your rights are not granted by the government

chill blog for politics and random things i like, mostly rbs, also fuck ai

[cantankeroussob]

The lunacy of Covid summed up

😂😂😂

[association-of-freed-people]

Accurate. Very good.

[petitesilhouette]

Love the fact he used actual talking points from the media.

[djbodyhorror]

your mom jokes don't work when you know someone too well. I would never be in bed with such a wicked woman. That's not even what I had your mom saying last night. I wouldn't speak to her.

[greater-than-the-sword]

My dog is a Democrat, but my cat is a Republican. Also, my parakeet is a member of the Libertarian Party, my Reese's Macaque is an anarchist, and my rabbit is a constitutional monarchist. Don't get me started on the ant farm, which has embraced some form of crypto-fascism.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Your ant farm is communist, bro

[tlaquetzqui]

Nah they’re anarchofeminist. One family, all girls, birthed by the same mother from a single mating, the male half of which then immediately died. That’s the feminist ideal.

[tlaquetzqui]

An ant colony is a single nuclear family, is why they’re anarchist. That’s not a “queen”, it’s their mother.

[elvishcostello-deactivated20260]

tbh i don’t think any aesthetic or fandom is inherently leftist. people will say “you can’t be goth/punk/emo/alt/whatever if you’re not a leftist!” and “how do conservative star trek fans exist?” and like. it’s simple. they’re literally just aesthetics and fandoms. there is nothing inherently leftist about dressing a certain way, or listening to certain music, or watching certain tv shows.

i think a lot of people want to believe that performing a certain aesthetic or being in a certain fandom makes you a better leftist, because they’re at least semi-aware that they aren’t doing enough. but instead of going out and trying to improve anything, they just reframe something they’re already doing as radical and leftist.

[sparklinglakemonster]

Also, a lot of right wingers are just amazingly obtuse. They can watch a show or sing along to a song with a heavy-handed message and just completely miss the point in a way that is staggering.

Like, Star Trek has historically included 100% intentional political content-- not very far leftist political content, but metaphors, allegories, morals, and casting choices that were meant to be progressive for their time. Participating in Star Trek fandom does not make you progressive or center-left, just like participating in Tolkien fandom does not make you a conservative Catholic. And if conservative dudes who love space lasers and hate "wokeness" were just going, "Jim Kirk is a badass. I don't care about all that diversity bullshit," they would be pretty much equal-and-opposite to progressive-leaning Tolkien fans. But no, every time a new Trek comes out, there's somebody going, "Keep politics out of Star Trek! Make Trek apolitical again, like it was when I was watching TOS/TNG/DS9!" They didn't just notice the message and disagree-- they apparently didn't pick up on it at all, even though Star Trek is not subtle. There are Republicans who will say that their favorite band is Rage Against The Machine, and instead of adding "I don't agree with their politics, but the music slaps," they'll claim that the band's early lyrics had no obvious political content, and not even seem to realize what an own goal it is to admit they missed that.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Star Trek has histoircally included a lot of stuff that would be considered very progressive for its day, but would be mainstream and middle-of-the-road today.

Also, you are literally the sort of person OP was talking about.

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

I think another aspect to this that @sparklinglakemonster misses is that star Trek was very very rarely directly allegorical. The people who fight wars via computer simulation(to use just one example) dont represent any real conflict or peoples. They are a fable to discuss philosophical concepts: the nature of war, the question of whether making war 'safer' would actually be good, or it would just create an incentive to allow it carry on forever, etc. The episodes that ARE direct allegories are generally considered not that great.

And even when star trek went political(which not every episode did btw), it never belittled or insulted its audience or anyone who might have a different opinion than them. It kept the ideas front And nobody was ever told(at least not until very recently) that not liking Star Trek, or liking it the 'wrong' way made them a bigot or bad person.

Thats what people mean when they say 'keep politics out of...'

[jackalopeisaac]

Hey @robinhoodforfreedom and @siryouarebeingmocked

Quit being dicks to my friend. They are literally agreeing with OP. Yeah, Star Trek has a messy and complicated history and especially TOS because it was made in the 1960s, but being pedantic about that is missing the forest for the trees here.

