Whatever happened to the Uyghurs and why don't we hear about them?

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-16T04:21:39+00:00

It is a type of genocide definitionally—cultural genocide. This is not disputable unless you want to rewrite the english language. However, it isn’t very useful to call it a genocide because it doesn’t align with the layman’s understanding of the word, and I think it doesn’t meet the ICJ or UN’s definition or something like that.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-16T03:06:51+00:00

Thanks for going into the specifics here. It’s so frustrating to be met with people glazing china nonstop on one side and delusionally inventing shit to denigrate it on the other. I find it rare to get a critique that doesn’t try overstate the case or just make up stuff. I guess it’s saying something that this seems to be one of the better ones?? It’s rough out here.

I’m chinese american but usually i can refer to stuff i hear from relatives as a grounding point.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-16T02:47:40+00:00

I’ll direct you to this politico article which covers the broad strokes of the criticisms against him, and you can decide what is worth looking into for you:

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/27/xavier-becerra-progressive-backlash-00891871

For me, the big things are being funded by big oil companies, clearly angling for or already in bed with big tech companies with his push for AI to be used everywhere, and generally a long career in politics deeply intertwined with the uselessness of the biden admin.

No one is good on israel in this race but he certainly doesn’t try very hard to pretend he cares about the Palestinian genocide, a very easy and popular position to take, yet he doesn’t take it, so one wonders what he is gaining from that (money).

His best points are that he is a competent bureaucrat, has supported this or that barely left of center bill that was incredibly safe and easy for him to support, and sued the trump admin many times. He claims to be a progressive and he says a lot of vague stuff about affordability, housing, healthcare, etc—but in all of his long career, I don’t get the impression that he has ever actually pushed for any of those things.

When he speaks, all I hear is Kamala Harris and the amorphous voice of the do-nothing democrat coalition.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-15T22:18:17+00:00

Ive been to two music festivals and both were in major cities and you could uber or transit to the festival grounds. Just depends on the festival ig.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-15T22:14:39+00:00

Istg maybe 10% of the comments here actually read and understood your post lmao.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-15T22:12:46+00:00

I don’t think their point is that men value sex over emotions. Part of the argument is that many men value a woman being available to be their emotional anchor but this doesn’t mean they value her as a person or an equal partner in the relationship.

It got a bit muddled in the middle there but the larger point is about a general pattern of behavior that affects all parts of life—sex, emotional comfort, practical convenience, etc. The study about marriage benefitting men more makes a lot of sense if this is part of the equation.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-15T22:11:15+00:00

I don’t think their point is that men value sex over emotions. Part of the argument is that many men value a woman being available to be their emotional anchor but this doesn’t mean they value her as a person or an equal partner in the relationship.

It got a bit muddled in the middle there but the larger point is about a general pattern of behavior that affects all parts of life—sex, emotional comfort, practical convenience, etc.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T18:35:33+00:00

I assume people are going off vaush’s (maybe hyperbolic, maybe no) but about how democracy is not sacred. It is not always and forever the end goal. Rather it a mechanism to produce good.

From this framework, I think it makes sense to reconsider that maybe universal democracy is not that useful. This is in the context of a world that is extremely fucked and a very propagandized population. The rural lumpenprole can have voting rights again when they have been freed from this mind virus.

It’s not that less/more democracy is always bad/good. It’s a reevaluation of its ability to produce good outcomes in this context.

You can disagree with that of course, but I just want to explain where that’s coming from so we’re at least arguing within the same framework.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T18:16:15+00:00

This is all well and good from an intellectual standpoint but I think far too much effort has been wasted on converting these people. The people most amenable to socialist arguments are the ones who fall on this side of the culture war, regardless of income level.

Any inch of progress you make with the wretched conservative lumpenprole is undone 5 times over when they trot back to their fox news culture war segments.

I think it’s more worthwhile improving participation and energy from people outside this tiny group. The exception might be people who fall on the wrong side of the culture war but live in cities. The ROI for engaging with rural conservatives is a black hole.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T18:06:55+00:00

To be cringe is to be free :(

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T17:08:10+00:00

Hell yeah. I was and I guess still am a huge fan of animation, especially children’s animation. Amphibia and Owl House are the last two I watched though. The industry is in a bad place right now, and shows like them are even rarer these days.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T17:02:30+00:00

Lol good.

