The Good Post Gallery

[Kitteh]

That entire Nixon thread belongs in here.

[Kitteh]

Very true.

To those who think he was a freedom fighter, I'd like genuinely like to hear your reasoning.  Even if he was a successful business leader, do you at least acknowledge his extreme anti-semitism and Nazi sympathies?  And if so, what is your rationale for ignoring those?  Just curious.

The same reason we all ignore negative qualities in people we like: we feel like it, and life is a lot easier that way.

[Kitteh]

These are some very interesting posts, and really what I had hoped this thread would turn into, instead of "how to get a girlfriend" or yet another Atlas Forum treasure trove of bad dating advice and misogyny. Thank you for sharing realisticidealist (and Torie).

I've always felt somewhat differently about the "nobody would choose to be gay" argument than most people, given that I feel like I did have a lot of choice w/r/t my sexual orientation and gender identity (a little bit more about the former than the latter, but still with both). I'm not saying it was completely a choice, but I do feel that without some conscious choice on my part I would have been a cisgender male and relatively happy about it (I mean, I'm pretty depressed overall right now, but that specifically wouldn't have been causing much discomfort). I also am not saying it is this way for everyone; I'm definitely a tiny minority here. I'm not entirely sure why I chose instead to be a pansexual transgender woman. Some of it is that I am pretty "feminine" in personality, but not in the sense that living as a feminine man would have been impossible or difficult. Tbqh, part of it was that being yet another cis-het man is sort of...boring (that sounds extremely pretentious and self-absorbed, I know). I'm sure a lot of it does have to do with growing up in the 21st century with liberal parents in a relatively tolerant area. Not that my family or everyone has been entirely accepting, but I'm sure if I was born at the time Torie was I it wouldn't have been a choice I would have ever made. Truth be told, when I read this:

I honestly don't care for men generally, by which I mean both that the masculine archetype disturbs and perplexes me and that I don't really have friends of my own gender...I just like women more in almost every way. I wonder sometimes if I "should" be one, but this thought is so apart from reality that I don't bother with it more than fleetingly.

...it made me wonder how similar I would be to RI if I had come from a similar background, because that really resonated with me and fits myself as well, though to a greater degree than RI was describing. Idk, I'm not 100% sure about what my own gender/sexuality actually is or how much of it was innate or chosen, but I've come to the conclusion that this is the kind of thing that isn't really rational, and "this feels right" is all the justification I or anyone needs. 

On a political level, I don't really like the "born this way" argument that so many pro-LGBT groups use, even if it is true for the vast majority of people. I'd much rather rally behind the banner of "acceptance and equal rights for all, regardless of gender or sexuality and whether or not it was a choice" than "this is just the way we are, there's no changing it, so get used to it". I see the utility of the latter for convincing people, but I feel uncomfortable when some LGBT people and allies insist that that's the way it is for everyone, period.

This whole thing sounded more composed in my head, but it came out sort of rambling. Sorry. I guess that's what the confession thread is for, right?

That was a good post? lol...I certainly didn't think so.

[Kitteh]

The Atlas has been somewhat important in that it's helped me realise that I don't like or particularly care about politics or even worse "policy". I think political "debate" is a sadistic waste of time, but I don't mean to imply I'm some kind of stoner nihilist or (although it's going to be hard to avoid that impression) but while obviously I care about some, even many 'issues' and like to think I have coherent views on those, I'm never going to formulate a list of 25 distinct political positions or whatever because I'm not and do not plan ever to be a candidate for elected office.

I have to concur with hash's wonderful post - over the years I've talked to him on here it's been clear we tend to be on more or less the same page politically and his post summarises my own views on "ideology" far more articulately than I could. I don't have any ideological affiliation, and that doesn't mean I'm some kind of "ideology is dead blah blah fiscally conservative socially liberal blah blah blah" moderate hero. It means I don't see the point in consciously choosing an identity because I have opinions on a few things I think are important. I'm not part of a movement because of things I believe, I'm just an unimportant and irrelevant person. I don't even bother voting any more because politics is just the art of massaging the public into believing in dehumanising institutions. Something something alienation something.

That said, I still think poor people should get to go to hospital and not starve to death, though, so if someone runs against that I will show up, and vote appropriately. So that's something.

TL;DR What hash said, F[Inks] THE SYSTEM MAAAAAAN 4/20, I don't believe in Beatles or Jesus.

