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Things to argue about over the holidays instead of politics
- StarlaAtNight 4y agoI FUCKING LOVE THIS AUTHOR
- paul7986 4y agoIndeed at our family gatherings we do not speak of politics which to me is all trash and nothing to place anyone I care (family or friend) about over.
- muststopmyths 4y ago26 is going to cause fistfights
- w-m 4y ago> Hey ChatGPT, what is the difference between pie and cake, and why is it worth fighting over? < Pie and cake are two different types of baked desserts that are made with different ingredients and have different textures and flavors. Pie is a baked dish that is typically made with a pastry crust and filled with a variety of sweet or savory ingredients. The crust can be made with a variety of different flours and may be either shortcrust, puff, or flaky, depending on the recipe. Pies are often filled with fruit, such as apples, berries, or peaches, or with savory fillings, such as chicken, beef, or vegetables. Cake, on the other hand, is a sweet, baked dessert that is usually made with flour, sugar, eggs, and butter or oil. Cakes are often frosted or decorated with icing, and can be made in a variety of flavors, such as chocolate, vanilla, or lemon. It is not necessarily worth fighting over the difference between pie and cake, as both desserts can be enjoyable in their own right. The choice between pie and cake may simply come down to personal preference, and it is generally more important to focus on enjoying whichever dessert one prefers.
- nashashmi 4y ago"Why is pie so much better than cake and given that it is why do people continue to eat cake?"
- rwmj 4y agoDo "pie" and "cake" mean something different in the US? Because both are great, I wouldn't say there's even a comparison.
- glogla 4y agoThis is funny to me, since my language has just one word for both cake and pie, and over the years I was unable to really find out the difference, so this is very good example of making up divisive differences.
- kevdev99 4y ago[flagged]
- adaml_623 4y agoSolstice
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoPagan tree ritual worship time
- noworriesnate 4y agoSanta spells satan if you rearrange the letters
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoThe original St Nicholas was some kind of necromancer: > Another famous late legend tells how he resurrected three children, who had been murdered and pickled in brine by a butcher planning to sell them as pork during a famine.
- postsantum 4y agois it racist or no?
- rustoo 4y agoFor those who are alone: Try posting each question from the list to ChatGPT. For those who are meeting family: Use ChatGPT to prepare for your arguments.
- TotoHorner 4y ago> Try posting each question from the list to ChatGPT. I tried it with the poetry question. I had to change the prompt a bit otherwise ChatGPT just gives a typical midwit answer. Q: Why do most people seem to hold poetry and poets in high esteem yet have approximately zero interest in reading any poetry ever? Give me a humorous response ChatGPT Response: Well, perhaps it's because people just love the idea of poetry more than the actual act of reading it. You know, it's kind of like how people love the idea of exercising and eating healthy, but actually doing it is another matter entirely. Or maybe it's because people just love the way that poets look in their berets and turtleneck sweaters, all brooding and deep in thought. Or maybe it's because people just love the way that poetry sounds when it's being read aloud by someone with a really pretentious accent. Who knows? The mysteries of human behavior can be strange and elusive at times.
- rustoo 4y agoThat's a really great idea to make it fun. I will try that. I tried to ask for simplified answers but there were only slight differences!
- pbhjpbhj 4y agoIs that midwit, it seems relatively insightful to make that analogy.
- TotoHorner 4y agoNo, that's the response after I added the "Be humorous" thing. Prior to that, it was giving me midwit responses (I didn't post those in the comment.)
- ta8903 4y agoHow long until I can use ChatGPT to replace myself in social gatherings? It's probably a better conversationalist too.
- TotoHorner 4y ago> Why do most people seem to hold poetry and poets in high esteem yet have approximately zero interest in reading any poetry ever? I've wondered this for years. Like seriously, is there anyone who seriously reads poetry for fun nowadays? I understand if it's the 1800s and there's literally nothing else to do.
- snowpid 4y agoThe German poet Jan Wagner earns money in writing poems. Poems are good if you are in public transport. They are shortly to any story and they give you to think.
