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Post by K1power on Oct 17, 2021 10:41:46 GMT 1
Before this controversy I didn't know this latest Chappelle show. Now I do. Funny that. OK, sorry for being a dick, and I'm not saying that Netflix and Dave Chappelle did the whole thing purely as a PR stunt. Chappelle's stance on trans and others was well known, and it's not like he shocked the world with this or anything like that. I disagree with him on many, if not all, of these issues, and you know my stance on the kind of people who scream cancel culture all the time, particularly the ones who are not right-wingers. I straight up loathe them. But that doesn't mean "cancel culture" isn't real. I have been nearly canceled a couple of times. I know what it's like. It's a horrible thing. And I know how hysterical and indeed Stalinist some of those social warriors can be. Trust me, I know. But the real victims of "cancel culture" are rarely discussed. Meanwhile, the likes of Bari Weiss get richer. Do you know how much she earns through her substack now? A humongous amount. Those grifters victimize themselves upward. Seeing those people making a fortune, many people, typically on the left, assume that "cancel culture" is just pure bullshit. That's also unfortunate because that's basically survivorship bias at work. The louder their voice is, the bigger their platform is, the better they do after they got "cancelled," fabulously better in many cases. It's a fucking goldmine. But there are many corpses behind and around them, the actual victims of getting "cancelled." It's wrong to deny that. You know, I'm a bit Machiavellian on these things, things that happens in the period of social transformation. You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, etc. But honestly I'm noticing some pretty hideous excesses here and there, some completely ass-backwards stuff. I do think that is a problem. But Dave Chappelle will do just fine, make a lot of money, and so will Netflix. I just cannot get worked up about that. And I don't see this controversy contribute in any way to addressing the actual issues around "cancel culture," because he cannot, by default, represent the real victims. He's simply not in such a position. I'm just being lazy here because I haven't watched the show, but I'm damn sure he made sure he offended everyone, by which I mean a lot of different peoples, because that's his style. That's his defensive move too. If you offend everyone, you actually offend no one. That's the oldest trick in comedy. That's why it's usually a waste of time to try to argue in good faith with comedians. I assume he's not interested in representing any "group" anyway. So, I just expect him to do fine after this, and that's pretty much where my interest in the whole thing ends. Chappelle is very talented after all. I think 'cancel culture' is definitely a real thing, it's just not what most people make it out to be. For starters, I really dislike the term 'cancel culture' and how readily people make claims of it. It's a fairly recent term with the implication being that it's a recent thing and that it's more or less about the woke movement getting prominent people with a controversial opinion, well, 'cancelled'. Needless to say, all of these implications and assumptions are incorrect. People have been getting 'cancelled' since forever, it's just that we now live in a more PC climate and due to the internet/social media it's easier than ever before to get your voice heard and 'rally the troops' so to speak. Cancel culture being a recent term just adds to that perception of recency. It's also not exclusive to the left. People are literally trying to get each other 'cancelled' left and right. So what does 'getting cancelled' even mean - to me at least? Broadly speaking I'd say getting content off the air / getting people to lose gigs or flat out fired / getting someone's character assassinated. With that definition it's hard to deny its existence, because obviously people trying to get each other fired is a real fucking thing. That's not to say I'm against all forms of cancellation. I applaud the Kevin Spaceys and Gina Caranos of this world getting cancelled. And I think you made a very good, but often overlooked point about the actual victims. There must be a lot of voiceless, nameless people that end up getting hit by 'cancel culture shrapnel'. Those people deserve some consideration. Obviously Dave Chappelle won't end up hungry on the streets and doesn't need me to defend him, but the man walked away from 50 million dollars - when he wasn't rich yet - because integrity was more important to him than money. I think that deserves some standing up for when the shitstorms are incoming. Defending a handful of comedians from 'cancel culture' that I don't believe are actually bigots is a random hill I choose to die on. Even if I do agree with you that people on the left screaming 'Cancel Culture!' can be obnoxious. |
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Post by K1power on Oct 17, 2021 10:44:18 GMT 1
