Wouldn't it be cool if we asked questions about things other than Reddit/Said It or Politics?

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-11T01:59:02+00:00

The culture of Reddit (meaning the Reddit that was but will never return) was started by a really cool guy, Aaron Swartz. He believed in open source projects. He was too good for this world. May he rest in peace.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T02:14:06+00:00

Also, I've noticed that a large portion of the people who live on the extremes lack social skills. I've spent a lot of online time with anarchists, anti-civ /post-civ people and the like. They are often picking fights, trying to wring each other through purity tests, and just being jerks. I think it is less about the ideas and more about being the type of person who can, or who wants, to live on the edge.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T20:11:20+00:00

Wow. . . Now that's an interesting fact.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T01:59:16+00:00

I think downvoting has its place -- for one, it facilitated different subs in creating separate cultures. I think it was a good system, that made for an experience I enjoyed more more than Twitter or Facebook where it appeared every jerk could feel they had triumphed with a few people hitting "like."

With that said, the costs of echo chambers are real, and the new attempts to push all dissenting ideas out of social media (both from corporate culture and "woke"-ism) has now made the risks higher than the rewards. Moldbug is right about how progressivism is a power grab, his concept of the cathedral. (Although if you want to see a hit piece on conservative culture, I've got that too).

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T20:37:04+00:00

I did a little investigating yesterday. One of the top posts on the main Voat page yesterday was someone claiming 99% of all porn is posted by the Jews. I clicked to see if anyone was going to challenge such obviously made-up bullshit. No source. No evidence.

Nope. Everyone was happy to agree with how bad those damn degenerates were.

Further investigation (not on the page after that) showed the echo chamber effects on the site are really bad. Like downvotes get you put in time-outs and such. Just a bubble reality where people believe whatever they want to believe.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T05:17:27+00:00

I read a lot. I do some writing.. I like history, but I don't really want to politicize it. s/books had several things about the Jewish conspiracy. Kinda a hard pass for me.

I'm going to start scanning AskReddit and either rewording the questions or using them to inspire my own.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T14:17:10+00:00

That's really it? Nothing involving friends, family, career, or even creative pursuits?

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T04:27:29+00:00

Come in like you own the place, why don't ya?

I mean, on some level I admire the boldness.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T05:11:39+00:00

Oh man, you're right. I forgot how much the election just sucked the oxygen out of EVERYTHING in 2016. It was awful. I vowed I'd never do it again.

But I really do feel for people who got screwed out of a public space. I'm here in a kind of solidarity. But, no, I'm not even going to vote.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-11T20:48:14+00:00

My advice for staying cheerful here is to develop a good sense of whom to ignore. The edgy people either want grunted praise or a gutter-fight, nothing in between.

That's not to say there aren't people here with outside of mainstream views who are willing to gather up some evidence and discuss their thoughts, but that much is often clear from the first post.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T23:28:13+00:00

If my girlfriend or I decide we don't want something we don't just throw it on a random shelf, I walk that shit back to where we got it from.

Nice. Same here. I worked both in fast food and some time at Walmart. I never want to make their lives more difficult.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T13:53:35+00:00

You can contribute your own content to these subs and balance them a little perhaps. After all, we share and build the community.

Yeah, I'll try to be the change I want to see in the SaidIt. Just trying to light the fire for others as well. Every pleasant discussion, word game, or cat meme actually strengthens the place by making it more of a home.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T05:37:56+00:00

I just don't think there is enough content yet for that to be possible. You can test that by clicking "new" instead of the default "hot," doing so you can get a feel for what is posted (at least that which is allowed to flow into "all" -- there are other subs that exist, here mostly for people a little more on the extreme side, politically).

Many of the active subs only have a few posts a day.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T05:48:32+00:00

I think they might just play whack-a-mole with people trying to make replacement subs for what is banned. Could be wrong, which is why I have started to pay my dues here.

If the election tightens and/or Trump wins, then I could see a new wave of hysteria.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T20:02:21+00:00

Looking back, that was a bigger moment than it seemed (at least to me) at the time.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T14:11:32+00:00

When the first lockdown started, my wife went to visit her sister (they had planned on a vacation that got cancelled), and so I was up into the AM -- naturally.

Someone posted a meme with the twins from the Shining and something to effect of "I just saw this down the hall. It's going to be a long lockdown."

