Pandos -- JMR

historian / bassist / casseroles

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

the birth of a new meme is like a supernova: it's glorious, but by the time you see it, it's already billions of years old

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@Noahpinion many people are saying

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@Noahpinion this is why young Americans leftists exclusively engage with anime, memes, and ML blogs. looking closely at Chinese state ideology and statecraft would put their eyes out

[Brooks Otterlake @i_zzzzzz]

Might try running a marathon now that I know it can be done in less than two hours

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@mania_3 ごめんなさい。彼の風は間違いますね。

[Awni Hannun @awnihannun]

Adopting Claude speak in my regular life, episode 1:

Partner: Did you do the dishes tonight?
Me: Yes they're done.
Partner: Why are they still dirty?
Me: You're right to push back. I didn't actually do them.

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

The Christian moral vision still slaps, kids

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis has an awesome opening riff about how most people know the difference between right and wrong, but they justify acting immorally by appealing to "special exception." They know they shouldn't hit a friend, but what if that friend was being so mean? They know they shouldn't steal a seat a bus, but what if that person got up and created a moment's confusion and then the seat was up for grabs? Etc.

When I read this section, I thought a lot about contemporary politics and the way that people justify their politics, not by appealing to higher principles, but rather by appealing to "special exception" to argue that their admitted indecency is justifiable in context.

A lot of MAGA vice is justified by special exception. Trump's defenders rarely defend his crookedness directly. They don't say "it's wonderful to use trade policy to enrich the Oval Office, it's really awesome." They say: Well, look, it doesn't really matter, because the left is so dangerous, Biden maybe did something similar 3 years ago, Democrats would do the same in power, and so forth.

I heard something similar in that NYT conversation everybody's talking about. You even see it in the headline: ‘The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?’ Why, hello, special exception. When you start arguing that stealing food and French paintings is justifiable in the context of political protest in an age of prevailing distrust, you're similarly not arguing *for* any kind of a universal principle. Nobody actually wants 300 million people stealing fruit from the grocery store. Nobody actually wants every Louvre visitor trying to rip a Manet off the walls. These virtues don't scale. (Because they're not virtuous!)

Sap that I am, I want us to get to a place where politics is about fighting for what is right and decent, not about justifying what sort of indecent behavior might be somewhat understandable or technically justifiable given the other side's vice or the prevailing levels of indecency. The point is to build the kind of goodness that scales.

https://t.co/iPF65NuyeU

[𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐨 ⛪︎ 🌲 @MichaelCarlino]

“The reason God will never stop loving you is that he never began.”

~ Geerhardus Vos reflecting on Jeremiah 31:3: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

[Christopher @molochofficial]

oh? the historical period you study was one of rapid social transformation and stark contrasts? Yeah I bet it was.

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

spot on. In this war, Russia has only deployed negotiation for propagandistic purposes in the West. Iron is the only language Putin understands

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@CrankyFed this tweet, on the other hand, smells so refreshing

[maddie (De Palma Certainties) @payphoneexhibit]

a 10/10 burger beats a 10/10 hot dog BUT a 5/10 hot dog beats a 5/10 burger

[Zack Brown @LuminanceBloom]

which is worse: learning japanese for anime or learning german for philosophy

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

bad news everyone

[Publishers Weekly @PublishersWkly]

BREAKING: The Internet Archive has lost its appeal in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the long-running, closely watched copyright case over the scanning and lending of print library books. Full story to follow.

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@lastpositivist Cat Stevens posits that "the first cut is the deepest" (1967), but makes no effort to study a second cut. Indeed, while Stevens indicates his desire for a another relationship, he makes no plan nor even suggests that further cuts must be in order

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@ehutchinson1513 Totally worth it, and the first rewatch is nearly as good as the first time thru

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@ehutchinson1513 Seen Primer before? Another science-adjacent movie that rules

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

Excellent article about China, COVID, geopolitics, journalism, and the difficulties of measured thinking about an increasingly authoritarian regime

[Jonathan Cheng @JChengWSJ]

"The diplomat…had been thinking about American citizens who might be potential targets. He mentioned…a former State Department employee…in Shanghai. 'He could be at risk,' he said. Then he paused and looked up. 'You could be at risk.'"
@ChinaFile
https://t.co/1AfTFIybei

[Pandos -- JMR @DoktorPandos]

@KGWNews You mean, Parmesan cheese sponsor wins Olympic silver