Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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This isn’t throwing shade on other games or anything, but something I really like about dwarf fortress is that infrastructure projects are hard. In something like city skylines, you just build a bridge with the click of a button and spend money. That’s fine, but even building a castle or aqueduct in dwarf fortress requires planning and organizing resources and workers which makes it feel a lot more special
What about ‘Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic’? I love that game so much. Makes me feel like a part of the central planning of a city(ies).
I haven’t played it yet, but I know there’s a hardcore mode that’s kinda like that
Yeah this is one of the best thing about DF. Like, in order to build down, you need to excavate each layer otherwise the whole thing collapses.
It’s so wierd being like “okay so I believe that all the problems are caused by capitalism but still you are horrible at managing your finances” to my family.
You shouldn’t have to be “good at managing your finances” in an economically just world. You would have all your basic needs provided for at no cost. Money would only be used to buy things that you want but don’t need. The worst you could do if you were “financially irresponsible” is squandering the money you get for spending on leisure and recreation, on things that don’t fulfill you. No one could go broke because there would be no bills to pay. Oh, and gambling would be banned of course.
I mean both can technically be true.
No one chooses to be poor but bad financial decisions can make a bad situation worse. Given that we live in a capitalist system it does stand to reason that we should try to avoid poor spending habits since that can make life harder for us. When capitalism is gone that may no longer be the case, but sadly capitalism isn’t gone yet and we have to operate within it by the conditions it sets for us.
Which sucks, sure, but this is a constant throughout history. The feudal lords didn’t care if the peasants were personally pacifists; they got conscripted into the levies regardless and it was either serve the lord in war time or hang by the neck until death and until the pacifists were ready to have the lord lynched, burn his castle, and seize his wealth the choice was death, service, or banditry.
Think of it in the context of that “we should improve society somewhat” comic.
If you apply for a UK visa they ask you if you ever committed a genocide like who will answer that with yes
They’re asking so they can provide VIP treatment to those who answer yes /s
I used to scoff at this idea, but I really think European liberals might be more racist than American liberals. American liberals have a special kind of ignorance simplistic world view, but my god, interacting with some European liberals and so many of them are just overtly racist
That’s not a hot take at all. Europeans as a whole are lowkey probably more racist than Americans.
We actually have a continent-wide leaderboard for rasicm. Balkan countries are usually at the top. Racism isn’t a small thing here, it’s the norm for everyone (that isn’t Romani) While Romani people live on the streets, unable to earn enough to eat, we call them slurs and act like some sort of superior beings and treat them like human garbage. It’s disgusting to see.
Balkan countries are usually at the top.
I’ve travelled all over Europe and i can’t say i fully agree with that take. I mean, yes, you’re absolutely correct about the Balkans being extremely racist toward the Roma, but the Balkans hate everyone, especially each other. And at least they’re direct about it.
But when it comes to general racism my experience has been that Scandinavian countries are actually the worst and where it’s most insidious, precisely because they pretend to be all progressive but in really they have a massive superiority complex.
And they have by far the worst islamophobia problem, even compared to the Balkans where they fought centuries of wars with the Turks it’s not as bad as what i encountered in Denmark or Sweden. And then you take a look at the kinds of parties they elect and the whole “progressive Nordics” act really falls apart.
But when it comes to general racism my experience has been that Scandinavian countries are actually the worst and where it’s most insidious, precisely because they pretend to be all progressive but in really they have a massive superiority complex.
Sigh, I’d say that you’re generally right sadly. It is hard to argue against it when around 20% of people vote for a party that is a whitewashed literal Nazi party (and the current leader joined when it was branded as such).
massive superiority complex.
Yes, and I’d also claim that we are among the most propagandized people on the planet. I have a hard time actually thinking of a people more propagandized, possibly the Germans – but I feel like even for them there’ll always be a tiny tiny hint of doubt since they actually DID do the Holocaust once. For swedes there is zero guilt, zero introspection and total belief that your outlook on the world is correct.
The population is also just…ignorant. Our current prime minister literally wrote a book about his ideology a couple years ago where he equaled the Swedish wellfare state to apartheid and stated his life’s purpose to be the destroying of it – but people still vote for this guy and then are chocked when he does just that. Don’t worry, 44% of adults have a university degree, surely this means they can read one book.
I could write a lot about my people but it’ll probably amount to a book (and I fear it’ll be even harder to make them read two books).
I have a hard time actually thinking of a people more propagandized, possibly the Germans
They are definitely a contender for top place.
but I feel like even for them there’ll always be a tiny tiny hint of doubt since they actually DID do the Holocaust once.
The problem is that they’ve turned that into a superiority complex too, like there is this pride in how “well” they think they have dealt with their historical guilt* and that makes them better than others who don’t do the same amount of performative self-flagellation.
