Andy @ andrewrgross @slrpnk.net

Posts

41

Comments

1,068

Joined

2 yr. ago

He is a former Marxist?? I find that bewildering, hilarious, and doubtful.

I think it's great when people have open enough minds to radically rethink their beliefs, but I hope I'm never so brainrotted as to somehow strawman my own former beliefs.

This meme doesn't work because a conservative literally bought me a copy of that book and it's infantile.

This book is titled "Basic Economics" because Sowel is a troll, and the economics in his book are largely correct but incomplete to the point of misinforming people. This is an incredibly "conservative" book through-and-through.

I specifically said I wasn't.

I find this surprising, because frankly I agree.

I don't know much about Dorsey, but in Musk's case, I think this is another case of him espousing a good idea he'd never actually honor.

I think that anyone should be able to make movies with Mickey Mouse and no one should need to license code. But I suspect that like with free expression, these are values most proponents only like when it's benefiting them.

Also, as for the alternatives to support creatives, I would say start with universal services. Universal housing, universal healthcare, universal education, universal food. We would have so much more art if we recognized that no one should have to "earn" their survival. Once that's guaranteed -- and abolish billionaires and extreme wealth inequality too -- I think discussions over how to support creatives would take place from a much more favorable starting point.

Again, I think the effect you're describing is real, but it's also pretty gated in a lot of ways.

We have a lot of treatments first, but also widespread medical bankruptcy. A lot of people lack access to basic necessities.

I'm other words, I don't think someone running out of insulin gives as Schitt's Creek...

I get the sentiment, but I think it's possible we might miss the benefits you're describing less than you think.

For the average American, the biggest manifestation of what you're describing was cheap electronics, trucks, and suburban developments. These kinds of benefits are a poor salve for the alienation and atomization that now besets us. We have been trained to try and fill the holes in our lives with crap while losing more and more of the time and security that affords actual contentedness.

I think a generation raised knowing and trusting their neighbors, able to walk to school and bike to work and possibly go home for lunch, where they can eat some veggies grown in a community garden on an apartment roof might not feel like they've lost all that much just because they can't buy an exercise machine they never use for $99 at a Black Friday sale.

There's a reason a lot of "poorer" countries greatly outpace is in satisfaction and quality of life surveys.

I agree with most of this. However I think there are additional elements that make prediction challenging.

First, if the US undergoes any kind of revolution in the next five years, the cultural effects you mentioned could by overwritten by more recent events. I realize this sounds improbable, but the transition from the New Deal era to global neolibralism was a revolution. "The Reagan Revolution" was an actual economic and social revolution. And we're overdue for another.

Second, both the markets and the real economy were in an unsustainable condition before Trump. The pursuit of endless growth, the disruption of climate breakdown, the end of the US' monopolar hegemony, and the return of extreme wealth inequality in the US made the status quo impossible to simply maintain. Big changes were coming even without Trump.

I maintain some optimism. I think anti trust regulation, climate-based financial regulation, and an embrace of market socialism could render the last three months to be the last gasps of the old order instead of another point in what has been a decline decades in the making. But it depends what happens next.

I'm not an expert, but I'm an index fund/mutual fund guy. I'm not looking for a lottery ticket, I just want to keep up with the market.

They're basically the new savings account, right? If they don't do well, chances are nothing really is, so your money is stagnating to the same degree as everyone else. No real loss.

Wow!

That's good world building.

Yeah. I went to a friend's birthday hangout at a local pizzeria, and there were five of us around a table, and one guy was a city council member. The good ones are not that inaccessible.

This is what I was going to say.

Falling apart at 28 isn't normal, but what is normal at 28 is having your body suddenly stop giving you a hall pass. That's very relatable.

Get 8 hours of sleep a night, walk and bike when you can, eat your greens, etc. and you might notice a difference.

This isn't a question most of us have had in the shower. I think that transferring guardianship of children for profit is largely considered unethical. I believe it is legal in some circumstances. I've been told that orphanages can sell orphans to other orphanages. I'm not really sure what context you're asking about, though.

There is so much about the reporting on this story that is driving me bananas.

If we take the IDF narrative at face value, they're asserting that they caught half a dozen militants who were unarmed and embedded with 9 medics. They then ambushed and killed some number and detained all the remaining unarmed personnel. They identified 6 as captured prisoners of war and 9 as non combatants and summarily executed all survivors and defiled their bodies.

And the coverage is like... 'Israel was caught lying about how many medics they executed. Chat are we cooked 🤪?'

The framing of the coverage should be that as Israel's genocide in Gaza moves into a new era in which the US president is no longer subtle in their embrace of extermination of innocent civilians, the army begins to experiment with open defiance of internationally recognized laws against war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

That's the story. This is like Elon's sieg heil. The mainstream news is trained to find bullet casings and hold the poor accountable. But they have no idea how to react when the most powerful people in the world start spree-shooting in Times Square cackling.

There's no mystery to solve! The story you're covering is how other people with power are reacting and responding to naked attrocities, but the NYTimes is staffed by fucking Westworld robots! It's maddening!

This is essentially what I was going to say (though more poetic).

I'm of two minds. I admit that i cringe a bit that he would even call this "good trouble". John Lewis' "good trouble" was nearly getting beaten to death. How Booker can apply such a label to an act of protest that didn't even meaningfully delay any noteworthy business is frankly amazing to me.

But also, he did fucking do something. He specifically articulated that we should all be alarmed, and he declared that he intends to not cooperate with or normalize what is happening. Low bar? Yes. But we all have to start somewhere.

I actually like Cory Booker. He was my third or fourth pick among the 20-something candidates that ran in 2020.

I'll say this: this act is not enough to convince me that elected Democrats are going to do anything meaningful in the next two years. But the absence of it would've made me far less likely to expect it. Good for him.

This is a pretty deep take. I didn't know what a lot of these positions were it did before I read this, but it all checks out. It makes perfect sense to me. Pretty sad.

Fuckkk this is horrible.

Ulgh it hurts so much to read this shit. Wtf.

I didn't really understand the premise of the article. What concrete actions should Hamas have taken according to this author?

The headline is kinda mean (but fair).

One thing I like about Jackson is that he very candid and self aware.

I remember years ago in an interview on the Colbert Report, Colbert asked him what his level of success is like, and he laughed said something like 'Well... I'm supposed to say it's no big deal... But it's a pretty fuckin big deal!'

I don't recall his exact words, but it didn't feel boastful, more like this recognition that his wealth and fame afford him incredible privilege and he greatly enjoys that. I admire the candor.

Geez ... easy, bro.

We're not saying you can't enjoy it, alright! But if you start perving on the violence, don't think we're not gonna take notice, okay?