People Saying Crazy Things

[The Nehor]

I have been playing a game that allows you to control the economic development of a nation from the early 19th century through the early 20th century. It is an interesting simulation trying to move through industrialization and African colonialism.

Sometimes I needed help with some of the concepts in the game so started reading up on it. Some of the requests for help are hilarious and/or disturbing out of context and I started collecting some of the best ones:

 

Is slavery bad? I thought it was good until I found out I couldn’t use them in factories.

Why is the Trail of Tears the only atrocity you can commit?

How do I provoke a fascist coup?

What are the best exploits to get rid of minority populations?

Peasants in China are pissed off because I don’t want to give them money not to starve.

Ethnostates should be better.

How do I specifically enslave the Polish?

Why can’t I enact Apartheid in the Dutch East Indies?

I hate farmers. I wish I could burn all their farms and give them to the industrialists.

Lower Strata and Discriminated pops need to be far more oppressed than they are currently.

Reconstruction is too hard. I think I will just keep slavery.

The game won’t let me eat German minors.

Having trouble with pesky radicals? Just starve them.

In Spain is it worth it to keep religious education so Muslims convert to Catholicism so they can drink my alcohol surplus?

How do I get and use chemical weapons?

The United States refuses to stop being racist! Is this a bug?

My colonies are getting too developed. How do I make them stop?

How do I get minors to stop asking to marry me?

I accidentally murdered all the Armenians. How do I avoid this in the future?

Food is too plentiful. How do I prevent this?

Jewish population won’t stop causing problems in UK, how do I get rid of them?

Having a hard time enjoying war.

Capitalists are literally destroying my economy by building art academies.

Can I use my barracks to get unwanted ethnicities killed?

I think I accidentally ethnically cleansed Kazakhstan.

Minimum wage is the WORST!

Racism should have an upside.

Feminism is destroying my country!

I conquered a bunch of Africans as France to make them extract resources and now they're the richest people in the world.

Is there any point to increasing the Standard of Living?

I hate laborers I truly do, first they move to cities and then they don't get jobs so they're unemployed and drag down the standard of living, then they get so angry they start causing turmoil making it harder to build industries that can create jobs for them, then because it's economically more efficient to build in places that are full of marauding masses of urban unemployed they start demanding the state pay them wage subsidies so they can keep being angry and unemployed and stop anything from getting done in their area, why can't they just work on a dirt farm, the peasants never make it harder to build things or demand the state pay them to do nothing. No, I don't have a million unemployed laborers in Kansai who refuse to move somewhere for work or let me create jobs for them why do you ask?

There should be more benefit in staying conservative and centralizing power.

I WILL destroy Ohio!

How do I enslave the French?

Me reading history books: Wow how could people just kick in a countries door, effectively enslave their population at gunpoint and then think they are justified.
Me playing game conquering my way through Africa: IF YOU GUYS JUST MADE MORE RUBBER I WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE DOING THIS!!!!

 

And my favorite which presumably came from a man sporting a Charlie Chaplin mustache:

How do I get more living space as Germany?

 

On a lighter note just recently met Karl Marx, the Communist King of France. Also I met the renowned General Thomas Edison, leader of the United States military junta and also a dedicated feminist.

Yes, I am a strange and broken human being.

[Calm]

2 hours ago, The Nehor said:

In Spain is it worth it to keep religious education so Muslims convert to Catholicism so they can drink my alcohol surplus?

That is weirdly specific…is the game really that sensitive?

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Calm

[let’s roll]

Are you claiming authorship on any of these…a couple seem Nehor-like.  😀

I sent in the one about chemical weapons.  Of course, I was thinking only about pest control.  🙂

[Calm]

2 minutes ago, let’s roll said:

was thinking only about pest control

The problem is how you define “pest”.

Pest: anything that is upright, on two legs that I need to keep their mouth shut because they eat and complain too much otherwise

Edited November 17, 2023 by Calm

[The Nehor]

4 minutes ago, let’s roll said:

Are you claiming authorship on any of these…a couple seem Nehor-like.  😀

I sent in the one about chemical weapons.  Of course, I was thinking only about pest control.  🙂

No, I didn’t write any of them. But yes, I have described my problems in these games in similar terms.

8 minutes ago, Calm said:

That is weirdly specific…is the game really that sensitive?

Yeah, I doubt that the conversions from that approach would be enough to solve the situation though. The simulation is pretty intricate and some kinds of populations favor some goods over others and Muslims do have a decreased interest in alcohol. 

5 minutes ago, Calm said:

The problem is how you define “pest”.

