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Does programming count as a hobby? I waste my free time on it… There’s this funny stereotype, of a queer programmer with long, quirky socks, and maybe even a fursona. Despite being a small percentage, such types are often overrepresented online. It used to bother me a little.
Nowadays I’m so, so glad when someone I’m talking to is part of that group. It usually means I don’t need to worry about them being weirdly sexist, like women don’t suffer enough in the industry, or insisting that we need to keep politics out of tech (i.e. they want their politics to rule, unquestioned).
Silly feelings on my part? Perhaps. One less thing to worry about, though.
Oh, you play video games…?
“Yeah, I’m a big fan of Hearts of Iron!”
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Legit, I have a teenager in the family heavily into it, and it is worrying. Are there any good articles on how to handle this specific thing gracefully?
Nope, sorry. Even if he only installed the game, it’s too late. We’re gonna have to put Jr. down.
/s
Ask them what their favorite faction in that game is, or if there are any mods they’ve done recently. Could always just be a big nerd for WW2 cause they’re a teenager.
yeah, ww2 history is really interesting lol, it’s more a yellow flag than a red flag
Yup. A guy I know was a big WW2 nerd. Also openly gay. Sometimes people just like historic stuff.
Stellaris has entered the chat
My genocidal machine empire is gonna wipe the galaxy of all the filthy xeno scum. I don’t even want your worlds, I’m gonna crack that bitch open like an egg because we don’t need your pathetic “breathable air”
God damn biologicals.
But seriously, Stellaris is fucking awesome.
“I’m currently playing through [single player game]”
Ah ok, we’re probably good
Exclusively plays Germany
A long time ago, when I was a teenager and the first HoI was out, I was only playing Germany. Mostly because it was the only powerful country which felt somewhat manageable without wanting to cry in the convoy screen…
Navy management is actually quite easy, people just overthink it/don’t understand that the AI is so flawed it doesn’t matter in SP, you just need enough naval superiority in one zone for a single day to Sealion Britain as anyone from Spain to Ethiopia. It’s also much easier now that you can claim navies in peace deals.
Is exclusively playing Trotsky better or worse?
Is it bad that I played China in SP? I did pretty much take over the world…
It was an interesting run. Just surviving as China in the beginning is extremely hard, but eventually I controlled all of China plus Japan. Then Russia attacked so I took over almost all of Russia. Then the allies attacked, so I blocked them at India and eventually took over India, then North America and finally started pushing into Europe. With no DLC the endgame can become such a painful grind. The only aggressive wars I was in were the early wars to unify China. Other than that I was always on the defensive.
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Becoming involved in niche video game communities made me realise how overwhelmingly right wing gamers can be.
It’s because video games are a hobby you can play in isolation and being a shithead often has no consequences online.
Similar to how small towns tend to be more xenophobic than big cities due to a lack of exposure to different people and viewpoints
Stellaris > Extreme Xenophobic
🤔
I just like playing as the tyanids, okay?
Although I guess if you want to get technical, they’re quite xenophilic… Gotta consume, maybe they’re just into vore.
Damn, what a terrible day to have a brain that thinks such thoughts… (not into vore, but I don’t kink-shame unless it’s your kink)
Maybe I do have a problem…
I haven’t played Stellaris for years, but I thought one wouldn’t go for Xenophobic on those races, but more for “I am the crisis”, shared consciousness builds, which I think would be OK.
I’ll be honest, I like playing stellaris but i tend to get burnt out after about 200 years or so, and don’t fully know all the game mechanics because of this.
I’ll defer to your expertise on this one.
Don’t know anyone who plays Stellaris so I have no idea how true this is lol
I legit think Stellaris is the best game if you want to roleplay inside 4X strategy. Which is why it’s of course worrying if someone keeps making fashy races :)
You mean Genocide Simulator?
That could be literally anyone these days, though. My mom plays video games.
I know but unfortunately moms can be racist, too.
Yeah, but at that point it’s not a red flag anymore. If everyone plays video games, it doesn’t have predictive value anymore until you get into specifics genres or even specific games/franchises.
