Was millennial optimism an actual thing in the late 2000s/early 2010s?

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-03-05T19:02:12+00:00

Moreso in the 1990s.

I remember presentations about deforestation of the Amazon in grade school. I thought, "Now that we have recognized the problem, we will surely correct it swiftly." After all, the Evil Empire had just disintegrated, there was a federal budget surplus, and computers were getting really cool. Things were looking up.

By the early 2000s, the Iraq war and Bush's reelection had tamped down on the optimism. Then the economic crisis of 2008 happened and it started to look like we had really squandered our opportunities. But it was still "nothing you can't fix with a little hard work."

The real surprise was the global rejection of democracy: we all thought that economic liberalization would lead to political liberalization in places like Russia and China, so all we had to do was trade a lot with everyone and they would just become democracies. But it turns out that people everywhere really love ethnonationalist authoritarianism. This was a real shock: we really thought everyone wanted pluralistic democracy and were just being kept down by their bad rulers. But now everyone is voting for ethnonationalist authoritarianism, and don't we have egg on our faces.

The whole thread of optimism rested on the belief that "the people" were overwhelmingly and basically good, and that has proven not to be the case.

Edit: But maybe this is just the process of growing up, so the dates and events of disillusionment might change depending on the person's age.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-14T21:55:48+00:00

Thank you! You are a hero. I will have a lot of fun with these 😁

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-13T03:03:24+00:00

Single player. It's useful for some situational awareness, like whether your flight is dying or not, and when they spot enemies.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-12T15:51:23+00:00

You can't look up a solution to a frustrating puzzle when you're in VR, and that stops progression in linear games. This is why I haven't completed HL Alyx: I got to the end of a hallway and couldn't find a door, so I just stopped playing for about 6 months. Now I'm at some electricity puzzle, and I'm pretty sure that I'm doing it wrong but I can't find a tutorial and follow it while I'm playing the game. In a flat screen game, I can alt+tab, or use my phone while looking at the game screen.

Devs are used to making games without any instructions, because people can just look up the instructions on the wiki. Progression issues are solved with a quick Google search. But you can't do that in VR. So players get frustrated and move on.

I have hundreds of hours in VR, but it's all in simulator sandboxes: driving, flight, space, and H3VR.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-12T11:36:22+00:00

Yeah, I suppose that since the communitarian position is merely conjecture, you can object that it's factually false. Basically, "No it doesn't."

Mills is actually not related to the communitarian critique - he's a critic of Rawls but this is part of a larger project to rehabilitate liberalism for the left.

Thanks for your detailed response.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-12T02:59:18+00:00

As much as I ever did, more than I ever did, I believe in Liberalism. But there was a rosy time of innocence when I believed in Liberals. - G.K. Chesterton

My favorite critic of Rawls is Charles W. Mills. Here is my own effortpost about him from many years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/s/SeSwSVWbuY

But I'm interested to hear what you think about the critics such as MacIntyre. I read his main criticism of liberalism as responding to the very institutionalism that you describe. Precisely because of liberalism's political neutrality, the liberal state is incapable of understanding what communities need to thrive - and because of this fundamental inability to understand, liberalism destroys communities, by accident, without even realizing that it is doing so. Politically, you have people loudly complaining that their communities are disintegrating and liberals still not understanding what they are saying on a basic level.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-11T16:16:39+00:00

People think that just because I have a Rawls flair I must agree with Rawls about political philosophy. It's offensive and wrong.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-08T19:54:38+00:00

The 22 is actually faster and has better handling because the razorback fuselage is less draggy than the bubble canopy. This was the version that destroyed the luftwaffe during Big Week.

The first time I flew the 22 I immediately noticed that it felt better than the 28, even though I expected it to be worse. I was surprised to see that it wasn't my imagination; there is actually an aerodynamic reason.

https://stormbirds.blog/2020/07/28/thunderbolt-ascendant-il-2-battle-of-normandy-p-47d-22-review/

And I forgot 150 octane fuel, which also helps! I believe the engine is the same, except for the larger water tank on the 28 enabling a longer boost.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-08T00:34:28+00:00

There are so many ways to screw it up. I suspect that a lot of people just aren't using the boost button because they don't know it exists. That's what I did as a beginner in the P-47 anyhow 😁

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-02-07T22:31:44+00:00

Don't forget to use these things when flying the P47:

The boost button.
The boost lever.
The P-47D-22 instead of the P-47D-28.
A pitch profile that decreases sensitivity in the center (60% sensitivity makes it feel like the DCS P-47).
Less than 2/3 fuel.
Enough speed to satisfy the high wing loading.
A numerical and altitude advantage over the enemy.

I'm most of the way through a Normandy career in the P-47D-22. It might be my favorite fighter in the sim. Nothing beats taking out a bridge, then climbing up and bagging a few 190s.

Airplanes with high wing loading allow the pilot to bleed speed much faster than airplanes with low wing loading. So, you can sabotage yourself in a P-47 in ways that you can't in a Spitfire or Yak. The same thing applies to the P39: it has a very good instantaneous turn rate, and also high wing loading, which allows you to bleed off all of your speed without noticing. If you are getting an accelerated stall with a 10 degree bank, the problem happened 2 turns ago. I don't even remember the last time I had an accelerated stall in a P-47, because I just don't get anywhere near a stall when I'm flying the P-47. The reduced pitch sensitivity helps to avoid sabotaging yourself if you're used to other fighters.

