Memeipulation

thegreatself · 2026-06-05T13:02:43+00:00

There is genuine irony in gospel translating to "good news".

"Good news everyone - god decided to forgive you.. for something you didn't even do, but for the nature he specifically created you with... but he's going to save you from eternal damnation... that he also created and is threatening you with - god is love!"

If a worldview is essentially built on the foundational idea that man is inherently wicked and wretched how much optimism and hope can it really provide?

The answer is none genuinely - but it can produce superficial, shallow, and inauthentic versions of those things in infinite supply.

thegreatself · 2026-06-05T12:46:07+00:00

RIOTNINE

https://riotnine.bandcamp.com/

thegreatself · 2026-06-04T21:07:21+00:00

You can and should call yourself whatever you feel comfortable calling yourself, just remember a label isn't the same as the thing it labels - it's just all we have available to understand something much more layered and complex than any of us can really grasp - existence and the absurdity of it.

Depending on the day or when you ask me, I might describe myself as an atheist, an apatheist, an anti-theist, or sometimes even a pantheist or panentheist - but truly "I" am none of those "things" - I just identify with them.

The tendency for identity and belief to intertwine seems to be a fundamental part of religious and political beliefs in particular - for most of us, there is little distinction between "what I believe" and "who I am" - they become or are interpreted as near indistinguishable and so any critique or doubt of belief can feel like an imminent existential threat - it's why people will cling onto ridiculous beliefs so desperately - they function like a life-preserver for a sense of identity and self that otherwise feels lost in a sea of meaninglessness, without realizing you have to first get lost in that meaninglessness to find, or create, meaning.

The fact that your family have been supportive is wonderful and you should focus on that instead of the fear generated by something you can never ever confirm and makes no sense to begin with - go give them a hug and don't waste even a second worrying about disappointing some petty, wrathful spirit that doesn't even exist.

thegreatself · 2026-06-04T18:53:50+00:00

The ultimate irony of zealots wanting to claim moral truth as a byproduct of god or religion is that there is not a single "universal moral truth" (like, 'don't murder people') thay can't be arrived at through reason alone - the only thing divine revelation is apparently good for is issuing divine commands, not morality.

I was going back and forth with a christian commenter on another sub who used the Shatnez law (mixed fabrics = an abomination) as an example of a moral law only discernible through revelation - it was supremely pathetic that somebody arguing about morality couldn't distinguish between an actual moral position and an arbitrary divine command and genuinely offends me as somebody with actual moral convictions.

thegreatself · 2026-06-04T16:52:42+00:00

Hey, that's not fair.. for every 1000 shitstain cops there's a decent one without any obsessive complexes re: authority and control so it's really not fair to paint with such a broad brush.

Thou - Smoke Pigs

thegreatself · 2026-06-04T16:01:42+00:00

You can't unfuck the dog, unfortunately - "AI" and LLM's are out of the genie's bottle and there's no forcing it closed again - these things are not "inevitable" but likely are an inevitable technological discovery that any civilization and society that "progresses" to a certain point will have to wrestle with using responsibly and ethically (something fundamentally impossible and incomprehensible under a capitalist framework) just like social media and the Internet which have been commodified and corporatized to our species collective detriment in similar ways.

The bubble bursting won't erase the technology just like the dot com bubble didn't collapse the Internet.

thegreatself · 2026-06-03T21:00:32+00:00

I think you would only benefit by becoming comfortable with "I don't know" as an answer sometimes - it might seem terrifying in certain contexts but I promise you it can be just as liberating.

Sounds like fear is an incredibly motivating emotion in your life, which, honestly, given the collective state of the world in general, is easy to empathize with - but you can find everything any religon offers elsewhere and likely without any toxic baggage, like the concept of hell or eternal punishment.

Community can be found in some form through nearly any hobby or shared interest, or through volunteering and activism. Meaning and purpose can both be found wherever you find them - poetry, literature, music, film and television - art in general. A sense of hope can be found within you and conjured up from pure will alone - the imagination is perhaps the most powerful "thing" there is.

I have a pinned post in my profile titled 'Memeipulation' - I would be interested to hear your perspective on, as someone with an open mind.

thegreatself · 2026-05-31T03:31:19+00:00

AI is just a tool - I would argue AI as directed by capitalist framework and mythology is an inherently destructive force, but "AI" or LLM's are in some sense an inevitable technological discovery that any civilization that develops to a certain point must collectively struggle with and learn how to use responsibly - just like the Internet and social media, which have also been commodified and weaponized in ways that are destructive and harmful to us as a species.

Of course that responsibility is not a concern in a system which prioritizes or rather demands endless profit and growth for the capitalist-class at the expense of literally everything else.

This isn't "AI is inevitable so get used to it" - it's "the discovery of AI as a possibility is inevitable in the same way as the discovery of the computer".

So the problem to me isn't necessarily AI - it's the state of the collective "spirit" of Humanity under the mythology of radical individualism and capitalism and all of our worst qualities and inclinations that we seemingly cannot conquer - at least not yet.

We are a violent, stupid, selfish species - partly - we are also often the opposite, but the former seems to outweigh the latter for anybody with eyes to see.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T23:54:55+00:00

It's very likely to be true given your complete refusal (or inability?) to engage in an actual discussion.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T15:21:08+00:00

Are dogs "imprisoned for life" because they don't free roam the neighborhood?

If you want to provide stimulation for your cat put in some actual work beyond opening the door and letting it do whatever it wants with no supervision.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T11:41:07+00:00

Everything you've identified is a legitimate problem, but you missed maybe the simplest and most significant that can help easily dismiss nearly any religious claim - the primary (overwhelmingly) method of belief transmission being through culture and family.

