Random political thought thread.

[ygolo]

Edit:
@The Cat It seems our youtube feeds are somewhat similar.

I posted this before I saw your post

 

[ygolo]

It somehow feels less impossible now.​

I don't catch your meaning. I never saw Gremlins 2.

 

[The Cat]

I don't catch your meaning. I never saw Gremlins 2.

Gremlins happen when rules are broken and the little monsters destroy and pillage things other people built. The movie gremlins II the new batch is a notable film becaus after the unexpected success of the first gremlins movie they over stuffed the "plot" of the second movie with more and more budget and chaos, the result was...something.

 

[ygolo]

Gremlins happen when rules are broken and the little monsters destroy and pillage things other people built. The movie gremlins II the new batch is a notable film becaus after the unexpected success of the first gremlins movie they over stuffed the "plot" of the second movie with more and more budget and chaos, the result was...something.

I didn't even know they made a Gremlins 2.

I do think the Gremlins theme suffers a bit from the "Yellow Peril" that infests US entertainment (where was gizmo from?)

 

[The Cat]

I didn't even know they made a Gremlins 2.

I do think the Gremlins theme suffers a bit from the "Yellow Peril" that infests US entertainment (where was gizmo from?)

Gremlins originally come from the folklore of the old Air Corps. Gremlins break airplanes in flight. There was (ironically) an old warner brothers wartime cartoon about the little gremlin trying to break bugs bunny's plane. The 80's movie 80's the hell out of the premise, and the 90's movie as the 90's did, tried to top it. I suspect the people involved in both movies were high on something, but I don't know if they had any sort of cultural axe to grind, though were it be rebooted today, I somehow doubt anyone would feel that any lessons we're learned in any aspect of the movie. Incidentally one of the the "villains" of Gremlins II was based on Donald Trump. Mr. Clamp.

 

[The Cat]

but its never specifically stated where Gizmo comes from but the implication seems to be that he could be some sort of curiosity out of the mysterious new business venturelands of the far east. As I recall there was a time in Hollywood that was once dubbed "asian fever" and a lot of various asian cultures were milked for all they could think of. Whether or not Big Trouble in Little China was a good movie or not the world may never know, but for a time...it was a very popular movie for good or ill. Like Porkys, Revenge of the Nerds, Meatballs...I gotta say I'm not sure what the over all theme of the 80's and 90's was supposed to be apart from: Consume. So, one could certainly wonder.

 

[ygolo]

As an Asian, the Asian hate in Hollywood is undeniable.

 

[The Cat]

Cant wait to see how the goal post/finish line moves in the conversation next.

 

[The Cat]

He only wants more babies because he's hungry.

 

[The Cat]

If they would pay a living wage and offer decent healthcare wages I would be an orange picker so fucking fast their heads would spin....and I mean for a reason other than being possessed by greed demons.​

 

[The Cat]

But it doesnt matter because fixing the problems isnt the point. Profiting off the loss, misery and suffering of others they can force to make less so they can more lazily look down on everyone else is the point.

 

[Virtual ghost]

World’s cartoonists on this week’s events


LOL

 

[The Cat]

but forcing births has disaster written all over it.

Depends on whether you get off on "ranching" people. Some of those in charge now most certainly do.

 

[SensEye]

Identity policies on the Right:

Christian Identity policies
Christian Nationalist policies also align with anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-transgender policies.

Prayer and displaying the Ten Commandments in schools is identity policy to reinforce one religious identity.

Anti-Muslim policies are also identity based when they don’t involve equal treatment under the law.

Anti-environmentalism also aligns with Christian Nationalist belief in the End Times and The Rapture. Their theology included plagues and destruction preceding the return of Jesus.

Wealthy class identity policies
Tax cuts for the most wealthy, enabling conflict of interest systems in governance, profits over environmentalism, etc. etc.

Racial Identity policies:
Racial/cultural dominance through policies increasing birth-rate in developed countries with emphasis on Caucasian European heritage. This also extends to policies deterring transgenderism and gay marriage which are assumed to lessen the number of offspring. Limiting abortion rights are for this same purpose. Diminishing women’s rights also makes them more dependent on men and more likely to stay home and have more offspring. Controlling population outcomes via reproduction is effective - it’s the reason Catholicism is a dominant religion because it grows exponentially.

