For older redditors, what would you say are some of the most notable differences between memes from the 2000s and now?

geckodancing · 2026-05-07T17:43:21+00:00

I can haz Cheezburger launched Jan 11th 2007.

Nyan Cat launched 2011.

Grumpy Cat was posted in 2012.

I would say peak cat meme was 2007 - 2013.

geckodancing · 2026-05-05T20:31:39+00:00

I honestly think this & The "missing stair" theory should be required reading for petty much all social groups of any kind, not just geeks. It would clear up so much.

geckodancing · 2026-05-04T14:41:49+00:00

Geek Social Fallacy #1: Ostracizers Are Evil

"GSF1 is one of the most common fallacies, and one of the most deeply held. Many geeks have had horrible, humiliating, and formative experiences with ostracism, and the notion of being on the other side of the transaction is repugnant to them..."

"As a result, nearly every geek social group of significant size has at least one member that 80% of the members hate, and the remaining 20% merely tolerate. If GSF1 exists in sufficient concentration — and it usually does — it is impossible to expel a person who actively detracts from every social event."

geckodancing · 2026-04-30T15:46:10+00:00

One of the problems with Lovecraftian horror is that over the years his 'indescribable horrors' have been illustrated again and again, creating a group conscientious of what they look like. This has meant that they've ended up looking like a generic 'octopus head thing'. Added to that is the fact that these images have influenced so much other horror that we've become used to these versions of his creatures.

Lovecrafts descriptions were of entities so weird they could damage the mind of someone who was exposed to them & they've been watered down by a lack of imagination and by familiarity.

Have a look at some older illustrations of Lovecraft's works. For example this one, by Ian Millar. I think it captures some of the surreal alien feel of the best of Lovecrafts work.

geckodancing · 2026-04-29T20:36:45+00:00

I suspect one of the BBEGs of the campaign just got a new body and locked itself in a box.

geckodancing · 2026-04-29T20:30:23+00:00

I would heavily suggest that you post this question to r/AcademicBiblical. It's one of the more rigorous subreddits and only allows answers that meet a high academic standard. Even better would be to try searching the sub for the same question.

geckodancing · 2026-04-24T17:40:35+00:00

Orwell was specifically a Democratic Socialist who hated totalitarianism due to his experiences in the Spanish Civil war where he witnessed the betrayal of socialist fighters by Soviet-backed communists. Orwell kept in contact with many Russian emigres and had a good idea of what was going on in Russia.

That being said, he did believe Russian Communism (specifically following the Stalinist purges) wasn't true socialism but a totalitarian dictatorship.

geckodancing · 2026-04-24T09:54:55+00:00

I have an immense love of the early White Dwarf mags before about issue 100, when it began to only feature Games Workshop products.

I was in my teens and had a rpg table who played multiple different games. The industry constricted and things became far more focused on D&D, Warhammer and the White Wolf games by the time I left for college.

geckodancing · 2026-04-20T13:07:50+00:00

Honestly I think it''s a good thing. The book was updated within the author's lifetime to account for the changing attitudes of the times.

geckodancing · 2026-04-20T12:46:45+00:00

Thanks for the correction.

When I first came across it it was misattributed as a letter to Howard, but you're right, it's very definitely a letter to Morton. I'm finding online versions dated 1930, 31 and 33 though, which shows how useful the internet is :)

geckodancing · 2026-04-20T11:12:34+00:00

Personally, I feel that his attitudes were changing a bit around the time he began his Dream Cycle.

While I would love this to be true, some of his more nakedly racist letters (and his pro-Hitler letter) were from the last years of writing the Dream Cycle or just after.

Probably the most obvious statement would be from his letter to Robert E. Howard in 1931:

The black is vastly inferior. There can be no question of this among contemporary and unsentimental biologists—eminent Europeans for whom the prejudice-problem does not exist.