- quickthrower2 4y agoHaikus are fun though
- 082349872349872 4y agoBack into my TECO going, with my pounding heart now slowing, Soon again I heard a feeping, somewhat louder than before. "Surely," said I, "surely this is some strange bug of RMS's Which an interrupt professes, though I have no other job; Let me then ask DDT if it thinks there's another job -- 'Tis a bug, and nothing more!" Reclaimer, spare that tree! Take not a single bit! It used to point to me, Now I'm protecting it. It was the reader's CONS That made it, paired by dot; Now, GC, for the nonce, Thou shalt reclaim it not. Quaxity quuxity, Backus's BNF Drives a preprocessor, Generates code. Parsing is specified Metasyntactically; Writing it's easy, but reading, I'm snowed. (if any of these snippets struck your fancy, look up that Fortress dude; there's much more)
- Gare 4y agoThere are currently at least two (or maybe the same with separate accounts) very popular poets on Reddit who make poetic comments to posts.
- nordsieck 4y agohttps://www.reddit.com/user/Poem_for_your_sprog/ https://www.reddit.com/user/Poem_for_your_sprog/ This is the one I'm familiar with, for anyone with a penchant for exploration.
- andrepd 4y agoI don't think my family needs outside help to think up of things to row about x)
- kristianc 4y agoAnother thing to add to the long list of debates ChatGPT will ruin. It even had an opinion on the tortilla matrix.
- Hamuko 4y agoHow can it ruin debates when I don't give a toss about what ChatGPT has to say?
- cactusplant7374 4y agoAnother question I think should be added to the list: Why did spicy foods become so popular when the first sensation they cause is pain?
- egman_ekki 4y agoYou could say the same about cactuses.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bratbag 4y agoI believe spicy foods kill certain types of gut parasites. So at some point in our evolutionary history some weirdo who liked a bit of spice was born, burned the parasites out of their gut, and then with their increased health and no calories being stolen natural selection did the rest.
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoUs humans are just a pawn in the chili plants' game of spreading all over the world. Initially, capsaicin was produced to prevent mammals from eating the fruit (peppers) and instead encourage birds to spread seeds over a wider area (which is why they are brightly coloured to attract birds). Now that humans can travel greater distances than birds, the plants have switched strategies (or at least we've deliberately grown flavourful varieties everywhere we can).
- Galanwe 4y agoThis reminds me of the kind of things one could find on /r/showerthoughts Same vein: why do we do towel laundry since we're using them after the shower once we're clean.
- Eisenstein 4y agoYou are conflating 'clean' with 'sanitary'. You may have washed the dirt and oils off of your skin and hair but your body itself contains, produces, and provides habitats for all manner of organisms, cells, and biological and chemical substances that slough off onto anything around it. Take sterile cotton swab and rub it on your 'clean' post-shower butthole and grow a culture from it and tell me how 'clean' it really is.
- Tade0 4y agoGood list. I'm aching to argue about most of the points here, but that would quickly trigger the HN flamewar algorithm.
- phist_mcgee 4y agoWhat's a Torta and why is it so much better than a Tortilla?
- loloquwowndueo 4y agoThat’s not a discussion, it’s just about definitions, as despite the similar name they are completely different things and even so depending on who you ask (Spain vs Hispanic America ). It’s also the kind of discussion that gets completely neutered by someone whipping out their phone and just looking up the definitions.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- perihelions 4y agoIt's not reasonable to call org-mode "newfangled"; it's existed since 2003.
- P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y agoThat jumped out at me too, but I decided to let it go :)
- aarchi 4y agoZettelkästen certainly aren't new, as the technique was popularized in the 1950s and had been around for much longer.
- h2odragon 4y agoMy emacs "life notes" diaries have existed since 1994... org-mode is newfangled.
- scrollaway 4y ago> How addictive would a game have to be that we’d throw people in jail for making it? Oof, that is a really good one.
- toolslive 4y agoIsn't this a good question to move people to the logical conclusion that you should not put someone in jail because they made something others became addicted to? Some people are addicted to reading (or HN even).
- 1attice 4y agoSo here's the thing. - Politics are really important actually - Those disagreements will still be there Your racist uncle (or, ok fine, your grating progressive auntie) will still hold those views tomorrow. OTOH fighting will probably only make things worse. Suggest instead meaningful, loving, gentle conversations that are permitted to range across many subjects, including politics. This is the time of year when life presents you with opportunities to practice. They are precious :D
- defrost 4y agoI suspect asking if it's fair that Jesus was a nepo baby who only got to where he is because he has a famous dad is the kind of question that could only be cooled down by changing the subject to post Nixon POTUS tax returns.