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

Oh no, I think you missed the point:

The fact that ToS didnt have a lot of allegories or belittle its audience is actually why it(and every series through Enterprise) was great, actually. We need to go back to that.

[jackalopeisaac]

Shut up, man. You're hung up on the example used.

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

Its not like the points I made are unique to Star Trek.

[jackalopeisaac]

This isn't about Star Trek, you dipshit. It's about you and this other blogger being a jackass to my friend.

Go take a short walk off a long pier.

[foolstojoinmyevilarmy]

I think that we can safely say these guys are actually right wing as they say they don’t want to be called bigots for not liking Star Trek without actually addressing the minutia of what their specific reasons for disliking current Star Trek are (sexual and gender minorities being present, non-white folks in positions of authority within Starfleet’s structure) that might get you called a bigot.

That and like one of them called @jackalopeisaac a faggot in another reblog so like I think we can safely say this whole convo has been disingenuous.

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

Actually my main issues with nutrek have more to do with the overall writing, and in particular how none of it feels like Star Trek anymore. No more allusions to classical literature or philosophy, characters all sound like they are from some CW teen drama, with a gratutious amount of swearing(I'm not against swearing, but it doesnt belong on Star Trek), plots that go into outright goofy territory.

I didnt bring those things up because it wasnt relevant to the conversation at hand.

And ironically you are actually doing precisely what I was complaining about.

[foolstojoinmyevilarmy]

“And nobody was ever told(at least not until very recently) that not liking Star Trek, or liking it the 'wrong' way made them a bigot or bad person.”

I was primarily referring to this portion of your original reply. I think that we do have to engage with the fact that there are a vocal group of people who say they don’t like Star Trek, don’t like being called a bigot, but do dislike anything new solely or mainly for the presence of minority groups targeted in the ongoing culture war.

That being said, of course that’s not the only reason someone might dislike Star Trek. You prefer a specific writing style that you feel matches the overall theme of the series/setting. I grew up with Next Gen, but had no interest in Picard because I felt we’d had enough time with him as a character. Also, are some of those things you’re talking about Lower Decks? I never watched that because adult animated comedies have a bad reputation in my eyes.

I think at the end of the day this concept of right wing folks being oblivious to political things may just be another side of the same coin (or maybe twenty-sided die?) as the original topic of obsession with aesthetics. If you’re too focused on aesthetics, of course you may be ignorant of any underlying political themes that may be contradictory to your personal views, whether you’re left wing or right wing. No one is immune to this, which is what I think is pretty in line with the original position.

Also sorry that you caught a stray there, I kinda see red when I see someone calling someone slurs in the notes of a post.

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

Just two things:

First you didnt even bother to ask or engage with any type of conversation about why I dislike newer shows, but instead jumped directly to bigotry. That is the problem I'm talking about.

Secondly, as I said before, this isnt limited to Star Trek. it happens with pretty much any new media that gets advertised or declared 'diverse.' Star Trek just happened to be the specific example being used in this conversation

[freebroccoli]

Hot take, most people aren't very good at analyzing media or articulating their feelings about it, even to themselves. They have intuitive reactions to things and if pressed to explain them, I will struggle and may well I misidentify the reasons behind their intuitions.

And so someone might dislike nutrek for reasons that are too subtle for them to articulate, like the writing or that it doesn't feel like a military structure, and so they go on onto the most obvious differences, like diversity casting, as an explanation.

That is to say, some of these people who are being called bigots might be perfectly fine with diverse casts if more subtle aspects of the show were done better—including the ones that explicitly say its the minorities they don't like.

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

Or as one reviewer put it(talking about The Acolyte) 'The problem isnt the fire in space. The problem is the show is SO boring I noticed the fire in space'

[weatherman667]

Woke isn't diversity.

It's diversity instead of story, writing, and worldbuilding.

And this is why Star Trek, up to ENT, was not woke, because it was done well. Most of the complex issues were asked as questions, allowing to come to your own conclusions.

