I'm always picking apart movies and TV shows for subtext, deeper meaning, Jungian archetypes, revelation of social patterns, inner psychology, etc., but it seems like there are two related trends that make the traditional, scholarly approach of a close reading increasingly unpopular:

1. The work is about whatever the author says it is about or could have intended it to mean. Literature can have a multipilicity of meanings, some of them deeply personal to the reader, and many of them unintended. That the fun of thinking about a piece and breaking it down an examining scenes and dialogue and symbolism can all be replaced by doing a search on the author's Twitter is deeply depressing and completely destroys the role of art--to be an ambiguous sounding board for our souls and unconscious reflection of our society.

2. A work is bad or good depending on the political messages it explicitly and implicitly communicates." and related: I'm more likely to agree with an interpretation if helps me politically. Stories with flawed characters are condemned in this system, because the point of literature isn't to explore the human condition, but to create propaganda for ideologies, and your role isn't too seriously examine the text but to create your own propaganda for your side online.

Examples:

• "300 can't have a gay subtext because that would mean Zach Snyder was woke!'"

• "The Matrix is definitively a trans-allegory because The Wachowskis said it was. If you disagree, you are stupid, because they said so." I love reading the Matrix as a trans-allegory, but it is not ever explicitly mentioned in the text so I chafe at it being definitively, or even obviously, a trans-allegory.

• Sex and the City is bad because Carrie has an extremely fucked up relationship with Mr. Big (ie, only positive role models are "good"--I'm absolutely OK with people pointing that out, but the problem is building a world where only "safe messages" are propagated and treating all audiences as uncritical 3-year-olds in front YouTube Kids).

The only real pushback against art-by-tweet is against JKR declaring Dumbledore to be gay. But, really, that's just politics taking precedence, because people don't want her in the LGBT tent exlcuding trans people.

There also seems to be a knock-on effect in writing rooms, where complexity and ambiguity are being sacrificed for clear moralizing and political point-making.

And as a long-time Star Trek fan, I'm not saying art can't be explicitly political! Of course it can! But I am saying it is increasingly not allowed to be anything else.

Is this a vibe anyone else is getting? My references are obviously seriously dated, but whenever they come up, I feel like I'm speaking Ancient Greek.

Bonus question: Who has a better story than Bran?

As the title says, how often do you admit you're wrong? Is it different when it's a factual dispute versus something more subjective?

I make an effort to concede early if I'm in error. I think because my mother almost never admits fault. She'll fall back to "that's not what I meant" or similar deflections first, and that's really annoying.

The last big factual error I made was about the distance of walking, and that's where I learned about Taxicab Geometry ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicab_geometry ).

I think some people believe admitting fault is a sign of weakness, but I find it's more of a power move. It takes strength to do it, and people can tell when you're sweating and desperate. Usually it leads to resolving the conflict faster and cheaper, too.

(I expect some people will feel the urge to reply they're never wrong. I'll file that under never admits fault.)

Online or offline. News keeps reporting about loneliness and disconnection, but in my experience it's just that it's harder to interact with people in a civil way because they are so hostile, angry, and arrogantly convinced their viewpoints and experiences are the only legitimate ones.

Not to mention the lack of civility towards servers and other service workers. I can't recall if I was just indifferent 10 years ago, but on a almost daily basis it blows my mind how openly rude many people are to servers and such, which seemed like a much more rare thing when I was younger.

Hey all! New here, looking for something a little unique. Coffee Roasting Manual, Parts Catalogues, etc.

In a past career I was a coffee roaster, Q grader, and educator for the SCAA (now the SCA). I spent some time trying to collect manuals before life and events pushed me into a research and academic trajectory. I've been returning to my old hobby and am a little shocked that there's so little out there. Despite the popularity of restoring old roasters, using them, and hobbyist enthusiasm, there's a wealth of information vanishing from the field.

Be it Pre-1950s Probats, old guides from San Franciscan or Diedrich's earlier days, a Sivetz that looks like a jet engine, The materials that came with the machines, or let people order spare parts, are simply vanishing. In discussions with colleagues and friends, the 2nd and 3rd wave of coffee materials are vanishing, too.

So I'm on a quest to use what I know about research and archiving to collect as much as possible. If you know a person willing to share, point them my way.

Here's what I've recovered from nearly a decade ago. Stored on a flash drive, it's now uploaded again. It's a discovery that sparked this inquiry a decade or so later:

https://drive.proton.me/urls/PJ29P0HGJW#5kmU3EBeJDqR

I posted asking for advice on looking for work and lot of suggestions said I should try networking. Well that hard to do at 46 and have no true friends or colleagues to reach out to. Now we all know about dating sites, but is there a open source site that is for meeting for friends, or even networking like LinkedIn but not so much bullshit?

If not how would one go about creating such a space?

for me it's famicom in first place PC engine in second place and Sega Master system in third place

My go is for the Buzzard, it would sure as hell make desert trips and heat waves seem a lot less worrying and paranoiac.

I am sick and tired of Indeed. It nothing but sales jobs and it ignores your filters. Monster full of scams or just links to other job searching sites that want you to create an account on their platform. Last ziprecuriter is also full of spam and garbage.

Working from home a year now and tired of the bullshit. Now not getting paid because computer stop working and having to wait for a replacement. On top of always working with no back to back days off.

Anyone know best place to apply? Tried locally but nothing but low pay retail and fast food jobs in the area. I have insurance license and still willing to work remotely.