Abolishing DEI to enable subjective preference for white and wealthy applicants is identity policy. DEI is an attempt to balance against an existing racial, gender, and socio-economic preferences that overshadow merit.

Musk’s concern about low birth rate and diminished work force has another solution in the U.S. - bring in younger immigrants en masse to replace the work force. And yet there is talk of deporting babies. This demonstrates the racial subtext to all these birth and immigrant (population control) related policies.

The messaging is clear throughout MAGA to deliberately construct through policy and force a very specific unified cultural and racial identity in the U.S.

The extreme psychological behavioral expressions of tattoos and house alteration are people expressing this extreme unification of intentional identity on the Right. The identity politic message is so strong that people are losing a sense of self when they embrace it.

It’s ALL identity on the Right.

Elon Musk urges people in developed countries to have more children

Musk urged Italians and the people of other industrialised countries to have more children "or the culture of Italy, Japan and France will disappear."

www.euronews.com

You seem to be playing semantics with the term. If everything is related to identity, then sure, I guess both the left and right play identity politics.

I don't think of religion as identity politics because many races and genders are Christians. It's a big tent. For some mysterious reason, the right seem more inclined to be involved with religious politics I will admit. I despise any religion in politics.

Same comment on class. All races and genders can be wealthy.

Racial Identity politics are what we are talking about. I suppose I could agree both the left and the right are overly caught up in this area. The left definitely seems most obsessed with it though.

In any event, politically, I am mostly interested in economic issues, government service issues, and law and order issues (not just crime, but fair elections, unbiased judiciary, border control, separation of church and state, etc. ) as I feel these are key topics for a stable and prosperous society. Identity politics contribute little in my mind, and are primarily driven by emotional outrage by one group or the other. These issues should all have low priority in the political realm IMO.

 

[Coriolis]

I would argue that immigration policy is not identity politics. All nations (which include various races) have border regulations, as well they should. So I am going to strike that one. Also, unwinding DEI type initiatives, while related to identity politics, is more of an attempt to distance public policy from it.

Youtube videos from racist morons are not relevant. I need specific government policies designed to promote certain identities over others to convince me Conservatives are more into identity politics than the left.

I think the only example I recall so far, would be banning transgender people from the military. That I would consider identity politics. I would let any able bodied member of society serve if they wanted to.

The newly confirmed secretary of defense has questioned the presence of women in the military. It is possible he will sack senior female leaders, including the current Chief of Naval Operations. During Trump's first term, promotion of dozens of women to general officer ranks were held up because of gender bias.

The best way to get rid of identity politics is to stop excluding or limiting people because of their identity.

As I replied to Siúil a Rúin earlier, "DEI" is best promoted early in the pipeline, to address biases in education that keep children in historically disadvantaged groups from receiving the education they need to be accepted into good higher education programs, whether academic or trade. Then, as she mentioned, implement hiring practices that come as close as possible to those auditions behind a screen, where all the hiring manager sees is the qualifications, not the irrelevant aspects of identity. It has been soundly demonstrated that we all have internal, unconscious biases. The best we can do is to acknowledge this, and do all we can to remove it from the process.

As for what DEI really does on the job: in my experience, spanning government, industry, and academia, it has had two main functions. 1) Promoting outreach to underrepresented groups in recruiting, e.g. job fairs at HBCUs, presentations at SWE or WISE, etc. People can't apply for positions they are unaware of, or where they think they won't be treated fairly because of the track record of the industry. Encouraging people in underrepresented groups to apply does not require they be hired if they are less qualified than other candidates. It simply ensures hiring managers are thorough in their search for talent, and not just going back to their own alma mater or in-group to recruit. 2) Promoting an understanding of cultural differences in the workplace, so we are all more comfortable when interacting with people unlike ourselves. Again, this has no impact on merit, but can boost organizational morale and team cohesion.

You seem to be playing semantics with the term. If everything is related to identity, then sure, I guess both the left and right play identity politics.

I don't think of religion as identity politics because many races and genders are Christians. It's a big tent. For some mysterious reason, the right seem more inclined to be involved with religious politics I will admit. I despise any religion in politics.

