Hotter, Badder, and Unpopularer Takes

[brucejoel99]

This one is mine, I want a complete and total nazi to run for presidency as an independent with the armband, the hate speech, the hitler salutes, the whole nine yards, and blame Trump and say he is not with the white people etc, and siphon off a point or two from the republicans.

Have you considered that that Nazi could insight violence against minorities from his followers?

Yeah, but things are already so bad I'd be fine with making things worse for a few months in a valiant effort to make them better in the end.

Congratulations. That post is simultaneously so white mayonnaise puts IT on White Bread, and simultaneously deserves the facepalm meme.

Think about what you're saying. I realize this is an extremely far-fetched idea, and you're just venting. Nevertheless, do you realize how it is minorities might die in order that the Republicans would lose an election?

It's not just republicans losing an election, it is getting rid of Trump, something I value so much that if Trump was guaranteed to resign or lose reelection, I'd be willing to trade in my life for it. Make no mistake, Trump is an enemy and we need to push back against him, and with any push we have to expect losses, but know that the gain will be worth it in the end, and take the words of President Washington to heart "We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor" Make no mistake, another term of Trump will permanently alter our democracy and kill at least several thousand more through its policies. We have to see it as the threat it is, and be willing to push back, and even take severe losses. I actually shared this with my dad, and he completely agreed with me. We all have to be willing to sacrifice a lot as individuals and a community to rid us of Trump. And by the way, I proudly have Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Hot (but Good & Popular) Take: Bagel's priorities are f**king messed up.

[brucejoel99]

George Harrison is one of the least deserving artists in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's in because of his image and the fact that he was in the same band as John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not because of his music as a solo artist. (Sure, the same is true for Stevie Nicks, but saying that about her isn't a hot, bad, or unpopular take)

booooo!

&

That take was so hot that it sped up global warming by ten years. Harrison carried Lennon if anything.

[brucejoel99]

How exactly did Harrison carry Lennon?

And I'm only talking about George's solo career. There's a reason that he had a greatest hits album that included Beatles tracks but none of the other 3 did.

He created beautiful guitar instrumentation for most, if not all of the Beatles' classics. He wrote their loveliest songs with the most thoughtful lyrics. He was a great vocalist who sung lead on his own songs & provided wonderful harmonies for the others'. He was their diligent craftsman, who'd work on a guitar arrangement until he perfected it. He was their master guitar player (let alone somebody who played over 20 instruments, including sitar) & songwriter, as well as an excellent singer, who just drew the short straw of having his vast talent overlooked by the media, who concentrated most on John & Paul.

As for his Greatest Hits album having included Beatles tracks, blame that on the terms of his EMI/Capitol-affiliated Apple Records contract, & not the quality of his solo catalog (of which nearly half had yet to even be made, let alone released, since Capitol Records opted to make his Greatest Hits album in 1976).

[brucejoel99]

I have no idea what compels people to feel that they have to "give back" to their communities. Community organizers, community service, community activism... none of it makes sense to me. I cannot fathom why anyone would want to be in contact with their neighbors any more than they absolutely have to. I assume that anyone who does these things is either a liar or has an ulterior motive. Either they enjoy having the illusion of power (in the case of certain community positions), or they are being forced to do it for legal reasons. Mostly I assume that they're status-seekers and want to give off the appearance of being kind and virtuous people. I have no patience for anyone who invests that much time in trying to impress others, so I have deep disdain for anyone who does community service for this reason.

This is why I find Andrew Yang so heartbreakingly naive. He's said multiple times that if people have more money and thereby more free time, they'll spend that time volunteering. Every time he makes that claim, I have to suppress my laughter. You're going to give me $12,000 a year, and you expect me to... what? Volunteer at a soup kitchen? Sorry, but whether you give me twelve thousand or twelve million dollars, I'm still going to be the same person I always was. My time is way more valuable to me than the opinions of other people. I don't care if you volunteered to clean up a highway or flew to Ecuador to build houses for impoverished hill people. It's all just virtue-signaling.

Yeah, this is certainly a hot take lol

[brucejoel99]

Iceland's policy on downs syndrome should be applied elsewhere.

I'll see that take and raise you the take that Iceland's treatment of Down Syndrome (my understanding is that it can't really be called a "policy") should attract the same level of opprobrium that China got for the one child policy.

One child policy at least makes sense pragmatically even if it is awful on moral and human rights grounds. What Iceland is doing is pure eugenics and pseudoscience.

Y'all are hugely misinformed.

Iceland doesn't have a policy against Down syndrome. What they do have is a requirement that all expectant mothers must be informed about the availability of a screening test that reveals the likelihood of a child being born with Down syndrome.