It was doing pretty good back when it came out, but now it has 3.4 stars on play store. How come? I thought everyone liked it.

i think the title is self explanatory, i hope this isn't a support question.

Hi. After discovering the connected instances list on my instance, I saw a huge list of blocked ones, which(as I assume) is unique for each instance. So, I started to wonder: is there an instance that federates with as much others as possible and has the smallest black list? Maybe some kind of an observer instance on which you can access as much of Fediverse as it is possible? Thanks in advance.

What are your hobbies? Genuinely trying to find something new for myself.

Right now my free time mostly goes into watching series and checking trades, and I want to add something that actually feels productive or fulfilling instead of just passing time.

Curious what you're into, and honestly, why you got into it in the first place. Doesn't need to be impressive or unique, just real.

I'm a hobby chess player. I play on Lichess. And whenever I find the time, I love watching live tournaments. But I have a recurring issue: the moment I start watching, I inevitably end up rooting for one of the players. It feels almost compulsive.

The thing is, my bias isn't even consistent. It shifts based on the format, the tournament context, off-board drama, and sometimes just pure whims. Here are some specific examples from my own viewing habits:

Format matters: When it's Gukesh vs. Nihal, I root for Gukesh in classical time controls, but I switch sides completely and root for Nihal in bullet.

Leaderboard dynamics: When it's Gukesh vs. Pragg, my support entirely depends on the standings:

• If one of them is already mathematically out of title contention, I root for the one still fighting for the top spot.
• If they are right next to each other on the leaderboard, I root for the guy in second place (the chaser).
• If one is at the absolute top and uncatchable, I'll root for the other guy, even if he's not even on the leaderboard.
• If they are tied neck-and-neck on the leaderboard, I genuinely don't care about the result and just watch neutrally.

Controversy and personality override nationality: Despite being my fellow countrymen, Vidit and Samay have never been my favorites. In fact, I actively root against them. This is purely due to off-board reasons Vidit's public spat with the Liver Doc and Samay's insensitive jokes in his shows have completely turned me off.

This bias creeps in through identity, personality, context and sometimes just a completely irrational subconscious pull, like instinctively rooting for Gukesh against one opponent and then rooting for that same opponent against someone else.

The consequence is pretty frustrating. When the player I'm rooting for loses, I genuinely struggle to accept the outcome. Sometimes, it even ruins my mood for a while. This emotional toll has gotten so bad that I've completely stopped watching live chess for the past six months.

My question to you: Have you ever experienced this kind of shifting, irrational emotional bias while watching live games? How do you personally deal with it? Is it even possible to remain completely neutral as a spectator? And if bias does creep in, do you have any mental tricks or mindset shifts that help you accept a loss gracefully?

I really miss watching chess live, but I don't want to keep putting myself through this stress. I'd love to hear your experiences and advice.

(translated with help of AI)

For example [vaguely]: writer creates a character who behaves like X, despite nobody actually behaving like X in real life. Then characters behaving like X become a wide-ranging trope. People in the real world begin to think it’s normal to behave like X, and subsequently start actually behaving like X themselves.

Any actual examples of this phenomenon happening?

I got a Medusa tattoo over the weekend and I'm tryna come up with names for the 4 cute lil viper gals that now inhabit my arm.

Edit: here's a pic. Art and tat done by Maura at Nice Ink in Canonsburg, Pa

If so, why do you want them / how do you like it?

I hope this can be more of a wholesome post about cute stories, instead of more dooming and glooming.

I need some good news to lift my otherwise shitty situation. What was the last thing that brought you to tears from happiness?

Hindsight is 20/20 and I realize this probably wasn't the best idea to begin with....

(Scott Kirkland, if you were wondering..)

Yesterday it kinda hit me that the feed left a lot more "reddit-y" suddenly. More american politics for one.

There is a also aspecific thing that alerted me: Sudden appearance of this pattern plagueing reddit where a post about some bad muslim person escalates into edgy atheism which is also kinda racist and lowkey fascist in a very specific way.

I don't have a lot of empiric evidence, just the vibe seems to have shifted.

In the past week I've been absolutely roasted for criticising two different countries. Normally I'd be okay with that, I can handle a mild toasting and after all debate is a good thing.

On both occasions though I was flamed for mentioning human rights issues that are established facts and have been known for many, many years. I was critical of the actions/laws of their governments and not the people, their race, religion, general political ideology or nationality.

On both occasions I was bombarded by long posts that parroted propaganda, and in the case of one country I was told (on multiple occasions) that I was ignorant, racist and even fascist for mentioning the issues I did. I'm not complaining about how I was treated, but as a reminder, I was discussing internationally-recognised human rights concerns that can be verified and based in fact.

I could just be paranoid but I'm fairly convinced the responses weren't from patriotic citizens. I think they were paid trolls or bots, and I think their purpose was to quiet negative talking points about the countries that were mentioned.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I had a dream recently where I was guiding a civilisation over multiple thousands of years. Att the end of the dream when they had finally overcome their problems, one of them said to me 'being a person, when really you're just a blob of goo, is the most profound thing you could ever do.'

And it hit me so hard. All I am is a bunch of cells held together in a skin bag. And yet I'm a person with feelings and experiences and desires. And I did that, I live it. It makes us all so valuable.

Have your dreams ever had effects on you like that?

If you would like additional framing: you have only 30 seconds to prepare and you can talk for 10-30 minutes.