branchingtime.bsky.social

21 Nov 2024

You're a utilitarian!? You want to maximize peoples' utility!? Have you ever met a person?

"[S]eventy-seven million Americans voted for Donald Trump to be re-elected president because either:

(3) They were somehow ignorant of the fact that Trump had made these claims continually over the previous four years.

lawyersgunsmoneyblog.comThe Disconnect - Lawyers, Guns & MoneyI just have no idea what can be done about this: One of President Trump’s many false claims about the 2020 presidential election, which he has repeatedly, and falsely, claimed was rigged against him, ...

All of these reasons represent a catastrophic failure of democracy"

"[S]eventy-seven million Americans voted for Donald Trump to be re-elected president because either:

(1) They were sufficiently delusional to believe Trump’s fantastical claims that the previous election was rigged; or

(2) They didn’t believe these claims but didn’t think that a presidential candidate making fantastical claims that the previous election had been rigged against him was a good enough reason not to vote for that candidate; or

Conservatism is a political ideology by and for people who think they are special. Thus, "don't you know who I am?!" said with genuine anger and the threat of punishment is the characteristic utterance of a conservative.

If Hegseth wants to be publicly executed, I think we should let it happen.

For market forces to assign an optimal price to the labor of mothers, mothers would have to be willing to withhold care from their children. And children would have to be able to forgo care, if the price demanded by their prospective caretakers meant they had to forgo other goods of greater value.

The whole thread is a catalog of agents who need to go to prison or lose their jobs, if prison is unavailable. Justice demands it. And fiscal responsibility. Why should the taxpayers pay for racist thugs to break the law?

ProPublica@propublica.org

The government *still* isn’t tracking how often immigration agents detain U.S. citizens. We are. 500+ Americans have been handcuffed, held at gunpoint or held against their will in Trump’s second term. Our tally is almost certainly an undercount. THREAD (content warning: violence) ⬇️

archive.nytimes.comWhat's Wrong With Inequality?Discrimination based on race, gender or class is the most obvious way we treat others unfairly. But it’s not the only way.

More from Anderson: "the fact that people come to occupy different positions in a social hierarchy as a result of choices they make doesn’t suffice to justify that hierarchy."

Interviewer: "we need to distinguish the cases of those who are poor and those who are not. ... the treatment of women and minorities has ... improved among people well above the poverty line. ... eliminating poverty is now the key to achieving racial and gender equality?"

Anderson: "Nevertheless we should not reduce other inequalities to poverty, or even to class inequality. Consider the fact that young college women suffer significant rates of sexual assault, even if they aren’t poor, and that they still rarely get justice in the courts or the wider culture."

dissentmagazine.orgThe Struggle for Meaningful Work - Dissent MagazineSocially necessary labor should entitle us to respect, decent pay, and safe conditions—not a duty to work relentlessly, without complaint.

"Do our economic arrangements encourage trust, sympathy, and cooperation, or do they foment distrust, exploitation, domination, contempt, and antagonism among individuals and social groups?"

By the always-illuminating Elizabeth S. Anderson

theguardian.comNew Google Maps images reveal massive scale of devastation in GazaSatellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire

"The estimate of the total amount of rubble in Gaza is 61m tonnes." It took *Japan* four years to clean up the approx. 20m tonnes of rubble produced by the 2011 tsunami.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil. What a show! Tanya is an excellent anti-hero -- one who will do just about anything to bring about peace. The show is an extended meditation on how virtuous motives cause vice and how vicious motives can cause virtue.

So few American entertainments in which a Nazi-like figure is treated with such ambiguity - as something other than an instantiation of pure wickedness. I imagine it has to do with the Holocaust and the USA's role in WWI/II.

In Tanya's world, the Holocaust is totally absent. Also Japan has a different relationship to WWII and imperialism than the USA does. So there is an unexpected amount of sympathy for imperialists in anime (even as they are *also* ultimately harshly judged).

The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes: I liked the movie a lot - though it is mostly a collage of already-existing tropes and the main ideas the movie expresses are not particularly original. #anime #TunneltoSummer #review

Her pining away is crucial to the tension of Kaoru's time in the tunnel as he goes to find his sister. When he starts getting her sad texts it's a gut punch - on top of an already weepy reunion with the sister! Second, her pining away leads to success, unlike the fruitless pining of 5cm per Second.

Witnessing Kaoru's life slip away while he is in the tunnel with his sister is *so* terrifying!

30 July

Years ago, I announced that I opposed all wrong-doing. And yet, people still accuse me of hypocrisy!

27 July

If white supremacists get credit for Newton's scientific achievements just because they are white, then they also get blame for the atrocities committed in the Belgian Congo. "I did that," is the white supremacist's position.

23 July

How strange that the Trump administration thinks it is okay to do what the Iranian state does, but also that they're "scum and liars" and a "gang of bloodthirsty thugs!" On second thought, maybe it's not that strange.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

** Rubio endorses war crimes ** During a gaggle at ASEAN, Rubio was given repeated opportunities to rule out the US will commit war crimes in Iran "Iran's policy is an eye for an eye. The president's policy is a head for an eye. They are going to suffer," he said Here a clip of Rubio's responses:

forbes.comWhite House Defends 1882 Immigration Law Excluding Chinese ImmigrantsThe Trump administration is defending the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act against the charge that the law had a racist intent.