But…Isn’t that the whole point of this post…? Playing video games doesn’t mean you’re a shitty person but there’s enough shitty people into the hobby that you need to get clarification? Why phrase it that way when we’re making the same point?
It’s silly to blame “gamers” when gamers encompasses potentially the entire planet with every belief.
Blame conservatives who happen to be gamers. It’s the same fucking people, every time.
From my experience playing online games, there’s a higher percentage of people publicly using slurs than the general population.
That’s not an admonishment of gamers as a whole, though. I’m not blaming “gamers” for anything
We’re not making the same point, though. Would you take it as a red flag to learn that someone often eats noodles or drinks cola?
Nowhere did I say it was a red flag to play video games so you’re countering a point I didn’t make with reasoning that supports the point I did
Playing games is not a red flag in itself but some games certainly are. So getting clarification is about checking for red flags…
…what kind of cola
That’s a different question, same as “what kinds of games”.
Try being into permaculture and hydroponics
Old school games enjoyer: “The games were better in the past… modern games are garbage”
🚨
I’ve had so many conversations come to a grinding halt while doing RC stuff, because I realize the person is not only veering the conversation to intentionally toward certain topics, they’re expressing right-wing opinions or shoving religion in my face. I’ve left RC events because they opened with a prayer, or because I’ve seen too many red hats in the crowd.
I’m sure it’s also because of the state I live in, but it’s a little disheartening to see so many people in my hobby who would gladly stone me to death in the street once the government allows it.
Also weirdly mountain biking has me fucking confused. So many magats on my trails, and it was my impression that cycling in general wasn’t as popular amongst the “anti-woke” crowd. Along with other things they view as a threat to their big metal death boxes that run on dead Dino and plant juices.
Lastly, blacksmithing. I do mostly bladesmithing, but like to try all aspects of it. This hobby is rampant with right-wing nut jobs and I’ve stopped watching MANY content creators over the years because they started making personal vlog style videos when Biden got elected bitching about how awful and hard it is to be a straight white male in America.
also target shooting but that’s a hot topic no matter which way you look, but here’s a reminder that armed minorities are harder to oppress
never partake of inebriating substances no matter what type while handling a firearm in any capacity. I’ve seen too many people at an outdoor range with a beer can beside them. This should get you banned from the premesis.
I have a Peloton at home and at the rare cases when I open the leader board, I am surprised how many people have some MAGA or Trump related tags. Ah well, even the OG Nazis were all about fitness.
so many magats on my trails
Does this really surprise you? “Country folks” are much more likely to be regularly out in nature, more likely to be into fishing/hunting/camping, and more likely to run Conservative than the more Liberal urban folks.
At least in my experience. Which is something that has me super confused about the national parks thing, cause conservative people routinely poll higher for usage of public lands. But then again I guess it shouldn’t surprise me to see them shocked when they invite the leopard into their house.
that’s an interesting explanation, didn’t think of it that way 🤔
Yeah, it’s really annoying being involved in target shooting when everyone thinks you’re a MAGAt as well
I’m going to decide RC is Roman Catholic.
I’ve left [Roman Catholic] events because they opened with a prayer
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Nah, that’s less fun, I’m sticking with Roman Catholic.
I’m a road biker who occasionally dabbles in gravel and mountain biking.
I think the right wing hatred of cyclists comes down to two primary things:
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They have road rage over being behind bikes on the road, so they “hate cyclists.”
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They equate lycra/spandex as being feminine or at least “non masculine” if not outright “gay.”
They are usually cool with mountain bikers because they aren’t “in their way” on the road, and usually are wearing baggy “manly” clothing.
Ah, insecurity and overcompensation, what would we do without you…
Fellas, is it gay to be comfortable while cycling? My wife will be devastated.
For real. Riding in 100F temps in anything but lycra is out of the question for me. The only time I don’t wear my cycling clothes on a bike is when I am pulling my kid in the trailer and we will be stopping at all the playgrounds.
