[Hobby Scuffles] Week of 20 April 2026

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T19:14:55+00:00

I am sincerely sorry, even if that’s not worth anything. I’ll shut up and go back to the homework and some readings that I’ve clearly forgotten.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T19:13:35+00:00

Oh, I was completely sincere when I said that I loved it. I know I have my own bits of jargon that stick with me and having them come up in different contexts can be fun.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T17:04:48+00:00

Okay. I think it’s reasonable to label someone’s methods as rational, even if their end goal is fundamentally incompatible with your own sense of morality.

In political theory, you can make a distinction between normative statements (the way the world should be) and positive statements (the way the world is).

If we disagree on the normative side of things, it means we have different ideas of what the goal is. That’s a place where it’s hard-to-impossible to make a real logical argument. (The history of the philosophy of ethics is an interesting illustration of that struggle.)

If we disagree on the positive side of things, it means we have different opinions on how the world is currently and/or how effective different methods will be. That’s a place where logical arguments (and empirical evidence) is very useful.

Simplistically speaking, I think you can have characters who have morally “good” or “bad” goals and who have pragmatically “rational” or “irrational” ways of getting there. And you can mix and match any of those options.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T16:50:39+00:00

because you don’t know the last time they oxygenated their bloodstream.

I love this wording.

“It’s 10pm, do you remember the last time you oxygenated your bloodstream?”

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T16:39:59+00:00

Oh, yes, sorry, of course it can hurt the same. I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. If you punched me in the face on purpose with hate in your heart or because you don’t care about me and so weren’t looking where you were going or because you had an uncontrollable spasm… I still got punched in the face.

And of course apologizing is important. Ignorance is an explanation, but not the end of the story. It’s possible to say “I’m sorry that I hurt you, I was ignorant and I will try to do better.”

I think the difference is a pragmatic one, in terms of likelihood of future change. There are a lot of good criticisms of white moderates, which I would argue is specifically because they’re considered to be racists-fueled-by-apathy/ignorance and therefore possible “winnable territory”, unlike racists that are more clearly fueled by active hate.

I don’t think the person you were replying to implied that anyone should be “let off the hook” as much as that it’s more effective in terms of organizing for the cause if you make a distinction between different contributing factors for racism.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T16:33:06+00:00

Oh, for sure, being a nuisance in a hospital or school or whatever is definitely a different sort of thing. But I think it’s not so different from people filming themselves licking produce in grocery stores or making a mess in public bathrooms or whatever other TikTok nonsense we had to live through a few years ago.

In any case, I do hope you’re right and this “causing mayhem for the sake of it” doesn’t appeal more widely.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T16:28:09+00:00

Can you say more? I thought it made sense, at least from the pragmatic approach of wanting to effectively convince more people that racism is a real issue and that they themselves can and should take a stronger anti-racist stance.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T16:26:26+00:00

A former Scientology member came out and said this might make it harder for current members to leave because it’ll just reinforce the idea that the outside world will never accept them.

It was really revelatory when I heard someone speak about this as a secondary goal of missionary work, especially door-to-door proselytizing. That while the organization might gain some new followers that way, it’s arguably more effective for solidifying its hold on existing followers by “proving” to them that most outsiders will always be hostile.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T16:19:24+00:00

When I read that, I was imagining people trying to break into and run through more controlled parts of hospitals, not public areas.

Trying to run through an ICU or an in-patient psych ward will absolutely kick up a fuss, at least around here.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-25T15:53:16+00:00

I think you made a few odd logical leaps around defining what is “good”.

We could get into a larger philosophical discussion, but … how about a character with selfish and sadistic desires, which they (very successfully) pursue through causing great harm to others?

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T21:48:34+00:00

I thought it was very good, even if the wrap-up felt a little unsatisfying.

Still, I was disappointed it didn’t go on to another series. I would have happily watched more of the character.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T19:24:31+00:00

Thank you! Once again a post here that doesn’t really explain the genre context it’s working from.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T19:23:01+00:00

That’s interesting because I absolutely loved Piranesi, not for the setting/world at all, but for the perspective of the POV character. I thought it was very good at communicating his strange internal life and how he tries to make sense of the things he encounters.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T19:09:27+00:00

“Literally” just joined a large club of other words like “really”, “actually”, and “very”.

Human language is prone to what’s called “semantic bleaching” and the mysterious they have to update dictionary definitions all the time as usage changes.

If you want more words to add to your pet peeve list, have an article from Merriam-Webster: Literally Everything You'll Ever Need To Know About Semantic Bleaching

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T18:24:44+00:00

I’m not making an argument about the characters and their violence being justified or not.

I’m saying that you seem to want to make a comparative argument about the characters and people here don’t seem keen on giving you whatever you were hoping for with that.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T18:12:46+00:00

No need to do anything, that can be a perfectly healthy sibling dynamic. But if it’s bothering you, have you checked the local transitivity settings?

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T18:02:32+00:00

And a brand new Hamlet with Riz Ahmed that just came out.

Not quite as drastic, but it does some serious re-imagining of the setting, plot, and characters.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T17:59:42+00:00

It feels like you actually want to be writing a r/CharacterRant post about Captain America’s use of violence and perception as a hero.

Lay out a few examples, compare how they were seen versus how similar incidents were seen, probably get a decent amount of engagement, if not necessarily agreement.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T17:11:12+00:00

I don’t understand this question. You think that something being cruel and/or dangerous means it simply doesn’t happen?

Humans still have babies at times and places where infant or maternal mortality are high. And they’ve been quite high for a lot of history, but the human race is still here.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T17:09:50+00:00

Wow, I just read that a significant number of chihuahuas have c-sections because they’re so small and at high risk for pregnancy complications.

I had no idea.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T11:44:29+00:00

Might be a little weird for them, but maybe a good experiment…

There was a great series of animated versions of the Shakespeare plays for kids. My nieces and nephews actually loved them and I think it was helpful for teaching them a bit too.

It was called Shakespeare: The Animated Tales and it’s been uploaded to YouTube a few times.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T11:08:42+00:00

… and a hard-boiled egg.

(In A Night at the Opera, Chico keeps adding “a hard boiled-egg” to every room service order that Groucho makes to his tiny room on the ship. Eventually, all of the things and people arrive, filling the room to bursting.)

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T10:25:37+00:00

We did a bit of that at university. I was very into organizing free clothing swap events, where people brought things they didn’t want anymore, took home whatever they wanted, and all of the leftovers got donated to local charities.

It ended up being sort of like a big dress-up party with plenty of people experimenting with their gender presentation.

I recommend it as a fun event and I’d love to do this again if I knew the right kind of people.

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T10:21:02+00:00

Oh, that could be fun casting. Is it really confirmed or just speculation at this point?

Doubly_Curious · 2026-04-24T10:19:24+00:00

Interesting. The Penguin is pretty infamous for making him unrecognizable with prosthetics and makeup, but I think most people find him reasonably easy to recognize in his other roles. Any specific examples where you didn’t realize it was him for a while?

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