The Argument Atrium

Perpetually Tired

[dumbpuppyfag]

listen up folks he may be a paleolithic racist who failed upwards until he was in a position to give tens of billions of dollars to enable a genocide but you're mean and that's worse. remember the human.

[dumbpuppyfag]

wait no not those ones

[dumbpuppyfag]

remember when he led opposition against active school desegregation? remember when he was best friends with the most notorious segregationist in washington? remember when he gave the eulogy at that guy's funeral? remember in 1991 when bush sr conditioned loans to israel on a halt to illegal west bank settlements and he co-sponsored an amendment to forcibly override it? remember when he drafted the 1994 crime bill that fueled the ongoing mass incarceration of primarily black men? remember when he bragged about it? remember when he led democrat support for the invasion of iraq? remember when he led an all-white congressional panel in dragging a black woman's name through the mud on live tv for the crime of being sexually harassed?

the nauseating reinvention of this lifelong monster as a civil rights hero is solely due to his proximity to the first black president, which he only had because they needed someone on the ticket to reassure racist liberals that the white house would stay white. he spent 50 years making the world a worse place. he bears personal responsibility for the imprisonment and death of millions of people in the us and in the global south. his presidency was delivered by a bourgeois class that was terrified of any challenge to neoliberal orthodoxy. his entirely self-interested decision to pursue re-election delivered the everyday horrors you're seeing now. this doesn't even touch on the genocide you've been watching play out for over a year. he is a vain, miserable, racist, warmongering, murderous sack of shit and you do not owe him any sympathy whatsoever. save it for his victims.

[vaelynx]

Biden can get fucked, honestly.

He's one of the Clinton fuckbag clan that got rich off the war in Jugoslavia where thousands of kids got cancer from depleted uranium shells and he's directly responsible for the destabilization of Ukraine and its replacement with Banderastan.

I'm about as sad for him as I was for that monster of a healthcare CEO.

[prokopetz]

The sheer resistance in certain circles to the idea that most big-name D&D podcasts are at least partially scripted is perplexing to me because, like, look at the fucking production values. Yeah, it was cool when the party leader biffed that last-ditch Diplomacy check to prevent a battle no-one wanted, but when the GM proceeded to wheel out $1800 worth of Dwarven Forge terrain and a custom 3D-printed minifig for their reluctant foe, it's crystal clear there was no way that fight wasn't happening.

[prokopetz]

Exercise a little reading comprehension, folks. This post isn't saying "D&D liveplay podcasts are 100% scripted". It's remarking on the tendency of certain D&D liveplay fans to get tetchy about the idea that they contain any scripted elements at all. Whether your home game also contains planned scenes isn't relevant.

[vaelynx]

I bet these people are the same ones who think pro wrestling is an authentic martial arts competition :P

[mellodrammattic]

what is with this sudden obsession with equating communism to nazism? it is an argument so historically illiterate and intellectually bankrupt that i genuinely cannot tell whether people are being deliberately dishonest or are simply plants set by the cia.

[vaelynx]

It's been an argument pushed for ages, for one simple reason - it's the only manner in which the west can excuse its wholehearted support of nazism.

The only way you can excuse them raising nazi germany as an attack dog against USSR and fucking over their allies in the process (hello, Munich treason) is by pretending Stalin was somehow worse than the toothbrush-moustached wild swine dressed in the guise of a person.

[thererisesaredstar]

It is for You, Humanity!

Vadim Petrovich Volikov (1966)

[aliofbabylon-deactivated2023020]

Heartbreaking painting commemorating one year since the tragic Camp Speicher massacre in which 1,700 young Iraqi men were lined up by ISIS and tribes supporting them and asked “Are you Shi'a?” Before receiving a bullet to the head and thrown into the river or mass grave yards. 1,700 lives lost and mothers mourned because their sons failed to be the “right” sect. Never forget.