The fact that they did that reinforces their belief that they are now the most democratic and most liberal and most introspective society ever as a result of it, and every other society is less progressive because they didn’t go through what the Germans did (and often times it even feels like they think they were the biggest victim of the Nazi regime).
And it’s this sense of liberal superiority that has them convinced they cannot be wrong again because they already did the worst thing possible and “learned from it”, so their support for literal Nazis in Ukraine and for a genocide in Palestine has to be moral and anyone who says it’s wrong are actually like the Nazis.
there is zero guilt, zero introspection and total belief that your outlook on the world is correct.
Like i said, i’m not sure which is worse, no sense of guilt or guilt-pride. But yeah, it’s very hard to get someone to acknowledge the deep seated issues in their society if they are convinced and if so much of how the world talks about them reinforces the belief that they already have the perfect system that is the most advanced and most “civilized”.
*(By the way, they also briefly address Sweden and its racism toward the end of that linked video discussion, you can check it out if you’re interested.)
*(By the way, they also briefly address Sweden and its racism toward the end of that linked video discussion, you can check it out if you’re interested.)
Yea the point was spot on. And I don’t even know how this course should be reversed, one of the most pressing issues is that is the same (class of) people still running the countries (in both Germany and Sweden). Denazification in West Germany was a joke, and in Sweden there never was anything of the sort – which just leads to unconditional chauvinism. You start to understand why Lenin just shot people, and why the cultural revolution was necessary.
Ah, I am so done with all of it.
While recognizing all of these issues i think it’s still important to maintain some semblance of optimism and avoid giving in to the temptation of doomerism.
Doomerism is not proletarian and not revolutionary, it’s a way of detaching emotionally and feeling “above” the masses. As Marxists we understand that these reactionary attitudes are not innate but a product of the system, of the hegemonic culture and of the material conditions. We also understand that change is inevitable and sooner or later the decaying material conditions will sharpen the contradictions between the chauvinistic outlook and the lived reality to a point where some kind of reckoning must happen.
This means on the one hand that far right forces are going to gain in power, that is already certain and baked into the fabric of European society, but it also opens up opportunities for the left to provide an alternative vision and narrative if it can manage to finally set aside its Western chauvinism, embrace real anti-imperialism and internationalism, and stop falling for the liberal-imperialist “anti-authoritarian” psyop.
That is why for me it is so important to get western leftists to understand that all of the struggles that are currently being waged against Western imperialism, whether it’s the EU-NATO proxy war against Russia, the genocide in Palestine and Lebanon, the war on Iran, the blockade of Cuba and the regime change operations in Venezuela, the terrorist war against the Sahel states, and the economic war against China, they are all conceptually linked and fronts of the same struggle that we ourselves are facing domestically against capital and fascism.
And there is no excuse for discriminating between them or saying that one is less legitimate than another (like the western leftists who support Palestine but not Iran, Cuba but not Russia or China, and so on), because if you start doing that you have allowed the ruling class to insert chauvinism into your movement which rots it from the inside and turns it into just another neutered and imperialism-compatible version of social democracy dressed in leftist clothing.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
yeah the more i interact with europeans the more i become convinced of this actually
like just look at how each talk about migrants and it’s like two polar opposite types of racism on display; one is more subconscious and apathetic while the other is borderline hitlerian
I don’t know if the following is much of a thing in person or more an internet thing, but it reminds of some years back seeing some Europeans on reddit talking about the Romani people in a way that was extremely similar to how racist Yankees talk about black people, and upon pointing this out, I remember there being a sort of a “how dare you” reaction to the comparison being made. But that was a clue to me, I guess, of like, yeah they’re not exactly squeaky clean over there. It may be the principal difference is just that US policies tend to be worse for the country’s own people than (some parts of) “western” Europe are for theirs, but from things I hear, this is in decline.
and upon pointing this out, I remember there being a sort of a “how dare you” reaction to the comparison being made
You were lucky. The reaction i got upon pointing out the same thing was, and i quote:
“Well if the blacks in America are as bad as our [Roma] then it’s no wonder they don’t like them over there.”
Except they used a slur instead.
Yikes, wow.
keiko fujimori is president of peru
So, honestly I think i might have paedophobia. I don’t hate children (in fact, id really like to be a mom theoretically), logically i get why they do things they do, but everytime I’m around a child or infant i get a nearly paralyzing level of fear. I dont really know why either
I definitely used to feel this way, because interacting with kids is a whole different level of socialization. Plus if a kid is violating a boundary of yours, it’s especially hard to know what to do.
But then I became a father and honestly it’s way different with your own kid. I can’t explain it other than you either unlock an entirely new set of tools you didn’t know you had or you instantly develop those tools out of necessity
I love how the football world cup unified everybody in hating Argentina
It’s also kinda sad because without Argentina it turns into a regular European Cup tournament again
Indeed, that’s why I hope they make the semifinals, but then I want Spain or France to demolish them
Can anyone help me remember a quote.
