Hotter, Badder, and Unpopularer Takes

[Hindsight was 2020]

In kind of keeping with my previous revolutions hot take theme I also would like to say that people I feel generally don’t appreciate how unique of a revolution our country had. So many times throughout history revolutions see one dictatorship just be replaced by another because said revolution was just an organic groundswell against the current regime with no idea of what comes after resulting in a momentary time a crisis that strongmen can exploit. But by 1776 (less than a year into the war) our founders actually had (very) rough idea of what type of government we’d have if we won. The fact there was a game plan shows the founding fathers deserve the praise they get for their brilliance

[Antonio the Sixth]

Bit of a random issue but I’ve noticed in documentaries about the French Revolution that there is an uncomfortable amount of leftists academics that completely support the reign of terror and subscribe to the Leninist idea that no revolution can be made without mass violence and state terror. In particular there is a documentary on Robespierre were Slavoj Zizek comes off like a blood thirsty madman

I don't think that's a particularly hot take (if anything, that seems to be the standard attitude among Anglo-Saxon liberals), so let me play the devil's advocate and provide an actual hot take: while it absolutely went too far (and in the end became ridiculously counterproductive for the revolutionary government itself), it is hard to deny that the terror was to some extent necessary for the revolution to survive in late 1792 - early 1793. With counterrevolutionary insurgencies popping up everywhere and multiple foreign armies on the brink of marching on Paris, only decisive and sometimes brutal actions could prevent the inevitable. And of course, had the French revolution been quashed so early, it's very doubtful than even the moderate form of democracy that we saw emerge in the 19th century would have taken hold in Europe. It's possible that the advance of democracy would have been set back by another century. (And before you tell me that democracy was an inevitable consequence of industrialization - no, it wasn't. Plenty of countries have industrialized and remained authoritarian regime, with industrial growth strengthening the regime as often as it weakened it. Without the key ideals that the French revolution spread through Europe, there would never have been such a strong impetus for democracy across the continent.)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Trade is a tool, and I've never understood why anyone would have a rigorous, inflexible ideological stance on trade policy.

[John Dule]

Bit of a random issue but I’ve noticed in documentaries about the French Revolution that there is an uncomfortable amount of leftists academics that completely support the reign of terror and subscribe to the Leninist idea that no revolution can be made without mass violence and state terror. In particular there is a documentary on Robespierre were Slavoj Zizek comes off like a blood thirsty madman

Seems about right.

[Devout Centrist]

People take Stars Wars too seriously. It's not that important.

[AtorBoltox]

I see Antonio's take and respect it greatly, but raise him a hotter one.

The Force Awakens was the last time the linear-canon Star Wars movies felt anything at all like Star Wars.

I'll raise you an even hotter take: Star Wars, including the original trilogy, is not very good

[afleitch]

I won't clog up this thread too much responding to everything, but I am in no way "set in stone" on my opinion of him, and I will certainly do more research; I didn't even know who he was a few weeks ago. However, from actual things I have heard him say so far, I have not gotten the impression he is intolerant or doing anything other than voicing his opinion that a desire for political correctness should never trump free speech ... and I largely agree with that, as do most mainstream liberals to my knowledge.  If my further research leads me to the conclusion of some of the posters here, I will obviously change my opinion.

I'd recommend you read/watch critiques of him. As Nathan pointed out, Natalie Wynne/Contrapoints is pretty good.

You'll get wonderful lolz from him dreaming about his grandmothers pubic hair, claiming not to sleep for 25 days straight, his all meat diet, claims that ancient shamans knew what DNA looked like, climate change denial, claiming you can't stop smoking without supernatural intervention and many many more.

Seriously. He's actually hilarious.

[Hindsight was 2020]

The gospel according to Mark is the most interesting read of the four gospels from a literary standpoint. Jesus doesn’t come off as divine as in the other 3 so when it’s revealed he comes back from the dead it’s treated as this big shocking reveal. So from a pure reading standpoint you’d actually feel more at stake when goes into his passion

[KaiserDave]

I won't clog up this thread too much responding to everything, but I am in no way "set in stone" on my opinion of him, and I will certainly do more research; I didn't even know who he was a few weeks ago.  However, from actual things I have heard him say so far, I have not gotten the impression he is intolerant or doing anything other than voicing his opinion that a desire for political correctness should never trump free speech ... and I largely agree with that, as do most mainstream liberals to my knowledge.  If my further research leads me to the conclusion of some of the posters here, I will obviously change my opinion.

His Holocaust opinions are....interesting

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The gospel according to Mark is the most interesting read of the four gospels from a literary standpoint. Jesus doesn’t come off as divine as in the other 3 so when it’s revealed he comes back from the dead it’s treated as this big shocking reveal. So from a pure reading standpoint you’d actually feel more at stake when goes into his passion

This isn't that uncommon a take. Luke is the fan-favorite Gospel (so to speak) but all four of them do have their partisans, and plenty of people do like Mark best for this reason.

[Mr. Smith]

Canto Blight was the only good part of The Last Jedi.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Canto Blight was the only good part of The Last Jedi.

I wouldn't go so far, but I'd definitely say that Rose was the best character in it.

[BP🌹]

The word 'terrorist' needs to be retired. If it was ever a useful term that was consistently applied, it certainly isn't now.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Judging people based on their intelligence is absolutely abhorrent, and is barely even a step up from judging people based on their physical appearance.

[morgankingsley]

Canto Blight was the only good part of The Last Jedi.

No the best part was Mary poppins leia

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Judging people based on their intelligence is absolutely abhorrent, and is barely even a step up from judging people based on their physical appearance.

Both of these are regular and often incredibly practical parts of everyday life, tho.

[morgankingsley]

I didnt like Pulp Fiction

[Hindsight was 2020]

BLM and the Ferguson riots are what really sped up the WWC movement to Trump

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Judging people based on their intelligence is absolutely abhorrent, and is barely even a step up from judging people based on their physical appearance.

Both of these are regular and often incredibly practical parts of everyday life, tho.

Here's another hot, bad, and unpopular take: So are a lot of morally abhorrent practices.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Judging people based on their intelligence is absolutely abhorrent, and is barely even a step up from judging people based on their physical appearance.

Both of these are regular and often incredibly practical parts of everyday life, tho.

Here's another hot, bad, and unpopular take: So are a lot of morally abhorrent practices.

Equally sincere but more productive response: I'm referring to judging the content of someone's character and coming to a determination about their moral worth based on these traits, not to judging their suitably for a particular task or compatibility with a particular acquaintance.

[Hindsight was 2020]

I’m pretty sure Whacking Day was actually started in 1924 as an excuse to beat the Irish

[Gracile]

I have been a Sanders supporter since mid-2015 and I've never heard of half of these internet commentators his detractors keep bringing up as speaking for a wide swath of his supporters - nor do I care to find out.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

In terms of looks Margot Robbie is pretty overrated. Is she a pretty attractive woman? Obviously. Is she the HOTTEST WOMAN EVER CAUSES FEELINGS JUST LOOKING AT HER like many guys and quite a few lesbians rave about? Not exactly.

She is a very talented and utterly fantastic actress of course.

[BP🌹]

If Trump has caused as much damage to American institutions as his biggest critics allege, that's a good thing because those institutions were garbage anyway.

To be clear: I despise Trump, but I think TDS is real, and don't like spending so much energy on criticizing him because he's only one person and one aspect of a wretched system.

[Hammy]

Political exposé books are useless other than as profit machines for the author, rather than being anything that will change minds, because the only people who buy them already believe everything that's in them beforehand.