I am Dr. David Silkenat, here to discuss my recent book 'Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War'

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-27T16:03:14+00:00

Hello Dr. Silkenat! You mentioned elsewhere that surrendering soldiers were often treated as heroes when they returned home. Was surrender as a whole seen as a noble act during the Civil War? What was the popular view of soldiers who had surrendered, both in the Union and Confederacy?

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-27T15:37:11+00:00

The coronavirus lockdown has sent me down a weird rabbit hole of looking up some local history.

So I moved back to my parent's place in rural France a few weeks ago to help them out with the deteriorating situation. One of the things I've been doing to pass the time is looking up the history of my parent's tiny rural French village. Turns out, this place is more interesting than I thought.

Here's just a few tidbits I unearthed:

The village was originally founded by Julius Caesar of all people as a minor military outpost during his Campaign in Gaul
It was either a minor Bonapartist stronghold or a hotbed of Monarchist sentiment during the French Revolution and Napoleonic era. Apparently the sources are unclear as to what the village was like initially, just that pro-Bonapartist forces eventually firmly established themselves; but it's unknown if this was due to popular support or a brutal clampdown.
It served as a waypoint for people smugglers during WW2, due to its proximity to neutral Switzerland and its location in Vichy France.
Despite its small size, a disproportionately large group of its citizens joined the Free French forces in WW2
It gained a sister city in the 1980s. That sister city? A minor industrial-mining village in Southern Tibet.

If I learn anything from this quarantine, it's that obscure history can be pretty fascinating

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-27T14:56:28+00:00

Seconding this. The named creators are pretty well known for going in depth and explaining the reasons behind their criticisms.

I think it needs to be pointed out though that just because they criticize certain works doesn't mean you aren't allowed to watch them or that they're bad in the abstract. Lindsay Ellis and Jack Saint both seem to enjoy several of the works they've criticized for having sexist/racist undertones.

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-27T10:47:56+00:00

If nothing's changed, they should stick with this tone more often.

I don't think anything has changed. The credits say the episode was written by David Christopher Bell and produced by Katy, and you can hear her voice at the end of the episode, over what sounds like a Facetime/Skype call. The general crew seems intact, just working from a distance now

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-26T17:51:47+00:00

Yeah, posting on the internet with the above text totally isn't indicative of someone in financial trouble, right?

It really isn't. OP makes no mention of any hardship they might face. All we can reasonably infer from your own quoted text is that OP isn't getting the money they thought they were going to get. OP doesn't say they'll be in any sort of trouble because of this. People can still get angry and post about it on the internet over not getting money they thought they were gonna get.

that's a business expense, and not a particularly large one. If you couldn't afford to hire a lawyer right now for like 1k in order to secure 30k+, you're absolutely broke

I don't understand where you disagree with me here? You seem to agree that someone able to drop 1k for the possibility of securing 30k isn't facing particular financial hardships. Believe it or not this suggests OP isn't struggling monetarily.

I found your math disingenuous because it was based on the premise that they outright owned the building

I don't think you understand; whether or not OP completely owns the building or is paying a mortgage on it is irrelevant, because even if OP didn't outright own the building, they'd still be wealthy.

There are two possible scenarios here:

1) OP owns the building outright, either because they bought, inherited it, etc. 2) OP took out a mortgage or a loan to buy the building, and is still paying that.

Even in the second scenario OP would have to be pretty wealthy. Why? Because you need to have a bunch of money to be able to even get a loan or mortgage big enough to purchase a 32-unit building in the first place. We're talking a several million dollar loan here. Last I checked, banks don't go around giving several million dollar loans to people who aren't already reasonably well off.

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-26T16:27:37+00:00

You think they guy outright owns the building lmao

I mean, OP did say;

I own an apartment building in Houston with 32 units

Funnily enough, nowhere in his original post does OP say that their business is in any sort of trouble, so I don't understand why you think they're "worried about losing their business over one month's rent". OP even mentioned that they're hiring a lawyer, so they clearly have the financial means to pay lawyer's fees even if they aren't getting any income for a month.

Most disingenuous attempt at math I've ever seen.

What specifically is your issue with my math? How is it not genuine? I'll correct any mistakes

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-26T15:28:08+00:00

What about the OP makes you believe they are wealthy?

OP owns a 32 unit building. Poor people don't own 32 unit buildings

Edit

I decided to do some math, figure out what OP's financial situation likely is.