That's it.

No, Iceland doesn't mandate abortions for mothers whose unborn children test positive for Down syndrome, & no, expectant mothers aren't even required to actually take that test in the first place. Only around 80-85% of pregnant women actually choose to take the prenatal screening test. The only difference between Iceland & a country like the U.S. is that a vast majority of Icelandic women (close to 100%) who received a positive test for Down syndrome chose to terminate their pregnancy, compared to only 68% in the U.S.

[brucejoel99]

"Avengers: Endgame" was lazy story-telling.

Okay, I seriously disagree here. Endgame was fantastic, & quite possibly the best superhero film since Logan.

Let's break it down.

The first hour was crucial. If they didn't let the effects of the Snap settle, then there'd be no weight to it. If the movie had picked up 10 minutes after Infinity War & they got right back to undoing it, then Infinity War might as well have never happened. The first half needed to establish how each character took the Snap, how people are still in a depression, & how the world is astronomically worse off. It needed to establish how not everybody 'lost' (Tony benefited from the Snap), how certain people lost everything (Thor was sent into a total depression), & where each character ended up, including how Clint dealt with his family's death, how Bruce became Professor Hulk, & how Steve/Natasha have dealt with their own failure. It also needed to establish how Ant-Man escapes the Quantum Realm, why Captain Marvel is notably absent, & just the general tone of hopelessness. If the opening hour wasn't so dismal, grim, & hopeless, then the climax wouldn't work at all.

Secondly, the 2nd act (like everything) serves a purpose. The New York battle primarily served to show how Steve has changed across his whole arc (the "Hail Hydra" bit was honestly genius filmmaking), as well as establish the consequences for space-time if they fail to return all of the stones. Then, the Vorimir sequence fulfills Natasha's character arc in a fitting way (she finally "wipes out the red in her ledger"), while Morag establishes the climax & how Thanos reshapes his world-view. The Asgard sequence fulfills Thor's arc (for the Infinity Saga, at least) in finally accepting his place in the world, while the '70s-sequence sets up Steve's eventual departure & gives Tony much-needed closure with his father. Everything served a purpose, & the 2nd act's was to establish how the characters have changed over what has been - for them - nearly 15 years.

Furthermore, the final act is almost universally agreed to be f**king awesome. Yeah, it's basically 30 minutes of action & 10 minutes of bowing, but still: f**king awesome nonetheless.

Regardless, the pacing needed to be slow & the action needed to be sparse. It was the finale, after all. The bow on top. The pièce de résistance for a long, long journey. I don't know how emotionally connected you may or may not feel to these films, but consider it from the perspective of somebody who does; we wanted to see an emotionally-fulfilling arc. And hell, I'm not ashamed to say it: I cried at Endgame. When Tony hugged Peter, I bawled by damn eyes out. And that's because the setup from so many movies led to this. Plus, the overall lack of action only made the finale that bit more sweet. It felt earned. It felt justified. It made it feel that bit more epic.

Perhaps it was self-indulgent, but it was most certainly earned. For example, did you know that "Avengers... Assemble!" was the first time, in all 23 movies, that the full quote was said? That's restraint. That's self-indulgent fan-service to the extreme, but it was earned to the point that I still get chills everytime I see it. It may be 3 hours of fan service, & that might be meaningless if you're not a proper fan of the franchise, which is fine, but I think anybody who approaches Endgame without much investment is like going into the final season of a long-running TV show & complaining that it doesn't invest you. It's definitely self-indulgent, but I think it more than earned it. Everything was done to service the fans, but it wasn't cheap or lazy; it was damn earned with restraint, teasing, & ample setup.

Sorry for the rant, but yeah, I have a duty to fight takes like yours to the grave lol

[brucejoel99]

"Avengers: Endgame" was lazy story-telling.

Okay, I seriously disagree here. Endgame was fantastic, & quite possibly the best superhero film since Logan.

Let's break it down.

The first hour was crucial. If they didn't let the effects of the Snap settle, then there'd be no weight to it. If the movie had picked up 10 minutes after Infinity War & they got right back to undoing it, then Infinity War might as well have never happened. The first half needed to establish how each character took the Snap, how people are still in a depression, & how the world is astronomically worse off. It needed to establish how not everybody 'lost' (Tony benefited from the Snap), how certain people lost everything (Thor was sent into a total depression), & where each character ended up, including how Clint dealt with his family's death, how Bruce became Professor Hulk, & how Steve/Natasha have dealt with their own failure. It also needed to establish how Ant-Man escapes the Quantum Realm, why Captain Marvel is notably absent, & just the general tone of hopelessness. If the opening hour wasn't so dismal, grim, & hopeless, then the climax wouldn't work at all.