- bitlax 4y agoNot sure "Jesus is the son of God" is the own you think it is.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- thomasahle 4y agoThat would be a great topic to argue over. I would say Jesus only really became/realized he was/decided he was/whatever the son of God about the time he met John. Before that he was a man from a relatively poor upbringing mostly picking himself up by the bootstraps. Though I suppose we don't know much about his earlier life. Unless you believe the "Jesus as a kid" stories, but they definitely feel sketchy compared to the main gospels.
- 082349872349872 4y agoLast Temptation is a whole movie pretty close to this topic. Does meeting John occur before or after he rides the donkey into Jerusalem? (I used to think riding a donkey was a sign of humility, but I've recently learned that in biblical times, on state occasions, —kind of like how commoners drive Bugattis but the King rides in a carriage— commoners and lesser lords rode horses but kings rode donkeys, that having been a more archaic mode of transport. cf Absalom)
- baud147258 4y ago> I would say Jesus only really became/realized he was/decided he was/whatever the son of God about the time he met John. I think the part in the book of Luke at chapter 2, where Jesus, as a child, stay in the temple after Passover to discuss with the priests and how he answers his parents: "is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Chap 2, verse 49 of the KJV) seems to indicate that he was already aware of that, even if he then waited his 30s and meeting with John to start his work.
- deadniggerjoe 4y ago[dead]
- nuker 4y agoIs bathtub sink water rotates in certain direction in each hemisphere?
- teraflop 4y ago14 evokes a couple of great Greg Egan short stories: "Reasons to Be Cheerful" and "Unstable Orbits in the Space of Lies".
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- pseudolus 4y agoSometimes it's best to go with the classics: big-endian versus little-endian.
- mindcrime 4y agoASCII or EBCDIC?
- 082349872349872 4y agosupposedly overheard: two IBM mainframe weenies at lunch, discussing their recent support for Unix guests. "I don't know which editor I should try first: ehm-ucks or six"
- ketzu 4y agoThe important part is that it is silently converted at various boundaries so you can never know for sure.
- pbhjpbhj 4y agoThey're the same, just turn the circuit over.
- inopinatus 4y agoAlas, when introduced by Swift in Gulliver’s Travels this was itself a metaphor for arguments about religion being a front for politics.
- euroderf 4y agoVHS or Betamax ?
- qwertox 4y ago10: Placeholder for the word "Label"?
- eukaryote 4y ago1) Should Europe really be considered a continent, as it's just part of Eurasia? 2) Should (English-speaking) residents of England be considered the only native English speakers? 3) Before compulsory education, was the general population really stupid? 4) Has compulsory education made the world a better place?
- civopsec 4y ago[flagged]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- 082349872349872 4y ago5) Should EU countries use the Éire green-white-orange flag as an icon for "english" language selection? (eg in websites, ATMs, gas pumps)
- dazc 4y agoEnglish isn't the indigenous language of Ireland so, probably, not a good idea.
- pbhjpbhj 4y agoWhat we call English was imported piecemeal into England, so it sounds like it's not the indigenous language of anywhere by your measure? It's native to Ireland, surely; in which case it seems fine.
- angrais 4y agoI'm not sure Ireland would want to directly associate themselves with English (=England | UK) in that way. Clearly this is a very political question and so we can discard it from Christmas discussion :) >> It's native to Ireland, surely; in which case it seems fine. English is also "native" to many people in all countries around the world. In Ireland, many families speak Irish at home, not English.
- ihatepython 4y ago31. Why are C programmers far superior to Rust programmers? And why are Rust programmers slightly better than C++ programmers?
- notinfuriated 4y ago32. Have you stopped beating your wife?
- glogla 4y ago> If you accept that agriculture made life worse but hunter-gatherers had to adopt it or be vanquished, then are we going through any similar changes now? Capitalism? Fossil fuels?
- cj 4y agoThe reason politics is so easy to argue about is because most people have strong feelings about which “side” is better, with the media feeding us all talking points to back up each person’s perspective, with very little critical thinking. Questions like… > Do we focus too much on classic books/music/movies/plays/art/ideas, or too little? require critical thinking, in the moment, to form an opinion (as do most other examples on the list). More “suitable” topics to argue about would be ones that don’t require very much critical thinking (sadly), and topics where everyone is likely to already know what “side” they’re on. So, instead let’s argue about what to argue about before we start arguing.
