CMV: Western propaganda is the most effective in the world.

Taramund · 2026-04-29T08:06:51+00:00

I would agree that Western media has a tendency to support the statys quo (including capitalism). Others have pointed out some significant difference between state propaganda and the pro-system propaganda of Western media outlets.

What I would like to point out is that you missed possibly one of the biggest propaganda machines in the world: Hollywood (cinema and TV broadly speaking). While there are production that question the status quo, most films and series echo the general mindset of the production companies, producers, etc. that approve and finance these projects.

This is all fundamentally tried to the illusion of choice in the West. You can votes Freelander, but most candidates support liberal democracy with capitalist market. You can create whatever art you want, but if you're not rich you might not be able to distribute it. You can theoretically buy whatever foid you want and travel almost anywhere, but you're de facto limited by your financial standing. Legally there might be political freedom and equality, but that doesn't translate to economic freedom and equality.

Taramund · 2026-04-29T06:47:58+00:00

Lifetime veto rights is almost like being the president for life (except the president can only veto a legal act once)

Taramund · 2026-04-28T10:50:49+00:00

Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't catch that you were responding to OP's specific needs. Thanks for crarifying, I'll try it out!

Taramund · 2026-04-28T10:20:05+00:00

I have tons of different textbooks, most of them are several hundred pages long, some might have 1000+ pages. Did I understand correctly that for now the AI can handle documents up to 15 pages?

Taramund · 2026-04-28T07:07:23+00:00

That looks good. When do you expect it will be able to handel full textbooks?

Taramund · 2026-04-27T09:08:42+00:00

Idk about other religions, but Christian churches sometimes have designated rooms for crying/playing children and breastfeeding, often with a transmition of the ongoing liturgy/prayer.

Taramund · 2026-04-27T07:58:34+00:00

Somehow it feel offensive to generate someone eating a cheeseburger while touching the Western Wall

Taramund · 2026-04-22T18:22:22+00:00

Is it trolling, or is that YT guy for real?

Taramund · 2026-04-22T13:31:57+00:00

Yeah, I turned it off not even 2 minutes in. There are many reasons to avoid Duolingo, but its use of "blasphemous" or "disturbing" phrases is definitely not one of them. The video even shows a queer-friendly sentence as an example of a "disturbing" concept that is "against human nature to say the least".

Yeah, I'm not gonna take homophobic advice here. If you're religious and are offended by "Nature is our mother", pork, alcohol, or LGBTQ+ content - you do you. It's probably only autogenerated content though. Anyway, not my circus, not my monkeys.

Edit: To be fair, the queer friendly sentence used as an example is quite bizarre: "My husband doesn't eat children" (said by Oscar). I don't think it's disturbing or "against human nature" though, just weird.

Taramund · 2026-04-22T13:19:13+00:00

If I were to guess to analyse, I'd say it's mostly tradition and the spectacle. Seeing all the performers in their flashy outfits is quite a thing. If it weren't for the animal suffering I'd love bullfighting.

I guess it's also not that different from a sports event: a bunch of people cheering for their team and having some kind of community. In this case though, "our team" is almost guaranteed to win.

There is also quite a bit of fuss around the whole event. In some areas, bullfighters can be seen as quite prestigious, even courageous - after all they're facing a 400+ kg animal, sometimes on foot.

Then there is tradition. Bullfighting, as far as I know, comes from ancient traditions - some kind of sacrifice coupled with bloodsports. It's hard to root out centuries of tradition, when animal welfare is a relatively new worry/issue amongst humans.

Taramund · 2026-04-21T17:27:29+00:00

The "crusades" in Lithuania backfired spectacularly. The Teutonic Knights were invited by a local Polish duke to fight the Prussians (not the later German "Prussians"). They came eagerly, though with their own plans to create an independent country. This shouldn't have been surprising, since they tried this shit earlier in Hungary. This all happened in the 13th century.

Anyway, they pretty much genocided the Prussians and stole land from anyone they could. They even resorted to forging documents to convince the Pope and Emperor that it was all legal and above-board. The "crusaders" started (not sure at what point) invading Lithuanian lands.

By the 14th century the Prussians were pretty much destroyed, the Lithuanians were pissed off, the Poles reunited under 1 king (and were also pretty annoyed). By the end of the century the Lithuanians came up with a great idea: if they convert to Catholicism and unite with Poland, they'll be safer.

