Laurentide

Laurentide , 2 days ago

Old media has become such a minefield because there's just so much awful stuff that went over my head at the time. I'm scared to recommend anything that I haven't rewatched/reread in the past few years.

It wasn't all bad, though. One of my favorite TV shows is Babylon 5, a 90's sci-fi that I watched as it aired but hadn't seen again until late last year. All I really remembered were the cool space battles and devious political maneuvering, but it turned out to also be an incredibly progressive show. One of the main characters is first introduced while wearing robes that appear to have been partially made from a trans pride flag!

Laurentide , 24 days ago

All the "I like Republicans' fiscal conservatism" people in this thread need to read this. "Fiscal conservatism" and "small government" are and always have been dogwhistles for racism and other forms of bigotry. "Government waste" does not refer to inefficiency in government spending, it's code for programs that help the poor and minorities.

The core of Conservative ideology is a belief in the existence of natural hierarchy, where all people owe privilege to the wise and righteous beings above them and are obligated to punish those below for their inferiority. The Conservatives themselves, having designed this hierarchy, are oh-so-conveniently at the very top of it. Everything that Republicans do makes sense when viewed from this perspective.

Laurentide , 1 month ago

There's a novel titled Glasshouse, by Charles Stross, where members of a far future civilization sign up to live in a simulated mid-20th century town. At one point the protagonist disassembles a flashlight and discovers that it's just a flashlight-shaped case containing a small wormhole whose other end is in close orbit around a star. No one knew how to make an LED or incandescent bulb, or understood enough about early electronic components to hook one up to a switch and a battery. It was easier to make a wormhole generator and stick it in a metal tube.

Laurentide , 1 month ago

Conservatives are still quick to suppress speech they don't agree with, though. Their criticism of censorship isn't a cause, it's a smokescreen.

Laurentide , 1 month ago

My father pulled that "just ignore it" shit, too. Somehow it wasn't the bully's fault for attacking me, it was my fault for being such an entertaining target.