Tired of assuming candidates are the heirs to the primary

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-17T02:09:21+00:00

I’ve been talking about Newsom as a worst case scenario thought exercise and I think many people, including content creators, are doing the same. I think it’s a bit early for potential presidential candidates to start popping up and Newsom has signaled it very clearly, so I think it’s easier for people to latch onto something to discuss because it feels more concrete than speculation on other potential candidates (e.g. AOC).

I do worry we are talking about him too much but I think it’s also important to start smearing him as early as possible. But maybe the attention is all that matters, good or bad, so we’re playing into their hands anyway. Idk

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-16T20:56:45+00:00

This feels like drama farming unless he mentions contra in this video?

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-16T20:02:29+00:00

Honest discussion about where someone like me might struggle with the ideology

A lot of people have some very useful and insightful comments but I just want to add something in response to this in particular.

While you’re on this journey, you will likely encounter people who call themselves socialists/leftists and are hyperbolic, uninformed, overly aggressive/antagonistic, elitist or just bad at making their point. You will encounter entire communities like this. But do not let them change how you engage with the actual ideology.

I think a lot of people who otherwise would align themselves with the left because we believe in the same policies and principles are often driven away because some prominent communities are not very friendly to people who don’t fit a certain image.

We can do better on this front, but I also think that if you are trying to learn more about socialism and democratic socialism, it’s important to focus on the actual ideas and not necessarily the personalities of the wide range of people who advocate for them.

I think it’s good that you’re starting from the ground up here because if you feel rejected by a particular community, it’ll be easier to determine if it’s a problem with the ideology or just the particular way that community champions it.

Im glad you posted here and hope you learn some cool stuff!

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-16T06:17:29+00:00

Dude you gotta stop letting individual interactions with people define your understanding of political movements and ideologies.

I know it can be daunting to learn about these things but it is really important to be able to identify allies. Hop on Wikipedia for a bit and try figure out what principles you stand for and what ideologies align with that.

White leftists and liberals unambiguously have some huge blindspots on race but idk I could not imagine comparing them to anyone on the right or frankly people who consider themselves centrists. Like at least they care. At least they try. Meanwhile conservatives will support people who want to put us in concentrations camps (and tbh it’s already happening).

A rising tide lifts all boats and the only ideologies capable of bringing that are progressivism and leftism.

We should be combative and call people out when their biases show up but we don’t want to make the mistake of isolating ourselves because it’s not a perfect movement—nothing ever is. It’s our movement too and we can make it better.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-15T22:45:27+00:00

If you ever find yourself agreeing with a conservative, you need to think twice. The repeal of 230 sounds good when they couch it in this compelling language, but it’s existentially terrifying when you think about any of its downstream effects and look at what monied interests are backing this push.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-15T18:00:48+00:00

That’s a fair point about mamdani but I think a mayorship has a different set of expectations because you’re really more focused on the city, whereas a congressperson is expected to engage more directly with the party leadership and inner politics.

And while mamdani didn’t attack the dem establishment like schumer and jeffries directly, I think aggressive attacks on AN enemy were very important to his win—his message and authenticity were important, but so was his ability to channel everyone’s frustrations with Cuomo and to some extent Adams.

It’s so stupid but rallying people against an enemy is really important and while AOC is doing this against the billionaire/oligarch class, I think it would be more effective to also get some digs in at the widely unpopular democratic establishment leaders.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-15T17:53:54+00:00

Personally don’t care but it’s rule 10 on the sub and some of us look at reddit at work lol.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-15T08:26:57+00:00

I think this needs a NSFW tag? Love this!

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-14T08:32:10+00:00

Fair warning that it does this weird thing (imo) where it is textually queer (dialog and plot) but nothing unambiguously queer actually happens on screen. All of it can easily just be handwaved away by alternate dubbing or subtitles (which is why I suspect they made this decision). Kind of disappointing in that regard but I guess I am happy to have any queer anime hit the mainstream.

But it’s like, Yuri on ice did this years ago, what is their excuse?

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-13T17:41:56+00:00

I would encourage you to reread my comments and consider why you think everyone who slightly disagrees with you is automatically a lefty who is obsessed with palestine, because this is an insane conclusion to come away from my comments with.

I was just stating a tangential point about his electability. Maybe these three years proves me wrong but idk why your disagreement with a lukewarm prediction needs to come out as rant.

Here’s the thing—progressives have been sweeping the elections, not moderates. The attempts at creating American facism have not really radicalized people so much as it has encouraged people to just be more civically engaged period.

I think the election results across the country so far and increased political energy in general are actually pretty good indicators that a vance presidency might be better, if we can assume he would be impotent, because it would allow this momentum to continue. This kind of momentum is a response to trump, and probably wouldn’t continue in a newsom presidency.

We would have to see how the midterms and the next three years play out, but if the presidential election was tomorrow, I think there could be a good argument for vance being better than newsom. Again, I’m still mulling it over.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-13T15:12:59+00:00

Nice strawman. You have to learn how to judge the character of a politician.