- 082349872349872 4y agoIs it possible to discuss self-reference without mentioning either Ἐπιμενίδης or Gödel? What about Quine?
- sebzim4500 4y ago>Questions like… >> Do we focus too much on classic books/music/movies/plays/art/ideas, or too little? >require critical thinking, in the moment, to form an opinion (as do most other examples on the list). Do they? Maybe it's my superpower but I can form opinions on these things without any thought at all. Whether the opinion is defensible is a different question.
- defterGoose 4y agoYou've just described the base class of all opinions. Fickle and uninformed.
- tetromino_ 4y agoI get as far as the second word and get stuck: who the hell is "we"? The people in the room? My family? My social circle? My current and former colleagues? The people in my neighborhood or my kid's school district? The members of my economic class? People who speak the same language(s) as me? People who have the same citizenship(s) as me? People whose views get portrayed in this country's mainstream media? And for whichever definition of "we", how well - or at all! - do I know what they focus on? And how can I judge what for those people would be too much or too little? It's a question to which one cannot even begin to formulate an answer without quite a bit of thinking.
- P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y agoI'll add one to the list just because it's been on my mind the last few weeks. There's a correlation between IQ and general health, and most of your "processing" is subconscious. Could this correlation be due to high IQ brains being better at strategizing and organizing the autonomic systems in the body?
- dijit 4y agoSo many competing things, could also be related to stress levels. Stress has a profound impact on the growing body. Also: IQ as a measure of cognitive development only makes sense in children.
- P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago> So many competing things certainly, I just wonder about IQ. Of course IQ is itself an inexact proxy for things such as processing speed but the correlation does exist so something is going on there. Whether it's causation or not, who can tell. I just think the idea is interesting. People often think of the body's ability to maintain itself as sort of set in stone based upon DNA, and of course there's truth to that. But we also know the body can learn, that's literally what vaccines do. So the question becomes, if the unconscious mind can strategize it implies better or worse outcomes based upon "decisions" and learning. Peanut Allergies are less likely to exist in populations that are around peanuts than those without. We know this, but I'm not sure I've seen anyone explain the mechanism that causes this to be true. I'm also not a biologist so it's probably completely ignorant, but that doesn't stop it from being fun to think about.
- raydiatian 4y ago> Do we focus too much on classic books/music/movies/plays/art/ideas, or too little? Alright so maybe we’re going to draw straws to see who has to defend the affirmative, and they can open presents first or whatever
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- roenxi 4y agoIt says a lot about how confused political discourse gets that the author considers these things "not politics". Politics is all about value judgements and arguing about where we are going. If things like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... don't immediately become intensely political then somebody is being very ineffective at politics. There seems to be a weird assumption here that politics is fundamentally in bad faith and people aren't acting from value judgements and reason.
- bachmeier 4y ago[flagged]
- dinkumthinkum 4y agoI don’t know, virtually every one of the items on that list would quickly devolve into explicit political discussions.
- bachmeier 4y agoThat could be a good start for a discussion of the article. Unfortunately the comment I replied to has to do with the correct usage of the word "political".
- Eisenstein 4y agoWhat would you consider to be an example of a non-political question that would result in a meaningful and lively discussion that is not specific to a certain subject (for instance: not sports, academia, media)?
- roenxi 4y agoYou can't discuss anything important and uncertain without running in to politics. Politics is the society-level discourse on "what is important? what are we certain about?". People get stuck thinking that politics mean Republicans v. Democrats. The Republicans don't represent the interesting parts of right wing thought (they can't even put in a serious attempt to balance the budget!). Ditto Democrats and the left (insert favourite example from the long list). Most of what they argue about is distracting trivia or flat-out intellectually dishonest lies. Avoiding that at Christmas is a good idea, but ideally avoid that in all in-person discussions of politics.
- drumhead 4y agoThe most obvious christmas related topic is of course "Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?"
- 082349872349872 4y agoWhat is the best local jewish restaurant [for christmas dinner]?
- DonHopkins 4y agoIf you're in Cambridge Mass or Boston, get take-out from Mary Chung's, because they're closing on December 31! ;(
- loloquwowndueo 4y agoBut since the answer is an unequivocal “yes” that topic gets exhausted pretty quickly.
