What you’re describing is the etymology of the word, but its actual meaning in public discourse has morphed to “men who see women and any real or perceived slight/rejection from them as the source of all their problems and are thus generally - sometimes extremely - hateful towards them”.

I mean yes race does intersect, it’s a longer discussion, I guess I’m just tired of this “whiteness” critique because it feels cheap and easy, hence intellectually lazy. Anything that happens in the west politically can be linked back to whiteness one way or another. I don’t think it’s been particularly helpful as a critique, in fact I think it has backfired and probably needs to go.

Very well said. I wish I could articulate this as well as you have here.

FYI, the manosphere is replete with non-white males, and that is not even including the inherent male chauvinism in other cultures. I’m sorry but the critique on whiteness is a little lazy intellectually.

Jesus Christ you guys with the personal attacks 😳

There were subtitles for fuck sake 🙄 I didn’t have to interpret anything. Also, Iranian state TV. There is very little that is ambiguous about the video or what the lady in question represents. Also, I seriously doubt she’s a “journalist” as we like to imagine them, doing investigative work, field work, serving the people, and uncovering the truth. Probably just a mouthpiece for the theocracy on state tv.

Well, I thought I’d feel nothing if perhaps a little shock, but seeing her flee for her life as she was self-righteously wagging the finger, something that she probably does often in defense of the Ayatollah, was kinda satisfying. Let’s not forget who these people are who uphold this tyrannical theocracy, TV propagandists included. I do not condone what Israel is doing, but just for one moment this felt good.

I don’t think they will, but I’ve been thinking that one way Israel could get current and potential future enemies off their back for good would be if they finally showed the world that they do possess nukes and are not afraid to use them, possibly by making an example of someone. I do hope they won’t prove quite so callous.

AFAIK they’ve tried that before and Israel beat all of them. There’s no contest.

I can absolutely see that. And I don’t think it’s AI-specific, it’s got to do with relegating responsibility to a machine. Of course AI in the guise of LLMs can make things worse with its low interpretability, where it might be even harder to trace anything back to an executive or clerical decision.

Or maybe that is part of the allure of automation: the eschewing of human responsibility, such that any bias in decision making appears benign (the computer deemed it so, no one’s at fault) and any errors - if at all recognized as such - become simply a matter of bug-fixing or model fine-tuning. The more inscrutable the model the better in that sense. The computer becomes an oracle and no one’s to blame for its divinations.

Exactly. If there is a reason for our conscious existence, it is to observe and imbue with meaning. Otherwise the world just is.

If only there were a sizable resistance to Putin, maybe then it would make sense.

This shouldn’t be controversial. It’s been known for about a decade now if not longer.

Such a shame that Coppola’s movie was bad. He was onto something there.

Zuck puts out this weird “pick me” or “me too” energy lately, trying to fashion himself as one compatible with Trump’s world. His interest in Rome may precede Trump’s ascension to power, but his coming out is not a coincidence in my view. And yes, a fascination with Rome started as so many other things as an “innocent” meme and became a fascist dog-whistle.

Thanks for the correction, it’s Augustus Cesar. Still, what an odd connection. Good article btw.

Whether they are returned or not, truth is it will make no difference to any of my life concerns as a Greek. It will make the Acropolis museum a little more spectacular. And it may then bring a little more money than before. That’s it. So yeah, I support the return of all stolen treasures in principle, but the truth is that if they were ever returned it would be more cause for a brief swell of national pride and milked for what it’s worth by whichever government happens to be in place than anything of actual consequence.

Also, by having the artifacts stay at the British Museum, they bear testament to the massive scale extractive exploits of colonialism and how the fates of entire peoples have depended on the favor or disfavor of great powers. I kind of find it more embarrassing for the UK that they are keeping them and every time they refuse to return them it reminds me how rotten and racist the underbelly of western powers is, hidden not-so-well beneath a cultured and democratic veneer.

Yes, but Trump does represent a qualitative change. At least there was some consensus in Washington before him, both on domestic and international affairs. That made the US rather predictable. You knew where your values and interest met theirs and where they did not. That is no more. The US is now home to both some of the most forward thinking people and institutions and some of the most influential regressive beliefs. And all helmed by a fan of the latter and whose tempers change by the minute. The US is right now in some regards a bigger source of uncertainty than either Russia or China, erratic and extremely polarized as it has become. And it’s not only markets that hate prolonged uncertainty. Foreign governments and the people do too.

Zuckerberg wears t-shirts comparing himself to Julius Caesar? Why is that every time I think I’m up-to-date on the latest weirdness there’s more of it?