[jburneko]

I’m not going to reblog the source because I don’t want to bring negative attention to someone but I just read that “the most important skill of a GM is pretending what happens is what you were planning all along.”

Absolutely not. This pressure to “be in control”, “‘maintain the illusion” and “be a magician” style advice is precisely why people are terrified to GM.

You have one job as a GM at the table. ONE. Play your NPCs and other situation elements with the same earnestness as the players play their PCs. That’s it.

The “plot” is what happens when your toys and their toys meet and uncertainties between them are resolved via the game at hand.

You are not responsible for anyone’s fun.

You are not responsible for anyone’s entertainment.

You are not there to stroke the players egos or service their fantasies or “story beats” or whatever self-insert wish fulfillment BS they have projected onto their characters.

Stop making GMing harder than it needs to be. Just play the damn game.

[agentnoun]

Also, purely anecdotally, my players really get a kick out of it if they can tell I didn't expect something. That's a bonus for them (and, frankly, the unexpected is a bonus for me, too).

[only-cat-memes]

[literallymechanical]

I'm not clever enough to read a bunch of philosoph yand come up with some sort of theory of how the world should work or anything but so far the principles of:

try to make a world where it's easy for people to be nice to each other

lots of things make that hard but climate change is closer to the top of the list than most people are willing to admit

It's better to be happy than unhappy

seem to be carrying me through my life choices pretty okay! Especially because I am self aware enough to know that two of my secret internal motivations are

everybody in the entire world should know that I'm smart and funny and pretty

I bet I could fix everything if I were God-Imperatrix of Unified Terra and everybody had to do what I said

aaand I'm self aware enough to know that if I don't temper those impulses with something more altruistic I'd end up very unhappy lol

[literallymechanical]

I have many clever mutuals and I'm a bit intimidated by how much you all seem to have thought it through!!! How do people find the time????

[literallymechanical]

I fired my last therapist because he was a little too immediately supportive when I floated the idea of getting myself made secretary of energy.

[vaelynx]

God-Imperatrix of Unified Terra? Okay, if you're implementing the Church of Omnissiah too, I want in XD

[memewhore]

[bananahomo]

I reblogged this last month, tagged it, and said “might as well see if it works.” I used this video as a reference to find all the forms that i needed (which is A LOT, especially if you’re a dependent) and sent them through the mail, not really allowing myself to hope.

dude.

$2,714 of medical debt from my top surgery - gone. im shaking this was such a weight on me for 2 years and it fucking worked. what the fuck.

[minakittengaming]

This is huge. Sharing for my US friendos.

[zillyblog]

Hospitals like to hide these policies under a lot of successive links in obscure places, so if you don't see anything right away, keep looking! Get friends to help! Make it a scavenger hunt. A game where you're assassins sent to slit capitalism's throat

[famouspainterwombat]

[itsbenedict]

#france in shambles. automation truly comes for us all.

[mellodrammattic]

they call me a tankie and a dirty commie but they never call me a liar ♡

[mellodrammattic]

"yes, i know western media lied about iraq, cuba, vietnam, china, palestine, libya, pakistan, yemen, and somalia, but north korea?? no way, impossible!! they would NEVER lie about north korea!! this is the one time they are absolutely accurate and telling the truth!!!"

that's how most of you sound.

[tuckersunshine]

In order to be an ML you actually need to have the mind of a conspiracy theorist. "I KNOW EVERY MAJOR NEWS SOURCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA THINKS THIS PLACE IS A DICTATORIAL SHITHOLE BUT ACTUALLY THEY'RE ALL LYING AND ITS ALL A BIG CONSPIRACY!!!"

[strawbbykisses]

you’re an anarchist shut your fucking mouth

[lonely-space-egg]

The anarchists are not sending their best

[mellodrammattic]

[trash-mammalz]

this HAS to be a joke... right..? guys.....?

[silverswinds]

[mavratt]

I always see people talk about Laika the space dog, but never the other dogs Russia sent up.

