@mietze said in Let's talk about TS.:
Another hard note for me is someone who is constantly complaining about their other RP partners. Especially if its accompanied by "you are the nicest and the only one who understands." Yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.
I don't understand this.
If you're willing to bitch and gossip to me about other people, how am I supposed to trust that you aren't going to run off and do exactly the same about me?
@ZombieGenesis said in Game of Thrones:
IMO...
***=NSFW content***
click to show
No strong opinion on your/Sparks' interpretations; it's anyone's best guess and I think they're all valid and interesting. But ...
***=Spoiler***
Addendum, self-reflection:
I have also been on the other side of this coin. I was in an IC leadership position on a very large, populous game (Starmourn, by Iron Realms Entertainment, makers of Achaea) and stepped in against a creep after 10 female players all spoke up in unison about what a POS he was.
The guy was someone I had on Discord, who advertised himself as a woke feminist type, and my character and his character were buddies. I spoke often, ICly and OOCly, in praise of him. I'm ashamed to admit that when the first lady came out of the woodwork to complain about him, my initial gut reaction was disbelief. 'What, that guy? Are you sure? But he's so nice!' And it took her going into some much more grisly detail for me to react with a firmer, 'holy shit', along with other people backing her up on their own experiences with him.
This wasn't exactly a staff position but when you consider the game has 500+ players, and my org had 100+ active, my position as leader of this org was pretty influential, so my friendship with him, looking back, was something that could have been very intimidating to other players if I hadn't made it a point to speak with his other female 'friends' one-on-one afterwards and ask if they'd ever encountered unpleasant behaviour from him (to which the answer was in almost every case an overwhelming 'yes').
A small thing I think staff, and by extension, other players who enjoy some influential status in the games they play can do is don't play favourites. You can have people you like more than others. That's fine. It's natural, it's human. Just don't advertise it. If there's a player on your game who's constantly letting everyone know that they're in good with staff (as the dude I was complaining about in a prior post had a habit of doing — the dude I for this reason never complained about), brush them off, and don't encourage them. Maybe even have a chat with them, if they're really your friend, and let them know the behaviour makes you feel kind of used. As staff on other games I have had to do this in the past, and I'm always wary of making other staffers uncomfortable by doing anything that could be seen as exploiting their position, or our friendship. As a rule, I don't ask for little 'favours' of staff friends, or even ever acknowledge their position as staff on this game when we're talking outside of it on Discord/Skype/Facebook/whatever. When we're on the game, and they're acting as staff, I address them only as staff, through proper channels like +request, and don't make references to us being friends. Separation is best for everyone and makes needing to tell your buddies 'no' a lot less awkward.
Conversely, reach down and out to the lil' people in your game who aren't really that well connected and help make sure they feel comfortable and like they're every bit a part of the gang as everyone else.
I know I, looking back on my stint on Starmourn, greatly regret all the little public head-pats I gave to the game's biggest creeper, and often feel guilty, wondering if I may have made him feel like he was safer behaving the way he did, because he had backing from myself and other leader players. Or worse, if his victims would observe our public schmoozing and as a result feel afraid to come forward, suspecting his influential friendships would mean their complaints would be ignored.
One alternative I would suggest, if you don't want to go to HR, @Pandora, but are on good terms with him outside of work — privately confront him about his behaviour?
Another thing to bear in mind is that facts don't actually win arguments. A phrase I learned in outreach training is people will forget the things you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
I assume you have already soundly bested him on every front when it comes to bogus statistics etc. And I'm sure you could link him a bunch of studies that disprove him. But a better question to ask isn't why he's misinformed, honestly, it's who hurt him and how. I'm willing to bet he has some deep-seated issues with women that inform his beliefs, rather than the other way around.
So if you want to have any hope of changing his mind (rather than just his behaviour, in which case HR is your best bet), I'd say forget the facts and figures and try and connect with him on an emotional level to understand where his agenda comes from.
That said considering he's 30 years old, there's a slim chance of that to begin with and I'd be more likely to just cut my losses and walk away, because I agree with @Coin that it doesn't really matter how fun he is at videogames.
I don't take a middle-ground when it comes to people who hold sexist beliefs (with the minor caveat that that there is a difference between ignorance and wilful ignorance). You either think women are people or you don't. It's that simple.
I don't want to be friends with anyone who doesn't think of, or treat me, as people.
My character loses a confrontation spectacularly.
But the winner is such an awesome player I'm legit excited to see what happens next.
