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Cake day: June 28th, 2023

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  • You know how you have to pay extra to have insurance to pay to take care of your mouth bones and your face balls? Well, what if we did that but with all the bones and stuff? Like, why are your foot bones included in the same insurance that pays for you to have knee bones or neck giblets? Why not do all the bones and stuff a la cart? And then maybe skin can be a premium add-on. We could charge separate for the red goo that’s all on the inside everywhere, and then it’s like a subscription model for having parts. We can sell it like “don’t pay for the parts you don’t have,” and people will think that they are saving money because each part costs less than the whole, but paying for everything costs more.

    -some Health Insurance board member somewhere, probably.










  • The one that sticks out in my mind is the original BioShock. Spoilers if you haven’t played it.

    Bioshock

    The first thing that happens is a voice over the intercom asks, “Would you kindly pick up that weapon.” And of course you do it, or the game does not progress. The voice is very polite and resonable, helping you navigate this dank maze of horrors. “Would you kindly open that door?” “Would you kindly kill that monster?” The calm manners contrast starkly against the modern horrors you’re experiencing in the game. Of course every request seems like a great idea at the time, and of course the game ends if you fail.

    Then halfway into the game, you finally meet the man behind the voice and he explains that you are a mind-controlled slave, conditions to obey any command that begins with “would you kindly…” He’s trying to destroy the tyranny of the system and commands you to kill him, sacrificing himself to free you from the control phrase. The “tutorial” seemed like it was just helpful instructions, but you didn’t really have a choice, did you? The majority of players just followed those instructions without question, never considering whether they were good choices or moral actions. And could you say no? Without the wrench, you can’t survive the first attack. Without opening the door, you remain in the first room forever. Your world is pre-ordained and tightly controlled. How much free will do you have in the game and outside of it? At what point do you stop making decisions and start following orders? And when can you stop again?






  • Do you even hear yourself?

    Germany is a real country though. Israel is a settler colony established through land theft.

    Can you remind me why those Jewish immigrants had to move to Israel after WWII? Why they couldn’t just go back to their homes in Europe?

    By saying Israel has no right to exist I mean the racist genocidal ethnostate called Israel needs to be dismantled and become a one state with equal rights for all. That is not a call for genocide. That is a call for humanity.

    I’ll take you at your word that this is what you meant, but my point still stands because it does not come across that way at all. You may not be aware that there is an alarming resurgence of anti-Semitism globally (fueled in large part by the Israeli government engaging in the genocide of Palestinians). “Israel has no right to exist” is a common refrain among anti-Semites, and most of them do mean “Jewish people should not exist.”

    If you’re not calling for a genocide, then you need to be clear when you’re critical of Israel. Because sounding like a nazi gives credibility to the defenders of Israel who claim that all critics are nazis.

    For the record no country has a right to exist. They either do exist or they don’t.

    Yes, and Israel exists.


  • dismantling the power of a geopolitical state in order to stop it from committing a genocide (which is what most people mean when they say “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist”)

    I don’t believe that is what most people mean when they say that.

    As for the Nazi comparison, there were a lot of people who would have preferred we kill all the Nazis, but only a relatively small percentage were tried and convicted. Germany did not forfeit their right to exist, and the German people (including most of the Nazis) were allowed to continue on with their lives.

    As for Hitler, I do think a trial would have been better for the world and the development of humanity. But like most narcissists, he was a coward and chose to shoot himself rather than face consequences.



  • Let’s be honest with ourselves, the world is a mess right now. There are no “good guys” coming to the rescue. There’s no political or military power that will fix the discord or stop the violence. In an ideal world, Netanyahu and his leadership would be tried and convicted of crimes against humanity. Given the current climate, I’d settle for an armistice to end the murdering of civilians and to allow for humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it. The threat of another elected despot is not an argument against deposing the current one.

    You’re citing those polling numbers as evidence that I’m wrong? That we don’t have a problem with messaging? If your plan is to convince me that we need to stop a genocide with a genocide, then I have sorry news for you. Even if it was 100% of Israelis polled, I would still be opposed to genocide. Existence is never a crime. We are defined by our choices, not by the circumstances of our birth. When people communicate, there is always an opportunity for people to grow and learn. Communication is the only path to peace, and the people who need to hear you will not hear you while you’re saying they are monsters who do not deserve to live.


  • Yep, I’m one of them. Are we saying that the United States doesn’t have a right to exist? Canada and Mexico have their own skeletons in their closets, too. Which countries have a right to exist? The Palestinians were “displaced” by the British, who took control from the Ottomans, who conquered the land from the Egyptians, the Mongols, the Crusades… how far back are we going to go?

    Or maybe we accept that a nation is constructed of modern people who are not responsible for the sins of their forebears. Maybe we can criticize genocidal tyrants and war criminals without dehumanizing an entire citizenry and calling for their extermination. Because if both sides are calling for the eradication of the other, then the historical claim to the territory is irrelevant. If both sides justify violence with divine provenance, then neither side maintaims the moral high ground.

    Israel is engaged in a genocide. They should be stopped, with violence if necessary. But condemning the people’s right to exist blunts the criticism of genocide. It makes it appear to be a holy war between two violent terrorists, when that is far from the reality.