed in it for their whole lives.

That's why you get these clueless AI users saying things like "you don't own fanfic, haha got youuuu" because they only have a vague, transparent understanding of IP and how content works.

Here's some actual truth: The reason writers, showrunners, producers, and actors don't read fanfic is because if they do, and they get an idea from your work, and then that idea APPEARS in the media, they have to prove they didn't steal it. (actually, because of the mega-billion dollar entertainment industry, the accuser has to prove the company DID steal it. Harder, but not impossible.)

If it turns out to be stolen, the company MIGHT HAVE TO PAY THE FANFIC AUTHOR FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTION AS A WRITER. This depends on how the court case goes and how similar your work is to the "official" work. Generally, even though it's a fanfic, there's a LOT of original content in that writing, which does NOT automatically belong to the IP.

The original content belongs to the writer, unless the company buys it.

SO! If you, as Techbro McDunning-Kruger, loads that shit into a chatbot or AI text generator, the ONLY shit that doesn't have a natural copyright is anything that VERY SPECIFICALLY pertains to the media itself. Generally, this includes names and extremely unique concepts. Everything else is stolen.

You want to know how I know?

Fucking 50 Shades of Gray.

It's a fanfic, where only the names and hard concepts from Twilight have been changed. It's still being sold, and no money is being paid to Stephanie Meyer.

There's other examples, too. 50 Shades is just the most well-known.

Fanfic is protected. The original material in that fic is copyrighted to the original author. If they tell you you can't use it, you can't use it.

In conclusion: I don't care how much you scream and pound your fists on your chest and piss on trees to assert your dominance. Spewing this nonsense about how fanfic is public domain and you get to use it because you want to is theft. Stop doing it.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

i just know in my heart that if faroe was allowed to grow up normal she'd be a fucking menace to society by like, age eight. lester genes AND parenting combined are just too powerful