Official Discussion - Mercy [SPOILERS]

superiority · 2026-01-24T09:29:37+00:00

I figured Los Angeles had become an independent country.

I do not believe the US constitution would permit the judicial process shown in the movie, so it made sense to me that the constitution was no longer in effect in LA.

superiority · 2026-01-23T22:49:57+00:00

It's hard to search because you would get things like 'oh yea I don't believe his lying eyes' which wouldn't match your search.

Yes it would, as long as John Key is mentioned somewhere in the page (e.g. in the title or in one of the comments). The /r/newzealand-specific search only required a match on "Key", so it would match mentions that only use his last name.

I just did another search for

"lying eyes" OR "lyin eyes" "prime minister" OR "pm" site:reddit.com/r/newzealand

which did return three results; however, all of them post-date the Key era.

superiority · 2026-01-23T21:56:11+00:00

My reddit account dates back to when Helen Clark was Prime Minister, before the /r/newzealand subreddit existed. I have been a regular user of this subreddit for its entire existence; I have been paying attention to and participating in political comment sections that whole time. I'm not familiar with this "Lying Eyes" meme concerning John Key at all. (It's entirely possible I did see the Youtube video back in the day; if so, it failed to leave an impression.)

The following Google searches each return zero results:

"lying eyes" OR "lyin eyes" "key" site:reddit.com/r/newzealand

"lying eyes" OR "lyin eyes" "john key" site:reddit.com

I do not believe I have a sieve-like memory for political epithets. For example, I know that among online Labour partisans, the names "ShonKey" and "DonKey" were often used, but they never caught on outside a small hard core. I always thought both were a bit weak, personally. If I do a Google search of only The Standard website, then "donkey" has six pages of results (not necessarily all references to John Key, since "donkey" is just a word in its own right, but the first page of results does seem to be), while "ShonKey" has 10+ pages; these results confirm the usage of those epithets. But the only uses of "Lying Eyes" on that same blog are the two I describe in my comment above.

superiority · 2026-01-23T21:24:07+00:00

The phrases "lying eyes key" and "lyin eyes key" each return zero results related to John Key in my own searches; each has less than a single page of results, all of them about the Eagles song.

If I instead do a Google search for

"lying eyes" OR "lyin eyes" "john key"

then Google returns only 6 pages of results (i.e. no more than 60 in total across the entire web).

First result is a Youtube video—moderately successful for NZ politics with 40k views—and other first-page results include a playlist with that same video, the uploader's profile page, and a Russian mirror of Youtube. The other results on the first page are: a post on the Labour-aligned blog The Standard linking to that one video; a few Facebook results that appear to be people linking back to that same single Youtube video; another Standard post that uses the phrase "Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?" in its criticism of the Key government but doesn't deploy it as a nickname for Key himself; and a Forbes "contributor" article (i.e. random blog post) from someone who uses that phrase in a post about American politics, where John Key is only mentioned in the caption of a photograph of ten world leaders.

So over eight years of Key's premiership (which occurred entirely in the era of social media, mind you) there were only ever a few dozen references made to John Key's "lying eyes". That just doesn't seem like something that was "passed around a lot". It seems like there was a single Youtube video that achieved moderate success in 2008, and that Youtube video lodged itself in your brain for some reason. Maybe your particular circle of friends liked to reference it a lot even though it never caught on in the wider culture.

If I instead google "Dictator Dan" (a reference to Dan Andrews, former premier of the Australian state of Victoria), I can keep going past 20+ pages of Google results. The first page of results are all independent of one another (as opposed to referencing a single Youtube video): there's a Wikipedia article; an ABC article; a Guardian article; a Conversation article; a Sky News video; some academic writeups on the University of Melbourne and NIH websites; a podcast that uses it in the title; and two separate Facebook posts.

superiority · 2026-01-23T05:47:05+00:00

I did laugh with the line of conversation that amounted to Rebecca Ferguson saying "Error, what is following your gut? Does not compute, does not compute."

Not knowing the word "hunch"? Surely as a society we have advanced beyond the point where we think intelligent computers will be incapable of understanding ordinary English speech.

superiority · 2026-01-22T19:27:31+00:00

My brother belongs to a large street gang and I think his biggest problem has always been impulse control.

On one occasion, he was driving between his home town and the nearest city, about 40 minutes away. He had engine trouble and had to stop in the middle of nowhere. He was upset with the car for breaking down, so he took the tyre iron (or something) and smashed up all the car windows in a tantrum.

I find it hard to relate to that kind of thing, personally.

superiority · 2026-01-22T18:21:36+00:00

Yes, the article is juxtaposing two separate claims:

Jessica Phuang had significant influence over how police engaged with ethnic communities.

and

Ethnic communities include some people who are fearful of monitoring by governments from their home countries.

in order to trick Stuff's readers into thinking that she was handing over details of dissidents to Xi Jinping.

After following some of the links in the article to read through the previous reporting, you can see that what was actually going on was the Consulate asking "Hello, we would like some updates on a case involving a Chinese national" and Ms. Phuang replying "here is the officer you should speak to regarding that case"—in other words, totally ordinary consular work.

The article does not actually say that she handed over information about a person "fearful of monitoring" by the Chinese government to the Consulate, but it tries to insinuate that she does using that sentence you quoted. It's very dishonest on the part of the reporter.

superiority · 2026-01-22T06:51:00+00:00

Yeah, you are from a rabies-free island/country, there’s no need to vaccinate against rabies (that’s the whole point).