[Kitteh]

Well, I should probably preface this by saying that I'm not as reflexively abhorring of nationalistic overtones the way many on Atlas tend to be, but Abe has demonstrated a very serious attitude when it comes to structural reforms (some good, some bad) in a ferociousness that has eluded Japanese leaders for a long, long time, and his approach to the economy (which can basically be summed up as "grow the economy, at all cost") has been fairly effective thusfar.

It's hard to hate his moxie, I suppose. Japan faces a lot of challenges very unique to them, and Abe has presented an agenda that he seems to be completely serious about implementing, which, in it's own right, is hard to not be impressed by. I suppose the best way I can compliment him is that, while he has a lot of negatives, he seems like the kind of leader Japan desperately needs.

His nationalism is a concern, his proposals for Constitutional reform are a little scary, his cabinet is pretty right-wing, and his party doesn't exactly have an impressive record in the last couple decades, to put it mildly, but Abe is a very interesting high-risk/high-reward kind of figure at the moment. He's a radical, to be sure.. but sometimes you have to take a chance with a radical.

[Kitteh]

Moreover, wishing a genocidal totalitarian dictatorship on one's own countrymen as opposed to a semi-authoritarian regime overseas is insane.

Yep.

Yep.

[Kitteh]

I actually heard the opposite theory, that it accelerated the gay rights movement.  This is based on the idea that the most important weapon in the advance of gay rights has been the increasing visibility of glbt people in every arena of life.

In the 1970's, according to the theory, openly gay people were a phenomenon mainly of a few large cities.  Most Americans knew a "confirmed bachelor" or two women who were "roommates" for 30 years, but they didn't know any "gay" people.  And closeted gay people enjoyed the freedom of not having to deal with any backlash.  Don't ask, don't tell.

AIDS changed everything.  Gay men started getting visible lesions, starting dying, all over the country.  In tons of families.  In tons of workplaces.  And their friends and relatives were forced to face the harsh light of reality for the first time.

For those gay men not infected, they spent their time going to more funerals than most 80-year-olds, while society at large seemed completely indifferent.  Keeping their mouths shut suddenly had less appeal.

According to the theory, it was AIDS that destroyed the "closet", both for those infected and for those who weren't.  And once gay people were everywhere, gay rights became pretty much unstoppable.

[Kitteh]

Agreeing with this will probably get me pilloried in some quarters, but whatever.

Joe Lhota is the only candidate who would prefer kittens being run over to delayed subway trains so far, for the record.

Good for him. We're talking about a city where millions of people rely on public transportation to get around every day. The alternative is routinely stranding thousands of people for long periods of time (in the case of the kitten-herding incident earlier this week, at least ninety minutes). This isn't a decision that the mayor would make, but it's disappointing to see that only one candidate would put keeping the city functioning ahead of pandering.

But kitties... T___T

Seriously, though, if Americans learned to be less uptight about keeping to a rigorously scheduled and overworked life this would be much less of a problem. Americans desperately need more relaxation time, people should be celebrating the extra hour and a half to just chill. I don't think there would be such uproar if this happened in the Paris Metro for example.

[Kitteh]

Agreeing with this will probably get me pilloried in some quarters, but whatever.

Joe Lhota is the only candidate who would prefer kittens being run over to delayed subway trains so far, for the record.

Good for him. We're talking about a city where millions of people rely on public transportation to get around every day. The alternative is routinely stranding thousands of people for long periods of time (in the case of the kitten-herding incident earlier this week, at least ninety minutes). This isn't a decision that the mayor would make, but it's disappointing to see that only one candidate would put keeping the city functioning ahead of pandering.

But kitties... T___T

Seriously, though, if Americans learned to be less uptight about keeping to a rigorously scheduled and overworked life this would be much less of a problem. Americans desperately need more relaxation time, people should be celebrating the extra hour and a half to just chill. I don't think there would be such uproar if this happened in the Paris Metro for example.

The fact that Americans' lives are on average overscheduled and overworked really can't be an excuse for saying that it's okay to shut down crucial public services.  Down that path lies... nothing good.

(Two big reasons: while I'm sure some folks can just "chill out", it's quite presumptuous and I'm sure wrong to assume that nobody who was inconvenienced by this didn't have a genuine emergency to attend to, or wasn't materially harmed by missing work, doctor's appointments, flights, etc. etc. etc.  Secondly, I really don't like how this line of thinking can be extended to become a justification for poor/shoddy/spotty service in general.)

I'm not advocating letting general public transit standards decline, but I do believe that the lives of animals deserve moral consideration; and pointing out that the inconvenience caused by this was overblown, symptomatic of a much larger problem, and miniscule in comparison to the harm that is caused by ending a creature's life even when multiplied out thousands of times is absolutely relevant to the utilitarian calculus here.