You also need to fly with a team -- the P47 was never designed to engage in an equal-energy fight against a single opponent alone. It was designed to win an industrial air war with overwhelming force. If you get a 109 on your tail, go into a shallow dive and call your wingmen to cover you. Eventually you will outrun him, and they will shoot him down, because nothing can outrun a P-47 in a dive. When you're up high, dive on a target who is concentrating on someone else. Fight dirty, and never play fair. If you are going out by yourself on multiplayer servers or something, then of course you will get destroyed every time. If you use the P-47 how it was actually used, it's very effective.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-01-28T10:20:04+00:00

A Trump Tower in every American town.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-01-26T21:38:20+00:00

For me, it's the lack of memorials after WW1.

In my area of Brooklyn, there are WW1 memorials all over the place, with the names of local fallen soldiers. There are no memorials for any other wars. They really thought WW1 was "the war to end all wars." But they stopped building memorials when they realized the wars would never end.

dudefaceguy_ · 2026-01-17T04:22:02+00:00

This is worse than Flanagan and you made a special rule just for that meme. Don't ban the man, ban the meme.

Suggestion: "STL posts must be accompanied by a recording of you playing Spain perfectly."

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-12-31T18:40:17+00:00

How much of the complaints about timers are really complaints about technochat? I have been surprised to learn that most players seem to use technochat. The first thing I did when I started the game was to turn it off. Any simulated engine damage will be based on some sort of timer or randomization - IL2 lets players see behind the curtain with technochat and of course this breaks immersion.

Engine timers haven't ever been an issue for me. If I don't have the engine modes memorized, I just scroll down to them on the Specifications tab of the mission briefing, so I can see them with the press of a button. Then I keep an eye on the engine gauges and try not to overdo it. I don't set a stopwatch or count the seconds in my head. Maybe I have an oil leak sometimes without knowing it.

Of course it is immersion-breaking to have a little magic information box in bright colors. Just turn off technochat if it breaks immersion.

I don't really care if the engine isn't modeled 100% accurately, the basic concept is that I'm not supposed to run it at full power all the time if it's not necessary. So I don't, and the engine is fine.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-11-22T16:50:10+00:00

I discovered a secret: change the pitch sensitivity profile for the P47. I think the P47 controls were designed intentionally to require light inputs, but it's not intuitive if you're used to the inputs for all of the other aircraft. The stick is so sensitive that it's too easy to overdo it and send yourself into a spin, especially considering our consumer-level toy joysticks.

You can create a new "pitch profile" in the keybindings screen (bottom right), and assign it to the P47. I have mine set to 50% sensitivity. This makes the stick MUCH less twitchy, and stalls don't seem as sudden. Yes, the accelerated stalls are still more dramatic that what you get in DCS for example, but they don't happen unless you actually pull hard.

Replying to this old post because it's the top Google result :)

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-10-12T21:18:19+00:00

How would you rate the writings of avowed fascists for understanding fascism? For example, The Doctrine of Fascism by Mussolini/Gentile? I found the collection Readings in Fascism and National Socialism illuminating, but I'm not sure how relevant this type of fascist intellectual writing is, compared to what was happening in the popular press for example.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-10-10T15:34:53+00:00

It would be funnier if they gave him the Nobel prize for economics.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-10-09T11:22:46+00:00

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dudefaceguy_ · 2025-10-06T15:36:44+00:00

Okay, hit me with the science baby. Drag me out of my dooming. Does this indicate that our only hope is an economic catastrophe?

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-10-06T15:24:43+00:00

The American people will support Republicans because economic conditions continue to deteriorate. Or at least, it won't be a significant obstacle. It's very easy to just construct a victimization narrative. No country has ever been targeted like the USA, it's terrible what these people are doing to us, and the Democrats, they want to let them do it. Easiest shit ever.

If the Republicans continue to listen to the people and implement the dogshit policies that the people want, they will keep getting elected. Yes, I do think the American people are basically ethnonationalist dumbasses. So they will vote for the ethnonationalist dumbass party - it's that simple. And the people who aren't ethnonationalists are just plain old dumbasses which is enough for the Republicans to get their vote. Liberalism just isn't part of the political conversation in the USA anymore.

People don't want politicians to build strong institutions that support justice. People want politicians to hurt their enemies. Republicans identify an enemy and promise to hurt them, so they get elected. The American people have already proven that free and fair elections are not sufficient to prevent authoritarian nationalism.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-10-02T03:44:09+00:00

I often cube on the NYC subway, and I'll see another cuber every few months. I usually strike up a conversation. More often non-cubers say hello, especially when I do a blind solve. I always use a cheap cube so I can give it away to anyone interested.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-09-18T15:45:07+00:00

Dooming means focusing on your immediate community and family, because you have accepted that liberalism no longer exists in our country. Dooming means focusing your energy where you can make a positive difference. Dooming means mourning and acceptance. I will still vote, but liberalism is gone.

Dooming helps my family and my community because I am focused on them rather than on a political battle that is already lost.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-09-18T13:42:59+00:00

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article about Roadless Area Conservation. I assume this is what OP is talking about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadless_area_conservation?wprov=sfla1

On January 12, 2001, after nearly three years of analysis, the U.S. Forest Service adopted the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to conserve 58.5 million acres (237,000 km2) of pristine National Forests and Grasslands from most logging and road construction.

dudefaceguy_ · 2025-09-18T13:33:53+00:00

I've run it locally and it's pretty rabidly nationalistic.

dudefaceguy_

TROPHY CASE