The main reason why diversity is talked about is that they keep swapping out white male characters for diverse characters, proving that they care more about their agenda than the quality of the story. It's a warning that the quality of the stories will follow the same patterns. Moral questions are not asked, but instead beaten into you. Issues are not actually taken to their conclusion, and are foundationless. Characters are exempt from the negative consequences of their own actions.

And this is especially prominent in Star Trek, where the improvement of the self is a foundational aspect of their utopianism, but completely absent from nutrek.

[ronmerchant]

Censoring comic books- 1953

[stop-him]

Busybodies wrecking industries to keep you "safe" since before you were born.

[doyoulovethewayzeylily]

doomscrolling tiktok together and I turn to you and ask, "why doesn't your algorithm recommend any videos with Black people?"

[doyoulovethewayzeylily]

doomscrolling tumblr and I turn to you and ask, "why don't you reblog anti-racism when it makes you feel uncomfortable?"

[maryellencarter]

I mean, real answer? I don't reblog 99% of the anti-racist posts that cross my dash because they all have this type of guilt-tripping on the end. I thought we agreed ten or fifteen years ago that we're not spreading that shit. I see plenty of posts I would love to reblog if they didn't all end with "but you won't reblog this and that proves you're actually racist" or words to that effect

[averyterrible]

apparently, chinese goths have figured out how to do qing era costuming. jiangshi time.

[averyterrible]

@post-brahminism check it

[kaijuno]

Look at these koi

[snarkleharkle]

@david-goldrock

[patriotic-kitty]

[teaboot]

Was about to fall asleep and apropos of nothing was struck out of nowhere by a horrible future vision of a brightly-lit and saccharine 3D-AI Calvin and Hobbes movie with Scarlet Johanssen voicing the mom and Chris Pratt voicing Hobbes and experienced an emotional haptic jerk so chilling I feel like I just foresaw my own death

[teaboot]

(Drenched in a cold sweat, visibly shaking) We Need To Warn Bill Watterson

[sreegs]

hey it's me black mold. thanks for running your window air conditioner all summer. whatever you do, do not regularly clean the removable filter. that's not necessary

you should also never ever unplug the air conditioner and stick a flashlight in the vent that blows air to see if we're in there. it's very bad, that place should not be checked

and whatever you do, if you've already made the mistake of unplugging it, don't remove it from the window for cleaning if possible. and whether it's possible to remove the unit or not, don't carefully disassemble the front panel, document where the screws go and plastic bits go, and open up the vent more to be able to get into it easily

as black mold, i'm an expert on this. you should heed my warnings: now, if you've somehow made the mistake of doing all of the above, you should not use warm water and dish soap to CLEAN the inside of the vent thoroughly. DON'T ever use a bottle brush to get into the hard to reach places. and certainly don't rinse and dry the cleaned area before carefully putting it back together

there's nothing wrong with us, black mold. we don't cause or exacerbate breathing conditions like asthma or other illnesses. it's cool, we're cool

furthermore, if you're capable of removing the window unit, DONT take a hose with the same soapy water and wash the portion of the window unit that sits outside the window and is therefore weatherproofed.

whatever you do, don't allow the air conditioner to dry before plugging it back in and turning it on again

and if you have a central air conditioner, you will definitely never ever consult a manual or sources online to perform a similar cleaning procedure on the cooling unit outside.

lastly, if you're physically unable to do the things we (the black mold) warned you not to do above, you should never ever ask someone to help you or hire a service to do it.

[garbage-empress]

Also even if you do not have the time, space or ability to do some of the the things in the OP, definitely do not clean the coils (the awful sharp flat stacks of metal) with foaming coil cleaner. That removes the beneficial black mold (us) holding the unit together. It will be completely unsatisfying to watch the foam clean out the Super Beneficial Black Mold, Mildew, Hair, Lint & Dust Combo™ (that is not only a health hazard but making the unit less efficient at cooling necessary for air conditioner function) and leave the metal shiny.

It is a lot of elbow grease and definitely not just spraying a can and waiting. Especially do not use the ones that are self rinsing via the natural condensation of water around the coils where all you have to do is let the foam settle a couple hours before turning the unit back on. These foaming cleaners are also terrible to use on the removable air intake vent covers. You definitely do not just have to spray the opposite side of all the trapped shit on the plastic mesh and let the foam push it off. Also that stuff on the cover is great for you and your air conditioner.