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-15T19:25:59+00:00

Given that reality, I just wish our social circles were something more real than online communities formed by taste.

By real, I mean geographically together. People actually able to (and willing to) help each other out.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T16:35:55+00:00

I think it might be changing soon. Our vulnerability in supply lines is now clear to anyone even remotely thinking about the issue.

I'm going to go full cynic here and say that our billionaires are now stuck with a choice: either move to China or stay in the West. Since I think they'll stay in the West, they'll now start changing the cultural narrative. They already made their money on Chinese labor, so they got what they wanted from pushing this tolerance. They can now switch to robotics and bring a lot of production back (oh. . . jobs at Western wages? I'll believe those when I see them and will be happy if my cynicism was overblown).

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T13:01:55+00:00

I read an article on the nature of sub-cultures that I think applies and amplifies what you're saying -- but, you know, without coming off as a bitter asshole.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T22:23:18+00:00

I'm 36.

But, yes, I'd agree that 20-35 is the bulk of everyone here.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T21:32:29+00:00

Hello qwerty. I actually type using a Dvorak layout. I suppose that should make us enemies.

Let's not let it come to that. . .

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T01:34:13+00:00

Maybe a post a day in a niche sub of your choice. Even just stealing links from Reddit posts so people can move the conversations here is worth something.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T20:48:56+00:00

This is the happy medium between where Reddit is now and 4chan, which is too stripped down of a bulletin board for me to get much out of.

Makes me miss old Reddit more.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T20:21:15+00:00

I'm probably on like 5 FBI lists already, don't need to add pedo shit.

Not my proudest hitting of the smiley face, but here we are.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T14:18:50+00:00

The day I can go to a coffee houses or sit in a library again. That's where I liked to write. It was just about the perfect balance of seeing people without being overwhelmed by them.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-11T20:48:43+00:00

I check it once or twice a day unless i've got a back and forth discussion going.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T05:59:39+00:00

Read. Collect physical books in case censorship reaches China-levels. Have children. Actually pay attention to them. Raise them to read. Teach them not to associate with people who refuse to learn new things.

Wait for the systems around us to collapse under their own weight. Survive. Read. Show obedience to the new governments that fill he power vacuum.

Even if none of that plants the seeds for the future, it isn't that bad of a life.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T18:25:17+00:00

If you don't want to provide any proof of anything, I don't know why you want to make this one of your hobbies, but to each his own.

The one thing you highlighted was me saying Germany declared war on the U.S. So you do not think Germany declared war on the U.S.? There is recorded evidence of Hitler's speech. We would have focused all our energy on Japan if Hitler hadn't declared war. Churchill himself was glad Hitler did, because the U.S. might have stopped supplying as much to the U.K. (that's in the Wikipedia article above).

If we fought Japan for several years, perhaps Germany would have won one of the two fronts. In either case, they would probably be able to shift into a better defensive stance. I think the U.S. public could then have been convinced it was not worth it. . .

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T18:06:52+00:00

That's a just a bunch of name calling. I'm not stupid on purpose and willing to learn if you have the time (and if you don't have the time it's fine -- but in that case, why start the conversation?).

But random internet stranger (that's you) saying something without any proof (which you're not offering) just isn't going to teach me anything.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T16:27:21+00:00

But I'm not German. . . It's not my country.

I'm American and Nazi Germany declared war on my country after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T22:36:03+00:00

Yeah, I my parents had a very small wedding and my grandparents on my dad's side married in front of a justice of the peace. I too was drawn to seeing it statistically demonstrated.

Consider where you'd be next year this time if the dollar collapsed

A very real possibility, I think. Some of depends on if we can hold on as the world's reserve currency. Certainly we're in real jeopardy in our lifetimes.

and wiped out all of your wealth.

Gotta have some of that wealth in a deep pantry, silver, and ammo. Still be a bad situation, but at least not everything is wiped out.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T20:00:16+00:00

I'm only talking about the hyper-specific instance of you wanting a post put back up that no one on that sub wants to read. You're wanting it put up on a technicality. It won't change anyone's mind. It won't make anything better.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T19:05:47+00:00

Mine was coaching debate. It's a big reason I'm not that interesting in having any debates with anyone.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T17:25:30+00:00

Oh my god. That sounds like a complete nightmare. How'd you get away?

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T13:30:16+00:00

I'm not seeing the connection here, but I 100% agree with you.