[Kitteh]

Personally, the fact that women are, in fact not equal anywhere in the world despite all of the efforts of the feminist movement is pretty obvious. Yes, there are issues- such as child custody, and education, life expectancy, and so on where women are favored over men, and these are important. And it's important that there are people who are working on them- but it makes sense that these people be men. After all, men are the most adversely affected by these issues, we are the ones who have the most stake and understanding there. So I understand why feminists, per se, don't work on these issues. And I think these exceptions are generally just that - they are still subordinate to the general kyriarchy of social relations, which men, (as defined by the kyriarchy itself - as are the whole concepts of masculine and feminine) are placed on a higher position than women. I would say it is less about men vs. women per se than analysis and social critique, in general. Which also extends to race, class, sexual orientation, disability, body and beauty standards, and so on. Actually, the older I get, the more firmly rooted I see that this hierarchy is in multiple ways.

tfw someone other than me or Nathan uses the term kyriarchy here

[Kitteh]

Center-left", "center-right", "social issues", and "economic issues" are  hopelessly vague and thus, meaningless terms, especially in the context of American politics.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Kitteh]

Well, as bullying is often caused by the victim not fitting the things the society expects it to be, I'm not sure than social conservatism and anti-bullying is compatible.

^This comment is a perfect example of bullying people in the minority, in this case, conservatives on this site. What a close-minded thing to say. I expected better of you.

Only in this place would people bring up making fun of other people's political views on the internet as a relevant counter to an argument about bullying in schools

[Kitteh]

Well, as bullying is often caused by the victim not fitting the things the society expects it to be, I'm not sure than social conservatism and anti-bullying is compatible.

^This comment is a perfect example of bullying people in the minority, in this case, conservatives on this site. What a close-minded thing to say. I expected better of you.

Only in this place would people bring up making fun of other people's political views on the internet as a relevant counter to an argument about bullying in schools

I think you misoverestimate humanity.

I think I expect humanity to be obsessed with pop culture bullsh!t rather than weird nerdish internet bullsh!t, although I guess those two aren't mutually exclusive.

[Kitteh]

Judging by the internet, Pornography. Lots and Lots of Pornography. Why do you ask?

In fact they want sex with attractive well shaped healthy young women of late teens to very early twenties in age.  But, alas, the society is a sick and malformed one so this is unavailable to most.  Thus, they want the only substitute: pornography.

Well, not true.  I have no attraction to well shaped healthy young women of late teens to very early twenties.  There are, however, plenty of well shaped healthy young men of late teens to very early twenties (and beyond).

But I think i get opebo's point.

Gay dudes definitely watch porn as much as straight dudes do despite having a much easier time getting laid in general. I think that's a big hole (lol) in this theory.

[Kitteh]

Judging by the internet, Pornography. Lots and Lots of Pornography. Why do you ask?

In fact they want sex with attractive well shaped healthy young women of late teens to very early twenties in age.  But, alas, the society is a sick and malformed one so this is unavailable to most.  Thus, they want the only substitute: pornography.

Well, not true.  I have no attraction to well shaped healthy young women of late teens to very early twenties.  There are, however, plenty of well shaped healthy young men of late teens to very early twenties (and beyond).

But I think i get opebo's point.

Gay dudes definitely watch porn as much as straight dudes do despite having a much easier time getting laid in general. I think that's a big hole (lol) in this theory.

Gay dudes have it easier getting laid?  Check your priv, kitty kat

Even considering flyover country, i still think that statement is true. But maybe you guys are just less whiny about it when you can't.

[Kitteh]

Gays have one huge advantage: their target group also wants sex.

Haha, what. Have you met women? They enjoy good sex. More than men do, I think.

Like many places on the internet I think men here confuse "women don't want to have sex with me" with "women don't want to have sex".

[Kitteh]

Like many places on the internet I think men here confuse "women don't want to have sex with me" with "attractive women don't want to have sex".

Not a very important point, since it's true for an overwhelming majority of male population. Unfortunately most of the working-class males in US are too dumb to emigrate to fix the problem for themselves and their bros at home.

ITT:

[Kitteh]

Seatown's and opebo's posts seem a little contradictory, no? :b

Anyway I know you guys are trolling (as am I) but before some of the impressionable naive 15 year olds here get the wrong idea if you're having trouble finding people to have sex with working on your social skills is much easier and more likely to work than emigrating. just fyi.