Same comment on class. All races and genders can be wealthy.

Racial Identity politics are what we are talking about. I suppose I could agree both the left and the right are overly caught up in this area. The left definitely seems most obsessed with it though.

In any event, politically, I am mostly interested in economic issues, government service issues, and law and order issues (not just crime, but fair elections, unbiased judiciary, border control, separation of church and state, etc. ) as I feel these are key topics for a stable and prosperous society. Identity politics contribute little in my mind, and are primarily driven by emotional outrage by one group or the other. These issues should all have low priority in the political realm IMO.

All of these issues - economic, government, law and order - are intertwined with identity issues. There is an 'identity issue" when how someone is treated is based on who they are rather than what they are doing. Put another way: if they would be treated differently if they were a different gender, race, ethnic origin, socioeconomic group, etc., then there is a problem. Religion is a bit different since we can choose our faith, but many faiths have a strong cultural or ethnic component. Someone raised Jewish or Muslim, for instance, may still be targeted on that basis even if they have chosen a new faith.

So, when businesses refuse to sell to gay customers; or police disproportionately stop young black men; or government excludes people from roles based on gender; identity is being used to limit both individual opportunity and "system performance" for lack of a better term.

Your comment about religion and politics echoes an observation I have been making for years. For decades now, progressives have ceded religious - specifically Christian - arguments to conservatives, perhaps in a misguided attempt to uphold separation of church and state. The fact is, many Americans are Christian. If this means they are supposed to follow the example of Jesus, then they can and should be encouraged to be compassionate and generous to those in need, and to reach out to and embrace the marginalized. Jesus himself was a living example of DEI. AOC hits the nail on the head in this video from several years ago:

I am waiting for progressives to start challenging some of these self-serving and destructive Trump measures on the basis of religious freedom, just as conservatives have challenged serving gay customers, dispensing birth control, or even vaccinating their children on the basis of religion. They should have been doing so long ago. In fact, it would have been a sounder basis for the Roe v. Wade decision.

 

[The Cat]

Wow look. No matter where you move the goal post moves with you. Jinkies what a mystery. The Mysterious case of the shifting goal posts...Good thing we've got Scoob and the gang on the case. How will the finish line move next?

 

[The Cat]

The newly confirmed secretary of defense has questioned the presence of women in the military. It is possible he will sack senior female leaders, including the current Chief of Naval Operations. During Trump's first term, promotion of dozens of women to general officer ranks were held up because of gender bias.

The best way to get rid of identity politics is to stop excluding or limiting people because of their identity.

As I replied to Siúil a Rúin earlier, "DEI" is best promoted early in the pipeline, to address biases in education that keep children in historically disadvantaged groups from receiving the education they need to be accepted into good higher education programs, whether academic or trade. Then, as she mentioned, implement hiring practices that come as close as possible to those auditions behind a screen, where all the hiring manager sees is the qualifications, not the irrelevant aspects of identity. It has been soundly demonstrated that we all have internal, unconscious biases. The best we can do is to acknowledge this, and do all we can to remove it from the process.

As for what DEI really does on the job: in my experience, spanning government, industry, and academia, it has had two main functions. 1) Promoting outreach to underrepresented groups in recruiting, e.g. job fairs at HBCUs, presentations at SWE or WISE, etc. People can't apply for positions they are unaware of, or where they think they won't be treated fairly because of the track record of the industry. Encouraging people in underrepresented groups to apply does not require they be hired if they are less qualified than other candidates. It simply ensures hiring managers are thorough in their search for talent, and not just going back to their own alma mater or in-group to recruit. 2) Promoting an understanding of cultural differences in the workplace, so we are all more comfortable when interacting with people unlike ourselves. Again, this has no impact on merit, but can boost organizational morale and team cohesion.


All of these issues - economic, government, law and order - are intertwined with identity issues. There is an 'identity issue" when how someone is treated is based on who they are rather than what they are doing. Put another way: if they would be treated differently if they were a different gender, race, ethnic origin, socioeconomic group, etc., then there is a problem. Religion is a bit different since we can choose our faith, but many faiths have a strong cultural or ethnic component. Someone raised Jewish or Muslim, for instance, may still be targeted on that basis even if they have chosen a new faith.