- fonkyyack 4y agoIt's not a Christmas movie, it's the best Christmas movie!
- koolba 4y agoA better question would be: If you're going to watch exactly five Die Hard movies, would the fifth be Die Hard 5, "A Good Day To Die Hard", or the Die Hard battery commercial[1]? [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc28osQsUT0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc28osQsUT0
- bitlax 4y agoIs "Eyes Wide Shut" a Christmas movie?
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoI'd go for the less obvious question "Is Brazil the best Christmas film?".
- lr4444lr 4y agoPolitics sounds to me less fraught to argue about than any of these.
- DonHopkins 4y ago[flagged]
- Zpalmtree 4y ago[flagged]
- dinkumthinkum 4y agoI think this is exactly what not to do. In fact, I think ironically you are displaying why the person you dislike so much was created.
- bitlax 4y ago[flagged]
- swader999 4y agoSpaces or Tabs?
- duckmysick 4y agoSpaces autoconverting to tabs is a combination of both worlds.
- jwilk 4y agoDoesn't sound like a safe topic to discuss: https://twitter.com/__apf__/status/827964865012649984 https://twitter.com/__apf__/status/827964865012649984
- umutcankus 4y ago"How many holes exist in a straw?" Any time I asked this question it produces some joyful brainstorming. It doesn't matter if it is a room full of highly technical people(engineers, mathematicians) or a family dinner. I've already heard most of the arguments from the topological definition of a hole to difference between a hole, a cavity and a hallow but it is still very fun for me to watch people getting excited over such a boring looking question. (:
- nvilcins 4y agoThis is awesome! Does anyone have a collection of similar kinds of fun questions?
- becquerel 4y agoGetting confused over holes has been a fun past time in academic philosophy for the past few decades, so trawling through the SEP for interesting topics can't hurt.
- umutcankus 4y agoThanks! Referring to "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" I suppose? (:
- pbhjpbhj 4y agoWhat's a hallow (as full a definition as you can provide without recourse to external references, please)? And, where are you from; what's your native tongue? Thanks.
- umutcankus 4y agoHonestly, I cannot give you a satisfying answer because I have no idea. I don't even know if there is a difference thinking in English. I've transleted it from Turkish which is my native language. If the purpose of the question is to get some insight, I can give my intuition about it but that will be the opposite of "a full definition" (: When I see the word hallow ("oyuk" in Turkish) I think there is a opening in the structure otherwise has a solid body. For example, a tree can have a hallow(hollow?)like this: https://www.elitetreecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/tree-hollow.jpg https://www.elitetreecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/tre... But it seems there is no strict boundary between the words, so if you say it is a hole I won't oppose that.
- jstx1 4y ago> Say that if everyone voluntarily waited a bit longer to reproduce then after a hundred generations human life expectancy would increase by 25 years. Would we be morally obligated to do that? I don't get this. Why is it true?
- Metacelsus 4y agoIt likely isn't true, but it's a thought experiment.
- jstx1 4y agoOh right, the hypothetical aspect went over my head.
- lentil_soup 4y agoI think the general idea is people carrying genes that would kill them early on in their life wouldn't get a chance to pass those genes, effectively eradicating them. So it follows that the average lifespan would increase. Richard Dawkins talks briefly about this in his Selfish Gene book
- JoachimS 4y agoVi or Emacs Yellow or Blue dress Windows or Linux Perl or Python Fotball is played with hands or feet Vörtbröd with or without raisins
- kshahkshah 4y agoFunny I have the complete opposite viewpoint. Because we have trained people to not discuss politics when the discussions inevitably arise they are much more contentious and less civil.
- thinkingemote 4y agoThat's a great and constructive topic. "How to discuss things civilly" "why are certain topics contentious" Make the discussion meta is a good way to get perspective
- dogleash 4y ago100%. One of my relatives was on some wild shit last night, I had to struggle to give a shit though. It’s a life skill to not get pressed over conversations even if the subject matter is important. The funny thing is we all learn it for our professional lives but tend to turn around and forget it when for different topics.
- snshn 4y agoMost of those will make the conversation slide into politics. Just because dividing and making people fight has become a big business.
