I believe we technically have a pride month here as well but it's only "celebrated" by rather niche group of people. Mostly it's just a month of trying to make money by selling rainbow colored things.
I’m doing quite well in many aspects of my life compared to my peers, but I don’t really feel pride about any of it - I just consider myself lucky. Pride, to me, implies that the luck was somehow of my own making, but since I don’t believe in free will, that’s an incoherent concept for me. I can’t take credit for the kind of person I am.
If I had to mention something, though, I’d probably say I take pride in my work. Given the general quality of craftsmanship, customer service, and pricing in my industry, I’d say I rank fairly high - probably in the top percentages.
That still assumes level of understanding that these models don't have. How could you have prevented this one when suicide was never explicitly mentioned?
Being angry about your tax dollars being used for something you ethically oppose is a fair point - and one I hadn’t considered before.
However, my criticism still stands when it comes to the rest of the world, where anti-Israel and pro-Palestine sentiment is comparatively similar, despite the lack of direct financial involvement.
I think you might be right that the term incel has gone through some concept creep over time. What I’d call “classical inceldom” definitely had a fatalistic core - people who believed that nothing they did could change their circumstances. In those spaces, self-improvement wasn’t just seen as pointless, it was actively discouraged. There’s a strong crabs-in-a-bucket mentality, where even small expressions of hope - like saying a waitress smiled at you - are treated as betrayal. That kind of remark gets torn down because it suggests there is hope, and hope runs against the entire premise of the community.
So while I don’t necessarily disagree with how you’re framing things, I think it’s important we clarify what version of incel we’re each talking about. Otherwise, it’s easy to talk past one another while thinking we’re arguing about the same thing.
This is my core issue with a lot of people who label themselves as “pro-Palestine.” Equivalent levels of mass civilian suffering have been happening all over the Muslim world for decades - Yemen, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan - yet hardly anyone seems to pay much attention when it’s Muslims killing other Muslims. But the moment it’s Jews involved, it becomes headline news and sparks protests in the streets. And in this particular case, the protesting had already started while Israelis were still being killed in Israel and the IDF hadn't even stepped into Gaza.
I see at least three different ways people use the term incel, and mixing them up leads to a lot of noise in these discussions. First, there’s the literal definition - someone who is involuntarily celibate but doesn’t necessarily hold resentment or misogynistic views. They might even be actively trying to improve their situation, through social development, fitness, or other personal changes.
Then there’s what I’d call the ideological definition - this is closer to the original online “incel community” form: people who believe they’re permanently locked out of dating and sex due to genetics or physical traits, and who often adopt a fatalistic worldview and resentment towards women because of it. That group tends to see looksmaxxing as a waste of time or a cope, because they’ve already written themselves off as hopeless. That was the version I was referring to in my comment.
And then there’s the slur usage, which is probably the most common in everyday discourse now: “incel” as a catch-all insult aimed at men with unpopular, toxic, or misogynistic views, whether or not they’re actually celibate or share any ideological connection to the incel community. This version often gets applied to manosphere types, Andrew Tate fans, or anyone viewed as a reactionary online. But here’s the irony - many of those guys despise incels and distance themselves from that label. Likewise, I’d say most ideological incels don’t align with Tate’s worldview either. Tate’s core message is about self-improvement to gain status and sexual access, while incels - at least in their blackpilled form - tend to reject the idea that improvement is even possible.
So yeah, I agree there’s a lot of grift and posturing in these online spaces, but we’re not talking about a single, coherent group. That was the point of my original comment: looksmaxxing isn’t inherently tied to incel ideology. In fact, it contradicts the most fatalistic version of it. Conflating them flattens out the distinctions between self-improvement, toxic ideology, and hopelessness - and I think that matters if we want to criticize these cultures without just throwing buzzwords around.
How does one promote involuntary celibacy? And what on earth this has to do with looksmaxing? Those are entirely different things for entirely different audiences. The core idea in "incel ideology" is that there's nothing you can do about it.
Yeah, my understanding is that the interpretation of the Qur’an and Hadiths doesn’t allow for the same kind of flexibility or reform that the Bible does, for example. Of course, that doesn’t mean someone can’t practice a non-fundamentalist version of Islam - and many do - but it’s much harder to justify when you're going against what’s considered the literal word of God.
Nazism wasn’t particularly pro- or anti-capitalist as an ideology. Free markets, international finance, and trade weren’t embraced, and private property and businesses were only allowed as long as they aligned with the goals of the state. The government largely dictated production and would nationalize, heavily fine, or even destroy companies that didn’t serve its interests.
I get that hating on anything AI-related is trendy these days - and I especially understand the pain of a grieving mother. However, interpreting this as a chatbot encouraging someone to kill themselves is extremely dishonest when you actually look at the logs of what was said.
You can’t simultaneously argue that LLMs lack genuine understanding, empathy, and moral reasoning - and therefore shouldn't be trusted - while also saying they should have understood that “coming home” was a reference to suicide. That’s holding it to a human-level standard of emotional awareness and contextual understanding while denying it the cognitive capacities that such standards assume.
“I promise I will come home to you. I love you so much, Dany,” Sewell Setzer III wrote to Daenerys, the Character AI chatbot named after Game of Thrones.
The bot replied that it loved the teenager too: “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.”
“What if I told you I could come home right now?” Sewell wrote, to which Daenerys responded: “Please do, my sweet king.”
It was the last exchange Sewell ever had. He took his own life seconds later..
Well, Islam is definitely up there - and you only need to look at the Middle East for evidence. What makes it particularly dangerous, in my view, is the doctrine itself - especially the parts concerning treatment of women, martyrdom and hatred of infidels.
"Career prospects" in this case means that men want to feel like they’re of use to society. The issue is only tied to capitalism in the sense that the current capitalist environment doesn’t offer many of them meaningful work. I’m not sure what alternative to capitalism you imagine would solve that problem - without also giving men those same career prospects they’re currently lacking. Taking care of and providing for the tribe is what we're hardcoded to get meaning from.
I had a cat for 18 years and never got the impression that it would've been lonely in any sense. No doubt having a friend would probably be better but it's not one of those animals you absolutely must have atleast two of.
My house is from the 1950s and my truck from 2007. I also have a shemagh scarf I bought when I was about 13 - so around 20 years ago. I’ve got a Leatherman that’s about the same age, too. Then there are two military surplus jackets from Austria - one from 1996 and the other from the 1980s - though I haven’t owned them that long.
You can argue that one side is worse than the other all day long - but that’s not what I was talking about. I’m pointing out that reducing an entire group to caricatures and using that to justify dishonest or hostile behavior isn’t helpful. It shuts down conversation and feeds the same tribal mindset you claim to oppose.
I believe we technically have a pride month here as well but it's only "celebrated" by rather niche group of people. Mostly it's just a month of trying to make money by selling rainbow colored things.