15 July

I'm starting to suspect that MAGA may well harbor some not necessarily antiracist folks.

whitehouse.govwhitehouse.gov

15 July

Check out:

animenewsnetwork.comKirio Fan Club Anime Series ReviewIn less capable hands, this could have been a preachy show. Instead, it handles dark, difficult topics with respect while still gleefully poking fun at how silly people can be.

10 July

The funniest anime I've ever watched. And sweet. High schoolers, Aimi and Nami, share a crush on the same boy, Kirio. (Or do they?) Hilarity ensues as they do whatever necessary to obtain the object of their passion - e.g. black magic, song-writing. Grade: A. #anime #kiriofanclub #review

10 July

The show manages to entertain us with these girls' absurd adventures. And yet, somehow, it does this with great affection for them. I see a lot of my teenage self in them.

Here are two mechanisms that plausibly generally dispose coalitions of people seeking to promote social hierarchy to oppose science: (1) To a large degree, social hierarchy consists in personal authority. ("Because I said so!") (2) Social hierarchy tends to rest on falsehoods. ("We're special!")

Additionally, there are mechanisms that dispose coalitions of hierarchs to oppose science hereabouts in time and space. For example, climate change denialism responds to the particular facts hereabouts: the fact that greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming is inconvenient to monied interests.

Of course, sometimes people *are* special in various ways. For example, some people deserve admiration for their particular achievements. But hierarchs demand to be treated as if they were special in ways they are not. Consider white supremacy, which asserts that I am special because I am white.

Any attractive set of norms will include some immunity to demands for justification. For example, none may rightly demand that I justify my preference for decent strawberries over decent grapes. However, liberal norms tend to restrict the domain of the personal prerogative to the self.

EVALUATIONS Anzu's pining away was as sympathetic as the protagonist's pining away in 5cm per Second. She is separated from Kaoru for 8 years. She should have moved on (just as the movie makes it clear that Kaoru should move on from the death of his little sister).

EVALUATIONS But the foolishness (and unrealisticness) of her pining away was less annoying than in the case of 5cm per Second.

EVALUATIONS The animation did not stand out much to me. The character design was pretty conventional. Though: the tunnel looks great. The music did not stand out much to me.

EVALUATIONS The movie raised many interesting questions: Would I abandon my life to live in the tunnel (given a goal like Kaoru's)? What status does the sister have inside the tunnel? Is the alive again? Is she a figment? Should Kaoru be at all satisfied with his reunion with his sister?

EVALUATIONS The movie has a good pace. It ruthlessly focuses on its core: the relationship between Kaoru and Anzu, and their involvement with the tunnel. (It reminds me of the excellent, Look Back, with respect to its focus).

EVALUATIONS The tunnel is a great element. I was intrigued and interested to follow their investigations of it. Their share project makes their romance believable. They are drawn together by a shared secret, by shared activity, by pursuing their individual goals together. The tunnel looks great.

SPOILERS: Kaoru seeks to leave the twilight world, to be united with Anzu. Anzu enters the tunnel. Since the tunnel provides what has been lost, it reunites the two.

TROPES: The pining lover writes sad texts to the lost first love (see e.g. 5cm per Second). Aquarium date. Summer festival date (BTW: Chainsaw Man's festival scene mirrors the festival scene here). Beloved and lost little sister. Running to be reunited. The protagonists are virtually orphans. etc.

SPOILERS: Over the years, Anzu never stops messaging Kaoru (though she thinks he'll never see the messages). Kaoru (reunited with his dead sister in a twilight world) is surprised to start receiving Anzu's sad messages.

SPOILERS: Anzu discovers that realizing her dreams is not what she had hoped. Pining away for Kaoru and burned out, she returns to the place of the tunnel. Meanwhile, Kaoru, with gentle help from his little sister realizes that what he really wants is to be with Anzu.

SPOILERS: After investigating the tunnel, the two plan to enter the tunnel together. But, after learning about what Anzu wants from the tunnel, Kaoru enters without Anzu. He is sure that she already possesses the thing she would like to acquire - and, since he loves her, he goes without her.

SPOILERS: A heartbroken Anzu elects not to follow Kaoru down the tunnel. Kaoru proceeds far down the tunnel until, at last, he is reunited with his dead sister. Years pass: Anzu graduates from high school and begins to realize the dreams for which she had planned to enter the tunnel.

The plot: Kaoru Touno, a reclusive teen whose beloved little sister died some years ago, meets Anzu Hanashiro. The two fall in love as they explore a magical tunnel that can restore what is lost - but in which time proceeds at a greatly accelerated pace (e.g. 40 minutes for every second outside).

Kaoru seeks his lost sister. What Anzu seeks is a sort of personal change.

If someone insists that the United States is "a Christian nation." Ask whether they think it is a womens' nation. After all: women are a majority of the population of the United States.

Or, if you enjoy vexing bigots and you're talking to a fundy Protestant, ask (just to clarify!) whether Catholics and Mormons are Christians.

22 Apr

This is definitely a thing! There's a whole genre of YouTube videos of people reacting to the saddest anime (Dandadan, s1 e7; Grave of the Fireflies; Takopi's Original Sin; etc.). My guess is that the appeal of these reaction videos is shared emotions, even if the emotions are negative.

Acting the Fulemin@actingthefulemin.bsky.social

I think a lot of people think the point of sports is that your team will win and then you will be happy. That is not the point of sports. The point of sports is to be sad in a group