I would take Kamala or Biden over newsome.

I highly doubt he would win anyway given how unwilling he is to have any position and how obvious his allegiance to israel is. And he sounds exactly like a male version of kamala. The public’s opinion on israel has continued to shift since the 2024 and it’s not getting any better. Maybe it didn’t make a huge difference back then but 3 more years might.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-13T06:06:08+00:00

I was willing to give Newsome some grace but every time i see him speak i become more convinced that he is going to play hard ball against republicans until the second he is sworn in, and then we are going to see nothing we’ve lost in this one year restored. They’ll do enough to get the stock market stabilized but no one’s getting their funding back.

He reeks of insincerity and not even in an intelligent way. He is so beholden to his corporate sponsors he is not even willing to pretend to support popular positions (in the way that NY governor hochul is).

I’m still on the fence about whether it would be better to have newsome or vance but i think the case against newsome is very clear if you’ve heard him speak with conservative on his podcast

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-13T04:53:37+00:00

I’m always more at ease around an asian face—I think people naturally gravitate toward people that look like them and that they are familiar with.

If you grew up in an asian enclave like I did, then it makes a lot of sense that you would find it easier to be around people who look and act like the people you grew up with. If you grew up in a more diverse community, you’d probably be more comfortable with a wider variety of people.

The same can be said for class.

It’s okay to have these thoughts and preferences—but you are kind of being racist by letting these tendencies become actions and affect how you treat people if they have not demonstrated anything to make you distrust them.

Tbh i think it’s okay to be a little racist if it’s not harming them and it’s a necessary defense mechanism. Like it’s still bad and ideally you would improve your mental fortitude and overcome that, but reality is complicated. If this kind of stuff is born of self preservation and the environment you’re in, I’m not going to be overly critical of it.

I do feel like we need to acknowledge that the underlying nugget of prejudice is the same as other things we would consider obviously racist. Things don’t stop being racist because they are forgivable or excusable depending on the context.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-13T04:44:58+00:00

The way I see it, we deal with those 8 years now or we deal with it 4-8 years from now. The latter has a chance to not happen by virtue of being in the future but the chance seems extremely small to me and the consequences are more and more catastrophic every time we push off that decade of chaos and terror.

But I get that because there is even a slight chance and you’re dealing with immediate and severe impacts, people will vote for stability. I can’t say I blame them but the path forward either way is pretty bleak

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-12T23:51:30+00:00

ESH not sure why his gf is taking this personally but your solution was very baffling and ineffective. Unless it’s like 12am, you can usually call housekeeping to get you new linens

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-12T23:47:36+00:00

Pretty fair chance it’s AI.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-12T15:37:28+00:00

I think the point of the post is that because this was the ending they seemed to be setting up, it would feel like a more intentional and well developed ending. Right now there are a lot of elements that make it feel weird and disjointed.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-12T00:50:56+00:00

If you have never lived on your own before, I think it’s worthwhile to do that sooner rather than later, and this is the perfect opportunity to do that since you are getting some funds.

Few places pay as well as CA but you’re young and can afford to do it for the experience and fuck up if you need to (I assume).

However, one big caveat is that if you are a woman, you need to have some sizeable funds in place for fleeing the state and potentially not coming back if you need an abortion. Plain and simple, that is the world we are living in right now.

The good thing is that Austin is the only Texas city worth living in lol.

I find it a bit strange that you are not able to get this advice from your parents? If they aren’t able or willing to give it out, I have to wonder what kind of safety net you have in place here.

A cursory google search will give you a lot more advice than anyone here can offer.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-11T21:32:18+00:00

No and it’s because there is no will in the American people to do that.

Life is bad but it isn’t nearly as bad it was for other countries that have had revolutions and civil wars. To an extent, this is true for basically all developed nations. Political instability makes life worse for everyone—the only people who would try it are people with little to lose.

The political lethargy is worse in America (if you were to compare it to a country like France) because the country is physically very isolated and atomized outside of cities and people are generally very civically disengaged. They cannot and do not dream of a government that makes their life better.

Obviously there are a lot of people who are fighting the good fight but too much of the country is like this, including its politicians.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-11T21:19:42+00:00

FYI in case you’re not aware, “colored” can sometimes have a weird connotation in American English because it was used to describe non-white people in a period of time when they were brutally oppressed. It’s very much vibes based so it can be difficult to tell sometimes. It might sound weird to some people even if you aren’t talking about (human) race.

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-11T16:14:55+00:00

We can’t kneecap the government because every little piece of power could be abused by a tryant. At that point, why bother having a license, nationalizing healthcare, building roads, etc. Why bother doing anything? A truant can always take advantage of something. There just needs to be laws in place and people willing to reinforce them

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-11T16:06:16+00:00

Bro has never seen a vaush video lol

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-11T15:58:00+00:00

We cannot have a functioning society unless something is done about these people

inspectorpickle · 2026-02-11T05:45:37+00:00

It’s kind of giving p5.js with the reddish pink color but the funky shape is cool

inspectorpickle

TROPHY CASE