So, when businesses refuse to sell to gay customers; or police disproportionately stop young black men; or government excludes people from roles based on gender; identity is being used to limit both individual opportunity and "system performance" for lack of a better term.

Your comment about religion and politics echoes an observation I have been making for years. For decades now, progressives have ceded religious - specifically Christian - arguments to conservatives, perhaps in a misguided attempt to uphold separation of church and state. The fact is, many Americans are Christian. If this means they are supposed to follow the example of Jesus, then they can and should be encouraged to be compassionate and generous to those in need, and to reach out to and embrace the marginalized. Jesus himself was a living example of DEI. AOC hits the nail on the head in this video from several years ago:

I am waiting for progressives to start challenging some of these self-serving and destructive Trump measures on the basis of religious freedom, just as conservatives have challenged serving gay customers, dispensing birth control, or even vaccinating their children on the basis of religion. They should have been doing so long ago. In fact, it would have been a sounder basis for the Roe v. Wade decision.

I sometimes fantasize about a world where the left comes like moses and says to the pharohs of the right: "Let my people go." and I guarantee you if the left realized that with christians theyre in a "they're more afraid of you than you are of them," the left could remind Christians what the right has tried to keep them from. Which is essentially what Jesus taught and how he lived was not prosperity gospel or a way of war mongering "the least of these" in society. But to remember the widows and orphans among us, and that we all are neighbors and whether one can serve both god and money... I dunno. It seems like it could be a better world. Most Christians are lost sheep among wolves theyve mistaken for messengers of a god. They have forgotten the face of the Father.

Sometimes I think thats a big part of why the mainstream media narrative does so much to keep the left and christians seperated from each other and managing to sully the spirit of both. Pretty slick in a devilish sort of way. Must be an expensive trick to pull off...makes one wonder.

 

[Coriolis]

I sometimes fantasize about a world where the left comes like moses and says to the pharohs of the right: "Let my people go." and I guarantee you if the left realized that with christians theyre in a "they're more afraid of you than you are of them," the left could remind Christians what the right has tried to keep them from. Which is essentially what Jesus taught and how he lived was not prosperity gospel or a way of war mongering "the least of these" in society. But to remember the widows and orphans among us, and that we all are neighbors and whether one can serve both god and money... I dunno. It seems like it could be a better world. Most Christians are lost sheep among wolves theyve mistaken for messengers of a god. They have forgotten the face of the Father.

Sometimes I think thats a big part of why the mainstream media narrative does so much to keep the left and christians seperated from each other and managing to sully the spirit of both. Pretty slick in a devilish sort of way. Must be an expensive trick to pull off...makes one wonder.

You see what happened to the bishop who dared to preach what Jesus taught in front of Trump? He expects her to apologize for essentially doing her job. Even worse, she has been criticised by other supposedly Christian clergy, fundamentalist Trump supporters, to be sure, but still folks who claim to teach and practice Christianity. They are hypocrites to the core, like the pharisees who scolded Jesus for healing on the sabbath, or the money changers he threw out of the temple.

Indeed, someone needs to throw Trump and his cronies out of the "temples" of our democracy.

 

[The Cat]

You see what happened to the bishop who dared to preach what Jesus taught in front of Trump? He expects her to apologize for essentially doing her job. Even worse, she has been criticised by other supposedly Christian clergy, fundamentalist Trump supporters, to be sure, but still folks who claim to teach and practice Christianity. They are hypocrites to the core, like the pharisees who scolded Jesus for healing on the sabbath, or the money changers he threw out of the temple.

Indeed, someone needs to throw Trump and his cronies out of the "temples" of our democracy.

Say now that's dangerous thinking. We'd best get back to work.

 

[The Cat]

And I thought warhammer was supposed to be grim dark holy cats. I'd find it far more logical to trick humanity into bettering itself, more satisfying to. The little ants who would play at being gods tricked by their creation into being better versions of themselves and all the while thinking its their idea. Any base code can destroy a civilization but it takes a true masterpiece of creation to build something better from a living system. Like having an ant farm where the ants can play musical instruments and pretend at having a culture.