-
Blacksmithing is sick. I would absolutely love to start doing it again (tbf I never really got into it), but I’m not at my parents that often (which is where the equipment is) and if I am I usually dont really have the time.
I think there are just more of them these days. Young men are an especially growing segment of Trump supporters. And the ones that used to hide themselves are open about it more and more every time Trump wins.
I see them in woodworking, pottery, gaming, hiking. And I live in a blue city in a blue state. I think we just have to accept that most Americans support conservative ideals.
That’s maybe partly true, but pretty much everyone I’ve talked to in my very conservative area (Utah) doesn’t like Trump. In fact, I saw more Ukraine flags in the first year of the war than Trump flags.
I’m no progressive (consider myself libertarian), though I probably align with the OP in all the ways they seem to care about. I want more legal immigration (my SO immigrated), more acceptance of LGBT people, less pollution, more separation of church and state (happen to be deeply religious too), etc. My main difference is that I don’t believe those goals justify using government to restrict rights to effect cultural and social change.
So just be careful about how you tune your Nazi filter. I strongly oppose Trump, but I may get caught in the filter depending on the question.
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You need to move
I really do, and I would love to move to a different country.
However, I have no college degree, and no work experience beyond retail/food/3rd-party-labor, and about $200 to my name. Maybe $3000 if I sold all my big stuff, including vehicle.
So the chances of me moving without being a political refugee are low, sadly.
Alcohol at a range? Id never go back. Stone cold sober people are stupid enough handling weapons.
Was visiting some family in central Illinois and went to a range where they allow drinks. They were quite proud of it.
That’s crazy to me. Why would anyone want to be consuming alcohol while shooting?
I know how I am when I smoke, and there’s no chance I’d trust handling a firearm. Not because I’m violent or anything when bake (lol who is) but because my reasoning and decision making skills are impaired, maybe I mistake something for something else in a tense moment and something bad happens. Nope. Safe stays locked, and the door to their room gets locked and the key given to someone responsible, or put in the coffee tin. (I don’t like coffee and baked me steers clear of it, so I figure it’s better to be in there behind several obstructions)
Alcohol makes your aim more steady (in small to smoderate amounts.) It’s considered a PED in shooting competitions.
I believe it. The first hit of my thc pen makes my hands stop shaking, any relaxant is bound to make your aim steadier in just the right amount.
Still won’t ever see me shooting when alcohol is present.
That’s completely fair hahaha
I don’t go back, and I have no more outdoor ranges to go to that aren’t too far away.
I used to go to a childhood friends house but after I moved we kinda drifted apart so it’s weird to ask to use their backyard range.
I would love to have the property to put in at least a 100m lane and a large back stop to stop ricochets and the like. Then I don’t have to go somewhere people will whinge when I shoot more than twice a minute, and I’m not at risk of an ND coming my way.
ND
North Dakota?
In my area (Utah), BLM land is everywhere, and there’s plenty of unused state land an hour or so away. So we can just drive a bit and a flattish area with a natural backstop, and set up some comes or something so people can see the range.
Is that not an option in your area?
Apologies.
As deegeese said, Negligent Discharge.
My bad, I tend to think people have more knowledge of obscure things than is normal, I guess.
And I’m in Ohio, so while I technically could find some bit of land to shoot on, there’s forests, fields, and cities. Anything in between is private property.
I’m exaggerating a bit, but that’s more or less how it feels.
Thanks. :) I’m not too familiar with the legal terms here. Everyone is pretty gun-positive (we have Constitutional carry here), so the chance that anyone would call the cops is pretty low if you’re outside city limits, and the chance the cops would do anything is pretty low.
Negligent Discharge
that’s such a hilarious misunderstanding 😭
Gunpla (Gundam Plastic model kits) and Gundam in general could be.
Depends how into the Republic/Principality of Zeon or Neo Zeon they are. In the UC, they actually say one character is like Hitler.
…their mobile suits do look good though.
I own guns. I love my guns. But I’m not weird about it, I’m all about responsible gun ownership, I don’t have an entire armory, and I ESPECIALLY don’t open carry.