The pandemic has altered our life style on multiple levels. We are not sure yet what and how exactly, but the life afterwards won't be the same. It may only be subtle ones for some, but those little things can add up too. I can list more than several for me personally now, and one of the least significant things is the interest in football/soccer. I did make comments on EURO in a different thread as if I was into it, but at one point I actually realized that I was forcing myself to watch the games. Deep inside I truly couldn't care less! I had to lie to myself. And weekly club competitions? Leagues? Man, I don't give a shit anymore, even for the clubs that I supposedly support. I will barely give some shit for the World Cup, maybe. The truth, though, is probably that I had been waiting to lose my interest in the sport, and the pandemic simply gave me the opportunity. I didn't miss it at all while it was gone, and watching several games with no spectators in a row made me realize - or reconfirmed - that the sport is fucking boring in its essence. You could call it the beauty of simplicity, of transcending the human instinct (of using the damn hands for doing things), as I used to, but count me out now. I guess I've changed. What about you? Anything you stopped caring about primarily because of the pandemic? Yeah, but in a 'bad' way. I wouldn't exactly say stopped caring completely, but less so. For example. I don't like people very much and am kinda anti-social. The pandemic has enabled me to indulge in that. Aside from a select few family members and colleagues, I barely saw people since March last year. And I was weirdly okay with that. I didn't even think it was weird until I realized how many people had to deal with depression due to social starvation. At first I even thought people around me were weird and should 'suck it up, it's not that bad.' I mean obviously I missed my friends and had two recent 'reunions' with the ones that got vaccinated, but that urge to see them every other week dampened. Of course, as time progresses and circumstances get better, that sense might recover again. The same thing with working out and being in somewhat reasonable shape. I haven't really worked out since the pandemic hit. While I've always been lazy and have never been in 'great' shape, I had an exercise system that sort of worked but it hinged on social pressure from the gym, friends, etc. Once I got off the leash I just completely indulged in my laziness and now that things are opening up again I have a difficult time finding the proper motivation to get back into it. Again, this might improve over time. As for hobbies, I'd say I feel just as strongly about them as I did before the pandemic, if not more so. Even though my being lazy hampered progress in some of my personal projects. I'm a true champion of procrastination. I guess, in short, you might say that the pandemic has turned me in to more of a basement dweller. |
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Post by K1power on Oct 17, 2021 10:46:22 GMT 1
Zero talent. These obnoxious generic people (Hey, racially diverse though!!) making fun of the dude for one minute nonstop. Constantly talking, explaining EVERYTHING in words. Holy shit, this is an excruciatingly bad dialogue. What the hell is this, an audiobook? Unless HBO suddenly has an extremely-friendly-to-blind-people policy or something, this screams WE SUCK ASS. It would be a miracle if this show turned out half decent. I think this being good kinda hinges on whether or not you like the work of James Gunn, because this has his fingerprints all over it. I assume I will, because I liked some of his stuff even before he went into comic book territory, but it's definitely an acquired taste. |
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 18, 2021 1:39:35 GMT 1
Before this controversy I didn't know this latest Chappelle show. Now I do. Funny that. OK, sorry for being a dick, and I'm not saying that Netflix and Dave Chappelle did the whole thing purely as a PR stunt. Chappelle's stance on trans and others was well known, and it's not like he shocked the world with this or anything like that. I disagree with him on many, if not all, of these issues, and you know my stance on the kind of people who scream cancel culture all the time, particularly the ones who are not right-wingers. I straight up loathe them. But that doesn't mean "cancel culture" isn't real. I have been nearly canceled a couple of times. I know what it's like. It's a horrible thing. And I know how hysterical and indeed Stalinist some of those social warriors can be. Trust me, I know. But the real victims of "cancel culture" are rarely discussed. Meanwhile, the likes of Bari Weiss get richer. Do you know how much she earns through her substack now? A humongous amount. Those grifters victimize themselves upward. Seeing those people making a fortune, many people, typically on the left, assume that "cancel culture" is just pure bullshit. That's also unfortunate because that's basically survivorship bias at work. The louder their voice is, the bigger their platform is, the better they do after they got "cancelled," fabulously better in many cases. It's a fucking goldmine. But there are many corpses behind and around them, the actual victims of getting "cancelled." It's wrong to deny that. You know, I'm a bit Machiavellian on these things, things that happens in the period of social transformation. You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, etc. But honestly I'm noticing some pretty hideous excesses here and there, some completely ass-backwards stuff. I do think that is a problem. But Dave Chappelle will do just fine, make a lot of money, and so will Netflix. I just cannot get worked up about that. And I don't see this controversy contribute in any way to addressing the actual issues around "cancel culture," because he cannot, by default, represent the real victims. He's simply not in such a position. I'm just being lazy here because I haven't watched the show, but I'm damn sure he made sure he offended everyone, by which I mean a lot of different peoples, because that's his style. That's his defensive move too. If you offend everyone, you actually offend no one. That's the oldest trick in comedy. That's why it's usually a waste of time to try to argue in good faith with comedians. I assume he's not interested in representing any "group" anyway. So, I just expect him to do fine after this, and that's pretty much where my interest in the whole thing ends. Chappelle is very talented after all. I think 'cancel culture' is definitely a real thing, it's just