It’s something like: when arguing with the right they don’t need to adhere to logical consistency, all that truely matters is their position in the hierarchy of society.
It’s more eloquent than I’ve parsed it. Any idea?
Was it the meme Sartre quoute?
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
It’s a good one to keep in mind.
That’s a good one, but not the one. The point about the only permanent thing for the right is their view on hierarchy is strongly delineated.
"Dark and violent imagination spiral gang rise up
(Laying on my bed now)"
This was said in my previous comment down below.
I try to combat all this with wry humor but maybe it’s not serving me.
I’m glad that I’m thinking positively again. But I realize now how much work needs to be done. At least there’s a way out of this mindset.
I think you have to definitely fight back against that impulse, that urge, to go into a dark, violent imagination spiral about yourself. It’ll influence you over time, I think. But regardless, it’s just not fun.
Woke up good this morning.
Got rejected from a job I applied for in a field I’ve worked in for years, asked for feedback and was told I missed a piece of essential criteria which I had definitely covered twice in my application.
Immediately responded with the excerpts and am awaiting their excuses about why the two examples I gave were not good enough evidence.
The kicker is this is a gov adjacent role in the UK and we have the “Disability Confident” scheme that lets disabled candidates get a guaranteed interview when you hit all the essential criteria. I opted in for that as a disabled person and conveniently (and this happens a lot!! At least 3 other times to me) I apparently don’t hit the essential criteria for a role I’ve done for like 7 years at a higher level than what I’m applying for, with examples that have gotten me jobs for roles at a higher level than the ones I’m applying for.
I love this period of economic stagnancy it’s great fun 🫠
economic stagnancy
Seems more like economic free fall.
But also, my sympathies, that is rough.
It definitely sounds like those companies are discriminating against disabled people. I wonder if you’d have better luck not telling them?
I think it’s less purposeful than direct discrimination, the application should have no sign I’ve ticked the box for the disability scheme, but I think that their screening process is just really poor.
I reckon they’re either using AI to batch shortlist and don’t really care about when it makes mistakes, or their shortlisters are having to wade through so many applications they’re not giving enough attention to each one and incorrectly scoring them. This then has the downstream effect of being indirectly discriminating, because they actually have to justify what essential criteria I have missed to deny me an interview, but for anyone else accidentally missed during shortlisting they can just lie and say they didn’t make the cut because there were so many strong candidates.
Having chatted with people recruiting in this area before, they’re getting like 500-1000 applicants for each role so their shortlisting has had to speed up to keep the process to a sane timeline. This has pushed them to make far more mistakes than I’ve ever had to deal with during the shortlisting phase. I used to get an interview almost every single time I applied for a role, and would perform well enough to be in the top 2 or 3 candidates if I failed to get the role. Now I’m just being screened out at the application phase.
Gotcha. So with the extreme application volume, they’re certainly not reviewing even most of them thoroughly. I haven’t done it often, but apparently feeding your CV/resume and the job description to AI can help if they’re using an HRIS, in case you haven’t tried that already. Best of luck, comrade!
All I’m gonna say is that the residents of Clackton have the chance to do the funniest thing in the world and if they dont vote for supreme leader count binface I will tell Putin to nuke them
Dark and violent imagination spiral gang rise up
(Laying on my bed now)
We’re entering the second heat wave but it won’t be as bad as the previous of a week ago
It was almost 33 at 23:00, last night. It’s been so hot and humid during days that I felt cold, at 26.6 inside.
That’s horrible. A bit more to the south and it’s still cooking in France and southern Europe. I saw someone from Lyon say it has been 30+ degrees for weeks now. Absolutely horrible.
We had a week of 28-30 degrees indoor at night and it drove me nuts.
Yeah, that’s not fun. I feel really bad for Africa, Asia, Cuba, Mexico , Venezuela, and other locations whose people are suffering worse, especially places whose water and other critical infrastructure is destroyed by fascist nations specifically targeting critical infrastructure.
So I was watching an ASMR video based on Helldivers 2 and as it goes on, I’m gradually going, “Wait a minute, this sounds like fascistic, imperialist stuff.” Then it starts reminding me of Starship Troopers.
When it’s done, I look up the game and sure enough, there are articles saying it’s heavily influenced by Starship Troopers. I’ve never actually watched Starship Troopers or read the book, nor have I played Helldivers, but I guess I picked up enough in passing about it and the themes aren’t exactly subtle.
The books were unironic fascist propaganda by a “libertarian” who idolized the military.
The movie was made by a guy who read the book, clocked it for what it was, and decided to make fun of its ideology instead.
Helldivers is a much less subtle mockery of the same ideas.
Oh, interesting.
The movie was made by a guy who read the book, clocked it for what it was, and decided to make fun of its ideology instead.
Very based thing to do. Did the writer sued the director?
Heinlein was dead by the time the movie was made. But he likely would’ve hated it lol.
