I agree, this is going to hopefully change over time, in the past 10 years these sorts of hobbies have begun to take off in the global south as well, and particularly in places like China, but naturally here on the English speaking side of the internet we won’t see their views represented nearly as much as the average chud crackerite redditor who also have the same interests.

This along with videogames and many other digital media become cheaper over time, not to mention piracy almost being the norm in places like Brazil, Russia and India, should hopefully make the sub-culture less reactionary in the future.

I think you have to start by understanding that “gaming” or “geek” culture seeming like it leads to reactionary views or pipelines has a lot more to do with who “gamers” actually are, not what their hobby happens to be.

In most cases, videogames, table top RPGs, Warhammer 40k, pretty much any of the stuff you’d typically associate with the subculture, all of these things have been nearly entirely out of the reach of the vast majority of poorer working class kids in the past 30 odd years. As tough as it might be to hear, these have always been expensive and toys, hobbies and privileges to take part in, with maybe the exception of comic books, nearly everything else has a fairly steep entry fee, needing to buy computers, several books, figurines, videogames, merchandise etc.

It’s really no wonder then, that the majority of people who are actually able to keep up with these costs will disproportionately be cis white men from the imperial core, as the group that happens to be at the top of the social structure of the world with the most amount of disposable income. And I think this is where the problem really stems from.

It’s not that geeks and gamers just happen to be more likely to become reactionary, it’s actually somewhat the opposite. Reactionaries, through their inherent privileged position in the world, are simply more able to get into this lifestyle in the first place. Geek culture and fascist/reactionary views might seem correlated, but they’re both just part of a path of least resistance for a certain type of person.

As others have said, there is no way of enforcing any sort of age minimum here, or anywhere else really without requiring invasive personal information to be shown as proof. So this point already means it’s pretty much pointless to have any real age minimum rule.

But I do agree that some of our frequent posters, who I have a very high suspicion of being quite young, 10-16 or thereabouts, can be somewhat annoying at times when you’re looking to engage in something more serious or substantial. But the truth is that children make up an absurdly large amount of the internet’s userbase in general, so it’s statistically nearly guaranteed that we’ll end up with some around here.

I think the best solution would be to either just ignore them if you’re not in the mood to deal with that type of thing, or in extreme cases, if you find it’s getting too annoying, there is a block feature which you can use should you find the need.

So far I can’t see any support from anyone for the coup, even members of the former coup government don’t seem to approve of it. This looks like pure opportunism from military high brass. At least so far, wouldn’t put it past the CIA if they were involved.

Nothing like a good purge, but ofc when the “good guys” do it the media don’t go around accusing him of having a personality cult, curious.

Serbia, most based option.

“Poor soft power projection” is just revealed a most blatantly western lens when it comes to assessing a nation’s culture. The idea of “soft power” as if its a good thing only works if you see your own cultural artforms and media to be superior to those of others, and subsequently end up supplanting that of a “weaker” culture. US “soft power” only serves to stifle local culture by overshadowing it with foreign US media and norms, and in some cases eradicating the interest and cultural norms of a people (particularly in the youth). Most Europeans all follow the same fashion, watch the same films and listen to the same music, much of which comes from the US, and this is supposedly a good thing? I’d say that regardless of who’s doing it, this sort of “power projection” isn’t something to yearn for.

This should be the default position when you take on any discussion, and by far the most sensible advice in this thread.

I do not think that’s true

I suppose it depends on how good your public transport is. I wasn’t quite so lucky when I had long commutes a few years back. 15 minute bus, 10 minute walk, 30 minute train, 15 minute walk, and the same thing in reverse getting home. Usually in the mornings without any space to actually sit at any point in the trip. Sure did wish I had a car at the time, lmao.

DPRK has actually done quite well historically in the world cup right? Correct me if I’m wrong but both Koreas have actually made it all the way to the quarter finals at some point if I remember correctly.

This is an excuse that people have made for the deprogram guys for over 2 years now. I know because I myself was under the same impression. But this is proven to be completely bullshit and irrelevant for quite a while now. The whole “they are appealing to libs and want to take a centrist approach to sensitive topics” crap completely went out the window the moment they decided to comment in support of Gaza in the wake of the genocide since last October. All their channels got blacklisted from advertisers and they decided to throw caution to the wind and drop any pretense in their revolutionary messaging, since they have nothing to lose anymore. Just look at any of JT’s videos since October, and this is most evident.

If the goal was to cultivate a following of liberals and western moderates then start to slowly get them radicalized, it has failed or rather the plan has been long derailed. They ended up attracting a load of ultras and weirdos, which they’ll never convince of anything regardless. I think even they know this at some level because their messaging has shifted.

If they’re ready to tell the truth about Gaza, then they should do the same for Ukraine, simple as that. From here on, any milquetoast or weak spirited commentary should be rightfully called out, we should expect better from them.

What’s especially fucked up is that there is an actual real life version of events like this that did happen in a “Western” “country”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie

Rachel Corrie was protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes by the Zionist forces in Rafah, and stood in front of a bulldozer that was attempting to flatten a house. The driver didn’t stop, and drove over her, crushing and killing her.

Yet we don’t see the internet commemorating her death every year and condemning the people who actually did it. Shameful.

It’s a common theory because he was blocking tanks from EXITING the area, which only really makes sense if he wants them to turn around and “do their job”, however he would perceive that.

Movies, games, TV shows, anime, media in general, songs

Distractions, the load of it, which is why none of it lasts. Meaningful experiences are few and far between. 10 years from now we’ll look back at ourselves today and think the same thing, because nothing fundamentally has changed, we just enjoy our distractions differently with time.

Would be pretty interesting if she did, but I think odds are against her due to the other candidates this time around. Ahmadinejad in particular seems like a tough opponent.

Personally I’d have it feature just as many if not more Indians as there are African Americans. Also perhaps Eugene Debbs or Bill Haywood, one of the early IWW people.

If you are Dutch wouldn’t that make you an “expat” because of, um…

Why is half of Pakistan bad and the other half only somewhat bad?

I likewise wouldn’t be too fussed over most other world leaders going out in a similar fashion, for sure. But not for ones that actually happen to be on the right side of history.