aphra
962 posts


WHO IS "SLEAZY, GROSS AND CYNICAL"?
Matt Yglesias claims that it is “sleazy and gross” and “let[ting] cynicism poison your brain” for the hosts of @theallinpod to support @RobertKennedyJr. I’ll speak only for myself since each host has their own views.
Kennedy is running an honest, hopeful and idealistic campaign. He supports free speech over censorship, civil liberties over the surveillance state, and peace instead of war. He would seal the southern border instead of making excuses for why we can’t fix it. He would end the marriage of state power and corporate greed which has captured federal regulatory agencies. He decries the trillions of dollars we wasted on Covid lockdowns and Forever Wars. He wants to rebuild the middle class and unify the country. His message is in the best tradition of the Kennedys.
So why is Yglesias so bent out of shape? For one thing, Yglesias enthusiastically supports the Ukraine War, which he described this way:
“this is actually a really good deal for us. Basically, NATO equipment + Ukrainian lives are being traded for Russian equipment + Russian lives, which leaves NATO coming out ahead. That's doubly true because NATO is much richer than Russia, so we win a long-term game of "everyone explode their weapons as fast as they can make them." Again, though, what makes that really true is that NATO material is killing Russian soldiers, while Russian material is killing Ukrainian soldiers. That’s a deal in our favor.”
t.co/H8tCSvB9VF
Could any argument for Biden’s war policy better confirm Kennedy’s critique of it? Kennedy has eloquently denounced Biden’s policy for condemning the “flower of Ukraine’s youth” to an “abattoir of death” on behalf of a “geopolitical game.”
Yglesias’ calculus is the one that is truly cynical and gross, but even taken on its own amoral terms, it’s incredibly foolish. Russia has a huge armaments industry which can replace the weapons it is exploding whereas those Ukrainian lives are never coming back. Moreover, it is American stockpiles that are being rapidly depleted while the Russian war machine ramps to full production. Even worse for America’s future security, Biden’s policy has cemented a Russia-China-Iran bloc that has more industrial capacity than the US. In the economic sphere, it has alienated the BRICS countries and much of the Global South. So the war is not making America safer; quite the contrary, in a rare unscripted moment, Biden himself acknowledged that it risks Armageddon.
Yglesias never explains why the only acceptable candidate for “tech guys” to support is a president who is visibly deteriorating before our eyes and who has stubbornly rejected every diplomatic opportunity to end the war. I guess we’re just supposed to want four more years of living on the razor’s edge, hoping that senile belligerence doesn’t tip us into World War III.
But making convincing arguments about which candidate to support is not the point of Yglesias’ piece. The point is to apply derogatory labels as a disciplinary tactic to make sure independent-minded tech people don’t step out of line. Such ham-fisted attempts to enforce party orthodoxy on the tech community could not be more at odds with the spirit of the All-In Pod. But the fact that he feels compelled to do this proves the opposite of what he wants. It proves the All-In Pod is working.
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Tech guys boosting one of the most anti-progress, technophobic people on the left in hopes of scoring some bankshot victory for Donald Trump is really gross. Don’t let cynicism poison your brain. slowboring.com/p/a-vaccine-di…
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@GovofCO @GovRonDeSantis @Disney @nuggets @MiamiHEAT Yeah, outside of s*cking the teat of "green" government handouts, losing a bet is pretty much the only way to get a business to move here these days.
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Calling @GovRonDeSantis and @Disney on a friendly wager. If the @nuggets win the finals against the @MiamiHEAT, Disney World will move to Colorado, the ACTUAL happiest place on earth to do business, have fun, and be free! #ColoradoForAll
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@cryptoshambles Yea a lot of businesses pivot 10 times in their first two years
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@iamtexture Your whole project was edgelording money from people to give to other people 🤔
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Self-loathing rich person that wants to make up for it by stealing other people's money and distributing it.
Mippo 🟪@MikeIppolito_
Liz Warren has a $67M net worth even though her salary is $285K per year. Either she saved 100% of her earnings for 235 years, or she is making money another way 🧐
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@0xDesigner If Zilla explained smart contracts and how they verify authentication, Rogan would’ve understood.
A Picasso goes for millions. Have their been fakes sold at auction? Yes.
Can anyone create a fake? Yes.
Is it worth as much as the authentic? Not even close.
“Ohhhhhhhhh ok”
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Two open editions now live via @manifoldxyz
Fleeting moments of serenity
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Tearing at your soul


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GM, here's some stuff you can find as my merch!
Link below
aphra@absurdcomplex
Round 2 @JTamponi drip!
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