Trust us. We, the mold, know much more about air conditioners than the people who make aerosol cans you can pick up for like $8 at home depot. Definitely do not do this a couple times a season.

[mikkeneko]

Summer (northern hemisphere) PSA

[thatdisasterauthor]

I think the thing that annoys me most about AI on a personal, day to day, level is what it has done to grammar checkers. If you've never done a lot of editing, or used to 5+ years ago but haven't really in the last couple years, I can't even begin to describe how fucking BAD this shit has gotten. And as an author it is EXHAUSTING.

I just want to catch spelling errors and accidental double spaces and repeated phrases and whenever I use the wrong too/to or affect/effect and shit. But no. They've shoved AI up the ass of every grammar checking software out there and now they all fucking suck and make the most random, obnoxious, nonsensical suggestions.

And yeah, I can ignore all the times it's trying to get me to cut out any semblance of my own voice, or shove things into the wrong tense, or make the most random suggestions on comma usage. But if it's getting all that WRONG, what is it just straight up missing that I SHOULD be correcting? What real spelling and grammar errors are still lurking in there?

[thatdisasterauthor]

"Use Libre Office."

I get why people keep saying this (and other versions of it like "Use Adobe alternatives" and "Use Google product alternatives."). But here's the problem: I do not create in isolation. Even my own 100% personal projects are getting sent to other people whether it's editors or printers or beta readers and unless every single person in that train is using the same products, things can get wonky.

Libre Office and Word handle formatting differently on the back end, which can completely break documents if you move them back and forth between the two. So if I write in Libre Office but my beta readers are still using Word, when I send them a manuscript for review there's a good chance things won't look right and my beta reader will not actually be reviewing what I sent them.

Industry standards are industry standards FOR A REASON. Having everyone on the same workflow can be crucial to getting things done effectively and correctly without creating a lot of extra work. And those things are not going to change overnight, as much as we might want them to.

[thatdisasterauthor]

:| :| :|

Yeah, Word, let me just leave this whole chunk of dialogue without the closing quotation marks. That's the thing to do. How dare I have two punctuation marks in a row. It's not like that's how closing quotation marks fucking work.

[thatdisasterauthor]

I am going to light something on fire.

[thatdisasterauthor]

And you know, for young writers, this has got to be so detrimental just from the perspective of opening your document and seeing a million corrections that, frankly, don't need to be there. If you're a young writer you're likely not going to have the background knowledge to know what is and isn't a good suggestion, you're just going to see a document that makes it look like you made every mistake possible so clearly you must be a terrible, stupid writer and should just give up.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #15,129:

Fandom is so damn full of arrogant jackasses that it is genuinely exhausting to have to deal with. You seriously think you know someone's creation better than they do? Go sit in the corner.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #15,126:

Creator of franchise is on Tumblr and answers asks about their show

Fans: so what do you think about the ships? Except for the problematic ones, of course

Creator: I don’t care, you can ship whatever you want

Fans: see guys they said no problematic ships allowed whatsoever

[catasters]

[idratherhavefreedom]

[punishedgwyndolin]

“this used to be the sjw site” this used to be the call your twice removed fandom mutual in law a pedophile because you’ve had beef with them for months but haven’t had a morally justifiable pretense to express your distaste until you saw them reblog a post about anime that had art from kill la kill website your shit is beyond rose tinted

[matt-the-radar-techncian]

Yeah, that’s why it was the sjw site

[enki2]

[thebdelliumlady]

For anyone wondering, the PhD student's name is Myra Cheng.

Here's a link to an article about the study from the Stanford Report: link.

[chapscher]

Across three preregistered studies, participants interacting with sycophantic AI became more convinced of their own rightness and less willing to repair relationships. Yet at the same time, participants rated sycophantic AI models as higher quality, more trustworthy, and more desirable for future use, which may explain why this behavior has persisted despite its harmful impacts.

Myra Cheng et al. "Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence." Science 391, eaec8352 (2026).