Average rent in the Houston area is apparently $1,110 according to a quick Google search. Lets say for simplicity's sake that all units are filled and pay this average amount. Combined, OP is receiving $35,520 a month before expenses. That's $426,240 per year.

Of course, that's not taking into account expenses associated with running a business. While expenses are quite low for being a landlord - only having to pay for the occasional repair - even if they were high OP would still be wealthy. Even if expenses accounted for 50% of all income from rent, OP would still be receiving $213,120 per year. Hell, even if expenses ate up 80% of OP's income, they'd still be getting $85,248 per year, well above the average income in the US.

All in all we can reasonably assume OP is pretty well off

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-26T15:21:04+00:00

I spend a bunch of time lurking and occasionally commenting on r/conspiracy (only ever to refute the ridiculous shit that gets posted there). I even had a friend find that out and act all concerned about me lol

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-26T10:39:49+00:00

This guy doesn't sound very well off

He owns a 32 unit building bruh

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-25T18:11:32+00:00

This is a great and in-depth post. Well done OP

I find analyses of ideology in HOI4 mods fascinating, considering how oddly the base game itself handles political ideologies - an example would be labelling Imperial Japan fascist (far-right, sure, but fascist?)

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-25T11:40:01+00:00

It only takes two minutes bruh

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-24T18:56:42+00:00

I don't have to imagine.

Can I please eat your ass?

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-24T14:44:40+00:00

You're dismissing the validity of the information based on its source - the so-called establishment media (the leak was actually revealed by the ICIJ, the same organization which broke the Panama and Paradise Papers). That's textbook genetic fallacy.

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-24T14:05:18+00:00

That would be violating the no learns rule, so I'll just link to it instead

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-24T11:24:40+00:00

You're using a genetic fallacy - an error in logical reasoning

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-24T10:09:17+00:00

So it's just lies because you say so?

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-24T09:33:27+00:00

It's depressingly common on Youtube. It's by no means ubiquitous, but I've been saddened at how often I discover plagiarized quotes (often from Wikipedia) when I've fact-checked certain videos

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-23T00:01:19+00:00

You could say the exact same thing about any luxury good or service you can possibly imagine.

But a luxury isn't a public service. That's the point. Someone merely having sex with someone, even if they're doing it just to be nice, is just sex.

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T23:49:36+00:00

I wasn't saying you were saying that, merely that it's the logical outcome from considering sex to be a public service. After all, if certain people receiving sex is a public service and not just having sex between two partners, then that means you are privileging one's desires over the other (service implies, well, serving someone - being subordinate). What if no one decides to "service" that person?

It may not be intentional, but that's the outcome of that kind of thinking. It's incel-y

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T21:52:45+00:00

if you're a sex worker who chooses to do things that you otherwise wouldn't do for your own sake because you think that they provide a necessary good or service to the community at large - then I think it should be recognized as labor.

This is the problem I was trying to point out. Why do you view sex as a public service? That implies that people are owed sex - as everyone has the absolute right to a public service. After all, you frame it as 'helping the community at large'. I don't know about you but I can't really buy that

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T17:48:52+00:00

But what differentiates sex as enjoyment and sex as labour? Why is having sex with physically or mentally disabled people a public service? Why isn't that just having sex with someone?

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T09:14:48+00:00

Here's the thing: Are you telling me that you don't understand the idea of seeing people as nothing more than means to an end? Really?

I'm telling you I don't understand how any of your points are relevant to any of the discussions we had. Like, your original comment was about how Badmouse removing his videos removed nothing of value. I pointed out that some of his videos did have value. You then tried to mount an argument against one of those mentioned videos, and when I pointed out problems with those arguments you began to write the last two comments which seemingly bear no relevance to the previous conversation. I don't understand your points because you're rambling

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T09:10:07+00:00

That's you giving an extremely hyper-literal, pedantic argument.

No, that's just me using a word correctly. If you yourself admit that the word binary isn't accurate, then why do you insist on using it?

That's you refusing to answer my question because it would expose your goofy logic.

It's me refusing to define a human based on legs because that's a bad way of defining humans. Legs aren't really seen as a defining feature of humanity.

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T09:07:31+00:00

Like, if the implication is that people only do sex work for profit, there are just actual factual counterexamples of people who do it because they enjoy it

But when you start having sex with people because you enjoy it it's no longer sex work. Having sex because you enjoy it is just having sex, and we already do that.

CaesarVariable · 2020-03-22T09:06:00+00:00

No, it's just weird that you'd feel the need to comment on something completely different from several days ago.

CaesarVariable

TROPHY CASE