The next step for some people is to see the political parties as a companies.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T05:24:19+00:00

Since the Bank of Japan follows the same loose-money-damn-the-consequences policy, I'm not so sure it matters what race is running these central banks. The damn fools are setting us all up for ruin, however.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-06T19:26:16+00:00

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T18:53:40+00:00

Or it could even say "this is a place where we don't want to re-explain the same few things over and over, here's a FAQ. . . Come back when you've grown out of noob-erty."

Hmm. That's maybe a little too long.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-13T23:33:50+00:00

Yup. The Soviets would have exposed that we hadn't, if we hadn't.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T17:37:09+00:00

What does that even mean? Did some non-government Jewish groups hold a publicity stunt press conference or something?

I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I just don't know what you're talking about. Do you have a link to something -- ideally, something from a historian or even Wikipedia?

But, war is declared by governments. At that time, we did it through Congress. After that, we started doing it more and more through executive order. Hitler as executive of his country declared war on us.

And, yes, we were supplying the U.K. heavily. But still, declaring the war is a blunder -- maybe even a bigger one than opening up the Soviet front before the U.K. was defeated. I mean, seriously, educate me if you have the time and evidence, but it looks like Hitler had multiple opportunities to shift into a defensive stance, having already acquired "living space" for his people. (I understand oil might be another matter. Still don't declare war on the U.S. The U.S. public would have been it's finicky self).

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T22:57:07+00:00

China's real estate bubble is another point in our favor. But that's only delaying a reckoning. . . one which win, lose, or draw I am not looking forward to.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T14:56:16+00:00

Right, just like we don't say "the Christmas." It becomes a proper noun.

Whereas if we moved stuff around "the day of independence" would be required.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T13:40:47+00:00

Only if we add the article "the" to it. After all, we've heard "remember, remember, the 5th of November."

In practice, since we have Christmas and Christmas Eve, and there is only one of each, we would probably never have need to say it. With that said, I'm pretty sure you don't say "the Christmas" unless it needs to move into the adjective slot with something like "I love that I get off for the Christmas Holiday."

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-04T17:20:41+00:00

This is also the anniversary, in 1845, of when Thoreau began his stay at the small cabin he built by Walden Pond.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T20:30:42+00:00

Just remember to savor the moment.

Nothing gold can stay.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T20:26:38+00:00

But, really, it's not. It's a free speech commons with the ability to create side-zones with further restrictions. They have now complied with the rules and so can remove further text with impunity. So, you're wanting a one-off technicality. That's definition of a petty (ie small) gesture. It doesn't get any smaller.

You of course have a right to futile and stupid gestures. I just also have a right to point out they are such.

But, yeah, I'm here for a reason. There should always be a free-speech commons, there should not be shadow bans, and there should not be manipulation of what hits the front page. Getting to say you're being a dick is a bonus. Mmm. . . yummy free speech in the free speech area.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T19:02:10+00:00

Wow, what a meaningful and productive stand to be making.

Not at all a useless, petty power-trip. . . You must be fun at parties.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T13:27:19+00:00

Well, it's one of those things that has grown and grown . . . like a cancer. Our "lower-chamber" of Congress, the House of Representatives puts everyone up for re-election every 2 years, and so it is already the case that they are in permanent election mode and therefore can't get anything done. I was alive for the "24 Hour News Cycle" to be new enough that people commented on it, rather than assumed it as a given. And anti-social media has really thrown gasoline on our fire here.

It's a terrible thing, and I wish more people would just wake up to it and opt out of the hysteria. But that means giving up the axes they are grinding, too. Or at least putting them done so explore other beauties and to love those around them. Holiday meals should not have to be ruined just because we have a dysfunctional political system. And too many families have now split their meals on political lines, which should not be seen as a win.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T16:23:52+00:00

Two things can be bad. It is okay to point out when one thing is worse than another. But that doesn't make the bad thing all the sudden good.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T15:54:13+00:00

Well, no judgement there. It just doesn't seem like it's the most fun way to live. Coupled with the fact that it doesn't accomplish anything, I try to avoid it when I can.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T23:13:53+00:00

Well, you'll live to be this age one day. . . Or it would be sad deal.

Getting older. . . it beats the alternative, as they say.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T20:12:42+00:00

I'm going to plead the fifth on this one.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T20:09:53+00:00

Well, that's one way to have the brain stop ticking. . . eventually.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T20:07:41+00:00

To be fair, I'm not one of the national socialists or former The_Donald refugees.

