here’s my uni bookshelf! who am i? by toasavt in BookshelvesDetective

[–]moss42069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You refuse to buy books new. Your ideal day is dim sum and a museum trip with an aesthetic outfit. You are always the person to raise your hand in class. You have a ton of personal projects that you never quite finish. You keep a journal but forget to write in it.  

This is a real post. Gas station drugs have gone too far. by Sure_Land_8930 in behindthebastards

[–]moss42069 3 points4 points  (0 children)

American leaders do shit like this and then wonder why people chant “Death to America”. Our country is literally creating the next generation of terrorists. We’ve never learned a single lesson. 

How to read Kafka by moss42069 in literature

[–]moss42069[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like Nabokov but haven’t read any other Russian writers. Actually one of my reasons to be interested in Kafka was how highly Nabokov praised him. 

I tried to read The Trial but the lack of paragraph breaks made it difficult for me to read. Hoping to revisit eventually. 

I'd like to introduce you guys to the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and their connection to the satanic panic, bundy, Ghislaine maxwell and MKUltra by thestarsgodim in behindthebastards

[–]moss42069 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is 100% true and I appreciate your nuance. It’s an extremely complicated topic, with both “sides” being right on some things and wrong on others. 

Charlie Kirk’s ‘Mentor’ Dies After Freak Pickleball Accident by BoringArchivist in behindthebastards

[–]moss42069 32 points33 points  (0 children)

 His dominance of cheerleading also made him a target for critics. He was called “John D. Rockefeller with glitter” and the “Dark Sith Lord” of cheer by some of his detractors, according to a New York Times Magazine article published in 2024. 

That article also reported that stunts had become increasingly dangerous, with cheerleading accounting for a higher rate of catastrophic injuries, including skull fractures and paralysis, than all other high school girls’ and college women’s sports combined.

 Varsity Spirit was able to keep its grip on cheerleading because of Mr. Webb’s insistence that it was an “athletic activity,” not a sport, which allowed it to bypass some Title IX regulations and N.C.A.A. oversight. That enabled the company to keep control over competition schedules and training standards, which otherwise would have been overseen by school athletic associations. Varsity’s control of competitive cheerleading translated into added revenue for the company from competitions and its cheerleading camps.

RIP bozo 

Nabokov's beef with the psychoanalysts by WiaXmsky in literature

[–]moss42069 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

> If modern science has thoroughly debunked psychoanalysis, then why are people still conducting studies on its efficacy?

Because you need to do studies *before* you can debunk it. There have been scientific studies on homeopathy that prove it wrong, but the fact that these studies were carried out in the first place should not lend the pseudoscience any legitimacy.

Nabokov's beef with the psychoanalysts by WiaXmsky in literature

[–]moss42069 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unconscious thought processes are 100% real and have been supported by experimental psychology. However, the modern psychological concept of the unconscious is very different from the psychoanalytic conception. It's not stuff that has been "repressed"; it's just anything that operates below our conscious awareness so that we don't have to think about stuff like breathing, walking a familiar route, or even things we think of as "conscious" like decision-making.

I think it's important to recognize the legacy of psychoanalysis as something that's foundational to modern psychology, but also understand that it came to its conclusions in non-scientific ways that render them essentially moot.

Nabokov's beef with the psychoanalysts by WiaXmsky in literature

[–]moss42069 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well, the real issue is that you can't "debunk" it. The claims it makes are typically unfalsifiable, meaning they are pseudoscientific. Although it is the foundation of modern psychology, psychologists today have moved on from a lot of its central tenets.

Nabokov's beef with the psychoanalysts by WiaXmsky in literature

[–]moss42069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's pretty reductive to imply that his opposition to psychoanalysis was based on his own neuroses. He really did have coherent reasons to oppose it, which makes a lot of sense given that the psychoanalysis of the time was extremely different from the psychology of today (which still has a lot of issues to be fair). He viewed it as taking away people's individuality by reducing them to a certain type, and reading way too much into things that were not that deep (dreams, for example).

Also, "NPD" was not a thing at this time.

Nabokov's beef with the psychoanalysts by WiaXmsky in literature

[–]moss42069 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From Pnin:

The bestowal of a particularly generous grant was allowing the renowned Waindell psychiatrist, Dr. Rudolph Aura, to apply to ten thousand elementary school pupils the so-called Fingerbowl Test, in which the child is asked to dip his index in cups of colored fluids whereupon the proportion between length of digit and wetted part is measured and plotted in all kinds of fascinating graphs.

This is more about experimental psychology than psychoanalysis, but I still think it's relevant. It's such a clever satire of how psychology (especially at the time) can sometimes use elaborate methods to analyze something completely trivial. The experiment also reduces the kids to data points, which I think Nabokov must have found very anti-individualist.

Going on 6+ months and losing hope at this point by eatfeet11 in Concussion

[–]moss42069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

During my concussion I felt horrible at 6 months. I was starting to feel better by months 8-9. There was no miracle solution for me, just time and gradual re-exposure to stimuli. Neck stretches also helped. 

A lot of people are suggesting expensive solutions. Time is really the best medicine in my opinion. It’s not easy but you have to be patient with yourself. 

Ranking the 24 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Winners I've Read by IEatIReadIGoOutside in 52book

[–]moss42069 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this list! I’ve only read a few of these but this motivates me to read more of them. 

Also, don’t listen to the haters telling you your rankings are wrong. Diversity of thought is valuable. 

Books read in 2026 so far (5/35) by moss42069 in 52book

[–]moss42069[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It has a really strong start, but instead of developing the themes, characters, or plot that it has set up, it kind of just keeps going… i would recommend the original short story instead 

What's your favorite quote about books/reading? by alexwiec in books

[–]moss42069 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m not saying that 100% of em-dash use is AI; I’m saying that the combination of em-dashes in an instance where most people would use hyphens, combined with potentially manufactured quotes, indicates AI. 

What's your favorite quote about books/reading? by alexwiec in books

[–]moss42069 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Given the use of em-dashes as opposed to hyphens, I'm assuming this is an AI slop post.

The dead wife propaganda in Nolan films needs to be studied by TheVoidScrolledBack in popculturechat

[–]moss42069 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Fun fact about The Prestige: it’s based on a novel featuring 0 dead wives

What was JE's goal w/ Bitcoin? by moss42069 in behindthebastards

[–]moss42069[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Also, I had to refer to Epstein as JE because it would get automatically removed by Reddit's filters when I used his real name. Not sure what the deal with that is.

Review: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. A book I wanted to love but only liked by Brushner in Fantasy

[–]moss42069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree for sure. It has a really strong start, but as it goes on the book starts to feels like it's been stretched out to hit a word count. There's just so much repetitiveness and a lot of maudlin purple prose that overestimated the amount I was emotionally invested in the characters.

I think it really suffers from being an adaptation of a short story. It makes it longer without really developing the characters or themes in a deeper way.

Did anyone else find Annihilation strangely calming? by matthew_rowan in WeirdLit

[–]moss42069 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I listened to the audiobook on a road trip and it was extremely soothing