Update:
The crazy fucking bitch BROKE MY GARDEN DOOR. From the outside. With PHYSICAL FORCE.
I’m getting a lawyer involved.
Also booking a contractor pronto to wall off the entire garden before she gets any ideas about that fence.
I think a lot of people on this thread defending the game on the grounds of "kids can't play here" are missing the point.
Adults can play there. Adults who, thanks to this game, have a safe space to explore their child-rape fantasies and build up further justifications in their head for why child-rape is actually normal and OK. Justifications like "they're an old soul", "this child is actually really mature for their age, more mature and wise beyond their years than many adults I know", through the metaphor of "it's an 18 year old in an 8 year old's body". Or "this isn't abuse because I was abused and I know what actual abuse looks like" — said by literally every abuser ever, ugh.
I was a kid too once, I had a fancy education, was ahead of my class, and physically developed, both in terms of height and sexual attributes, much faster than most of my peers.
I was still a kid in terms of emotional maturity as much as I never would have let any boring old grown-up tell me so at the time. Something that took adulthood for me to look back on and grapple with as I evaluate all the ways in which I, thinking myself so smart and savvy and mature and capable for my age, allowed myself to be taken advantage of by people who validated all of these incorrect notions of my younger self.
This game is super fucked up. Sorry not sorry. And even if you don't agree or don't see what the big fuss is about letting people play "sexually mature" children to live out their darkest fantasies through on this game, I still just have to wonder why this is the hill you choose to die on. Why can't you just listen to the criticisms and think, 'OK, that's a fair point. Maybe I don't fully understand it but as an adult attracted to adult bodies anyway, it's not a big deal for me to just make/play a game that focuses on that to be on that to be on the safe side.' Unless there's a specific reason you're fighting so hard to defend your "right" to indulge in child-rape fantasies?
And to everyone on this thread acting like paedophilia is something we can all agree on and that we should just assume no one here actually thinks paedophilia is OK: wow, you are sheltered.
Just because people don't go around waving "proud paedophile" flags doesn't mean we don't live in a culture that normalises the sexualisation of children and tacitly accepts it, or that we as a society do remotely enough as is currently to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. This stuff is happening around you, every single one of you reading this. You know paedophiles in real life. You know children who are currently being sexually abused. You know adults who were abused as children. Just because you don't see it, aren't aware of it, don't know you know such people doesn't mean it isn't happening, doesn't mean a lot of the people discreetly trying to normalise the mental/behaviour patterns aren't harbouring ulterior, pro-paedophile motives in doing so.
Kinks don't exist in a vacuum. I know, because I have some that I'm not proud of. (Thank fuck not that one.) I used to be proud of it, I used to think it was normal, I used to actively indulge it on text-games and IRL. Thankfully I'm now seeing a solid therapist who's prompted me to think critically about why I think these things are sexy, what was the first time I came into contact with it, what's the reason I think these things are OK and normal and what kinds of relationships/behaviour does that foster between me and others. It's not a fun thing to face up to. It's not easy to work on. But everyone should think critically about these things for not only their sake but for the sake of others.
In the case of people who are into "ageplay" and child-rape fantasies, for the sake of kids you interact with — work on yourselves. Don't indulge it, don't just fall into the trap of thinking this is fine and safe and normal. You're protecting your maladaptive coping mechanisms at the expense of your actual safety, and the safety of those around you.
Games like this also do not exist in a vacuum. Pop culture does not exist in a vacuum. Nothing that normalises questionable tastes/behaviour, be it the abuse of adults or children, should be left unquestioned.
So I question this game and the people who see nothing wrong with indulging in child-rape fantasies, I really do. I worry about the children that they have access to. Much as I question media that fetishises the abuse of women, or normalises bigoted stereotypes, and the kinds of people who produce or exalt it.
Peace. 
@JinShei said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
@Kestrel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
@Groth said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
@Kestrel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
I'm not sure this counts as Health & Wealth & GrownUp Stuff but in other news the upcoming election is seriously affecting my mental health. I'm looking forward to it all being over, one way or another.Seconded. Between this and Brexit, I can't open my twitter feed without an anxiety burst.
I think it would be easier if I could just resign myself to worst case scenario, but that flicker of hope/uncertainty keeps me glued to the news. It's like being strung along by a bad relationship.
Otherwise to be honest at this point I would just rather not read it.
@Pandora said in Do you care about other people's music?:
Please never ask me to listen to anything though, I can't get those 2-5 minutes back so the answer will always be no, and I will resent you for making me crush your fleeting hope.
