Interesting Links for 20-03-2021

[andrewducker]

Right and left have succumbed to the outrage machine

(tags:society )

The Secret Villains of the original Frozen movie (I don't believe this, but I do believe the plot has very messy bits that don't quite work)

(tags:evil movies Disney )

Care workers lose 'sleep-in shift' court challenge

(tags:UK law sleep work care )

Young female Japanese biker with 16,000 followers turns out to be a 50-year-old man using FaceApp

(tags:faces socialmedia fraud photoshop )

This is the most powerful of the videomancer grandmas

(tags:video editing impressive viaSwampers )

This is the best excuse for being late to the pub

(tags:submarine photos )

Designing the NHS vaccine booking system to be more inclusive about gender identity

(tags:gender NHS web )

Zaadii - the real life eco superhero who never got to be (a very touching story. CW: Child death)

(tags:death cars children comics superheroes viaBartCalendar )

The EU's vaccine supply problems seem to be because they were too trusting

(tags:UK Europe USA vaccine trade )

Why do amphorae have pointed bases?

(tags:history craftwork materials )

Humans versus sealions: triathlon edition

(tags:animals humans sport race )

Boris Johnson government in scandalous breach of Ministerial Code

(tags:BorisJohnson regulation corruption politics UK conservatives )

This pretty much sums up how I think brains work

(tags:brains evolution comic )

Domestic violence: Turkey pulls out of Istanbul convention

(tags:Turkey violence women OhForFucksSake )

Comments

Outrage

[anna_wing]

Well, yes.

If both sides agree that only speech they agree with should be allowed, but disagree about the exact content of said speech, then who wins is determined solely by the side with the greater power to enforce its position. It stops being a contest of principle between liberal and illiberal, and becomes a contest of power between two illiberalities (in which people will usually pick the side whose positions benefit them more).

"No platform" makes sauce for the goose as well as sauce for the gander, which is why it is a dangerous tactic to rely on unless you are really sure that the preponderance of power (and, in a democratic society, public opinion) is with you.

[calimac]

1) Universal social media resulting in universal embarrassing posts in everyone's background: Remember when the theory was that this would cause universal forgiveness? Instead it's caused universal condemnation.

2) My understanding is that the original plan for Frozen was for Elsa to be the villain, but when the songwriters brought in "Let It Go," the screenwriters realized that the character with such a subtly sympathetic (and potential killer hit) song couldn't be the villain, so they retrofitted the role onto Hans, on whom it didn't quite fit. Thus wacko theories like the one in this post.

Also: while Hans's plan to become king by marrying one sister and then killing both of them wouldn't work in a real-life monarchy, one must presume the succession laws in fairy-tale realms are different. (And there are real-world precedents. The Byzantine Empire had something vaguely like consort rule, but it's not called Byzantine for nothing.) Consider the rules by which Lord Farquaad in Shrek intends to become king. Those make no sense whatever, but you have to swallow it for the sake of the plot.

right and left

[cellio]

Yup.

No-one really seems interested in changing minds. They are interested in punishing blasphemers. It is a road that leads to the death of intellectual inquiry, or self-improvement, or independent journalism, or even humour. It’s a grim, stony-faced, ugly, punishing world.

It's even worse than that. Not only are they out to punish blasphemers (= anybody who isn't 100% with me; nuanced perspectives are as evil as the other side), but they will seek out and create blasphemy to then attack, for the sake of showing how virtuous they are or something. It's pretty appalling what our society has come to, where people are so averse to having a thoughtful, civilized conversation that takes into account little things like age and context.