Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: STAR TREK

Last post by Syt - Today at 01:20:12 PM

S3 of Strange New Worlds has started. With two tonally very different episodes, but that's episodic Trek for you.

Didn't know that Spock-centered romcom would become one of my favorite Star Trek sub genres.

Still, enjoyed it a lot.

#2

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 01:18:10 PM

Honest question Raz.

Between the 2025 Democrats and 2025 Republicans, which party holds more American voters in contempt?

I think it a toss up really.

Not even close.

Democrats hold Republican voters in contempt. Republicans hold Democrat and Republican voters in contempt.

#3

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 01:12:28 PM

Honest question Raz.

Between the 2025 Democrats and 2025 Republicans, which party holds more American voters in contempt?

I think it a toss up really.

#4

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 01:11:29 PM

What part of the mixture of Middle Eastern Jews and Eastern European Jews make them "Western"?  By Western do you mean, "perceived as white"?  Because I see a lot of the opposition to Israel framed as "fighting white supremacy".  The Saudis are American allies and they seem to get away with much more.  The Double standard is that Israel gets called out on it and other countries do not.

I think the Saudis are also horrible and I want us to stop using their oil and I want their regime to collapse. And people were calling them out for their genocide in Yemen. Saudi and China face few consequences for their actions, true, but Israel also faces few consequences for their actions. Seems to me the standard is the standard. Russia cannot seem to get away with it, but probably because they had the indecency to invade a European country. When they were just committing atrocities in Chechnya it was different. However, it is a good thing Russia is getting sanctioned. I don't need consistency to applaud a good thing.

But it is interesting to me you consider what the Saudis are doing is equivalent to what Israel is doing. Yet nobody on this board is falling over themselves justifying and defending the Saudis. So who has a double standard? You? Or the rest of us? Just asking questions here.

Whiteness is a fake thing, you get that right? The same way that Italians and Irish can sometimes be white and other times aren't. It is all arbitrary bullshit so pointing out how irrational it is doesn't mean anything. So yes they are supported in the Middle East by racist who see them bringing order to the barbaric Arabs, who are off course all Muslim terrorists to be feared. The fact that plenty of Jewish Israelis are, in fact, Arabs doesn't matter. It doesn't make a super amount of sense, but racism rarely does.

Actually I consider what the Saudis do as much worse, they've killed many more people.  But there are no protesters marching every month against Saudi Arabia.  CC doesn't complain constantly that HIS government is supporting genocide, nor does Josq.  People aren't throwing paint on stuff in Britain because of arms being sent to Saudi Arabia.  I've seen very little opposition to what Saudi Arabia does, and what little there is always couched as American imperialism.  Because few people are capable of imaging that Arabs have any sort of agency.

That "Whiteness is fake" is irrelevant.  I think it is the most important factor driving the left on the issue of Palestine.  The problem, is that the Israelis don't belong.  They are the wrong color.  That's why we have the double standard.  That's why the Saudis or Syrians can kill tens of thousands of children and are met with shrugs.  Those people belong in the region, so they are not the problem.  The issue is not that Israelis kill people or bomb civilians (when missiles fall on Israeli civilians it is praiseworthy), it is that they simply don't belong in the area and there will never be peace so long as this foreign disease is there.

I am not sure I complain about anything constantly.

#5

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 01:10:26 PM

Arms sales to the Saudis were actually kind of controversial in Canada.  There's a deal where we've been selling them some armoured cars.  It was a big deal at first, because it was initially negotiated by a Conservative government.  Of course, the Liberals continued the deal and their partisans mostly dropped their concerns, but there are still a group of activists who still advocate against it using the language of human rights.

Yeah, I read about that.  There really should be massive demonstrations and sabotage of factories making arms and such.  You know, cause of the genocide.

#6

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Neil - Today at 11:34:55 AM

Arms sales to the Saudis were actually kind of controversial in Canada.  There's a deal where we've been selling them some armoured cars.  It was a big deal at first, because it was initially negotiated by a Conservative government.  Of course, the Liberals continued the deal and their partisans mostly dropped their concerns, but there are still a group of activists who still advocate against it using the language of human rights.

#7

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by viper37 - Today at 11:28:40 AM

CC doesn't complain constantly that HIS government is supporting genocide, nor does Josq.

Well, we do export ACVs to Saudi Arabia, that is true.

Technically, they shouldn't be used for active warfare, but they can be modified by them for that purpose.

In value, it is much more than what we export to Israel.  But it's only 652 vehicles.

With Israel, we exported weapons & ammo, and issued private license exports for various religious "charities" so they could do the same, and send funds to the IDF so Israel could keep on happily murdering and ethnically cleansing civilians.

But it's ok, they're only Palestinians, their lives are worth much, much less than any Jewish-Israeli.

#8

Off the Record / Re: The China Thread

Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 11:10:00 AM

Being a "technology leader" in a field implies that the actual technology is better, not just that you produce a lot of it. I can see the claim that experience gives China the edge in High-speed Rail, but have seen nothing to indicate that Chinese solar panels are technologically more advanced than, say French ones.

The chart says "leadership position in five key technologies" which I read as somewhat different from "technology leader."  I.e. it isn't claiming that China has better solar module tech than Europe or USA. Rather it is saying that solar panels are a key technology and that China has leadership position in solar panels because the make and sell so many of them.

I agree it is confusing and somewhat misleading. It's just conveying that China has substantial manufacturing in those areas, not that they have superior or cutting tech, but it could easily be read as implying the latter.

#9

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 11:02:09 AM

Honest question Raz.

Between the 2025 Democrats and 2025 Republicans, which party holds more American voters in contempt?

#10

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 10:36:15 AM

I think that the whole "Left ...holding large swaths of the electorate in contempt" idea is one of those dumb right-wing social media fabrications that sells because it allows people to vote for shitty politicians and policies without feeling guilt.

Yes. I think this is a large part of it. They don't want to admit it. They want to think they're good Christian people.... But they LIKE the idea of treating foreigners like shit, beating up people with different lifestyles, and so on.
Going "Ah but this woman with pink hair was so stupid and mean!" is a mask.

No, what you are doing is whataboutism.  When I point out leftists doing bad things you immediately shift to some right winger doing something worse.

 
We aren't talking about "leftists doing bad things". We are talking about voters decisions in elections.
Why is some random idiot claiming to be a left winger saying something dumb online such a huge problem whilst actual right wing leaders saying evil shit isn't?

I didn't say that what the right does isn't bad, but the left does bad things too and holding large swaths of the electorate in contempt is one of them. 

How do they hold the electorate in contempt?
Again we keep seeing this idea repeated with no evidence to show.

And whether what the populist right says is worse or not is all important here. We are talking about a 2 way decision (well, 3, just not voting too).

Would you describe yourself as " some random idiot claiming to be a left winger saying something dumb online"?

I'm an actual left winger.
Though yes, I'm very much an unconnected idiot saying stuff online.
If I say "Vote Democrats so we can ban cars completely by next Tuesday" then you need to consider "Wait, this is just some random idiot, he isn't even a Democrat. Hell, he's not even American. What he says has zero connection to what the actual Democrats are saying" whilst when Trump or one of his cronies says "Vote Republican so we can get women back in the kitchen where they belong" ....then that matters rather more.