Horribly sick with the flu, I binged the entirety of You in a single sitting with the help of a lot of tea and tissues.
Creepiest and most addictive show I've seen in a while.
I generally tend to lose emote fights if they aren't based on mechanical decision-making, because I'm usually the person who cares less about the outcome.
I really, really enjoy a good emote fight. It's honestly one of my favourite things to RP. I have a lot of martial arts experience IRL, so I also think I tend to be pretty good at it in terms of portraying realism. (I will freely admit I also tend to give other people the side-eye, secretly, when I feel their fights lack this.)
A good emote fight should be dynamic, gritty, and convey a sense of the characters involved.
[ Disclaimer: this is my personal preference and I am not trying to wrongfun. ] I do not enjoy superhero movies at all and when it comes to RP, I find superhero-style fights to be an absolute snorefest too. I don't want to read/participate in an emote involving big dramatic fireballs and sonic rays or whatever behind hurled across a city by perfect people with perfect bodies. I want to write fights that are up close and personal, involving characters who are getting sweaty, tired, frustrated, and with every second that passes by there is an increasing risk that they're going to slip up, lose their concentration and momentum, and fail to block or connect. I want to see characters resorting to dirty tactics like pulling the other person's hair, going for the groin or throwing sand in their eyes. I want to see them getting bruised and ugly. And I want a heavy focus to be on how that makes them feel, their facial expressions: is there fear in their eyes? Are they ashamed of their performance? Are they getting mad? Do they hate the other person? Or is it a playful sexy fight and is hair falling in front of their eyes?
Who actually wins the fight matters less to me than all of that. If I'm RPing with a friend I usually defer to them and ask if they want to do this with dice/code etc. or if they'd rather freestyle it. I find most people tend to want to rely on code (possibly because they're more likely to be guaranteed a win vs. me this way as I don't often make strong combat characters), but I'm usually always secretly hoping they choose freestyle. I don't want the outcome determined ahead, I want it determined over the course of the fight based on whatever feels right in the moment. Realistically, the winner should usually whoever's character is portrayed as having more experience. If I'm playing an international spy trained in krav maga and you're playing a socialite, I expect you to use common sense and respect my portrayal of their fighting know-how, and not try to get away with just getting lucky.
However, as I find most people really like winning and will write in a way more focused on making their character look good, it usually just naturally occurs that I've spent more time writing about how my character is getting tired, sweaty and nervous, and so by default the fights don't read in my character's favour, comparatively.
I do enjoy other people's approval, so my personal "win" is being appreciated, having my writing style praised, and being thanked or talked-up for a good scene. So I'm not trying to say I don't have an ego on the line here, I just derive it through other means.
Overly detailed combat systems that tell you which body part you've hit and rely on a specific weapon tend to fall short for my tastes because they can very quickly get very stale.
I enjoy a bar fight where we're moving from one room to the other, one moment using a stool for a shield, a fist for a weapon, and the next leaping onto the counter for a kick or trying to strike with a bottle over the head. These kinds of organic, dynamic, improvisational fighting styles aren't really possible if you're having to rely on your best weapon stat etc. There isn't room for intermission, playful banter etc., because doing so means you're wasting your turn.
This is one of my all-time favourite fight scenes from one of my all-time favourite movies, Atomic Blonde. Which probably gives a good idea of what I like to see. I love the little details, for example where both opponents keep trying to stand because it's a life-or-death situation, but they're so dizzy from blood loss and blunt trauma they keep falling over. They murder each other through what amounts to a drunken haze.
But for a more light-hearted, playful fight, there's also this entertaining scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. It has everything I mentioned liking about the characters making good use of their environment, adapting to changing circumstances, moving around rather than just standing there hitting each other, etc.
@Rinel said in What do you eat?:
The privilege of the vegan position is that it generally consists of white people of a very specific subsect of society seeking to divorce lower class groups from culturally meaningful foods while ignoring issues like food deserts.
Food deserts are a valid point but associating veganism with white people isn't.
Buddhists, hindus, jains and rastafarians have for generations embraced veganism & vegetarianism as part of their culture either as an ethical standpoint or by necessity. In most parts of the world, and throughout most of history, meat was and still is a luxury; in terms of pure logistics it always has been and still is much more expensive to manufacture than vegetarian cuisine, and the only reason it's cheaper to buy in the West is because OECD countries subsidies animal agriculture to the tune of over $52bn a year. (That's how much it was in 2012; I couldn't find more recent stats.) That comes out of your taxes, by the way, and contributes to food & economic inequality in the countries bearing the brunt of manufacture for us, such as Brazil, where indigenous communities are being displaced in order to clear room for cattle ranches.
