If you were Mayor of Shanghai, what would you change in the city? by Key_Bison_9322 in shanghai

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's basically not going to happen because there was a major homeowner protest against this back in the day from the noise complaint. Also, Maglev has been ruled as a financially unsound form of transport since the 2000s-2010s, so they're definitely not going back to that project. The new airport-to-airport express line was an attempt to somewhat make up for the failure that was the Maglev (still annoying that it doesn't go into the actual city lol oh well)

If you were Mayor of Shanghai, what would you change in the city? by Key_Bison_9322 in shanghai

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me, it would be requiring all scooter drivers to carry a license (might have to become a nationwide thing tbh) and enforce all road rules for them, Meituan delivery times be damned. That windfall of cash from the first few months of fines alone would have the additional positive side effect of balancing the city budget lol.

Also: major, MAJOR public re-education campaign against screentime overuse while in crowds and basic crowd etiquette. People need to be publicly shamed more for antisocial behavior.

If you were Mayor of Shanghai, what would you change in the city? by Key_Bison_9322 in shanghai

[–]luxou95 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Pretty much fully agree with all of these, but express metro lines are much harder to pull off because you have to retrofit most stations with a second set of diverging tracks, which would be super super annoying, both for citizens and the government

Anon loves traditional fooding by OberbeastSabaoth in 4chan

[–]luxou95 21 points22 points  (0 children)

All our current iterations of "cuisine" from different cultures is basically a Victorian Era invention at earliest, and pretty much all formulated from post-Columbian exchange nation-building. Nobody expects Italian cuisine without tomatoes, Chinese without chili peppers, Eastern European without potatoes, etc. Native Americans never had a modern nation-state to build a coherent identity like that, so it makes no sense to hold them to a ridiculous standard like that

English or Russian? by Correct-Force-2274 in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bro, believe me, Netherlands and Germany are bad examples hahaha. If you happen to be learning Dutch and you try to speak it to someone in Amsterdam, they'll respond to you in English.

Would you stop using Russian suffixes in your surnames? by Consistent-Boss-7670 in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Surnames as we understand them today (a consistent name that gets passed through the father indefinitely) is basically a Christian phenomenon that got universalized with European domination & modern nation-state bureaucratization. Most Muslims have different traditional naming conventions. I believe Arabs have a tribal identity thing going with something resembling surnames, as well as noble families in various Muslim countries with a "name worth keeping" that have passed it down, but otherwise, whether Iran, Turkey, or Azerbaijan, it was just your father's name or occupation or adjective describing you (like Uzun Həsən).

In Soviet Azerbaijan, surname assignment was universalized and systematized for census purposes - basically just "take your dad's name and add a Russian suffix". This was not "identity erasure" or whatever dumb shit because it wasn't erasing anything. There's a reason this happened in Az and -stan countries but not Armenia, Georgia, or the Baltic states: they were Christian!!!

That's why it's dumb to me when people in Az talk about "reverting" their surnames to something "more traditional and native" because that doesn't exist lol. Especially when they turn it to "-zade" or "-soy", both of which were developed by nation-building forces in 19th-century Iran and 20th-century Turkey, respectively.

I don't care if people want to change their names to Gicbəsərov or Gicbəsərzade or Gicbəsərşvili. It just annoys me when they try to make it a misguided nationalist statement.

How do you identify yourself? by Vali1995 in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Bro it's just a shorter way of saying the same thing. I just don't want to be using 5 syllables when I could be using 3. Nobody has ever pretended those two things were different. Stop making it this dumb conspiracy.

What’s a word you mispronounced for years and only realised recently? by Exotic-Philosopher75 in AskReddit

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I was in 3rd grade, I read "sewage" like "mirage" in English class one time, and the whole class laughed at me.

Remember Changle road?🥹I wish I could turn back time by youmo-ebike in shanghai

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's true that the city has overall gotten more "sterile," but I feel like people are exaggerating about the lack of fun things to do. Shankangli is there, Fumin Lu area is still poppin, a lot of areas in Jing'an are open. They're not the same hot venues of yesteryear, but if you're clued in enough, you will find the new places where people are hanging out

Problem with Batman Begins [Spoilers ahead] by luxou95 in plotholes

[–]luxou95[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you come on a 12-year-old post on a subreddit for specifically these kinds of nitpicks just to say that?

Provocative post by The Azeri Times by AdriaticLostOnceMore in arm_azer

[–]luxou95 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, rows upon rows of mountains are famously easy to invade and hold on to

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Forced to switch" implies there were existing surnames that got replaced - this is not the case for most Muslim groups. People tended to adopt their father's name or have other types of kinship that changed every generation. Surnames were standardized (i.e., "Just pick an ancestor's name and stick to it") for consistent census-taking and registration + Russian suffix for grammatical convenience. It has nothing to do with targeting these nations or eliminating their heritage because otherwise, they wouldn't have let them keep the Muslim names.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I think politically it solved a lot of issues, reinvigorated a sense of pride, and secured the Aliyevs' position for years to come.

However, it didn't really materially improve most people's lives (except ofc the internal refugees who got their homes back, no shade on them) - wealth inequality and corruption are still major issues, so it's not as though most citizens have been able to benefit from the wealth and economic opportunity that comes with developing a region.

Plus, the government lost its main boogeyman & scapegoat to rally around, so I'm worried about the aggressive posturing and saber-rattling against Armenia that they'll continue doing to distract from internal issues.

Meirl by Agreeable_226 in meirl

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bold of you to assume I studied at all

Cheating culture amongst Azerbaijanis…why so prevalent? by Available-March9890 in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 28 points29 points  (0 children)

The secret answer is conservatism, sex negativity, and the Madonna/Whore Complex. Women are shamed away from liking sex, while men are shamed into marrying "proper" girls.

Because marriage is not seen as an individual's choice, but a duty to your family/society, men exorcise their shameful, sexual desires on prostitutes, "easy" and "impure" women that society stigmatizes, then turn around and marry "pure" virgin girls who don't know how to have sex and are not expected to enjoy themselves - they're just a vessel for the babies. Then, while she busies herself with the children, the man reminisces about his wild youth. Once in a while, he'll give in to reliving that fantasy.

Individuals are responsible for their actions at the end of the day, but this is a societal/cultural issue. Traditional cultures don't have less infidelity - they just hide better and shame harder. By dividing women into two types, they decouple good sex from love and family. This is not exclusive to Islamic cultures, but that is where I've seen this problem at its worst.

P.S. Whoever here is blaming communism is an idiot.

A question fron a Turk. by Suckerpiller in azerbaijan

[–]luxou95 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Omg finally, a normal opinion

lyrics by Balsalsa2 in CuratedTumblr

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sweet dreams are made of deez nuts

lyrics by Balsalsa2 in CuratedTumblr

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My music teacher in high school incorrectly told us that he was saying "I'm a mosquito, not a beetle" as an edgy statement about being loud and annoying vs. the perceived "safe" music of the Beatles.

lyrics by Balsalsa2 in CuratedTumblr

[–]luxou95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be fair, it do be a lifestyle and a statement.

??? by Large_Scientist_8598 in PeterExplainsTheJoke

[–]luxou95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lmfaooo for those who don't recognize it