Also fun: “natural history” is not a Ph.D. offered by Duke.

I think a case could be made that Gamergate and Trump’s election have some shared causes but “Donald Trump was elected by Gamergate” is a bold claim. Do you have sources that indicate how the majority of voting-age members of Gamergate voted? What proportion of members of Gamergate voted at all? How many voters are…

It’s true that King isn’t the only historical figure who has been diluted and made more palatable (your example of the “Greatest Generation” is a bit misleading though since any description of an entire generation will necessarily be a generalization). I would argue that King in particular has undergone a particularly…

Whether someone is liked or hated, there are aspects about them that some people will agree with, and other aspects those same people will disagree with. This is true of everyone, not just MLK Jr. You can like someone in spite of things about them you don’t agree with, and you can dislike someone in spite of…

The point of the article is that people are still hateful and intolerant. They’ve simply started cloaking the hate and intolerance in gentler terms. Professing a love for a watered-down fake version of King is one method of cloaking.

I agree, he doesn’t have to go searching for [“white bogeymen”]. Which makes me wonder why, instead of complaining about the overt racists in power, he spent so much time crafting an article to bitch about celebrating MLK Jr.

I live in the capital of my state, a reasonably-sized city with a large university campus. There are two permanent vegan restaurants in the city.

I feel like vegans and vegetarians should be content to be the change they want to see in the world and meat eaters should lay off the chest pounding.

If you don’t want to eat meat, that’s fine. But why do you intentionally create meals to resemble meat?

Ethical meat is harm reduction. Even if the end goal is that everyone stops eating meat altogether (and we could debate the feasibility and usefulness of that goal), we have to get there from here. Improving the way meat is produced is a step in the right direction.

Generally speaking, people don’t become vegetarian or vegan because they don’t want to eat meat. People decide that the cost of the meat (ethical cost, environmental cost, etc) outweighs whatever enjoyment they get from eating it. Meatless imitations of meat things are a way for people to enjoy foods that are similar…

“PC culture has gone crazy! Everyone should be allowed to say whatever they want! Unless they want to point out that something I said was shitty. People shouldn’t be allowed to do that because it hurts my feelings.”

Star for double-reverse “well actually”.

Two, you have to consider the fact that it’s a ritual that’s more traditional and ceremonial, based on archaic laws they never had reason to change. T’Challa’s ascension to the throne was a foregone conclusion, no one was expected to challenge, especially not “outsiders”.

I guess no one is allowed to enjoy anything, especially if said thing has flaws or does not meet current ideological standards.

It’s difficult for me to get tone across in internet comments, so let me say that I am genuinely just curious because I like understanding how other people think: if you know this is a type of article that you don’t care for, why did you click on and then read it? I know some people “hate-consume” media these days but…

“Fragile premise” is exactly the phrase for it.

That’s fair. Personally I didn’t feel very invested in the mystery aspect because I was always aware that it was one guy’s design. So to me it was less an unfolding mystery and more like listening to a nerd get worked up about their favorite pop culture icon. I think that’s why the narrowness of the nostalgia didn’t…

I was fairly surprised that Ready Player One was getting made into a movie since I thought the book was mediocre. On further reflection I guess it makes sense (“those pop culture references you love so much are important and worthy of reward!”) but I’m curious about the worldbuilding you mention. Admittedly I read the…

Sounds like we just misunderstood each other. I thought the “things” technology is making die were cultural (e.g. ideas about marriage or what constitutes “American” food). Technology eliminating the need for certain jobs is certainly true. I’m hoping that trend leads us towards a universal-basic-income-type…