Your position is impossible to argue against in good faith when you start with "any Estonian who is critical of both of their occupiers is a holocaust denier".
I mean this with greatest respect: pointing out Double Holocaust Theory is not arguing in bad faith. It's arguing that there has been an organized push by antisemites to trivialize the Holocaust by equating it with crimes committed by the USSR. This mostly comes from 20th century anti-communist propaganda efforts. The forces that are trying to push the equivalency narrative are aligned with Nazi ideology or similar. Liberals may not care about the distinction because they figure that they can point at both communists and Nazis as being bad and move on, but doing so only assists the antisemites in their efforts. Point being, regardless of how you feel about the USSR or communism, you are effectively carrying water for Holocaust-deniers by failing to recognize the difference.
To be clear, I am not calling you an antisemite or a Holocaust denier, because it is very clear you are here in good faith trying to sort out this mess, and have been doing so respectfully. I am only trying to explain the argument so that you and others can attempt to make sense of the obvious dissonance between viewpoints. It's akin to unknowingly using ableist or misogynist language. If you're ignorant of the issue, then no one should ascribe malice to your language, but upon being made aware of the issue, it's expected that you should be more careful going forward.
Posting "[hammer and sickle] 10 reasons why we need communism..." is clearly not Kremlin propaganda. Posting "[hammer and sickle] Ukraine shouldn't even exist, long live CCCP" is clearly Kremlin propanda.
Again, with respect, I don't think this addresses the issue. I appreciate that you are open to the idea that advocating in favor of communism isn't de facto Russian propaganda (the current Russian state and ideological bent bears no resemblance to communism). Hexbear users are, at most, critically supportive of Russia for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with Putin or Russian nationalism, and much more to do with criticism of NATO and the US, in particular.
I think what we're trying to figure out is how to engage when anything that doesn't explicitly agree with the Western narrative is immediately dismissed as Russian propaganda. As an example, the Snake Island incident last year smelled fishy, but to call the Ukrainian government's statements about it into question at the time would get one accused of being a Russian shill. We now know that the Ukrainian government lied about it. That's fair pool, as far as I'm concerned. It's how you wage an information war. I don't care if a state wants to lie about things (and states will do so regardless), but I do want to get as close to the truth as possible, and that means critical analysis and skepticism. If there's no room for that analysis and skepticism then it's effectively declaring not just an anti-Russian-propaganda position, but rather an active preference for Western propaganda over everything else. That, by the way, is a valid choice, but if that's the party line then it should be made explicit. It's valid to say "anything pro-Russia or anti-NATO is banned" but that needs to be said, rather than hinted at. "Kremlin propaganda" isn't a self-explanatory phrase.
All of that said, I empathize with you in your attempt to make sense of all of this. While there is a lot of friction here, I think most of us are earnest in trying to reach understanding, if not agreement. The above is an attempt to shed some light on what might be causing dissonance. You're very patient to try and work through this, and I hope I and my fellow hexbear users haven't caused you too much stress. Most of us really are trying to play ball.
This is genuinely very disheartening. A lot of people have died and more will continue to die, but NATO can’t even talk openly about how the conflict might be ended. They really do want Ukraine to be the next Afghanistan in the forever war.
This is dope. I didn't realize that there was so much consistency with the annular engines on Vulcan vessels.
I love the idea that Vulcans would choose the most efficient design, foregoing performance, versatility, speed, etc. Very "I'm only driving to and from work, I don't need anything flashy." That's exactly how Vulcans would design their ships.
A smooth, voluntary, nonviolent transition to peace and harmony would be every leftist's dream, but there are institutions with power who have used, are using, and will continue to use violence to prevent it from happening in order to maintain their material interests. Call it whatever you want, but the process of transitioning from our status quo to something better will require dismantling institutions that are capable of defending their existence with violence. It sucks.
Sorry for the confusion, but thank you for bearing with it (no pun intended) and engaging in good faith. I promise you that, at the very least, hexbear users are real people who are being sincere.
