4 ms·

>As far as I can tell, from my visits, California is dystopia. A different sort of dystopia than Washington, D.C. or Boston, but a dystopia nonetheless. Stop b

>As far as I can tell, from my visits, California is dystopia. A different sort of dystopia than Washington, D.C. or Boston, but a dystopia nonetheless. Stop being a melodramatic, spoiled American. Current-day California is nothing like: * Present-day Russia * Present-day China * Present-day Mexico * Pinochet's Chile * Nazi Germany * Soviet Russia * Anywhere else in the Eastern Bloc * present-day ISIS territory Besides which, plenty of people hated Reagan.

dang 11y ago
> Stop being a melodramatic, spoiled American As I think you know, this isn't allowed on HN, regardless of how wrong someone is. Please don't do it here.
- eli_gottlieb 11y ago
  Calling people out for dramatizing their First World Problems into the collapse of society isn't allowed?
panzagl 11y ago
Dystopia has a specific meaning- failed states and dictatorships are not necessarily dystopias.
- eli_gottlieb 11y ago
  Yes, and by no means is present-day California (or even Reagan-day California, which I'd probably hate more myself) a state carefully optimized to inflict maximal misery on its inhabitants. It doesn't help that I live in Boston, which is also not a regime carefully working-out how to maximize the misery of the inhabitants.
  - Camillo 11y ago
    That is not even the definition of dystopia.
    - eli_gottlieb 11y ago
      From wikipedia: >A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia,[1] kakotopia, or simply anti-utopia) is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. >Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization,[2] totalitarian governments, environmental disaster,[3] or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. I'm really wondering what definition you're working from.
      - Camillo 11y ago
        Why do you do this? The key part of your previous comment, the one you yourself put in italics, was "carefully optimized to inflict maximal misery". The definition that you are quoting now says absolutely nothing about that. It is clear to everyone that your second post does not support your first in any way. There is absolutely no requirement that the negative aspects of a dystopia be "carefully optimized" for misery, or even that they be deliberate at all. They can just as easily arise from misguided goals, or even from completely undirected phenomena (the tragedy of the commons, for instance).

dang 11y ago

> Stop being a melodramatic, spoiled American As I think you know, this isn't allowed on HN, regardless of how wrong someone is. Please don't do it here.

eli_gottlieb 11y ago
Calling people out for dramatizing their First World Problems into the collapse of society isn't allowed?

panzagl 11y ago

Dystopia has a specific meaning- failed states and dictatorships are not necessarily dystopias.

eli_gottlieb 11y ago
Yes, and by no means is present-day California (or even Reagan-day California, which I'd probably hate more myself) a state carefully optimized to inflict maximal misery on its inhabitants. It doesn't help that I live in Boston, which is also not a regime carefully working-out how to maximize the misery of the inhabitants.
- Camillo 11y ago
  That is not even the definition of dystopia.
  - eli_gottlieb 11y ago
    From wikipedia: >A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia,[1] kakotopia, or simply anti-utopia) is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. >Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization,[2] totalitarian governments, environmental disaster,[3] or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. I'm really wondering what definition you're working from.
    - Camillo 11y ago
      Why do you do this? The key part of your previous comment, the one you yourself put in italics, was "carefully optimized to inflict maximal misery". The definition that you are quoting now says absolutely nothing about that. It is clear to everyone that your second post does not support your first in any way. There is absolutely no requirement that the negative aspects of a dystopia be "carefully optimized" for misery, or even that they be deliberate at all. They can just as easily arise from misguided goals, or even from completely undirected phenomena (the tragedy of the commons, for instance).