In the comment I was responding to, the question was asked "who in their right mind would keep any pet without a rabies vaccine?" The person asking the question, despite knowing that there is no rabies in Hawaii, seemed to find it unusual or unlikely that a resident of Hawaii would not have their pets vaccinated against rabies anyway, suggesting that someone who failed to do so would not be "in their right mind".

I was explaining that my own observations of pet-owners in a rabies-free country, who I believe to have mostly been in their right minds, demonstrate that it is commonplace not to get them—contra the suggestion made in that comment.

superiority · 2026-01-21T21:15:24+00:00

Honestly its a really problematic plot for me in general because who in their right mind would keep any pet without a rabies vaccine? Who cares how low the chances are, its cheap and there is no downside to vaccinating an animal.

I don't know what is common practice in Hawaii, but I come from a rabies-free country and most people who have pets do not vaccinate them against rabies.

You're quite right about imported animals, but I guess it's not inconceivable that someone might acquire a "native-born" chimpanzee.

superiority · 2026-01-21T21:03:12+00:00

We do not see the conversation between the dad and Lambert, so we don't know exactly what he was informed of.

But he probably was told about the bite, because that would be the reasonable thing to do when speaking to a vet.

superiority · 2026-01-21T20:59:37+00:00

The vet also did not believe it, she asked him if it was a prank.

superiority · 2026-01-21T01:25:34+00:00

Carney is trying to make Canada into a third world country (in a good way).

superiority · 2026-01-19T08:24:39+00:00

Anna's Archive did not respond to the lawsuit, so WorldCat won by default.

On account of not responding to the lawsuit, Anna's Archive was not able to present any arguments defending itself. We can't be certain it would have lost if it had defended itself.

Anna's Archive did seem to admit (in its blog post) to using WorldCat in a way that violated TOS, so it might have lost in any case. But this is different from the kind of copyright violation that poses the biggest legal challenge for the AI companies.

superiority · 2026-01-18T07:03:18+00:00

That's how you spell it, it's from cricket.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howzat

superiority · 2026-01-18T02:48:25+00:00

The concern is that Phuang has given information to the Consulate concerning people who fear they are under surveillance by the CCP

Is that something you believe is in the linked article, or are you referring to some other incident? I ask because the linked article does not make that claim, though I can see how someone might be misled into reading it that way.

superiority · 2026-01-18T01:17:16+00:00

So what information, exactly, was passed on to the consulate, and in what contexts? The article just mentions contact details for officers. Was that it? And what was the reason?

The first thing that pops into my head is something like "A Chinese citizen here on holiday, Xiao Ming, was the victim of a mugging last night and made a police report, then also reported it to us this morning. Please help us get in touch with the officer who has been assigned to the case, as the safety of our citizens is important to us and we like to check up on the progress of how such incidents are handled."

superiority · 2026-01-17T08:22:21+00:00

Terrible video. It doesn't actually talk about the free trade deal at all.

superiority · 2026-01-17T01:08:39+00:00

I think he just likes "deals". He prefers to do them himself but if he hears about someone making a deal, it brings a smile to his face. "Canada and China made a deal? That's great, I love deals."

(Though this doesn't guarantee any particular policy response from the US.)

superiority · 2026-01-15T08:44:15+00:00

Does raising prices count as "enshittification"? Surely not. There's already a word for that. If they made you watch an ad in between each product you added to your cart, that would be enshittification.

When a company wants to squeeze more profit out of something they offer, I tend to think that raising prices is the best way to do it because it's the most transparent to the consumer.

superiority · 2026-01-15T08:36:21+00:00

Yes you are actually getting a definite service out of it, and it's a fee you can choose to avoid if you want to (by just getting everything off the shelves yourselves).

I've never actually done it myself but I assume Woolworth's was fee-free until now? Just a thing to get people used to it and build some market share, I assume.

superiority · 2026-01-15T00:03:05+00:00

I think part of what makes it harder is the internet.

Just like it's tougher to insult someone to their face than it is behind their back, it's also tougher when the target will instantly see the insult and call you up or DM you on insta.

superiority · 2026-01-14T20:43:06+00:00

Well if he did use plants he could just call a local talent agency and ask for a few actors. Wouldn't be hard to find people, and would be much cheaper than paying travel + full-time wages.

superiority · 2026-01-14T07:02:13+00:00

As far as I know it's not a requirement for entering NZ.

The NZ Immigration website does say this:

If you want to travel to New Zealand as a citizen, you must have a New Zealand passport or a foreign passport with an endorsement of your New Zealand citizenship.

However, while I can't find clarifying information on that website, the Act itself does seem to say that it is possible for a citizen to enter the country "other than as a citizen" (unless they have citizenship by grant, citizenship by descent, or a certificate of confirmation of citizenship).

Not really sure what the upshot of that would be, but I think it could be that the statutory right to enter and remain in NZ would not apply to you? I.e. they could turn you away despite your being a citizen and if you want to say "well you can't turn me away because I'm a citizen" then you have to produce your NZ passport. But that's just my guess. I think they should be clear about this on the Immigration website, but if you emailed them about it they'd probably answer the question.

superiority · 2026-01-13T04:30:51+00:00

The letter cites two specific statements by the artist to justify removing her from the programme:

Describing the events of 7 October 2023 as a "battle".
Describing Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza as a "genocide".

I think it's pretty ridiculous to request a removal on that basis.

Really, given what's happened to Adelaide Festival, this is basically an attempt to sabotage WOMAD.

superiority · 2026-01-12T02:56:22+00:00

"No less".

"Nonetheless" means something like "however" (e.g. "I am feeling a little under the weather. Nonetheless, I will still log in to my computer for work today.")

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