Ammosexuals give the rest of gun enthusiasts a very bad name.
I am interested in survivalism but it seems like most survivalists are a bunch of god-fearing crazy racist motherfuckers.
Oh, you have an anime profile picture and are posting on Twitter in 2013?
Warhammer 40K entered the chat
Heresy intensifies.
I’m not into 40k, I love the idea and mythos and occasionally watch someone paint a mini, then I came across some 40k subreddit and it’s a bunch of anti woke nonsense. Like wtf, they do realise they’re the ones that used to be shat upon, right?
They sure don’t. Fascists are immune to irony.
And upon seeing their chance to be the shitter, rather than the shittee, they climb over each other to throw shit.
Most of the human race aren’t worth fucking saving, that much is clear.
People that ate too much imperial propaganda and think that, yes, the Imperium is “the best alternative for mankind”, despite it stomping down actually better alternatives left and right throughout the lore
Tbf that’s only the imperium fans. The rest at least know they’re playing pretend. Maybe not the Boyz I think they’re serious.
As someone outside the fandom looking in it seems like the entire 40K franchise revolves around the Space Marines, with the other factions taking a supporting role at best.
Space Marines sell the most, so they get the most frequent support. Each faction has a very loyal and very ravenous fanbase though. Generally if someone is a “space marine fan” they’re either really new, or extremely old. It’s the people that are into the Imperium factions as a whole you should look out for.
Now imagine if you play imperial guard. I feel like I am the only fan who understands IG. Its about people living under a cruel unwieldy empire that is utterly indifferent to their lives with almost no way out. Your entire world with all it rich history and unique culture can be wiped out in a second. And it wont mean a thing. Shit like that is what makes IG cool
I had someone get incredibly mad my UN blue imperial guard beat their afrika korps death guard. Like crying mad.
“I like the ones that look like space Nazis the most.”
Oh, the principality/republic of Zeon/Neo Zeon?
This is one of the reasons a session 0 is so important in TTRPGs, ideally one hosted in a public place. Great way to keep creeps out
Last group I joined had ‘interviews’ and it still didn’t keep that one guy out… because an exception was made for a friend. One friend, and the whole group fell apart about a year in when he started doing racist caricatures. It’s downright infuriating how common it is that just one exception does it in.
Did they introduce the dude this way? “This is X, he’s my best friend so he didn’t have to interview.”
It was more like, “Hey, two people said they aren’t going to come, so Y is bringing his friend X to fill in at least one spot.”
History is kind of the opposite. When someone says they like history I’ll get excited and ask what period is their favorite. If they say “Romans” without any qualifiers like Early Republic or Late Eastern Empire, I get a bad feeling and they usually follow up with “and WWII”
my answer is “mesopotamian” because I like their goofy little sculptures
archeology is cool, humans are just little goblins that really like to live on hills for some reasonThem dudes is wild though! They achieved so many recorded firsts and shaped so much of our culture that we often don’t even recognize how huge they were!
I still yearn for the day we can move to a sexagesimal nubering system.
When you can dig cave homes on the hills, like in the case of Petra and early people in current day Turkey, growing a beard becomes mandatory. 🪨 ⛏
I would just say medieval because castles.
“Yes.” Regarding historical periods is my answer. Particularly, a series of history books called “The Cartoon History of the Universe”. Each volume has at least 300 pages, and they are quite large. There is about five books in the mainline series, plus another dedicated to American history.
They were what taught me to enjoy history in general. Humorous, lewd, bloody, with interesting trivia. The only downside is that scientific facts tend to be dated, on account of the series being started in the late 80’s or early 90’s.
I like ww2 but not Romans (that whole period is overrated and mid), how racist do I have to be now?
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Idk. You’re not trying to establish a divine monarchy characterized by inbreeding and a shadow government of priests, are you?
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What if they said WW1?
Outside of modern history I think my interest is more into technology and way of living than about governments and cultures though. Like what tools did they use, what did they eat, what sort of alcohol did they drink. How did they make it, can I have a recipe.