So here's an appreciation piece for Strelka and Belka, the first higher beings to be sent into orbit and come back alive.

[literallymechanical]

Orhan son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten.

Just finished the Siege trilogy, by K. J. Parker. Tore through all three in a row, had a blast. They're clever, witty, sarcastic books about morally bankrupt people doing morally bankrupt things to each other, with unlikely protagonists rising and/or plummeting to the occasion.

Summary of the first book, from the publisher:

A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all. To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.

My belief is, either you understand things or you understand people. Nobody can do both. Frankly, I’m happier with things. I understand stuff like tensile strength, shearing force, ductility, work hardening, stress, fatigue. I know the same sort of things happen with people, but the rules are subtly different. And nobody’s ever paid for my time to get to know about people.

[vaelynx]

Making a note here since this appears to be something I'd rather like. On a similar note, have you read the First Law series by Abercrombie? Gives similar vibes, specifically, I immediately thought of the siege of Dagoska in book 2. Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.

[literallymechanical]

Ok so I haven't read the First Law series, but I have read Best Served Cold and the sequel trilogy, and I don't know that First Law and The Siege have the same vibe. Abercrombie is the self-titled "Lord Grimdark," and Parker definitely is not. They can both do dark political comedy but Parker is WAY more sarcastic about it. There are commonalities, though, especially when you compare the Siege to Abercrombie's newest, more overtly goofy book, The Devils.

[vaelynx]

Best Served Cold directly follows after First Law... and yeah, Before They're Hanged is halfway about the defense of an indefensible Union city against an onslaught of the ersatz-Ottomans, since it's a pretty literal thorn in their foot.

I've read The Devils recently, it's definitely weaker than First Law for most, but definitely picks up near the end. Though I admit, i'm not a fan of the whole werewolves-are-indestructible thingy.

[literallymechanical]

Orhan son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten.

Just finished the Siege trilogy, by K. J. Parker. Tore through all three in a row, had a blast. They're clever, witty, sarcastic books about morally bankrupt people doing morally bankrupt things to each other, with unlikely protagonists rising and/or plummeting to the occasion.

Summary of the first book, from the publisher:

A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all. To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.

My belief is, either you understand things or you understand people. Nobody can do both. Frankly, I’m happier with things. I understand stuff like tensile strength, shearing force, ductility, work hardening, stress, fatigue. I know the same sort of things happen with people, but the rules are subtly different. And nobody’s ever paid for my time to get to know about people.

[vaelynx]

Making a note here since this appears to be something I'd rather like. On a similar note, have you read the First Law series by Abercrombie? Gives similar vibes, specifically, I immediately thought of the siege of Dagoska in book 2. Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.

[prokopetz]

“Generically medieval”, by which we mean our peerage is French, our castles are German, our weapons are Italian, and everybody speaks English.

[the-venereal-bede-deactivated20]

you can have religion in one of 2 flavors: “woo hoo aesthetic garnish” and “Sinister State Control in Bad Allegory for Problems in Modern Christianity”

[prokopetz]

Also, the latter is aesthetically French Catholic, theologically German Protestant, and has the institutional structure of the Church of Scientology.

[jasmiinitee-deactivated20210610]

not to mention that this land is simultaneously inhabited by thinly modified northern vikings (Nordic pre-medieval/9th century), travelling mongols (European medieval/13th century) and a wealthy italian merchant family with a house full of oil paintings (Southern European renaissance/15th century). the dance of the day is waltz (refined German 18th century country dance).

[marietheran-archived]

But it will only actually be called inaccurate if an adaptation chooses to add a Black person.

[kmbw]

Source: This Soviet World (1936) by Anna Louise Strong

[vaelynx]

Meanwhile here, one of the candidates of "progressive slovakia" a right wing, rabidly pro-foreign neoliberal party, didn't know when Czechoslovakia was founded or who was the first president, laughing it off as "she's not a fan of memorizing".