not what most people make it out to be. For starters, I really dislike the term 'cancel culture' and how readily people make claims of it. It's a fairly recent term with the implication being that it's a recent thing and that it's more or less about the woke movement getting prominent people with a controversial opinion, well, 'cancelled'. Needless to say, all of these implications and assumptions are incorrect. People have been getting 'cancelled' since forever, it's just that we now live in a more PC climate and due to the internet/social media it's easier than ever before to get your voice heard and 'rally the troops' so to speak. Cancel culture being a recent term just adds to that perception of recency. It's also not exclusive to the left. People are literally trying to get each other 'cancelled' left and right. Yes, like you say, there is absolutely nothing new with "cancel culture" at all. We've been cancelling each other since the dawn of the human civilization, literally. The only thing that has changes is the technology. It's easier to find dirt on people now. Again, I'm a bit Machiavellian on this. There are bound to be unfortunate casualties during a social transition period, and we are clearly in one right now. Call me a little Stalin if you want, but I can't cry over every one of them. But that doesn't mean I believe we should let everything pass. There are gross excesses in both the cancelling ones AND the reaction to them. It's important to acknowledge that. Obviously I have zero sympathy for the ones who scream cancel culture when in reality they simply got what they deserved for their absolutely shitty opinions. I totally expect mindless right-wingers to pretend to be the world's biggest victims, because, as I always said, generally speaking they have been the much bigger drama queens than people on the center and left throughout history. So it's par for the course with those bigots, and therefore my venom is particularly aimed at the "center/center-left" reactionaries who try to use their non-right-wing credentials to sell this "cancel culture" to the world as some nefarious new phenomenon. |
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 18, 2021 1:45:21 GMT 1
The pandemic has altered our life style on multiple levels. We are not sure yet what and how exactly, but the life afterwards won't be the same. It may only be subtle ones for some, but those little things can add up too. I can list more than several for me personally now, and one of the least significant things is the interest in football/soccer. I did make comments on EURO in a different thread as if I was into it, but at one point I actually realized that I was forcing myself to watch the games. Deep inside I truly couldn't care less! I had to lie to myself. And weekly club competitions? Leagues? Man, I don't give a shit anymore, even for the clubs that I supposedly support. I will barely give some shit for the World Cup, maybe. The truth, though, is probably that I had been waiting to lose my interest in the sport, and the pandemic simply gave me the opportunity. I didn't miss it at all while it was gone, and watching several games with no spectators in a row made me realize - or reconfirmed - that the sport is fucking boring in its essence. You could call it the beauty of simplicity, of transcending the human instinct (of using the damn hands for doing things), as I used to, but count me out now. I guess I've changed. What about you? Anything you stopped caring about primarily because of the pandemic? Yeah, but in a 'bad' way. I wouldn't exactly say stopped caring completely, but less so. For example. I don't like people very much and am kinda anti-social. The pandemic has enabled me to indulge in that. Aside from a select few family members and colleagues, I barely saw people since March last year. And I was weirdly okay with that. I didn't even think it was weird until I realized how many people had to deal with depression due to social starvation. At first I even thought people around me were weird and should 'suck it up, it's not that bad.' I mean obviously I missed my friends and had two recent 'reunions' with the ones that got vaccinated, but that urge to see them every other week dampened. Of course, as time progresses and circumstances get better, that sense might recover again. The same thing with working out and being in somewhat reasonable shape. I haven't really worked out since the pandemic hit. While I've always been lazy and have never been in 'great' shape, I had an exercise system that sort of worked but it hinged on social pressure from the gym, friends, etc. Once I got off the leash I just completely indulged in my laziness and now that things are opening up again I have a difficult time finding the proper motivation to get back into it. Again, this might improve over time. As for hobbies, I'd say I feel just as strongly about them as I did before the pandemic, if not more so. Even though my being lazy hampered progress in some of my personal projects. I'm a true champion of procrastination. I guess, in short, you might say that the pandemic has turned me in to more of a basement dweller. I guess you are still not sure how much of it is just temporary, and how much of it is pretty much permanent. I mean, no one is sure. We still don't even know how things will develop with Covid in the coming months, so really, who knows. This pandemic is definitely our generations' LARPing wartime. |
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 18, 2021 14:24:22 GMT 1
Not just children, apparently.
I mean, crikey. I read The Guardian, and learn that 2.3765 gazillion people got Covid yesterday in the UK.
I don't know. It is so much worse than in the continental European countries. I just hope the country isn't being the frontrunner this time, foretelling the coming trend.
