Articles of interest

[bendk]

This was an interesting read.

How Ventriloquism Tricks the Brain | JSTOR Daily

[gveranon]

Are Finns actually like this? If so, then I also am jingfen.

Socially Awkward Millenials Claim They're 'Spiritually Finnish'

[ToALonelyPeace]

I'm glad you make this thread!

New Visions of Nature: Complexity and Authenticity

An important read for those interested in man-made nature, friendly robots, urban planning, and change in human genome.


@gveranon: I like this joke:

Quote

Mika and Peppe hadn't seen each other for ages, so they decided to get together for "one" beer. At the end of the first pint Peppe says "How have you been?" Mika just grunts in reply. At the end of the second pint Peppe asks "So how's your family?" Again, Mika just grunts in reply. After three pints Peppe asks "How's work going?" Mika turns and shouts "Perkele! Did we come here to talk or drink?!

Taken from here FINNISH JOKES

[bendk]

The Forgotten Master of the Ghost Story | JSTOR Daily

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

State sponsored trolling in various countries
A Global Guide to State-Sponsored Trolling

[bendk]

An entertaining book review: The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani.

The Death of Truth review – a polemic that won’t burst Trump’s balloon | Books | The Guardian

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I still don't believe ridicule will ever be effective, I think it's actually quite dangerous. Despite the right wing's fear of ridicule, they seem in a strange way invulnerable to it, or even fed by it in a masochistic way, as long as they have enough numbers who feel mocked they can play the tragic wounded animals who are fighting back for survival.
Since GW Bush and the accompanying ridicule, there's been an avalanche of increasingly absurd right wing figures who look like parodies at first sight.
If we start with the low blows, I fear the inevitably dirtier retaliation.

If you mock Trump's appearance, use arguably homophobic imagery and attack right wing trolls with claims of physical inadaquecy, sexual inexperience and living with their mothers (as if that's more shameful than living with your father), you are in a way reinforcing their worldview.

I say stick rigidly to their real faults and say it objectively as possible.

[bendk]

Woody Allen on how to handle Nazis - YouTube

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I'm totally fine with hitting back in self-defense and admire those who were defending people like the police are supposed to. But I fear if you initiate violence against Nazis they will hit back harder and with less qualms about it.

[cannibal cop]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

I say stick rigidly to their real faults and say it objectively as possible.

Yep. Exactly.

Comfortable upper-middle-class "liberals" and conservatives have made a little cottage industry for themselves by monetizing their sneering and general panic over "the dotard" and his "Trumptard" followers, most of which has less to do with his actual governing than with lingering bitterness over the "stolen" election. (Naturally, they were all in the tank for Hilary from the start.)

This superior, inherently elitist attitude carries over to the ranks of Antifa and other professional agitators, whose numbers are largely made up of the children of privilege too.

The "Resistance" provides a vehicle for those in the Establishment and those who worship them to express their outright scorn for the lower classes and really anyone who doesn't share their version of reality. Label everyone who disagrees a Nazi or some clueless white-trash protofascist n order to dehumanize the entire opposition so you can claim the moral authority to punch them or create a public disturbance, and sooner or later a Democrat will reign again in the White House and happiness shall be restored throughout the land.

Or maybe eventually they'll start to realize that this strategy has backfired dramatically and will only keep making things worse. But I wouldn't hold my breath.