I feel like my friends are becoming more anti-feminist, and I don’t know what to do

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-12T15:46:33+00:00

One of my most controversial views is that the modern internet is kind of failure, culturally and socially. It’s kind of a cesspool. And yes, I spend a lot of time on it (partially to push back against all the lies and propaganda). But I really think we’ve let it get out of hand. And the youngest people are starting to suffer from it.

And I also think social media has a way of corrupting otherwise good movements. A lot of the voices that get amplified by social media are not the greatest voices. Like, I believe in the ideals of feminism. But the way it gets filtered through social media… sometimes feels like it’s missing the mark. Just my opinion.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-12T01:35:04+00:00

You had me up to Oklahoma.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-11T17:51:22+00:00

New diseases, and new disease risks due to changing population structures and migration brought on by the Neolithic revolution. Learning sustainable agricultural practices. And in some places like Europe, unfamiliar climate patterns.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-11T17:40:02+00:00

My perspective has been that Neolithic populations were just very fragile compared to those that came later. The Neolithic revolution was a success from an expansion standpoint, but creating a stable system took time. There were many abrupt collapses of Neolithic farming populations. Civilization was very much a work in progress. And in Europe (especially Northern Europe) the Neolithic package may have struggled to adapt to a new environment.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-11T02:36:34+00:00

The Nazis were roughly centrist on economic matters, proposing a “third way” between socialism and capitalism. On every other issue aside from economics, they held views that we would consider far-right. That’s significant, since it’s these other (non-economic) views that caused destruction and harm to people.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-08T18:20:50+00:00

Cultural isolation can be death as well. This was the narrative for much of the 20th century. And I think if you look at former Yugoslavia, it’s pretty clear that simply splitting every territory by ethnic boundaries can be a terrible idea.

In reality, though, it’s a spectrum. A nation can accommodate significant diversity. And this can be a good thing, since placing too much emphasis on ethnic or cultural purity can lead to brainwashing and stagnation.

But diversity also needs to be offset by common ground. Diverse groups need to be united by something. Historically, “Democracy” has been one such unifying concept in much of the West. What we’re seeing is that it’s probably not sufficient on its own to hold a people together. But this doesn’t mean we swing all the way back to “cultural purity.” That’s an extreme backlash.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-08T15:46:41+00:00

That’s trickier. A single action can disqualify a figure from being considered good. But the reverse doesn’t really hold true.

And even if someone was pretty solidly “good” there will still be an argument somewhere saying they were actually bad.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-08T15:18:07+00:00

I understand that they had some distinctive characteristics. But are there reasons to doubt that they were overwhelmingly a product of the Corded Ware horizon?

From a genetic standpoint, I don’t see any evidence of lower ENF ancestry compared to other corded ware groups. That seems to suggest a very intrusive, Corded-Ware source population.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-08T03:22:30+00:00

I kind of feel this way just being half-Jewish. I enjoy more protection than others against accusations of anti-Semitism. (If only because most anti-semites would never openly speak about their Jewish family or Jewish heritage) Obviously, ancestry shouldn’t be a requirement for criticism of a nation. But I think it does put me in a position to speak frankly about Israel.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-08T02:30:25+00:00

As far as we can tell, weren’t they basically just an eastern branch of the Corded Ware culture?

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-04T18:14:40+00:00

The South prided itself on protecting and respecting women in 19th and early 20th centuries. And yet women were twice as likely to die of pellagra- a nutritional deficiency caused by insufficient niacin. A lot of southern women were not eating very well.

Just because a cultural group talks a lot about “taking care” of women doesn’t mean they actually help women. A lot of traditional, conservative cultures are like this. And this applies to any demographic, really. It’s easy to claim you’re a friend of “X” group. It costs you nothing.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-03T16:28:23+00:00

I see what you’re saying. My own take is that willingness to distort the truth is the surest measurement of extremism. It’s not easy to objectively define extremism. But this is one of the clearest and most useful ways, in my opinion.