It does seem that people care massively less about Covid over there now than in Spain, Italy and even Germany, though. Lots of parties with "LOL @ masks in the age of vaccination" attitude. Reminds me of Israel earlier.
It's good that the hospitalizations and deaths have been kept relatively low thanks to the vaccines, but the current trajectory suggests that they will go up, possibly to a significant degree, especially since AstraZeneca doesn't seem to work too well against Delta and its relatives.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 18, 2021 14:32:11 GMT 1
I think too many people still don't understand the emergence of Delta completely changed the game.
You really ought to chew on the fact that even Singapore was engulfed in the Delta surge, and think about what that means.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 19, 2021 1:13:39 GMT 1
You hear Colin Powell died of Covid despite being vaccinated, and the first thing that comes to your mind is how annoying the anti-vaccine warriors will be.
It's tiresome, you know. Fallacies ought to be officially banned. We should have "fallacy-free" certificates and anti-fallacy mandates in our society.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 19, 2021 1:42:09 GMT 1
We all fault our public health system and bureaucracies for their failings and mistakes. We should.
But let's not forget the atrocious attitude some of us the general public showed toward the public health staff. They were at the receiving end of the totally irrational animosity, typically from those who scream freedom every time there needs to be some social, public awareness and actions.
In places like the US, I truly don't see the mutual trust repaired any time soon. The word "mutual" is the key there, because the public health staff and bureaucrats are human too. They were trapped in that absurd politicization and stupidity, and lost any hope on humanity basically.
The fools always think they are victims, but what an awful bunch of aggressors and destroyers they have been. I personally will never forgive those narcissistic cocksuckers.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 19, 2021 1:53:01 GMT 1
Like I said, this is good. Police will be better because of this. I claim there's a clear correlation between the assholishness of a cop and their attitude toward the vaccine.
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gols
Novice Member
Posts: 162 
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Post by gols on Oct 19, 2021 15:44:03 GMT 1
For example. I don't like people very much and am kinda anti-social. The pandemic has enabled me to indulge in that. Aside from a select few family members and colleagues, I barely saw people since March last year. And I was weirdly okay with that. I didn't even think it was weird until I realized how many people had to deal with depression due to social starvation. At first I even thought people around me were weird and should 'suck it up, it's not that bad.' This. I've definitely enjoyed the massive reduction in social events and extended family get-togethers etc. Not sure how I would feel about it if I lived alone though. Also, at the risk of sounding like Trump, I am quite happy that the whole handshaking/kisses on the cheek thing seems to still be being avoided by most people I meet. |
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 20, 2021 10:19:42 GMT 1
The recent studies suggest pretty unanimously that the so-called "natural" (I don't think this is an appropriate word for it, but anyway) immunity acquired through infection is not much more durable than the "vaccination" immunity, unless you got super-sick with your prior infection. If you were a "mild" case, your "natural" immunity may be considerably WORSE than the vaccine's.
In other words, it's not very impressive, much less impressive than advertised (most notably by the herd immunity crowd) - unless you got really, really, really sick, that is.
So, you went though all that shit, getting sick and fatigued for a while, quarantined, scared, etc. and all you've got was the lousy T-shirt that was available for free. Congrats!
I mean, congrats to me too, but I'm a ModernaBro. The infection-vaccination combo is the best of all.
So, if you got Covid in the past, vax up. It's highly likely that all you've got is a lousy T-shirt.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 20, 2021 10:26:37 GMT 1
It's laughable that those idiots among the "experts" made their argument based entirely on this preconceived notion that the "natural" immunity is unconditionally superior to the vaccines.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 20, 2021 13:31:43 GMT 1
Hi, I'm the asshole who quotes himself, but seriously.
There are many articles popping up on how goddamn awful the Covid situation is in Russia right now.
One thing you must understand is that the root problem with the Russian society is very similar to the one with the US. To put it very simply, both Russians and Americans don't give a damn about anything other than themselves. They have lost the sense of responsibility for the public good.
OK, that's perhaps too crude a description, but you get the gist of it. I often say the US has more in common with Russia than with Germany, and I absolutely mean it.
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Post by miscmisc on Oct 20, 2021 16:53:07 GMT 1
So-called "rugged individualism" in the US, peppered with the right-wing anti-government rhetoric and juvenile libertarian sensibilities, has been so pervasive and toxic that it not only broke the American society on a fundamental level - which has been magnificently magnified in this pandemic - but also made those very "individualists" yearn for some collective, any sense of belonging. It's absolutely perverse, and that's how tribalism has been thriving in America.
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