Pest: anything that is upright, on two legs that I need to keep their mouth shut because they eat and complain too much otherwise

That is kind of ableist. People who lose a leg can still be pests. 😜

[Calm]

2 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Yeah, I doubt that the conversions from that approach would be enough to solve the situation though. The simulation is pretty intricate and some kinds of populations favor some goods over others and Muslims do have a decreased interest in alcohol. 

I am almost tempted, but while I like to approach the technology and maybe diplomacy of developing civilizations/whatever, balancing economies is too tedious and unsatisfying.

[Emily]

Where is this series of posts? I have a good answer for how to provoke a fascist coup, but I can't talk politics on this board.

😁

[The Nehor]

11 minutes ago, Emily said:

Where is this series of posts? I have a good answer for how to provoke a fascist coup, but I can't talk politics on this board.

😁

I collected them over time. A lot of them came from Reddit. Some from a discord channel.

[Emily]

What game is it?  Sid Meier's Colonization? Victoria 3? Or something similar?

It's funny, but most likely several of those types of questions were asked seriously and just as heartlessly by leaders in the past and sadly you still see that kind of attitude outside gaming, and directed towards real people in the present.

The inability of people to get past racism (including "reverse racism", lest anyone think it's just a white man's disease) is sure an example of the strength of the natural man. Very big bug indeed 

[The Nehor]

23 minutes ago, Emily said:

What game is it?  Sid Meier's Colonization? Victoria 3? Or something similar?

It's funny, but most likely several of those types of questions were asked seriously and just as heartlessly by leaders in the past and sadly you still see that kind of attitude outside gaming, and directed towards real people in the present.

The inability of people to get past racism (including "reverse racism", lest anyone think it's just a white man's disease) is sure an example of the strength of the natural man. Very big bug indeed 

Those were Victoria 3. I thought about doing Crusader Kings 3 but that would mean a lot of incest and child murder jokes.

[longview]

There is already too much wokist insanity in the culture. Dabbling in these kinds of games will only make it worse.

[The Nehor]

20 minutes ago, longview said:

There is already too much wokist insanity in the culture. Dabbling in these kinds of games will only make it worse.

Please define “wokist” because none of those quotes qualify as “woke” in any sense of the word I have ever heard.

Edited November 18, 2023 by The Nehor

[longview]

7 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Please define “wokist” because none of those quotes qualify as “woke” in any sense of the word I have ever heard.

 

Wokist

 

Urban Dictionary

https://www.urbandictionary.com › define › term=Wo...

 

 

 

A person who satirically takes supposed "left-wing ideology" to its extremes. Based on the word "leftist," popularized among left-wing commentators as a ...

[Calm]

3 hours ago, longview said:

 

Wokist

 

Urban Dictionary

https://www.urbandictionary.com › define › term=Wo...

 

 

 

A person who satirically takes supposed "left-wing ideology" to its extremes. Based on the word "leftist," popularized among left-wing commentators as a ...

Please explain how those quotes or similar behaviour leads to wokist behaviour?  Not following your line of reasoning.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Calm

[The Nehor]

4 hours ago, longview said:

 

Wokist

 

Urban Dictionary

https://www.urbandictionary.com › define › term=Wo...

 

 

 

A person who satirically takes supposed "left-wing ideology" to its extremes. Based on the word "leftist," popularized among left-wing commentators as a ...

Urbandictionary.com is itself satire. The definitions are user submitted and aren’t checked for being factual and many of them are jokes.

For example have a few definitions:

 

Mormon

someone who likes sherbet in Sprite

If you like sherbet in Sprite, comment "I am a Mormon!"

 

Joseph Smith

Founder of Mormonism.

Every Hebrew letter is a number. The name Joseph Smith written in Hebrew adds up to 666. Joseph is: Yod = 10. Holem Waw = 6. Samech = 60. Pheh = 80. Smith is: Samech = 60.  Mem = 40. Yod = 10.  Thau = 400. Add it up.

 

Kolobian

A nickname for a Member of any one of the Mormon sects LDS, FLDS or RLDS.

The name comes from the belief that God lives on a heavenly Body (a planet... or star!) called Kolob.

The reference is from Joseph Smith Junior's writings called 'The Book Of Abraham, which is part of the Mormon canon of scripture

The modern Mormon church doesn't mention Kolob much as the whole thing is a source of embarrassment, hence the nickname Kolobian is quite hurtful to mainstream mormons

You dont want to go to Salt Lake City, it's full of kolobians

 

George Washington

Our first and greatest president, Washington is known for a variety of achievements including (but not limited to) inventing cocaine, spreading the Delaware like Moses, saving children (not the British children), throwing knives into heaven, and killing his own sensei but never saying why. 

"Damn. George Washington is so cool. Who would've thought he was such a badass." 

"Did you know that George Washington once held an opponents wife's hand in a jar of acid...at a party?"