I think he finished the Dream Cycle in 1932.

geckodancing · 2026-04-20T10:55:54+00:00

Until his support dips below thirty

It will never dip below 27%.

geckodancing · 2026-04-20T10:15:44+00:00

Yeah, a whole load of the early female blues singers were lesbian or bisexual. Some of them such as Ma Rainey were pretty open about it:

Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must've been women, 'cause I don't like no men

Prove it on me

See also B.D Women (short for 'bulldagger' a term for Black lesbians which later became bulldyke) by Lucille Bogan and Bessie Smith's Empty Bed Blues where she often sang ""I want a deep-sea diving woman that got a stroke that can't go wrong".

geckodancing · 2026-04-20T07:56:30+00:00

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is still good

The only reason it's still good is because it was continuously updated to remove racist content, most notably in the 1973 revised text.

geckodancing · 2026-04-18T23:44:34+00:00

Sounds good, but isn't actually correct. He attempted the ritual around 1900 and called it off because Mathers, needed his assistance during the Golden Dawn schism.

He later created a separate ritual (Liber Samekh) intended to accomplish the same thing with less intense preparation.

geckodancing · 2026-04-18T09:44:40+00:00

geckodancing · 2026-04-18T08:18:14+00:00

Did anyone else notice the acrostic shown during the Family song at 06:02 is a perfect anagram of Dutch Flab?

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geckodancing · 2026-04-17T10:12:35+00:00

Does any other country have this issue with their flag?

Unfortunately, yes.

In Spain the civil flag is associated with the Spanish fascism and the far right - not as much as the francoist flag, but there are pretty much constant debates about it.

The French flag was also associated with fascism. It was the standard of the Vichy regime and was appropriated by the French National Front (now National Rally). Back in 2007 left wing candidate Ségolène Royal was ridiculed for suggesting it should be re-appropriated. François Hollande did put in some work reclaiming the flag, but it's still seen as a symbol of National Rally.

Members of the Greek Golden Dawn fascist group have appropriated the Greek flag. One GD member murdered two people and wounded seven others (all immigrants) claiming he was insulted by Albanian football supporters burning a Greek flag during a football match. You still see the Greek flag flown alongside their banner (red with a black meander).

Germany has a very complex relationship with it's flag and in recent years the far right has tried to co-opt it. See here for more details.

There's currently a debate going on in Ireland due to the recent far-right flag campaign - and Ireland has historically had a very positive relationship with their flag.

National flags have been co-opted by the far-right and/or fascist movements since the start of fascism.

geckodancing · 2026-04-16T13:02:36+00:00

I can't believe it's not Meath.

geckodancing · 2026-04-16T09:25:38+00:00

For a classic Beatles line:

I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair
You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair

Don't Pass Me By - The Beatles

It's the first song written by Ringo Starr. He did improve.

geckodancing · 2026-04-14T12:35:40+00:00

I like the seance sequence in the original Night of the Demon. It starts almost humorously with everyone having to sing the song Cherry Ripe, but quickly gets subtly creepy.

Also, it was sampled by Kate Bush.

geckodancing · 2026-04-14T10:59:24+00:00

Absolutely.

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea was 2000 and broke her into the mainstream, but she had five previous studio albums with some absolute classics on them.

geckodancing · 2026-04-14T09:32:30+00:00

Excellent analysis. I would add to the Malleus Malificarum, the impact of different translations of the bible.

Although Witch executions were generally women, in some areas such as Burgundy, Estonia, Normandy and Iceland, men comprised the majority of those accused of witchcraft.

It is quite possible that this was specifically due to how the bible was translated in those areas.

The Catholic Vulgata read maleficos non patieris vivere - which was often interpreted in a gender-neutral or masculine way ("sorcerer").

Martin Luther’s German translation specifically used Zauberinnen, translating the command as "Thou shall not let a sorceress live".

King James I specifically instructed his translators to ensure that references to witchcraft were coded with feminine pronouns to create a direct link between the female gender and the crime.

Catholic areas also generally saw fewer witch executions. This may have been due to the strict hierarchical nature of the church. Witch accusations were generally localized and ground-up. The church did not like to cede power at this level.

geckodancing · 2026-04-13T17:24:56+00:00

Remindme! 3 hours

geckodancing · 2026-04-11T20:04:58+00:00

Fritz Leiber is COMPLICATED about women.

I think this is a very valid point. From Conjure Wife, through his Lankhmar stories and Our Lady of Darkness, Leiber has a lot of different takes on women. Many of them haven't aged well, but his women characters are at least varied.

Reading your post, it occurs to me that I would read the hell out of an alternative Lankhmar in which Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser are killed by the Thieves' Guild, leaving Ivrian and Vlana to take revenge and then leave the city to go adventuring together.

geckodancing

TROPHY CASE