#bullshit arguments

[tariqk]

dudebros before Gillette ad: All these feminisms and criticism of masculinity and capitalism is basically Cultural Marxism™ meant to emasculate the men from their True Nature™

dudebros after Gillette ad: see how the bourgeois, via their corporations, manipulate the masculine proletariat, comrades, and must be overthrown! Viva le Revolution!

[tariqk]

[tariqk]

edgelord trolley utilitarian: we must not let sentiment weaken us against what is necessary for the greatest happiness for everyone. why, we must contemplate what ordinary norms would find abhorrent, such as euthanizing disabled children and denying chronically ill folk treatment—

me: by that logic, there are about 500 billionaires we should cull, because, thanks to their actions, billions of lives will be shortened, or made more miserable.

edgelord trolley utilitarian:

me: as you say, why let sentiment stop you, right?

edgelord trolley utilitarian:

edgelord trolley utilitarian:

edgelord trolley utilitarian: ah

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[tariqk]

People who push for “ideological diversity” as a dog-whistle for “why don't they hire more bigots into my office” really don't get the fucking consequences of following their idea to its logical conclusion.

Like, why shouldn't we hire more people who support Da'esh, for example, they seem really good at social media and decentralized collaboration. Why don't we hire that anti-American guy, that Zapatista, that Naxalite, I bet you they'd make great managers and organizers. That insurgent's pretty good at engineering, why not hire them? Maybe that KGB or DPRK intelligence plant, I bet you they're really good at marketing. That cannibal probably has some incredible insights in customer taste, like what they like, also how they literally taste. Why are we sticking with boring white racists and weeaboos? Like, at best they can code really good, and that's it.

Like, go the whole fucking hog, because you've already abandoned the idea that people should have a consensus that other people in their company should be safe, too. Then you can literally have open-carry in your cubicles, Chad, but you gotta be real, and you gotta let Auntie from the Gulabi Gang let her bring her AR-15 to the office to cap your fool ass, if you step out of the line, too. An armed society is a polite society, as you say.

[tariqk]

If you come at me and tell me that Islamophobia isn't racism because it's a belief system, or that the reason Islamophobia is acceptable is because Islam in itself makes it so that its adherents are deserving of discrimination, I'd like to remind you that no matter what I did, I'd still be subject to Islamophobia.

That means that I'd be subject to increased risks of assault.

I'd be profiled on the borders of Western countries.

I'd be asked to justify the crimes of my co-religionists.

Even if they aren't my co-religionists.

It doesn't matter if I'm a Muslim, no matter what denomination, sect or religious movement. It doesn't matter if I leave the religion. It doesn't matter if my orientation or gender identity makes it that other Muslims want me dead. It doesn't matter if I criticize Muslim authority, or become a staunch opponent of “radical Islam”, or just plain old “Islam”, or if I want to “reform” it, or gut it in half, or ban it. It doesn't matter if I become a staunch proponent of white supremacy. It doesn't matter if I change my name into something more “neutral”, or try to hide my heritage.

Just one word — “taqiyya” — discredits all of that, because Muslims (actually Shi'a Muslims, who used it to stay safe from Sunni violence, which is another fount of fuckery I won't cover just yet) all lie to save their skins and spread shari'a.

Hell, it doesn't matter even if I never was a Muslim — I've seen Sikh people, Desi people of all beliefs, Arabs of all beliefs, brown people, black people, all subject to Islamophobia, because they looked “Muslim”.

The crux of the matter is you're not attacking a belief system, because Muslims, and, when you get down to it, people who don't look like you, are so diverse, it's hard to figure out who's Muslim or not. So you come down on the people who look like Muslims, even if they're not. And you don't care that these people change their minds. You never have. You just want them gone.

[misscoolisback123]

I hate it when people say that "Beauty And The Beast" and, to some extent, "Tangled" is stockholm syndrome. The Beast didn't kidnap Belle. Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel, but Rapunzel was a newborn, and there unfortunate cases of babies that were kidnapped and believed that their kidnapper was their actual parent. The Beast didn't know Belle even existed. He didn't look through his mirror and decided to kidnap her from her house. He didn't chain her to her bed in her room in the castle. He didn't even touch her, but he did get annoyed by her justified attitude towards him. Yes, he's a dick at first, but then he has a change of heart. Plus, they weren't even dating. In "Tangled," Gothel is manipulative, but it's more toxic parenting than it is stockholm syndrome. Yes, Rapunzel was hesitant at first to leave her tower to see the lanterns and has conflicted feelings about her freedom, but she really wanted to see the lanterns, and she didn't want Gothel to ruin that opportunity for her. So when Rapunzel finally stands her ground, Gothel belittles her and thinks that Eugene doesn't have feelings for Rapunzel. Again, this is a toxic parent. When Rapunzel finally realizes that she was the lost princess from the kingdom, the true colors of Gothel are shown. If Rapunzel had stockholm syndrome, then she would've believed Gothel when Gothel tried to gaslight her into believing that she was talking nonsense. But Rapunzel fully stood her ground and wasn't afraid of her anymore. I'm not saying this because these are my two favorite Disney princess movies, but I hate it when people over analyze things that they don't deem appropriate.

[tariqk]

You know that it's perfectly possible to criticize and oppose the authoritarian, racist, genocidal and settler colonialist actions of a nation without involving the oppressions and bigotries that affect the citizens of that country, right?

Like, literally you can say “$LEADER is a bigot” and “$STATE engages in $ATROCITY” without having to also buy into $BIGOTRY AFFECTING MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY WITH CULTURAL AND ANCESTRAL TIES TO THE COUNTRY RULED BY SAID STATE, right? And that reacting to such criticism by responding “You are engaging in $BIGOTRY AFFECTING MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY WITH CULTURAL AND ANCESTRAL TIES TO THE NATION RULED BY SAID STATE” can be both dishonest as shit on the part of the defender and a damn good reminder by those criticizing to engage with such criticism with principled opposition?

And that $COMMUNITY BELONGING TO THE DIASPORA WITH CULTURAL, HISTORICAL, AND ANCESTRAL LINK TO COUNTRY RULED BY STATE ≠ $STATE, correct?

And that while $PEOPLE WHO HAVE CULTURAL, HISTORICAL, AND ANCESTRAL LINK TO COUNTRY RULED BY STATE ⊂ $PEOPLE WHO ARE CITIZENS OF SAID STATE ⊂ $PEOPLE WHO ARE DIRECTLY PERFORMING THE ATROCITIES THAT ARE BEING CRITICIZED, there is no, like, 1 to 1 causal link between all three sets? That you can be $ETHNICITY OR IDENTITY without being a citizen of $STATE or even directly involved or even complicit in $ATROCITIES?

Like… you're kidding me, right? It's not as if this is an new playbook, and some of you are literally faceplanting into this same old bullshit argument.

[tariqk]

uols: Reza Aslan and Anita Sarkeesian are LIARS because they speak outside of the field that they studied, and therefore are GUILTY of MISAPPROPRIATING that expertise and DECEIVING their audience

also uols: oh man Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sam Harris are so BRILLIANT and INSIGHTFUL when they talk about history and religion despite the fact that they're trained as a physicist and cognitive neuroscientist, respectively