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Zonetrooper Zonetrooper @lemmy.world
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Any non-Black Lemmings ever intrinsically develop an intense interest in African-American/Afro-Latino/Afro-Caribbean history, culture, and community? If so, what do you think motivated that interest?
  • One of us, one of us!

    I came here to say pretty much the same thing. It's even more interesting when you're working with a future-of-the-real-world setting, and so you actually have to think about how present-day cultures might evolve into the future.

  • Who could be the next progressive golden child?
  • It's a little bit hard to say, as - like you say - the political landscape can fundamentally shift in four years.

    That said, I am very much hoping that a labor-derived leader might stand up in the next few years. I'm not aware of one just yet, but that is where I'd look, particularly as automation and concentration of wealth become steadily greater problems.

  • Who could be the next progressive golden child?
  • I hadn't heard of her before, but after looking her up - I admit, I her record has some strong points.

  • Savage Sword of Conan #147 cover art by Earl Norem
  • Right? It has such a distinctive look.

  • What's the mayoral scene where you live like?
  • Soooooo, about that indictment...

  • For the love of garage: urbanist boogyman question
  • These fears are both true and (kinda) not.

    First, I would preface this by saying that many of those hobbies are functionally things which from the early-20th century / post-WW2 US wealth and population boom:

    • Having a CNC machine at home unrelated to your business? Unlikely. Farmers might have had machines needed for their labors, but dense urban populations were very unlikely to have had any machine at home which did not have either practical utility (i.e., spinning wheel)

    • Some were simply financially out of reach. "Hobbyist drones" and various chemical experiments for fun were far less available to the pre-WW2-era urban population.

    • Some are even directly related to the conceit of living on open, privately-owned land. (No land? No need for each apartment to have motorized snow removal thingies.)

    ...now, understand when I'm saying this, I'm 100% with you. I love tinkering. One of my dreams is to set up a small machine shop for running various hobbyist engines.

    So, what can you do?

    Well, there aren't any easy answers. Trust me, I've looked. Local makerspaces are hard to find, and pricey to boot. You can try to limit your housing search to locations which do have a suitable garage, recognizing that this will limit you. You could try and rent a garage or utility space from a local business or something.

    But one thing I would say is that if you're using your garage for actual hobbyist purposes, then I don't think you need to feel "car guilt". Or, at least, I wouldn't - at that point, you are paying not for a space to house a car (and all the associated issues), but space to house your hobbies.

  • Are there previous historical examples of cult-like followings of US political candidates?
  • Agreed. And it wasn't just blind trust in his promises despite a lack of deeds, unlike Trump's wild promises. Like I said, Long actually managed to achieve many positive things for the working-class Louisianian. I also didn't mention it, but he was remarkably hostile to racism for a 1930s Louisiana politician; one of his issues with the Social Security system implemented by Roosevelt was that individual states might deny its benefits to African Americans.

    I do wonder if he would have remained so benevolent indefinitely - there is the aforementioned secret control of an oil company profiting from State-owned lands, whose profits Long used for political purposes - but at the same time I can't deny he did a lot of objectively good things which helped the people who needed it the most, was rightly beloved for it, and didn't seem to be stepping away from it in his future plans.

    If nothing else, he's a fascinating study on how the political positions associated with populism have shifted over time in the US.

  • Are there previous historical examples of cult-like followings of US political candidates?
  • It may not be an exact comparison, given changes in both popular media and US culture, but Huey Long (1893-1935) is possibly one of the closer comparisons.

    A wildly popular populist demagogue, Long similarly set about expelling political opponents from the government system following his election and engaging in political maneuvering and strongarming which ultimately got him impeached (though, like Trump, the effort collapsed before before long). His efforts included setting up Louisiana state boards which directed the distribution of state money to political allies, a move to deny hostile newspapers "official printer" status, worked with a businessman to create an oil company which profited from public lands allotted to it, produced his own newspaper which published positive stories, and other similarly totalitarian moves.

    However, it must also be noted that unlike Trump, Long actually achieved many populist goals, such as dramatically expanding the road system and increasing school enrollment. He was hostile to Roosevelt's New Deal, claiming it was actually insufficiently populist and overly friendly to businesses, but also was highly isolationist and opposed to US involvement leading up to World War II.