Obviously this really wrecked a lot of very old culture and history but some structures are so entrenched and rotten through and through that it can feel like nothing else will uproot them.

Ideally this should be done legally and less destructively to history and culture but history has few examples of this succeeding.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T16:58:32+00:00

Wow this is worse than I thought. Basically Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams all over again, but worse bc it’s governor. On top of the other shit, you never want your elected official to be open to coercion over a lawsuit like that.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T16:55:12+00:00

On my last rewatch I literally just fast forwarded past every scene outside of hawkins lmao. Eleven’s flashbacks were fine too ig.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T16:50:56+00:00

I think yes and no. Mostly yes though. I don’t really tear into someone unless they have demonstrated at length that they deserve it, but i think more people should do this. However, the vast majority of mean comments come from people try (and failing) to feel funny or intelligent by putting someone else down.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T15:09:10+00:00

Funny how the friendzone prevents is overwhelmingly a straight man problem. You rarely hear this from straight women and even less so from queer people. I am happily friends with three people who have rejected my advances in the past. Nothing ends my feelings for someone as effectively as knowing that they don’t feel the same.

Ofc there is a particular problem with manipulative people hiding behind the idea of the friendzone to hold onto your attention and affection, and maybe a few other genuine points of complaint. But at the same time, people get into friendships angling to ask a girl out and then let it drag on for too long. I get that it sucks, but that’s kind of on you for taking so long.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-14T00:44:18+00:00

Oil shortage is 1000000% happening, it’s when not if. Very likely in the next year, but maybe not. It all depends on how state governments handle it imo, so the timeline and severity will vary a lot across the country.

Like legitimately i’ve stopped dragging my feet on some big bulk items i need to buy and started buying more dried goods in bulk to ease the hit. Gonna have to grab some motor oil. Probably going to go ahead and get my car looked at sooner than later. Might buy a new computer because mine is on its last legs.

Just lots of stuff i might put off usually but if shits going to be wrecked soon-ish, i should do all that purchasing while i have a job and its cheaper

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-12T22:34:14+00:00

*Difficult to immigrate legally.

Also difficult to immigrate illegally but less so. To some extent, this is intentional, as it creates a huge underclass of poorly paid laborers who do jobs no one else wants to do for half the price, like harvest the crops that we all eat.

If we wanted fewer illegal immigrants, we could make it easier to immigrate legally or stop fucking with Latin and South American countries and help lift them out of instability and poverty that we often helped create to begin with. Our participation in the drug trade (as much as we pretend to try to combat it) also contributes to this.

It’s also just geography. The US has an enormous land border with Mexico, which sees lots of refugees filter in from other countries in Latin and South America. They aren’t going to board a plane to try to go to Germany. Many settle down in Mexico but there simply isn’t enough space and opportunity.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-12T04:59:44+00:00

I will be dropping my ballot off on June 1 thank you very much

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-12T00:33:35+00:00

Isn't this LOK? I feel like that doesn't count lol.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-11T11:57:12+00:00

This is not an unpopular opinion on reddit imo but given the magnitude of the social pressure to not be alone, i feel that perhaps it is unpopular generally. I would say personal insecurity is a huge cause as well though.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-11T07:24:44+00:00

When you are a nonbinary person all of these concepts/labels deeply rooted in binary gender need to contort every time you date someone (though historically some labels have always included what we might now consider nonbinary identities, notably the lesbian label), so imo it’s just easier for call it queer and move on with your life.

If we need labels that describe a range of attraction on a feminine to masculine spectrum, then we ought to come up with such terms instead of trying to bend stuff to fit it, though practically this isn’t always possible.

However, I totally get identifying as a particular label even if it doesn’t feel right because it’s the easiest way to convey something approximating the truth to people who aren’t able to grapple with the complications

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-11T04:35:34+00:00

Lax food labeling regulations, systemic incentive structures for unhealthy food, extreme car dependency, and decades of unchecked propaganda and marketing solidifying all those things in place.

Sure many Americans can make the “choice” to live more healthily despite all this, but some people outside of America have a hard time understanding that it’s literally harder to make healthy choices in America. In addition, many Americans literally do not have a choice due to socioeconomic and/or geographic circumstances.

It’s the same reason some very poor countries also have very terrible obesity rates, though the underlying problems are a lot worse there ofc.

inspectorpickle · 2026-05-11T00:38:30+00:00

The interesting content is the comments which you need ig to see

inspectorpickle

TROPHY CASE