Instead, I'm homesteading here so I can start cloning subs when the two weeks is up. I just want a backup plan in case the madness spreads. I'm a free thinker trying to be as accurate as I can (hence the Doomer), but I want life to be pleasant (hence the friendly).

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T03:36:16+00:00

I really enjoy it now, but the learning process was pretty frustrating. I was a teacher at the time, so I was able to give up a summer to playing around with it. It was hell for a few days, I was okay at it within a month or so, and it felt like second nature by the end of the summer.

I wasn't convinced to do it because of speed, but rather care for joints -- I believe I've heard your fingers move a one-third of the total distance as they do in qwerty.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T02:34:36+00:00

I saw someone mention the Washington Gridlocks.

Maybe the Washington Swamp Monsters?

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T06:09:14+00:00

Yeah, Communism is the worst. No argument here. You can't tear up everything and replace it with central planning.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T22:21:57+00:00

they have a middle class.

They do now. I think we can both agree that the relationship is due to be renegotiated.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T19:15:17+00:00

Yeah, I was trying to be patient. Now that he's at "watch the world burn," I'll just let it pass.

I had time to kill.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T19:06:28+00:00

Because the U.S. up to that point had a long history of a) the Monroe Doctrine and b) demobilizing immediately after wars. Though we got dragged into WWI, we even demobilized right after it and started referring to that war as "the war to end all wars." War with Germany was a super unpopular idea in the U.S. I recommend William Manchester's book The Glory and the Dream for the background. Though FDR was in fact trying to build that support (and, sure, I'll listen to the theory that he allowed had the intel but let Pearl Harbor happen) he hadn't really gotten there. Hitler declaring war, an act no one but himself made him do, gave all the PR needed to get support for the two-front war.

Look at the actual history of U.S. in protracted wars, such as the Civil War (ie from the North's perspective) or Vietnam. The public gets sick of fighting them. Also, imagine the kind of warfare the U.S. had to do against Japan -- island to island, against suicide runs. In this timeline, we might have grinded through more citizens but not had the A-bomb in time to speed up the surrender of the mainland.

In the meantime, if Hitler wins the Soviet front, he has all the oil he needs. Or, if he wins the U.K. front, he can set up a much better defense against U.S. invasion.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T13:32:12+00:00

We say the fourth of July. Because we've added the article, we default back to the normal grammar in our shared language of putting the an adjective before a noun. Makes you wonder why we otherwise have the calendar convention -- but it is what it is. If you look at a calendar, a date is something you can literally point to. So it is easy for our brain to treat it as a noun -- or rather the combination of this fact and the cultural conditioning that is having a language makes us used to parsing it that way. But the holiday itself, is not the calendar item. So it's either "the July 4th holiday" or "the 4th of July" -- and people are almost always going to take the easier route.

Just thinking about how we use it, we mainly flex into calling it the 4th of July when we are talking about it in the capacity of a holiday. An American putting it on the calendar could say something like "what are our plans for July 4th?"

Contrast this with when we talk about it as a holiday, like "what is your favorite food for the fourth of July?"

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T17:38:25+00:00

I just want to be able to hide everything related to politics (leftwing, rightwing, everything inbetween) especially US politics. It's irrelevant to me, I waste too much time irked at things I can't control, and I want to focus on the non-political side of SaidIt.

This is very much where I'm at, as well. It's going to be a real challenge to not get sucked into this election. Stay strong! Your mental health will thank you.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T17:34:42+00:00

So, the real lesson is to be a swarm . . . and carry viruses?

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T07:18:03+00:00

Worse than that. He took the draft and cut the parts out of order, calling it the cut up technique.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T06:10:17+00:00

Nice.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T22:12:24+00:00

The spam filter on Reddit grabs a lot more things than you might think. It really sucks on the mod end because I'd have to click tools to even and one more click to even see if it there was anything there.

Perfectly reasonable discussions would get caught in it. I would then approve them, sticky them to the top for a few days so people could see them and write a post explaining.