One thing I like a lot about LotR is that it's incredibly detailed and thorough, but there are still some things that simply exist regardless. In a world where magic is real, it wouldn't make sense if everything had an explanation.
I like Bozeman as Zephram Chocoran’s home base because there’s a good chance that Montana might have been spared a direct nuclear strike. Same logic applies to why San Francisco looks so futuristic: it for sure got flattened entirely by a nuke, so they would have had to build it back up from nothing afterwards. I’m guessing the Golden Gate was still partly standing and they rebuilt it for the same reason we keep other historical buildings/monuments around.
No idea if any of that is canon, but if we aren’t overthinking Star Trek then why are we doing any of this?
Rick Berman was the executive producer on Enterprise. Given that he was born-and-raised in New York City, it’s possible that the answer is, like, Westchester.
I like this breakdown, particularly the contrast between Ortegas and Paris. I think Ortegas is a better overall character, and gets big points for having her skills and progress matter to her character development. Paris, though, was an elite pilot before he showed up on Voyager, and then he spent years doing the most insane piloting anyone in Starfleet has ever seen. Ortegas is sort of the ideal of a relatable, blue-collar pilot with a promising career ahead of her, whereas Paris was a savant when he left with Voyager and a legend when he got home. He's a tier above everyone else on the list, you gotta hand it to him.
I have a soft spot for it because they did an episode that added Larry Niven's Kzinti to the Star Trek universe. I know TAS isn't usually considered canon, but that was fun.
I mean this with greatest respect: pointing out Double Holocaust Theory is not arguing in bad faith. It's arguing that there has been an organized push by antisemites to trivialize the Holocaust by equating it with crimes committed by the USSR. This mostly comes from 20th century anti-communist propaganda efforts. The forces that are trying to push the equivalency narrative are aligned with Nazi ideology or similar. Liberals may not care about the distinction because they figure that they can point at both communists and Nazis as being bad and move on, but doing so only assists the antisemites in their efforts. Point being, regardless of how you feel about the USSR or communism, you are effectively carrying water for Holocaust-deniers by failing to recognize the difference.
To be clear, I am not calling you an antisemite or a Holocaust denier, because it is very clear you are here in good faith trying to sort out this mess, and have been doing so respectfully. I am only trying to explain the argument so that you and others can attempt to make sense of the obvious dissonance between viewpoints. It's akin to unknowingly using ableist or misogynist language. If you're ignorant of the issue, then no one should ascribe malice to your language, but upon being made aware of the issue, it's expected that you should be more careful going forward.
Again, with respect, I don't think this addresses the issue. I appreciate that you are open to the idea that advocating in favor of communism isn't de facto Russian propaganda (the current Russian state and ideological bent bears no resemblance to communism). Hexbear users are, at most, critically supportive of Russia for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with Putin or Russian nationalism, and much more to do with criticism of NATO and the US, in particular.
I think what we're trying to figure out is how to engage when anything that doesn't explicitly agree with the Western narrative is immediately dismissed as Russian propaganda. As an example, the Snake Island incident last year smelled fishy, but to call the Ukrainian government's statements about it into question at the time would get one accused of being a Russian shill. We now know that the Ukrainian government lied about it. That's fair pool, as far as I'm concerned. It's how you wage an information war. I don't care if a state wants to lie about things (and states will do so regardless), but I do want to get as close to the truth as possible, and that means critical analysis and skepticism. If there's no room for that analysis and skepticism then it's effectively declaring not just an anti-Russian-propaganda position, but rather an active preference for Western propaganda over everything else. That, by the way, is a valid choice, but if that's the party line then it should be made explicit. It's valid to say "anything pro-Russia or anti-NATO is banned" but that needs to be said, rather than hinted at. "Kremlin propaganda" isn't a self-explanatory phrase.
All of that said, I empathize with you in your attempt to make sense of all of this. While there is a lot of friction here, I think most of us are earnest in trying to reach understanding, if not agreement. The above is an attempt to shed some light on what might be causing dissonance. You're very patient to try and work through this, and I hope I and my fellow hexbear users haven't caused you too much stress. Most of us really are trying to play ball.