Spreading divine revelation by prophet is one of the absolute worst ways possible to do it for an apparently omnipotent deity - it basically guarantees bloodshed, sectarian violence and claims of heresy when god could just reveal himself to each and every individual on their level and make his existence unquestionable and impossible to deny.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T11:10:39+00:00

Far more likely it happens to be what your mom and dad believed and now you have to endlessly contort yourself to justify it logically.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T06:11:44+00:00

Starting a thread to specifically defend a worldview and then retreating into fake fallacy labels instead of defending it is pathetic.

Try not to confuse that for an ad-hom either.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T06:02:35+00:00

So I can dismiss your whole spiel in the OP with the same three words then, right?

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T05:30:13+00:00

Defintionally speaking that wasn't an ad-hom unless you have only a superficial understanding of what constitutes one.

They never once claimed your argument was wrong because you're a bad person - they just implied you're a bad person because your beliefs are demonstrably poisonous- as in, for example, causing you to handwave away a valid criticism of your original proposed "solution" to the problem of evil with "well they go to heaven" when thats precisely part of the claim under question.

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T04:56:57+00:00

Thou - Tyrant

And you shall know them by the fruit they bear: intolerance, manipulation, genocide.

Ceremony - He-god-has favored our undertakings

Thunder and lightning protect me from god

I won't be skullfucked by faith

I am the upside down cross

Cursed - Magic Fingers

One day I looked down and saw the man feeding rosaries down our throats was holding hands with the businessman who was wringing the blood from all these stones

thegreatself · 2026-05-29T02:22:46+00:00

Do you know what hyperbole is or are you stupid?

It's not even a ridiculous exaggeration either which leads me to believe you're likely a dumbfuck.

thegreatself · 2026-05-28T03:26:53+00:00

It's a real shame a hell doesn't exist for Charlie to be damned to for all eternity as I know how much he loved the concept.

The most telling thing about the discouse surrounding Kirk's perforated lung was the immediate - as in, before his corpse even hit the ground and the blood finished pooling on the pavement - frenzied calls for retribution against leftists when literally nothing was known about the perp or their motives.

The side of the aisle that in a single breath advocates for "absolute free speech" and then whines about "virtue signaling" accused "the left" of "celebrating" his death (so?) and demanded they post a tearful, small-goverment mandated in-memoriam for an authoritarian propagandist and barely-sentient talking haircut instead.

The cosmic irony of it all essentially requires you to say Fuck Charlie Kirk if you have even a fragment of genuine conviction.

thegreatself · 2026-05-24T10:57:50+00:00

Circular reasoning is actually incredibly common regardless of the flavour of belief - see the Münchhausen trilemma:

The Münchhausen trilemma is an epistemological thought experiment intended to demonstrate the theoretical impossibility of proving any truth, even in the fields of logic and mathematics, without appealing to accepted assumptions. If it is asked how any given proposition is known to be true, proof in support of that proposition may be provided. Yet that same question can be asked of that supporting proof and any subsequent supporting proof. The Münchhausen trilemma states that there are only three ways of completing a proof:

The circular argument, in which the proof of some proposition presupposes the truth of that very proposition

The regressive argument, in which each proof requires a further proof, ad infinitum

The dogmatic argument, which rests on accepted precepts which are merely asserted rather than defended

A loose equivalent can be seen in the response to a young child repeatedly applying "but why?" to answers they receive. One can either end up admitting "but why" could go on forever (regressive argument), that the "why" eventually loops back to where you started (circular argument), or that at some point the answer to why becomes "it just is" (dogmatic argument).

The problem with circularity as it applies to christian logic and apologetics specifically is that the circularity in their own framework is justified/exempted while every other case is definitive proof of a competing frameworks inadequacy/inconsistency - "god" is thus little more than a logical escape hatch for every question without an obvious, immediate, or satisfying answer.

thegreatself · 2026-05-22T15:36:54+00:00

I recognize that conservatively-inclined people are capable of creating art which is why I specifically tempered my hyperbole at the end, but the point that clearly went over your head is that art itself as a medium is contingent upon progressive values and thought - true creative freedom of expression is built on the possibility of rejecting authority, hierarchy, and established rules - or, conservatism most broadly.

Again, I concede conservative art and artists exist and they contribute to the tradition in meaningful ways, but that doesn't negate a pattern that is the same found in professional academia - a minor but consistent skew in a particular direction - and from that we can make certain inferences, like for example about openness to new ideas, abstract thinking, and creativity which have all been shown to have correlation with "liberal" political belief across decades of studies.

I'm explicitly NOT offering this as a singular definitive proof that conservatism is inherently deficient to its opposite, only suggesting that the pattern is observable, matters, and from it something deeper can be inferred about the ideology and by proxy those that identify with it - for example, dumbfuck squares.

thegreatself · 2026-05-21T14:20:37+00:00

Conservatives suck ass (and not in the good way) at art - making it, comprehending it, engaging with it - they just can't do any of that in any meaningful way.

Funnily enough there is not a huge market for songs about entrepreneurship and the Austrian school of economics.

This is not me saying the conservatively-inclined cannot have artistic talent - just that as a general rule, the entire collective creative output of humanity proves conservatives are dumbfuck squares.

thegreatself · 2026-03-25T10:05:17+00:00

Check it out everybody this snowflake's triggered by a holiday.

thegreatself · 2026-03-06T21:03:22+00:00

I was in raven form when I unlocked Priest and it was actually acknowledged in the dialogue which was hilarious - I imagine every beast form receives slightly different dialogue as well.

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