How someone would do that in a high-volume sub, however, I don't know.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T21:08:22+00:00

I've got a fun follow-up fact: they use plastic coins there.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T12:47:41+00:00

At this point in my life, I'm really digging biographies. It's not something I let myself indulge in the past for whatever misguided, ambitious reasons. If you select modern ones, you have better trivia for conversation. If you select somewhat older ones, they really flesh in history.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T03:32:43+00:00

I mostly read non-fiction. I am just cracking open Budapest 1900 by John Lukacs. I don't know much about Hungary, so it'll be something to learn. Lukacs has a charming, courtly style of writing.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T02:01:23+00:00

I don't read the genre anymore, but I loved Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke. Dune was really powerful for me. Enjoyed Card's Ender series. I read a few of Heinlein when I was bit older and while they were okay, I wish I had read them when I was younger.

Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven is the pick I think that the fewest people here might have read. It's good science fiction while being the best fictional book about daoism I've ever read.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T01:29:34+00:00

That sounds good and all, but I'm really torn on that. Not everyone has the talent or patience to be a teacher. I personally try to serve that role when I can. But on the other hand in the information age people have developed the ability to be resourceful. It's not too much to ask someone to read something before they ask questions. That is what lurking is for as well.

I don't know. It's one of those delicate balances.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T18:00:06+00:00

In all seriousness, I do find it sad how many families have been broken up by politics over the last two Presidents. I'm not blaming the Presidents, but the decline in social skills -- small talk being one of the most important.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T17:58:08+00:00

Well said.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T05:45:31+00:00

Well, I'm going to head to sleep. But, yeah, I'll start trying to get some conversation going. I'm really just trying to light a fire under people to get things other than politics going.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-06T23:27:28+00:00

Did it grow. . . like a little?

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-05T20:24:39+00:00

Fair enough, but clearly a lot of people fall for the scam.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-03T22:27:05+00:00

Different caption:

". . . Yes, it's me. . . Yes, the usual. . . .And, every 10th one is free, right?"

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-02T20:18:23+00:00

mmm pilsner.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-01T20:04:25+00:00

Well said u/EATADICK. Well said. . .

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T22:10:09+00:00

I think we should be honest about that. We should also be honest about the actions of the CIA and our puppet, the IMF, after the war.

Two sub-reddits I thought the oddest were the ones that said the empire did nothing wrong and thanos did nothing wrong. Most people don't like to say something was "on balance better" or "had justifiable motivations." They would much rather say "did nothing wrong."

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T07:55:04+00:00

If you think it's just going to be a race war, what was the point of asking the question? My answer clearly doesn't assume the same future yours does. I don't think it's going to be the "commies" that come out on top, unless you think Billionaires are commies.

(Also, everyone always forgets the Hispanics and the Mormons in these LARP end-game fantasies. Give me a group that has a stable family any day).

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T06:00:33+00:00

I'd say the advice I gave was somewhat similar.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T05:33:57+00:00

Sometimes the downvotes you get are sweeter than all the upvotes on other posts.

Rediots don't get they've been insulted/are insulting themselves. (Also, a lot of people from Tulsa think they're better than the rest of the state. . . not realizing Blue State folk still see them as hicks).

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-10T05:06:10+00:00

But I still don't see why it's okay to detain people without a trial for an individual crime, and then enslave them.

And yeah, I know Communism is worse. That's why I don't support that either. Two things can be bad, even if one of them is much, much worse. I also am sympathetic to the idea that the Anglo-European powers set up Hitler and that they could have just taken in the European Jews and saved a bunch of lives (. . . then again, since they didn't, how much direct/total control can Jewry be said to have over those countries?).

I'm even open to the idea of super-efficient governments that bypass democracy. I just don't know why we have to always look at the same one country from one short period of time. There's Singapore, there's Dubai, there's the reactionary government of the Two Sicilies, there is Napoleon . . . I mean, the list goes on and on. Mencius Moldbug is right; the structure we are in doesn't work and is going to change.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-08T15:07:24+00:00

Wow, that's terrible. It seems like the user purge is the bigger deal.

theFriendlyDoomer · 2020-07-07T22:25:21+00:00

Hitler wanted to ally with Britain, something forgotten today.

I have heard that recently from studying Mencius Moldbug.

Churchill the warmonger (and he was a warmonger who never wasted a chance to waste the lives of British soldiers)

Another series of dots people don't connect is that Churchill not only completely opposed Ghandi, but when he took to giving speeches he used the same language denigrating "appeasement" that he would later use against the Third Reich.

theFriendlyDoomer