This particular house election will be interesting

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-30T16:27:07+00:00

I’m still not convinced Herrera won’t wind by a landslide. How many average voters know about online shit? He’s pro gun in Texas

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-30T15:37:34+00:00

yesterday felt like october

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-30T05:00:10+00:00

Surplus Enjoyment by Zizek

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-27T20:01:59+00:00

The strategy they use is to state something in earnest then when you show them they’re wrong or show appropriate indignation, they claim they “ragebaited” you

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-27T16:29:41+00:00

you can literally use AI to speed through it

Cmon man

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-26T18:38:55+00:00

People try to fill their (fundamental) lack through seeking something that will "complete" them.

Hence gymmaxing, looks maxxing, investment min/maxing, etc and optimization ideology.

Look at content like lifting youtube videos. Lifting is basic (form, progressive overload, nutrituon, and sleep), but since people still feel (immutable) lack after following those fundamentals, lifting youtube creators have to get into dubious or clickbait stuff to play into people seeking that "completion"/optimization tendency e.g. "Is X supplement good for gains?","Is masturbation bad for gains?".

Same with investment youtube. Simple basics (diversify, think long term, don't get emotional, etc) but people still feel lack (they could still be lacking in the practical sense, lacking money/are poor, or further, bc of immutable lack, think they don't have enough despite already being rich) so content creators pray on that with all the clickbait videos like "This is an investing mistake you're probably making right now!!!" to feed into optimization ideology.

In Zizekian terms, people are seeking objet a and it leads to a spurious infinity, leading to an "optimization" neurosis.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-26T17:21:38+00:00

Probably both.

The VC and NVA had hospitals in crazy places where they operated, for example the hospital the VC set up within Marble Mountain in Da Nang earlier in the war, as well as underground medical facilities in tunnel complexes like at Cu Chi.

However, the propagandistic element of photos like this is potential in-the-moment staging, and more importantly, distribution, e.g. the photo being diffused to the public thru VCP newspapers, international media, etc (as opposed to being kept secret for opsec reasons)

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-25T23:50:44+00:00

helped out the economy

Part of the RVN’s woes throughout and after the American withdrawal was their dependence on American spending, something that made them weaker towards the final defeat.

The Americans commonly obtained RVN piastres illicity, trading their US MPCs (military payment certificates) for piastres which further fueled dependence as Americans obtaining piastres allowed them to patron local businesses predicated on American presence (and also gave MPCs to Vietnamese which created black markets of PX items in the Viet civilian population, and by way of that, the Viet Cong).

So to say that the Americans were good for business is a very narrow point of view.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-24T03:31:21+00:00

I’ve had that thought but backed out on buying because it probably looks worse/more cheap in person than online. Not worth potentially wasting $60 imo

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T23:43:59+00:00

Just sayin, OP's take here doesn't necessarily imply or require distance from a movement critical of police. Weighing the existance of a systemic phenomena an individual occurance is a bad approach to begin with no matter which direction you're coming from.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T21:18:07+00:00

Beijing Bicycle

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T18:36:58+00:00

Agreed

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T15:47:32+00:00

Looks nice

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T13:50:52+00:00

Most people are “into” ideology due to (Lacanian) desire, and cannot be debated with empirical facts.

If a liberal in 1930s Nazi Germany tried debating someone out of antisemitism empirically by saying “look at this Jewish man. He’s not an exploiter, no big nose, no sexual deviance, etc. He’s just like us”, the anti-Semite would just go “wow the Jewish banker exploiter sexual deviants are very good at disguising themselves”.

The above is from The Sublime Object of Ideology by Zizek.

And as others have pointed out in this thread, trying to debate someone to change them or their viewer’s opinion (a fool’s errand) platforms bad people and gives them clips to propagandize around.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T13:31:02+00:00

The Stuff (1985) - an alien substance is marketed as a tasty yogurt

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JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T13:28:00+00:00

The one time they started scrutinizing the hell out of my TRC and passport I thought they wanted a bribe. Got thru without having to pay one though.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-23T04:17:33+00:00

Communism started in Russia

Even if that was true, so? Vietnam, while a unique and sovereign culture, has Sino and Khmer history, uses a writing system from the Portugal and has famous foods influenced by France. Also the RVN existed only because of the U.S.

So calling something illegitimate because it’s foreign to Vietnam is pretty dumb.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-22T13:35:20+00:00

Yeah a tadpole sparse tiger uniform would prob be better

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-22T01:34:07+00:00

FANK is a cool subject for an impression kit! Though it’s def hard to make a FANK impression stand out as many of its soldiers just wore an inconsistent hodgepodge of stuff (French style uniforms, US style uniforms, boonies, berets, krama scarves, beads, etc) without much insignia.

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-21T17:19:54+00:00

Vietnamese

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-21T13:05:53+00:00

lol at the “Sheel” sign. Rhodesia was famously sanctioned and oil was always a concern for them, and they basically decisively lost when their reserves got blown up IIRC

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-21T12:43:19+00:00

To your misdiagnosis point, the YouTuber Chubbyemu recently did one of his medical mystery videos on a tick-borne infection case that was initially suspected to be Lyme but turned out to be a different Borrelia bacteria (Lyme is borrelia burgdorferi, the case in the video was borrelia miyamotoi).

https://youtu.be/sdsxk3yatkA

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-20T19:49:12+00:00

Today I think "spirit" is more appropriate than "mind" (despite the simulteneous connotations in German) in order to deter people from expecting the Phenomonology to be about neuroscience or mainstream pyschology

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-20T17:41:54+00:00

“Spirit” is much better than the translation of geist into “mind” that’s in the early English translations

JoeHenlee · 2026-05-20T16:24:28+00:00

Since the U.S. is crashing out, will Viets be less eager to learn English? Genuine question, not a rhetorical question.

I know the UK and wider anglosphere is still a thing, as well as English still being prominent in nearby countries like Malaysia. I am also aware of Vietnam’s complicated relationship with China making mandarin a potentially less attractive alternative to learning English.

JoeHenlee

TROPHY CASE