This is a cookbook I own; I bought it in New Orleans where I also ate at an extremely cheap, local-favourite vegan diner called Sweet Soulfood in the Tremé neighbourhood. I recommend using the "look inside" feature to see what the author has to say about embracing veganism as a reclamation of his African heritage from the malnutritious effects white colonialism has had on his communities, and the disproportionate impact Western cuisine has on black people in America, who have higher incidences of chronic disease such as diabetes and various heart conditions.
Another book worth reading is The China Study, which documents how the westernisation of traditional Chinese cuisine has led to higher rates of cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases which were previously unheard of in rural communities until American exports and advertising started gaining traction.
Here's another first person account of a black woman who pursued vegan cuisine in order to benefit her local community: https://youtu.be/X3B905qQ-mE
I've been vegan for seven years. I'm grateful for the recent changes in accessibility with companies like Beyond and Impossible, but before vegan cheese and imitation meat burgers became a thing, most of the vegan options and recipes I used to educate and feed myself came from Chinese, Indonesian, Ethiopian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Mexican, Caribbean chefs, communities, restaurants and influencers. Tofu has been a cheap convenience in the East long before white people discovered it; rice & beans were a Latin/South/Native American staple similarly; and India has the largest vegetarian population in the world. I'm lucky enough to live nextdoor to a korean supermarket where I buy all my rice, beans, tofu, enoki mushrooms and bok choy in bulk.
Calling this a white thing is whitewashing.
And that's just on the cultural front; there is much, much more to dissect on a geopolitical level, when you consider that the devastating effects of climate change — driven in no small part by animal agriculture — will impact most severely the poorest and most underprivileged populations of the world, especially those living near the equator or in forests being burned for cattle — or that the UN has long since estimated that veganism alone has the potential to end world hunger. (Source #2: As have other scientific publications.) Meat is a wildly inefficient means of feeding our growing global population.
@Arkandel said in Spars and fights:
Let me ask a different question for the thread.
Is 'knowing how to fight iRL' - having some kind of background in martial arts, or even just watching MMA stuff on TV - an advantage to roleplaying such scenes?
Yes, absolutely.
I mean I'm biased because I already pretty much said this in my previous post, but to elaborate, and emphatically echo my sentiment:
Yes, absolutely.
A few of my favourite people to RP fight scenes with tend to also be people who either have a background in martial arts, or grew up rough and have at the very least been in fights at some point in their lives. I also find they tend to be the people most consistently praised by others for it.
It's painfully obvious to me when I'm reading poses from a combat character whose player has probably never actually been hit in their life. I find they're far more likely to RP ignoring pain, and their combat writing tends to come across as very robotic. Ironically, they tend to focus a lot more on technique — x slashes y with a sword. x steps forward. x punches y. They don't consider things like 'how long can I keep going before I get exhausted', 'how much did that actually hurt', 'what does it feel like to be in this much pain and how is it going to affect my ability to hit back'.
If I'm playing a character who should realistically know how to fight, I certainly do tend to make use of real-life knowledge, but that — the techniques — are not the main thing. I find a marked difference in the emotive aspect of how people who have at the very least been in real fights know how to write fights.
For me, it's a much more immersive experience. Most people tend to focus on the attacks and the action. I'm more interested in how the action makes your character feel.
I've been binging Mr Robot.
@eye8urcake I see and now finally understand your signature.
I'm kind of shocked they actually allowed this show on network television at all given it's so shamelessly anti-capitalist.
The last time I told someone on a MUSH that they were making me uncomfortable and that I wanted space, they took offence to it, started passive-aggressively complaining about me on the MSB gripes thread, and persistently continued sending me pages indicating that we needed to talk about it sooner or later, despite me repeatedly (exhaustingly) trying to outline for them the fact that I have a mental health condition they were exacerbating and that I simply didn't want to continue.
I didn't actually say anything about how much I hated this to anyone but them (and my bestie, @dev, who was driven away by the same fuckstick) until maybe a year later, at which point that game's staffer reached out to me to mention they had an inkling about who I was referring to (as like here, I didn't mention them by name) and reassured me they would've done something had I come forward. Which is very comforting to know; I don't blame that staff-member at all for what happened here.