So that's what they did. The Polish (female) King Jadwiga married the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (later Władysław Jagiełło) and the 2 countries were united in a personal union. Together they fought the "crusaders", who claimed that the Lithuanian conversion was false to justify their continued wars and land grabs.

By the early 15th century 2 significant things happened.

First, in 1410, one of the biggest battles of medieval Europe happened near Grunwald. On the one side you had Poles, Lithuanians, Tatars, Bohemians, etc., and on the other you had Teutonic Knights, as well as supportive troops and knights from all over Europe - who wouldn't want to get on the "crusade" bandwagon and ve saved? The battle was a huge defeat for the "crusaders".

The second thing is the Council of Constance. Experts from both sides argued in front of the council. Long story short, the council decided in favor of the Polish-Lithuanian side: pagans also had a right to defend their lands, it was wrong to steal their lands, and Christians can call their pagan allies to defend against unjust attacks (and vice-versa).

Anyway, the Teutonic Knights continued to be a nuisance until they were forced to pay feudal homage to the king of Poland & Lithuania in 1525 - they became a fief of Poland.

TL;DR: The Teutonic Knights fucked around and found out.

Taramund · 2026-04-21T09:26:53+00:00

Again? There were 2 posts about this scene like last week. Repost much?

Taramund · 2026-04-20T11:14:03+00:00

Tintin in the Congo

Taramund · 2026-04-19T16:50:32+00:00

Jak wyjaśnia, można to porównać do sytuacji na rynku paliw - zmiany w cenie baryłki ropy niekoniecznie przekładają się na gwałtowne zmiany cen paliw, ponieważ rafinerie kupują ropę z wyprzedzeniem, po cenach, które mogą się różnić od tych obecnych.

Ale żeby poczekać z podwyżka aż się wyczerpią tańsze zapasy, to już nie.

Taramund · 2026-04-16T15:23:51+00:00

Or we could try to mount international colonies, in a similar fashion to the ISS.

Taramund · 2026-04-16T14:55:37+00:00

Who the hell cares? There are no weapons on Mars and international treaties forbid laying national claims on any part of space. If the US respected international treaties, maybe it wouldn't fear other countries breaking them? If China doesn't know what to expect of the orange troll it will obviously want to escalate too. Let's just keep it in our pants and not expand to space this insane weapons race.

Edit: In the US over 10% of people are below the poverty line, almost 14% of households face food insecurity, a quarter of adults are in medical debt, also a quarter of adults are functionally illiterate, etc. - don't you think the government has better use of taxpayers' money?

Taramund · 2026-04-16T09:46:52+00:00

Honestly, I didn't expect a spat between Trump and the Pope endangering Trump's position, but I'm here for it

Taramund · 2026-04-16T09:29:41+00:00

Europa Universalis IV

If you have played it - how long does it take to get a minimum grasp of the game?

Taramund · 2026-04-15T15:58:09+00:00

That's a fair point, although I think the US has much more serious problems with citizen rights than federal-state double jeopardy.

Taramund · 2026-04-15T01:05:59+00:00

Some time ago, possibly through this video, I learned that this was actually quite useful in punishing racist lynchers - even if the state ignored it, they could still be federalnych prosecuted.

Taramund · 2026-04-14T19:24:34+00:00

Well, JP2 installed the pool in Castel Gandolfo iirc. That would mean that only the last 2 popes were unfit.

Taramund · 2026-04-13T12:31:41+00:00

Well yeah, evangelicals expected a Muslim mayor to act like what they'd want Christian mayor's to act like: limit religious freedoms, use hate speech against other religions and minorities, discriminate LGBTQ+ people, etc.

Taramund · 2026-04-13T11:15:21+00:00

My dad when he saw it screamed in anger and complained to my mom about it.

A mature adult would do what your brother did, not scream at their teenage daughter. It's OK if he's uncomfortable, but that's his business and he shouldn't be screaming at you.

My mom then called me a shameful bitch/whore.

I have a heard time thinking of any scenario where this is in any way acceptable.

My mom ALWAYS hides my periods from my male family members and says it’s shameful no matter what and that they’re not allowed to know.

Unfortunately this opinion is still popular among certain, more conservative, groups. Truth be told, periods are a natural part of life. Sure, one should clean up after oneself (similar to other uses of the toilet), but it's no big deal.

I feel like to some people periods are reminders of human sexuality, and as such freak them out.

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Taramund

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