Secondly, the 2nd act (like everything) serves a purpose. The New York battle primarily served to show how Steve has changed across his whole arc (the "Hail Hydra" bit was honestly genius filmmaking), as well as establish the consequences for space-time if they fail to return all of the stones. Then, the Vorimir sequence fulfills Natasha's character arc in a fitting way (she finally "wipes out the red in her ledger"), while Morag establishes the climax & how Thanos reshapes his world-view. The Asgard sequence fulfills Thor's arc (for the Infinity Saga, at least) in finally accepting his place in the world, while the '70s-sequence sets up Steve's eventual departure & gives Tony much-needed closure with his father. Everything served a purpose, & the 2nd act's was to establish how the characters have changed over what has been - for them - nearly 15 years.

Furthermore, the final act is almost universally agreed to be f**king awesome. Yeah, it's basically 30 minutes of action & 10 minutes of bowing, but still: f**king awesome nonetheless.

Regardless, the pacing needed to be slow & the action needed to be sparse. It was the finale, after all. The bow on top. The pièce de résistance for a long, long journey. I don't know how emotionally connected you may or may not feel to these films, but consider it from the perspective of somebody who does; we wanted to see an emotionally-fulfilling arc. And hell, I'm not ashamed to say it: I cried at Endgame. When Tony hugged Peter, I bawled by damn eyes out. And that's because the setup from so many movies led to this. Plus, the overall lack of action only made the finale that bit more sweet. It felt earned. It felt justified. It made it feel that bit more epic.

Perhaps it was self-indulgent, but it was most certainly earned. For example, did you know that "Avengers... Assemble!" was the first time, in all 23 movies, that the full quote was said? That's restraint. That's self-indulgent fan-service to the extreme, but it was earned to the point that I still get chills everytime I see it. It may be 3 hours of fan service, & that might be meaningless if you're not a proper fan of the franchise, which is fine, but I think anybody who approaches Endgame without much investment is like going into the final season of a long-running TV show & complaining that it doesn't invest you. It's definitely self-indulgent, but I think it more than earned it. Everything was done to service the fans, but it wasn't cheap or lazy; it was damn earned with restraint, teasing, & ample setup.

Sorry for the rant, but yeah, I have a duty to fight takes like yours to the grave lol

I'm talking about the entire idea. Far cooler to rebuild team with the B-list guys (I'm stealing a page from the Mike Allred run on X-Force here) and go and take on Thanos or whomever and win. IDK. I didn't follow the Marvel franchise. I don't have an emotional stake in this. Just not a fan of resurrecting half your cast so you get points from killing them and then increased points from being able to continue using them.

Fair enough, I guess. It's a cool idea, I'd grant you that, but at that point, it's also just a different movie if we're not getting the heroes' fitting character arcs (& final resolutions), especially for the OG 6 Avengers.

[brucejoel99]

Here’s a good one:

Prince Harry is a douche.

Maybe in his younger days, but he's definitely seemed to mature over the last number of years.

[brucejoel99]

Here’s a good one:

Prince Harry is a douche.

Maybe in his younger days, but he's definitely seemed to mature over the last number of years.

Why do Americans care about these people, again?  They should be evaluated by the same standards of any Kardashian or Osbourne type celebrity family

It derives from America's common heritage with that of the UK & the fact the "Special Relationship" truly is special. Our countries share so many common values that we naturally take an interest in our neighbors across the pond.

In terms of the interest in monarchy itself, I think Edmund Burke touched upon this when he discussed the beauty of the Sublime (which can include monarchy).

[brucejoel99]

"The Washington Football Team" name change is a deliberate psychological operation meant to subconsciously influence the public into believing that the only way to avoid racist, problematic names is to have boring, nondescript, "no fun allowed" names.

[brucejoel99]

In hindsight, Washington should've accepted the offer for him to become the King of the United States. Had he done so, we likely would've just been a parliamentary democracy with a purely ceremonial constitutional monarch by now, thereby avoiding all of the dysfunction & gridlock which has stemmed (at least in part) from us being a presidential republic.

[brucejoel99]

Peanut Butter M&Ms > Reese's Pieces.

Is this really a hot, bad, &/or unpopular take?

[brucejoel99]

Peanut Butter M&Ms > Reese's Pieces.

Is this really a hot, bad, &/or unpopular take?

I've had my fair share of criticism on it
https://twitter.com/keirjwilson/status/1373520137417072640?s=21

In fairness, their tweet's also got 0 likes, so you could always justify it as them having the hot take