    Long was assassinated in 1935 by the son of a political opponent. Most believe he was shot by the assassin, though some believe his bodyguards accidentally shot him in confusion after the assassin missed.

  • What would your political compromise be?
  • I'm afraid you're not likely to get many actual answers on Lemmy. The politics here can be wildly, wildly skewed, and it doesn't generally create a conducive environment to calm, rational discussions. (In fairness, I'm not sure if any other site really does support truly balanced political discussion either.) I admire your attempt, however.

    Another issue (which some others have already commented on) is what constitutes a "compromise". For instance, if I have four issues which left and right-wing movements are at odds over, is it "compromise" if for each of the two I decide to go with a strongly left- or right-wing position? Or is it only compromise if for all positions we take a moderate position which cleaves to neither bloc's position?


    Anyhow, let me at least try to answer. Though I lean more left, I still find myself out of line with both major parties on some issues. For example: In the interests of addressing climate change and achieving stronger energy reliability and independence, I favor a drive to increase, not remove, hydroelectric dams and nuclear power facilities in the country.

  • In future when we land on other planets we will need a different calendar, Do you think we need a secular calendar or the current Gregorian one?
  • It's not Earth-focused, but Eve Online had a minor subplot about how the coordination of time between multiple competing human civilizations became a major political problem because no one wanted to accept the system promoted by a rival empire.

  • Besides money or valuables, what items or info would you be pleasantly surprised to find?
  • Some years ago, I lost a drawing notebook full of sketches I'd done over a few years. Dunno if that counts as 'valuables'?

    I'm 99% sure it's somewhere at home, but either way I'd really like that back.

  • In a world where every person is free to share their opinion directly to a mass audience; do we really need pundits anymore?
  • I did not know that is where it came from, but that's neat (if a touch depressing). Thank you for that info. Fascinating how languages shift.

  • In a world where every person is free to share their opinion directly to a mass audience; do we really need pundits anymore?
  • Part of it is that the question is phrased to make you react that way. By using "pundits" as opposed to "commentators" or "analysts", it primes you to think about someone at Fox (or, these days, Youtube) pounding on a table while screaming about immigrants, as opposed to a respected individual evenhandedly explaining the complexities of a nuanced issue.

  • In a world where every person is free to share their opinion directly to a mass audience; do we really need pundits anymore?
  • Agree with the others - in a world where every person can freely share their direct opinion, it is more critical than ever to have individuals whose role it is to research, contextualize, and present the issue in a constructive and clear fashion.

    The problem of media capture by various groups is an issue, certainly, but that means it's something we have to be wary of and build boundaries against - because the key role they serve is still in place. Throwing out the entire system because of that issue is like deciding that we no longer need doctors because the for-profit medical system is broken.

  • Moderation conflict involving c/vegan
  • We should be careful to avoid creating communities that are echo chambers.

    I'm afraid that ship is already sailed, foundered, and is well on the way to the bottom in a lot of communities.

    When it comes to spicy topics, many communities on Lemmy feel incredibly close-minded and hostile to opposing views.

  • Moderation conflict involving c/vegan
  • Yep. The doublespeak here is wild. "Controversial topics can and should be discussed, as long as they are not causing risk of imminent physical harm. Therefore, we are leaving up comments that cause imminent risk of physical harm."

    Forget the particular details of this issue. It feels way, way more strongly like they're trying to duck out of having to take action.

  • What is it with Redditors having to feel like they're the smartest in the room at all times?
  • I remember plenty of pre-Reddit forums also being exactly the same way.

    If anything, the big difference was that whoever was in charge tended to end up just banning whoever disagreed with them. So most people either learned not to contradict "what was known", or got kicked out. (In fairness, Reddit also had that problem, but subjectively not as often.)

  • For the first time in more than three years, SpaceX misses a booster landing
  • That's not exactly how it is right now, but it's not far. Hell, the last time a F9 booster went splat, they grounded them for only a couple weeks before it was shown it wasn't a safety-critical issue.

    It just stands out because there's only two flying reusable boosters right now (and only one that can go to orbit). Meanwhile, grounding one model of aircraft doesn't usually have that much of an impact because they are so many active. What'll be really cool is when there are so many reusable boosters out there that one can be grounded and spaceflights will just continue on another.