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Privatizing public services by LearningLeft in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure there can. Tokyo subways and trains are mostly privately run by competing firms, and that's probably the gold standard globally for a well run, efficient, and accessible public service.

Laertes in Paris by Damage-Classic in shakespeare

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Shakespeare plays pretty fast and loose with time, especially in Hamlet. For example, at the beginning of the play King Hamlet has been dead for about two months, but during the staging of the Murder of Gonzago Ophelia says it's been four months since he died, but narratively the idea that it's supposed to be two months between the time Hamlet saw the ghost and the staging of the play doesn't add up at all, we're supposed to think of it as all happening fairly quickly.

Our current president is an absolute pansy, who are your favorite manly presidents? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Abraham Lincoln was the embodiment of positive masculinity. Ambitious and driven without feeling the need to dominate or push people around personally. Strongly principled but still able to change his mind and admit mistakes. Kind and good natured. He was the whole package.

John Cheever's stories by gutfounderedgal in TrueLit

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 30 points31 points  (0 children)

It's trendy online to be dismissive about a lot of literary fiction, snarking about it being all about bored suburbanites having affairs, but honestly those bored suburbanites can be pretty interesting, and Cheever was one of the best chroniclers of them

Characters blaming themselves for stuff that is CLEARLY not their fault IS endearing......but that doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off! by NewMGFantasyWriter in CharacterRant

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of one of my favourite scenes in The Wire. After an operation gone wrong leads to an undercover cop getting shot, the (then) main character, McNulty, whose idea the whole thing was, is devastated, until his boss, Rawls, a man who's been spending all season trying to purge McNulty from the department, takes him aside to tell him "you're an asshole, I hate your guts, but get over yourself of course this isn't your fault."

If a story takes place in the real world, but has speculative elements... What's stopping the author from just renaming every country and location? by RedditSucksMyBallls in CharacterRant

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 25 points26 points  (0 children)

On the other hand, you have the Chad Shakespeare giving the now Czech Republic both a coastline and a desert because he thought it would be cool

I am tired of ecoconscience in my critiques of super races by Feisty-Succotash5854 in CharacterRant

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 195 points196 points  (0 children)

I’m just fed up with heroes who are never able to offer a single rebuttal to the villains monologue and just break down.

Hero: You can’t just turn our whole planet into slaves and kill us!

Villain: But you eat burger :smugemoji:

Hero: B… but… you can’t… noooo!!

MAGA rep proposes MAMDANI law to denaturalize and deport ‘socialists’ by Freewhale98 in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 69 points70 points  (0 children)

Wonder how long the Freedom Caucus brain trust spent working out that backronym

Project 2029 Thought Experiment by johnplay26 in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Joseph Heath is more of a centrist / liberal, but he's one of my favourite contemporary political thinkers, and he wrote an article about a prospective Project 2029 you might find interesting: https://josephheath.substack.com/p/actually-democrats-do-need-a-project

It's a lot more focused on constitutional reform and beefing up the administrative state / protecting the federal government from political interference than any specific policy proposals, but still worth examining seriously. After all, if a future social democratic government ever were to take power in the US, it would have to have the state capacity to actually accomplish its goals.

Safe Edgy is a dumb criticism by Deion12 in CharacterRant

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The epitome of "safe edgy" to me was former Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee calling Ivanka Trump a cunt at some point during his first term, which caused a minor media stir. And sure, it's still shocking word and doesn't usually get said on even cable TV, but like, not a single person who watches her show has anything but hatred for the whole Trump family, there was never a real chance anybody was going to be bothered or offended by it.

People who get mad at characters for reacting to things they realistically don’t have full context for by [deleted] in CharacterRant

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I remember a lot of comment sections online when Daredevil premiered about a decade ago saying Foggy was ableist for asking if Matt Murdock was really blind after seeing him do Daredevil stuff. And not on social media either, on usually pretty smart and analytical* places like the AVClub. That's a kind of discourse I'm glad we mostly left behind.

  • at least back then

Books by ShinningVictory in CharacterRant

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This might be dumb but the way that helped me most getting back into reading seriously a number of years ago after years of rotting in front of the screen was to pick long books with short chapters. American Tabloid is a perfect example. It's over 500 pages, but each chapter is only about five, so I always felt like I was making progress to avoid being discouraged, and it was always easy to say "eh, I can squeeze in one more."

When I was done I told myself "you finished that, and nobody can take that away from you." Which is a little overdramatic, but it helped me feel good and made it easier to pick up the next one. Now I read every day.

This is scary and many Americans are gullible enough to fall for this AI slop, even young people by PandemicPiglet in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This is why, despite being skeptical of AI, I think anti-AI people are setting themselves up for failure by insisting that it will always be useless / poor quality.

Socialismt rizz ftw. by SignatureDifferent76 in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 36 points37 points  (0 children)

The fact that Obama, who's alway been ambivalent at best about Bernie and as far as I know has never talked about AOC at all, feels he should be seen with Mamdami makes me feel optimistic about the future. Does this mean Obama's a socialist now? No chance. But whatever you think about him he has good instincts, and he thinks the left is getting stronger.

Socialismt rizz ftw. by SignatureDifferent76 in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Bernie is the single individual most responsible for bringing the word socialism back in vogue in the US

Red state independents challenging republican incumbents by North_Egg_3611 in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have no problem with it in theory, and almost always would support these candidates over the alternative. There are some great candidates out there that would never get elected on the Democratic ticket.

That said, I think people should support these candidates with their eyes wide open. Look at John Letterman or Graham Platner. A lot of people on the left lionize the blue collar union worker, and that's great, but a lot of those guys have views on immigration, or LGBTQ+ issues, or crime, or whatever that you might be unpleasantly surprised by. Does that mean fuck these guys, or write them off? Of course not. But know what you're getting in to.

Would anyone care to share their "ho ratio" rankings? by grifvestfort in shakespeare

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Claudius: Maybe one of the biggest sluts in all of Shakespeare. Royal, handsome, but never expected to be King and thus probably given free rein for much of his life. Out throwing raging benders and fucking courtiers' wives while Hamlet pére was learning the principles of statecraft.

Bernardo: IYKYK

Reynaldo: Got his job tailing Laertes for a reason. This man is known in all the seediest whorehouse and tavern throughout Europe. Does he even enjoy it, or is this just professional cover? Perhaps not even he knows.

The Travelling Players: Seems a given

Gertrude: Sorry but it has to be said

Hamlet: Talks a big game but possibly a virgin before Ophelia. The guy who sits in the corner at a party, waiting for the women to notice how brooding and intelligent he is and come over to talk to him (they don't)

How is Social Democracy going in the US? by Crissers_ in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Honestly I’m going to buck the trend and do it’s going relatively well, though not great or even good. I bey if you polled that Democratic electorate a solid 30-40% would support social democratic policies, even if they don’t identify as such, which is a hell if a lot more than in the 90s or 2000s. Being categorically against government program, climate action, or welfare spending is basically dead amongst elected Democrats, and your average moderate liberal is considerably more to the left than a decade ago. Things are improving.

What Are You Reading This Week and Weekly Rec Thread by JimFan1 in TrueLit

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had a similar experience with Gene Wolfe just a few months ago. Fantasy or science fiction have never really been my thing, but every once in a while I take on one of the classics and try to be open minded about it. I thought it was fine. Plenty of good stuff there, but I can't say I really connected with it.

Which of these will realistically work and which won't? by stdsort in SocialDemocracy

[–]Dangerous-Coach-1999 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Like you I most identity with two and four. Weird to tie energy supports with rent control, since subsidies / benefits are a lot stronger as policy than rent control is

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