At the time though, me & @dev were just these two randos who'd wandered into what seemed like a really tight-knit community, and on +pub all we ever saw was that fuckstick brown-nosing staff, going on about how they'd known them for years and would follow them to the grave and beyond; there was this player we really liked, who was in an RL relationship with the fuckstick; I started avoiding her even though she seemed really cool because I imagined he might be bitching to her about me and I didn't want to go there.
Anything that could've simplified this would've been great. In fact I'd take it a step further and suggest that it could be beneficial for OOC communication channels, not just scenes. If a pages convo gets flagged red it needs to stop. If issues persist and staff can see there've been a lot of red/yellow flags etc., they know there's something worth investigating here.
It could even be useful on public channels, like say someone makes a seemingly innocent antisemitic/sex joke about me, I might throw out a "yellow" to let people know that hey, while I totally get you're just joshing around and being cute, I'm actually not cool with this and would like it to stop.
Can't count the number of times I could've used that on Discord and the like where I had to grit my teeth and let someone know in a public server that unless I know them IRL and they buy me beer and we're in private and maybe actually dating, oral sex jokes directed at me are not acceptable banter.
@Ganymede that's totally fair, I'm just drawing conjecture here in trying to understand where people are coming from. MSB is such a progressive community compared to a lot of others I know, so I'm just scratching my head a bit as to why this idea is rubbing so many people the wrong way. I wouldn't expect it here.
Also just to break the ice here this is for you.
Most of my faves are already listed, but I'll just give them another boost.
BreadTube: (Left wing politics & philosophy)
ContraPoints: Sassy trans philosopher standing up to alt-right myths, icons and movements, from TERFs to InCels to Jordan Peterson, and does so with arthouse movie-level avant-garde production. She actually transitioned on YouTube and talks about her experience doing so. I consider her "decrypting the alt-right" video to be a must watch in this day in age for anyone who feels the slightest bit of concern about the resurgence of fascism.
Philosophy Tube: Breaks down complex philosophical concepts and myths surrounding maligned political movements such as Anarchism & Antifa; also talks about mental health in a way that's very relatable and cathartic.
T1J: Tends to explain things in a way that ought to be more digestible for any cishet/centrist dudes in your life, to the point where he's sometimes mistaken for a moderate. (Though he's not.) I think his videos have the potential to be a beneficial self-help/self-improvement resource for such men. He also talks about race issues from the perspective of a black man in America.
Innuendo Studios: Creator of The Alt-Right Playbook and Why Are You So Angry? Essential and well-researched viewing for those wishing to understand the psychology of the alt-right and how to fight fire with fire, by identifying and deconstructing their political tactics. Why Are You So Angry deals with the pushback and backlash against progressive & intersectional movements, for example the kneejerk reaction too many people feel to the mere mention of the word "feminist".
Pop Culture Detective: Explores the proliferation of issues such as rape culture and toxic masculinity through the lens of pop culture normalisation and dissemination. For example, ever noticed how rape is played for laughs when men are the victims? Or how being a self-sabotaging stoic badass by bottling up all of your feelings except anger is portrayed as a good thing? This guy has.
Female Comedy: (Channels for women, by women, about the hilarity of being a woman.)
Junt Land: Satirises dating culture and how men view women they're trying to F; also talks about about celebrating emotional intelligence and combating mental health stigma. Take her fuckboy self-defence class.
tadelesmith: Satirises dating culture, everyday sexism and male gaze/entitlement through hilarious make-up tutorials, women's magazine parodies and various tongue-in-cheek how-to-be-the-kind-of-woman-men-want stuff.
Anna Akana: Mental health, self-help, self-improvement, confidence-boosting, and commentary on dating culture. She's been through a lot of shit and came out swinging; she talks from the heart but with sass in spades. I admire her.
Other Comedy: (Not necessarily political, just good funnies)
Internet Comment Etiquette: A troll takes you on his personal adventure to shitpost his way through the entire internet. Witty, laugh-out-loud funny.
Brian Jordan Alvarez: Gay comedy about the gay agenda. A+
Tom Ska: British sketch comedy.
Jack & Dean: Also British sketch comedy.
Casually Explained: Comedy about being socially awkward.
Tales of Mere Existence: Even darker comedy about being socially awkward.
Education:
Ze Frank: Torn between whether to put him here or in the comedy section above. His true-facts about animals is hilarious and mind-blowing stuff. I recommend starting with the duck.