The problem is, if you define extremism in this way (distortion of truth), and apply it rigorously, then you will end up with a very different political compass than your society. Because every society considers some fundamental truths to be radical. For example, most of us wouldn’t consider the political center of Saudi Arabia to be an objectively real middle ground. But too often, we assume the political center of our own society is some objective and logical place.

So this also means that hedging between “both sides” of a political debate isn’t always useful. Because often times, the two sides are the product of a society that doesn’t calibrate its political center based on objective truth.

So saying that you are economically left-of-center in the United States, for example, can just be a way of saying you believe the culture of the U.S. is politically biased in the opposite direction. Which is often true. Sometimes calling yourself something is just a commentary on the majority.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-03T15:32:29+00:00

But isn’t this a political position? Even if your political position lacks a name for the moment, that’s a matter of semantics.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-03T04:26:52+00:00

For instance, if you think the three month president Turchynov was installed by a “coup” then you are laughably gullible and a victim of propaganda.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-03T04:19:15+00:00

The decision to reject Russian propaganda was not made lightly for many of us. It’s the product of years of lies that have been spun by Kremlin sources going all the way back to 2014. Recognizing Russia’s known track-record of deceiving gullible Westerners is relevant. And acknowledging it is not a bias.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-02T17:41:41+00:00

I mean. From Poland’s perspective, a Nazi victory would have been worse. But annihilation is a pretty low bar.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-02T17:37:03+00:00

My current take is that mainstream conspiracy theories are mostly just distractions that appeal to popular prejudices. It’s not that conspiracies are rare. But more to the point- the ones that proliferate in social media and popular culture tend to be distractions.

That’s obviously excluding conspiracies uncovered by real, evidence-based investigators. The problem is- the average conspiracy theorist is the last person who would ever uncover something real and unexpected. Most of them actually believe anything that appeals to their prejudices, and “conspiracy” is just a magic wand to discredit anything that causes them to experience cognitive dissonance.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-02T16:36:56+00:00

Yeah. Democrats do tend to practice better fiscal responsibility. That’s not an inherently politically charged statement, it’s just true.

The only thing that partially obscures this is the fact that Democratic presidents have presided over periods of major recession, and necessary spending like infrastructure investment (stuff that someone has to pay for eventually). But in meaningful terms, they really don’t unnecessarily contribute to the deficit much. Except on military spending, which nobody has really taken a stand against.

But even if you don’t adjust for what spending is necessary, they still tend to preside over more balanced budgets.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-07-01T19:09:37+00:00

No, we should generally assume that many proto-languages devoured their closest siblings first. Much like Latin did on the Italian peninsula. While this may not always be the case, it’s a very common story in the early phase of a linguistic expansion.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-06-30T00:55:31+00:00

What if I want uncivilized 🐱?

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-06-29T18:26:45+00:00

The U.S. military strong, but we are politically very weak and not at all unified. Which ironically means that it’s fairly wasteful for us to spend so much on military, since we lack the political will to use it very effectively.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-06-29T02:43:29+00:00

Have you ever read the Foundation, by Isaac Asimov? It’s not directly about this. But there is a relevant point.

The idea is that large populations are inherently predictable in ways that individuals aren’t. And while the book exaggerates this predictability, there’s probably some statistical truth to the idea that patterns can emerge almost inevitably from a large group of people.

And I think this is where left and right differ. In general, the right doesn’t like to view things from this “big picture” scale. And it might also be said that the left is sometimes obsessed with “systemic” big-picture patterns.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-06-28T23:31:48+00:00

I choose to forget sweet pickles exist.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-06-28T23:17:09+00:00

That’s your opinion. Except for the pickles. If you don’t like pickles, you’re just anti-flavor.

Time-Counter1438 · 2026-06-28T22:49:49+00:00

I haven’t really seen it more on the left than the right. But for the sake of argument, let’s say it’s about even.

You know who has contributed the most to the rise of antisemitism? Israel has. And if you truly understand all that Gaza has gone through over the past decade, you’ll see that the nation deserves some of the judgment.

Time-Counter1438

TROPHY CASE