- scarface74 4y agoI don’t generally like talking about “politics” even with people who agree with my positions. I love talking about “political science” in the vein of “Five Thirty Eight”. I did something that would usually be taboo recently. I talked about “politics” in a business setting with a customer at dinner. Neither one of us talked about our personal belief system. We talked about the politicians we admired as far as their ability to get things done and navigate the system. We talked about our admiration for politicians on every part of the spectrum from the disciplined campaign that Republican Brian Kemp ran while being constantly attacked by Trump, how Pelosi was better able to keep her side disciplined when in power, etc.
- gonzo41 4y agoNumber 19 is a good one. Perfect business, own something that's in everything that's too small be thought of as a monopoly, but is actually just that.
- hannofcart 4y agoI think the article implicitly assumes an American context. Political arguments in other countries are not as contentious. American politics, as seen by someone who's never visited America but is hooked to the spectacle is fundamentally a difference in opinion about the reality we inhabit. In other countries, political arguments are not as contentious because we can broadly agree on the state of reality. I might think my local MP is corrupt and is better replaced by another while my uncle who lives nearby might think he might be a bit corrupt but more "effective" at "getting things done" than the other guy. Therefore, political arguments of this sort might render the dinner table conversation lively but never descend into acrimony. It's an entirely different thing if the starting point is that one of us thinks that the party the other one supports is filled with satanic vampires that murder children and drink their blood. To an outsider American politics is like a slow moving train wreck. It's horrifying but you just can't look away.
- rayiner 4y agoOutside fringe elements, Americans don’t disagree about reality so much as they have extreme differences in values that cause them to see facts very differently. Follow Breitbart or Mother Jones for a while. A news report might be about someone released without bail and murdering someone, or someone dying because they couldn’t get insulin medication. Both things actually happened: the article contains a police report, or photos, or whatever. Some people are going to get outraged by one or the other thing, but for the other thing will be like “well let’s put that in context, how often does that happen?” American style polarization is common in most countries, from Latin America to Asia. As a Bangladeshi, where a country that’s 95% ethnically, linguistically, and religiously homogenous but still manages to have violent disagreements about politics, American polarization seems tame to me by comparison.
- amalcon 4y agoThe "members of the other party are literally evil and uniformly commit (non-political) crimes against humanity" thing is somewhat overstated. There are a disturbing number of people who think that, but it's far enough from the norm that it's not hard to find a family gathering with nobody who thinks that. Not that our politics aren't super weird and unusually contentious. They are, often even relative to the same people twenty years ago. It's just that the particular archetype you're citing here is still pretty unusual in the scheme of things.
- kybernetyk 4y agoTabs vs Spaces Emacs vs Vim ;)
- seper8 4y agoUS politics is a good example of why you need more than two parties... Avoids the childish red vs blue mentality
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoIt also depends on what kind of political system you have. Here in the UK, the first past the post system makes it difficult to vote for other parties than the big two (Labour and Conservatives) as it'll likely be a wasted vote or split the vote for your political leaning. e.g. If you desperately want the Tories out of power, but do not like the increasingly rightwards stance of Labour, then most places you'll still have to vote for Labour or risk letting a Tory win again.
- gundamdoubleO 4y agoI prefer not arguing about anything over the holidays but maybe that's just me.
- tlogan 4y agoHmm.. all these things will end up with politics. The politics is about values and beliefs: not something independent of life. The easiest way to prevent “politics fight” is to try to understand and know others person background. If you want avoid big arguments then just talk about weather (and even that can get crazy). Maybe sports?
- orwin 4y agoThe way to avoid harsh political discussions is to talk about systems. it will be easier to have a nuanced, still political, discussion. When someone engage the discussion on Twitter, and that start in a 'this group is X, this group is Y', start talking about what is Twitter, what it should be, how it would work, advertising, multinational reach and soft power implications. Do the same thing for Biden, Trump or the election. Talk generic instead of specifics, systems rather than persons. Power structure rather than personal power.
- favflam 4y agoI these holidays will be the most chill in maybe a decade. That 1.7 trillion USD omnibus package was passed. Mitch McConnell seemed pretty happy, along with the Democrat caucus. Things are starting to look normal again. Georgia voted for Brian Kemp and Warnock in the same election. Another data point pointing towards the newfound chillness.
- jliptzin 4y agoPie is not better than cake