• 9 Posts
  • 551 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: June 14th, 2023
  • MisterFrog@lemmy.worldtoBuy European@feddit.uk•We Need to Stick Together!English
    4·
    7 days ago

    I’m not a tankie

    Fair enough, I was being a bit obtuse with this one. Apologies.

    China is far less imperialistic that the US and Russia.

    Agree. Of the 3 China (at the moment) is the least imperialistic.

    Just to be clear, we’re distinguishing between socialism and communism, right?

    Nope. I mean what I said. The wealth inequality is massive, similar to the US. The work rights are pretty crap, similar to the US (maybe even worse, though I wouldn’t want to say that authoritatively)

    Having a capitalist market economy is kinda antithetical socialism, no? Well, at least what they currently have, with the excessive wealth people have been allowed to amass, on the backs of the working class who have shared in a much, much smaller fraction of the wealth they have generated.

    They have a lot of state owned and run companies, many of which don’t have the primary aim only to make a profit (love this), but this doesn’t change the fact that the class system is in full swing there, and is permitted by the government.

    Pressuring officials and rich people to be less austentatious isn’t exactly taking away the power people have due to their excessive wealth.

    It’s been decades, I think they’ve let enough people get rich first (though I disagree that this was necessary - the letting people get excessively wealthy part, not the reform in general), it’s about time they do SOMETHING to curb wealth inequality (they won’t though, because this would cause an uproar from the wealthy, as is the case in other countries)

    They don’t have a true union movement, all unions must be part of the party. Strikes are done, but very rarely and in spite of the unions, and they are barely tolerated by the authorities. There is very little, if any, difference between how much workers there have a say in their workplace compared to other capitalist countries.

    They don’t have meaningful power over government policy. That’s handed down from on-high from the party elite (yes, with some minor consultation). China is not democratic, and in my view socialism must have workers democracy, by definition, though perhaps some will disagree with this. (But to me saying the word socialism implies rule of the workers, and that is definitely not what is happening in China)

    Hope that clears things up about my opinion, and thanks for not responding to my inflammatory comment with more of the same. Sorry for my candor on this one.

  • MisterFrog@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyz•Speedy DeliveryEnglish
    1·
    13 days ago

    “Magic system” is a bit of an oxymoron

    This is just the currently accepted terminology in world building: https://rebeccashedd.com/2024/10/25/the-worldbuilders-toolkit-building-a-magic-system/

    I’m just extending this to sci-fi also, as have many others, because they’re basically the same thing, only that the sci-fi magic systems are vaugely based on real-life science (but vary wildly how closely).

    Think Stargate with their loosey-goosey ancients and accession, vs the much more grounded The Expanse.

    I’m just not a fan of magic systems without any rules at all.

    Hence why I find supernatural stories less interesting, which streaming services, book shops, and movie theatres, frustratingly categorise under fantasy. They are very different from sci-fi and fantasy, in my opinion.

    If your magic is purely “mysterious”, that’s boring, and lazy story-telling (In my opinion).

  • MisterFrog@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyz•Speedy DeliveryEnglish
    61·
    15 days ago

    Soft magic systems aren’t any fun. Change my mind.

    Christianity, stranger things and paranormal activity are equally as uninteresting to me because it’s “because I said so”. Boooooooo, come up with some rules for your world.

    Can we make a new category of fiction called “supernatural” SEPARATE from sci-fi and fantasy? Thanks, that would be nice.

  • MisterFrog@lemmy.worldtoGreentext@sh.itjust.works•Anon is forever alone
    31·
    3 months ago

    The number of upvotes on this is concerning. It means there are a super majority of people who voted on this comment that don’t know how to talk to others, and feel alone.

    Mate, similar to how others have commented, you’re in a self-fulfilling cycle. You have to learn to just be relaxed first, talk with people for the sake of it, making friends, having fun.

    Randomly approaching a woman, isn’t a great way to strike up a conversation that leads to something more (outside certain more familiar contexts like a party).

    If your intentions are only “I’m gonna hit on this woman”, then you’re always gonna be creepy.

    Woman are just people. Get to know people in general and you’ll have a much better time.

    There are dozens of times a day where you can talk to people: in line, at work with colleagues, on public transport (if someone happens to mention something you know about and it’s not a private feeling conversation), hospitality staff, etc.

    These are not suggestions of how to find a partner, but of low-hanging opportunities for conversation.

    You may still be unattractive, which depending on why, you may or may not be able to work on, but this STILL doesn’t stop you from making friends or generally enjoying being around others.

    The way you’ve commented is learned helplessness, and I truly wish you the best, and hope you take steps to pull yourself out of it, with the support of those around you (and professional help, if it’s something available to you).

    All the best friend.