 

republican

Why we dont have flying cars

We would have flying cars if republicans weren't afraid of change

 

Democrat

THEY WANT TO TAKE MY MONEY AND GUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reason there are so many democrat-positive posts and so many republican-negative posts is that all democrats are students who still live in their parents' basements, while republicans are too busy rubbing their tax rebates over their sweating naked bodies and having sex with attractive women who still use makeup to post online.

 

Woke

Woke is woke and being woke is woke but being woke is also woke

Woke Hollywood’s Biggest LOSER | Disney Admits FAILURE

It’s The END of Woke Hollywood As We Know It, And I Feel Fine 
Why Woke Hollywood is FAILING

 

For a lot of these it took awhile to find definitions that weren’t filled with obscenities. I could do this forever but I will stop here.

Edited November 19, 2023 by The Nehor

[The Nehor]

Okay, one more because it is meta:

 

Urban Dictionary

Concrete proof of the degeneration of the human race's collective intelligence.

If you haven't lost your faith in humanity already, just spend a few minutes browsing Urban Dictionary. This is the next generation? Yup. We're doomed.

[longview]

9 hours ago, Calm said:

Please explain how those quotes or similar behaviour leads to wokist behaviour?  Not following your line of reasoning.

Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent perspective on the vast panoply of the culture. Have a look at his column:

https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13968&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAgeeqBhBAEiwAoDDhnylpTe95HiG8S1dTQ_hVR6tadJw4cD2Tb0D-rRRrkfvyHWsMz59JNxoCi_QQAvD_BwE

Edited November 19, 2023 by longview

[The Nehor]

3 hours ago, longview said:

Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent perspective on the vast panoply of the culture. Have a look at his column:

https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13968&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAgeeqBhBAEiwAoDDhnylpTe95HiG8S1dTQ_hVR6tadJw4cD2Tb0D-rRRrkfvyHWsMz59JNxoCi_QQAvD_BwE

If that were true they would call it that instead of co-opting a positive word and ascribing this warped interpretation. What a nut.

[Calm]

6 hours ago, longview said:

Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent perspective on the vast panoply of the culture. Have a look at his column:

https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13968&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAgeeqBhBAEiwAoDDhnylpTe95HiG8S1dTQ_hVR6tadJw4cD2Tb0D-rRRrkfvyHWsMz59JNxoCi_QQAvD_BwE

Quote

Wokeism has been described by its critics as the omnipresent use of race—and to a lesser extent, gender—to replace meritocracy and thus ensure equality of result. What follows from implementing that ideology are reparatory actions to reward those of the present by atoning for the injustices done to others in the past. 

Some see it as an update of 1960s cultural Marxism fads. Others scoff that it is just a return to 1980s-style political correctness. 

Still more see it as the logical successor to 1990s-type race, class, and gender obsessions—albeit with a shriller and more dangerous Jacobin, Soviet, and Maoist twist. Wokeism’s hysteria also invites comparisons to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism. 

But few have described wokeism as the cruel creed that it is.

And critics are always so accurate in their descriptions of what they disagree with…

Edited November 20, 2023 by Calm

[The Nehor]

48 minutes ago, Calm said:

And critics are always so accurate in their descriptions of what they disagree with…

The idea that the ethnic group that has the majority of the wealth and political positions in the country is somehow being targeted for discrimination would be funny if there weren’t so many people eager to believe it.

[longview]

20 hours ago, The Nehor said:

If that were true they would call it that instead of co-opting a positive word and ascribing this warped interpretation. What a nut.

It is very difficult to "interpret" your statement. You said "co-opting a positive word" - are you referring to terms like woke, wokiest, wokist, etc? If so, please explain how they are being "co-opted". Also, please explain your definition of wokism and why you think it is positive. What are the ways it is being interpreted in a "warped" way.

"What a nut" ? Victor Davis Hanson is an eminent professor at several universities and colleges:
"Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American classicist, military historian, farmer, and political commentator. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Washington Times and other media outlets."

He has written many scholarly works:

• Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece. University of California Press, 1983. ISBN 0-520-21025-5. Rev. ed. 1998.
• The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. 2nd. ed. 2000. ISBN 0-394-57188-6
• Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience, editor, Routledge, 1991. ISBN 0-415-04148-1
• The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization, Free Press, 1995. ISBN 0-02-913751-9
• Fields Without Dreams: Defending the Agrarian Idea, Free Press, 1996. ISBN 0-684-82299-7
• Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom, with John Heath, Encounter Books, 1998. ISBN 1-893554-26-0
• The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny, Free Press, 1999. ISBN 0-684-84502-4
• The Wars of the Ancient Greeks: And the Invention of Western Military Culture, Cassell, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35222-5
• The Land Was Everything: Letters from an American Farmer, Free Press, 2000. ISBN 0-684-84501-6
• Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age, with John Heath and Bruce S. Thornton, ISI Books, 2001. ISBN 1-882926-54-4
• Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power, Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 0-385-50052-1
• An Autumn of War: What America Learned from September 11 and the War on Terrorism, Anchor Books, 2002. ISBN 1-4000-3113-3 A collection of essays, mostly from National Review, covering events occurring between September 11, 2001, and January 2002
• Mexifornia: A State of Becoming, Encounter Books, 2003. ISBN 1-893554-73-2
• Ripples of Battle: How Wars Fought Long Ago Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think, Doubleday, 2003. ISBN 0-385-50400-4
• Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq, Random House, 2004. ISBN 0-8129-7273-2. A collection of essays, mostly from National Review, covering events occurring between January 2002 and July 2003
• A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War, Random House, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-6095-8^[41]

[longview]

17 hours ago, Calm said:

And critics are always so accurate in their descriptions of what they disagree with…

It is difficult to determine if you actually have read his column? Do you agree or disagree with the many examples he has illustrated in his column?

[The Nehor]

56 minutes ago, longview said:

It is very difficult to "interpret" your statement. You said "co-opting a positive word" - are you referring to terms like woke, wokiest, wokist, etc? If so, please explain how they are being "co-opted". Also, please explain your definition of wokism and why you think it is positive. What are the ways it is being interpreted in a "warped" way.

"What a nut" ? Victor Davis Hanson is an eminent professor at several universities and colleges:
"Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American classicist, military historian, farmer, and political commentator. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Washington Times and other media outlets."

He has written many scholarly works:

• Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece. University of California Press, 1983. ISBN 0-520-21025-5. Rev. ed. 1998.
• The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. 2nd. ed. 2000. ISBN 0-394-57188-6
• Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience, editor, Routledge, 1991. ISBN 0-415-04148-1
• The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization, Free Press, 1995. ISBN 0-02-913751-9
• Fields Without Dreams: Defending the Agrarian Idea, Free Press, 1996. ISBN 0-684-82299-7
• Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom, with John Heath, Encounter Books, 1998. ISBN 1-893554-26-0
• The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny, Free Press, 1999. ISBN 0-684-84502-4
• The Wars of the Ancient Greeks: And the Invention of Western Military Culture, Cassell, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35222-5
• The Land Was Everything: Letters from an American Farmer, Free Press, 2000. ISBN 0-684-84501-6
• Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age, with John Heath and Bruce S. Thornton, ISI Books, 2001. ISBN 1-882926-54-4
• Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power, Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 0-385-50052-1
• An Autumn of War: What America Learned from September 11 and the War on Terrorism, Anchor Books, 2002. ISBN 1-4000-3113-3 A collection of essays, mostly from National Review, covering events occurring between September 11, 2001, and January 2002
• Mexifornia: A State of Becoming, Encounter Books, 2003. ISBN 1-893554-73-2
• Ripples of Battle: How Wars Fought Long Ago Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think, Doubleday, 2003. ISBN 0-385-50400-4
• Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq, Random House, 2004. ISBN 0-8129-7273-2. A collection of essays, mostly from National Review, covering events occurring between January 2002 and July 2003
• A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War, Random House, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-6095-8^[41]

I mean the original cultural definition of the word “woke” when applied as an adjective to a person which was “being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination”. It later expanded to include being aware of prejudice and discrimination towards other marginalized groups. Then it was co-opted as a pejorative that had no real meaning.

I have read some of Victor Davis Hanson’s books. I found him to be a decent scholar. He is not doing scholarly work anymore and out of charity I will leave it at that.

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, longview said:

It is difficult to determine if you actually have read his column? Do you agree or disagree with the many examples he has illustrated in his column?

The biggest sin in the area quoted is:

“reward those of the present by atoning for the injustices done to others in the past“

Buried in there is the implication that racism and discrimination have been successfully eliminated in the present day.

“Still more see it as the logical successor to 1990s-type race, class, and gender obsessions—albeit with a shriller and more dangerous Jacobin, Soviet, and Maoist twist. Wokeism’s hysteria also invites comparisons to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism.”

Where are the burnings and show trials? They amp this up (in other columns he does the inevitable Nazi comparisons) but the results of all this “Woke Hysteria” is public disgrace for some people and no show trials or witch burnings. This is how cultures have always worked. If someone does something that people find to be disreputable people call them out. Changes in technology have made this easier. Instead we find people who thought they were immune to criticism facing criticism and suffering real-world consequences.

Their reaction is to treat that as if it is the worst thing ever and start talking about Nazis and McCarthy. The irony of claiming that a “Marxist” group is practicing McCarthyism is lost on them. Many of these people have never faced pushback due to their actions. So they react like anyone facing pushback for the first time: