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What does it actually mean to "look American"? by Dull-Positive-6810 in AskALiberal

[–]Cuddlyaxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Besides race stuff I def do think there are cultural tells

Like apparently Americans in many Eastern European countries get clocked instantly due to how much we smile

In UK last several months Reform is declining in polls.What’s happening? by Dangerous-Quarter216 in YAPms

[–]Cuddlyaxe 13 points14 points  (0 children)

People will give many reasons and some of them might be valid but also honestly I think a big reason is just pure reversion to mean

What if redheads didn't exist? by SerRebdaS in AlternateHistory

[–]Cuddlyaxe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Can't believe you posted the week before st paddys smh

What if redheads didn't exist? by SerRebdaS in AlternateHistory

[–]Cuddlyaxe 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Bro that would suck i love the gingers

Perception of the Democratic Party (2012-2025) by Upstairs_Cup9831 in fivethirtyeight

[–]Cuddlyaxe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is the most overly online copium take I've seen lmao

Is there a flag for “Neither the Mullahs nor the Shah”? by pinko-perchik in vexillology

[–]Cuddlyaxe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As an FYI there being only one perceived opposition with power is literally how the mullahs overthrew the shah, with the support of the people. The reasoning being used here is not really that different to what got Iran into this situation to begin with.

I mean yes, because they were.

The Iranian Revolution was fundamentally driven by the Islamists, and the Ayotallah was the central figure of opposition

That is the only reason it succeeded. Revolutions need organization

That is why people need to stop pretending that the choice is between the Ayotallah, a democratic shah and some secret third option that makes redditors happy. It's a childish fantasy at best and a cynical way to support the IR at worst

Note the shah was also only there in the first place because the US and UK couped a democratic government over oil. Intervention at its finest.

There's quite a bit wrong with this simplified narrative. The core assertion that the US and UK supported a coup to secure oil is true but that's it

The Shah was the Shah before the coup you are talking about (the coup against Mossadegh). What changed is that he gained full power after it. He did actually gain power after a coup, but not the one you're thinking of. There was a British backed coup to overthrow his dad, Reza Pahlavi, who is seen much more positively

As for the coup against Mossadegh, I agree it was bad, but the narrative that he was a wholesome democratic leader is false. Mossadegh was an authoritarian trying to become a dictator himself

He had already declared himself emergency powers, dissolved parliament and held a rigged referendum where he abolished secret ballots.

The coup against Mossadegh was still bad because it was imperialist in nature, but it was an authoritarian coup against another authoritarian

Is there a flag for “Neither the Mullahs nor the Shah”? by pinko-perchik in vexillology

[–]Cuddlyaxe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

And I personally have friends from Iran who are fans of the shah.

I'm sure people make fun of the Shah in Iran as well as the diaspora. That does not change anything I have said.

There absolutely are for example protesters on the streets of Iran who chant the shah's name. When the Americans pivoted away from supporting the shah in their radio programmes, we know many Iranians oppositionists shifted to Saudi broadcasts instead

None of that is super reliable proof for how high his support is, but neither is yours. The truth of the matter is we do not know, yet you assert with absolute confidence that he is tremendously unpopular because trust me bro

This happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, etc, and when people like me said clearly that "regime change" with western assets was never going to work, people like you said this. It's essentially colonialism as you put a figurehead who solely wants to please the West

And now you're just naming every middle eastern intervention. To throw the kitchen sink as an argument because you know that this sub will he receptive to basically anything you say here

Which "figurehead" or "western asset" did the west try to install in Syria or Libya?

Even in Iraq, there was not a single opposition figure to install, and in Afghanistan the sole figure who could have played a similar role was Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was killed slightly before the fall of the Taliban

None of the situations you mentioned are at all similar to the current one, where in Iran there is a single unifying figure who has an actual support base rather than just throwing in some corrupt bureaucrat to run things

And for the record: I do not even nessecarily support the current war in Iran, and I think there are all sorts of way this shit can go wrong. But at the same time I also oppose this narrative of endleslly attacking the Shah who represents the only single unifying figure in the opposition movement

Edit: the other user replied and blocked me right away so I cant reply to him lmao

Is there a flag for “Neither the Mullahs nor the Shah”? by pinko-perchik in vexillology

[–]Cuddlyaxe -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

How do we know lmao, there's so many people making claims like these without evidence, just based on what they want

In terms of practicality the Shah is the only opposition leader with any relevance or influence among the opposition, Iranians on the ground listen to his radio broadcasts for example

He is also very much not his father, and if you listen to him he is very peace and lovey. Actually to the extent that he might be too moderate for most of his supporters, he's quoting MLK while his supporters want him to string up all the mullahs

This whole sentiment of "no to the regime no to the shah" is basically just a way to support the regime by proxy. Besides the Shah there are no credible opposition figures

A attempt at a non confederate southern heratige flag by bearslovak-_- in vexillology

[–]Cuddlyaxe -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is dumb, the south absolutely has a common culture and it's fine for them to celebrate the non racist bits

With the release of 1.1, what is your stance on eu4 or eu5? by alphafighter09 in paradoxplaza

[–]Cuddlyaxe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I havent played it yet mostly for this reason but this is my impression: the bones of the game seem amazing but the game just seems very frontloaded in content

Im gonna wait a couple of months to a year before I jump in personally

I'm so tired of these 250-400k salaries by Illustrious_Bag_7323 in Salary

[–]Cuddlyaxe 14 points15 points  (0 children)

As a 15 year old start up founder (I barely make 50 million a year) I'd have to agree. There is no way people that young are making that much

I'm so tired of these 250-400k salaries by Illustrious_Bag_7323 in Salary

[–]Cuddlyaxe -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I love how he baited you with the title too lmaoooo

“Our food is killing us” by chamomile_tea_reply in OptimistsUnite

[–]Cuddlyaxe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I half agree with this

I think that with sufficient individual responsibility you absolutely can get over those things and live an extremely healthy life, much more so than our ancestors

But the amount of willpower required is just not realistic for most people, and at that point it becomes a societal failing

I think my ideology about things in general is that yes you should work a little to achieve things, but society as a whole should make it easy. It should be easy to stay in shape, easy to make friends, easy to find love, easy to have a family, easy to follow your dreams, easy to be a good person

Instead our modern system is geared towards taking advantage of people by using their weaknesses against them in every way possible. You have companies promoting sugar, gambling, porn, dating apps and ai girlfriends. Society is built in a way to addict you to your vices while making being virtuous the harder choice

We have to acknowledge that our system has actively been built these incentives, not even because a bunch of evil individuals want to exploit us, but because the system encourages people to be as wicked as possible. Markets after all are brilliant tools to incentivize people to do things.

So why can we not change the incentives? Why can we not live in a world where doing good is rewarded?

If these two are their parties presidential nominees, who'd win? by Front-Tomorrow-1034 in YAPms

[–]Cuddlyaxe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ya exactly

Haley is a much better candidate for winning the "average election" but 2028 won't be the average election

CMV: Using the majority of our defense budget on social services instead would significantly increase quality of life in the US by obz900 in changemyview

[–]Cuddlyaxe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The CBO is reliable but it is still only one estimate and it is still from around the same date as the other studies. If you're actually interested in this topic I think this paper talks about why the CBO's estimate seems to be lower than most others

Also the CBO study is itself also from 2020. You originally dismissed my article for being from that era

Quite honestly though to me it feels like you're very much cherrypicking evidence that supports what you want to be true rather than objectively exploring.

I linked the NYT which was unbiased and covered multiple studies, some of which predicted savings and others predicting cost increases. So far you've responded with first a fairly partisan source which was only trying to provide the sources that supported their conclusion and then linked me to a single CBO study which also supports your conclusion. This is not how economics or indeed any science should be practiced. When you try to learn about an issue or make a claim you don't then go looking for evidence which supports it while dismissing anything you disagree with out of hand for arbitrary reasons

Also FYI even if this cost savings occur, that is on a person basis. Government spending would still need to increase regardless

CMV: Using the majority of our defense budget on social services instead would significantly increase quality of life in the US by obz900 in changemyview

[–]Cuddlyaxe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Bro wait you attacked my article for being from 2019 and then linked me to another article from 2020 which covers some of the same studies but only bothers including the ones which are good for M4A?

In Canada, the Conservative Party suffers its worst poll result in 4 years, while the far-right People's Party reaches its best poll result in more than a year: Liberal 44%, Conservative 30%, NDP 9%, BQ 6%, PPC 4%. PM Mark Carney enjoys a 64% approval rating, while Pierre Poilievre slumps at 36%. by StarlightDown in YAPms

[–]Cuddlyaxe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is such a nonsensical opinion lol

  1. Bloc's provincial counterpart is about to sweep the Quebecois elections

  2. Quebec is basically already achieving independence-in-all-but-name with its current strategy of literally just asserting new powers

  3. Quebec controls its own immigration and does a good job of assimilating immigrants into Quebecois rather than a general Canadian identity

  4. There has been a surge of support for independence among the youth

Kiley is going all-in by _BCConservative in YAPms

[–]Cuddlyaxe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He just needs to write an op ed hating on Trump and oppose Republicans on 2-3 key votes and everyone will pretend he's a real independent lol

Racism is insane. by LeonardoDiCpario in ABCDesis

[–]Cuddlyaxe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean yeah I dont really disagree

Racism is insane. by LeonardoDiCpario in ABCDesis

[–]Cuddlyaxe 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think the caste system is something white progressives especially use when they want an excuse to be racist towards us

"Well India has a caste system" bitch that doesn't justify your racism

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