Kati Morton: Mental health & self-help from a YouTube therapist. She has helped me every bit as much as my actual therapist has. I know someone who was able to realise she was trapped in an abusive marriage thanks to watching one of her videos. (And subsequently got a divorce.) Heavy stuff.
Our Changing Climate: Understanding climate change, what you can do about it, and how useful the things you're already doing really are — by the numbers.
PBS Idea Channel: Philosophy for idiots and nerds.
Jubilee: A channel about humans and their human perspectives. Not always easy to watch; they deal with some heavy stuff. But almost always worth it.
The Financial Diet: Money politics and how to manage your wallet. Pretty important.
Food & Veganism: (Channels that either teach you how to cook vegan or why you should)
Mic the Vegan: Empirical look at the science behind climate change, nutrition and more, plus some sassy philosophy.
NutritionFacts: YouTube supplement to Dr Michael Greger's bestselling book, How Not to Die. A detailed empirical look at the science of avoiding chronic diseases through a whole-food plant-based diet. It's more nerdy than philosophical, uses studies to answer questions you may never have thought to ask like, 'should I add flax to my smoothies?' (Answer: yes.) It's not focused on ethics/environmentalism etc.
Pick Up Limes: Registered dietician with beautiful production quality teaches you how to meal-prep healthy, wholesome and yummy vegan meals, with a side of mental health & wellness. She has a really soothing voice and a stunning smile; I find her videos calming and motivating.
Avant Garde Vegan: Less health-focused, star chef Gaz Oakley just teaches you how to make delicious veganised versions of your favourite non-vegan meals. He's also pretty jacked and has a few videos on high-protein meal-prep.
Chocolate and kale are period magic. Load up on iron-rich leafy vegetables and you won't get cramps.
"Inflammation" has become a buzzword lately but very few people actually seem to understand what this means and why it's important. Inflammation is more than just a rash. Inflammation causes everything from headache to stomach ache to joint problems to cancer. Markers for inflammation are part of the normal process by which we age. Everyone has it, whether you can see/feel it or not.
It doesn't matter if you don't have a rash or a stomach-ache right this second. You want anti-inflammatory foods in your diet all the time. They will literally help you live longer.
The health philosophy that 'watching your macros' is the most important thing is damaging, outdated science. Watch your micros. There are far more important intricacies to nutrition than just counting calories. Phytonutrients are a vital cornerstone of health that many people haven't even heard of. There's a reason you may've heard the advice to "eat the rainbow" — food is more than a breakdown of calories, carbs/fats/proteins; it's even more than just minerals and vitamins. The colours of certain fruits and vegetables correspond with antioxidant quotient and vital chemical compounds that the majority of the public is poorly educated on. Do you know that flax-seed contains a compound that prevents cognitive deterioration by protecting your grey matter? Lignan. Do you know that broccoli contains a compound that literally kills cancer cells in a petri dish? Sulforaphane. Learn more.
Many vitamins (like A, for example) require fat to be absorbed. This doesn't mean you need to pour oil over your salad, but chop up a bit of avocado or sprinkle some nuts and seeds.
Soy sauce is an excellent substitute for regular salt in your food. Why? It is rich in sodium, but also in peptides, an antihypertensive that counteracts the effect of regular salt on your blood pressure.
Sugar doesn't cause diabetes. Salt doesn't cause high blood pressure. Saturated fat causes both of these things. It is build-up of fat around the cells that causes insulin resistance (preventing the homeostasis of blood sugar spikes) and constricts arteries. While those with high blood pressure need to avoid salt, and diabetics need to avoid refined sugar, this manages the symptoms; it doesn't treat the disease. A diet low in saturated fat will treat both of these long term.
@Pandora said in Separating Art From Artist:
The point, and this is where I roll my eyes because I don't respect the idea at all, is to promote the idea that these works should be erased from the future. Not lauded, not awarded, not recommended. Thus, the future is bias-washed and only works by clean, wholesome, stamp-of-approval artists are available for sale and promotion.
Huh?
I like consuming and recommending media that I find inspiring and uplifting, for myself and other people. Because people deserve thought-provoking works of art that might motivate them to live their best life.
I'm not going to laud or recommend any works that are racist, misogynistic, etc. Why would I? What's the value in these works? Why would I want to propagate their message further?
If I'm gonna recommend someone read American Gods, a book that honours a history of immigration, human diversity and multiculturalism, over any book that promotes phobia and segregation, because it's not in line with my values — sorry, is that bad? I really don't think it is. I'm an idealist, I'd like to see people enriched rather than building themselves cages full of ugliness.