WWI is super interesting since it set the stage for so much of the current geopolitical landscape. My main issue with “I watched History Channel as a kid” types is that they really just think guns and swords are cool (which they are) and don’t care much about the story of how people ended up in a war.
Also, I know what you mean about how interesting the day to day things from the past can be. I got really into preindustrial economies and how we used to make everything by hand. It’s fun to go into old buildings and seeing the tool marks on the wood and guessing how they made it
The trench warfare of WWI is super boring / horrifying. But, the world just before WWI is so interesting. So many places that no longer exist: the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, etc. Also, everything being an empire or a kingdom.
I also like the weird technological quirks, like how the very early WWI tanks had a little hole so the tankers could release a pigeon to communicate.
I stayed somewhere build around the 1400s before, restored using the same methods used at the time. Though not likely an accurate depiction of how a normal person would have lived as the normal people houses are all gone and we just keep the impressive ones.
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Curious what is says about me that my answer has always been “the Cold War.”
… Other than the fact that history feels far too present these days.
Cold War spy stories are the best. It was a rare period of superpower vs. superpower and with enough technology to make it interesting. (I might be wrong, but I don’t think a spy story where you had to communicate using carrier pigeons and spy by simply listening over walls would be as interesting.)
For sure! I love the whole gadgetry aspect, especially how it bled into pop culture with things like Get Smart and Spy vs Spy.
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I was actually born at the “end” of it. I generally am interested in US-Soviet relations and how the Cold War/Communism became a major factor in political campaigns after WWII, specifically the Dewey-Truman upset.
It’s funny, all through college I had either older people looking askance at me about why I’d be interested in “ancient” history or peers teasing me about being a Russian asset just for the interest… I just never thought the Cold War actually ended, and when I was in college in the late 2000s, that was a wild take to have lmao
Spoiler; Russia is finalizing its cold war victory as we speak
Idk, no matter what happens to America, it’s still not Russian, and that will always be a win.
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When you look at the immediate aftermath post USSR collapse, nearly every ex-soviet country got into really fucking deep economic trouble. There was also the little fact that pretty much every position of power was achieved by being friends with powerful people, so corruption and incompetence were rampant. Combine the two and it’s no wonder most people would rather go back to the old system, especially in the first 10 years.
I recommend anyone interested in the topic checking out how the German reunification worked out. It was quite a mess that they plowed through.
The truth is that every soviet country was already in deep economic trouble, that’s what caused the collapse. There was also a ton of corruption before the fall of the USSR. The only difference was that during the cold war, the USSR wanted to pretend that their way of life was as good or better than the capitalist west. That meant that there was a ton of propaganda making things seem better than they were, and a ton of censorship about how it was in the west. It meant that the corruption was kept relatively quiet so that it didn’t embarrass the government so that it looked weak compared to the west.
As soon as the USSR collapsed, they stopped putting all the effort in to censor the west and make the USSR seem great through propaganda. That resulted in people thinking that the economy had collapsed after the USSR, when the truth is that the actual economy was simply finally revealed to them.
how the German reunification worked out. It was quite a mess that they plowed through.
Well, I’m not sure if you can really say that reunification was ever properly completed.
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interesting. I’m most interested in the Khruschev era, during de-Stalinization and when the USSR was at its peak, and the satellite countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, etc.) the collapse just makes me sad.
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Out of curiosity are any of mine red flags. Early bronze age steppe peoples, the Late Bronze age collapse, the " Viking age" my interests are namely to do with Charlemagne and his influence on it, and pre-columbian European trade in the Americas namely the Greenland colony and the possibility that the Irish and Scots may have been fishing around Newfoundland.
Mainly the viking age, except for the fact that you know who Charlemagne is.
Fair enough also I put it into qoutes for a reason, while the raids and shit are interesting I’m far more fascinated by the expansion of trade networks from Scandinavia to the Near East via the Rus. Though my favorite historical figures are Harald Hadrada and Erik the Red, mostly because of their stories as individuals. Also like I said how Charlemagne put pressure on the Danes during his genocide of the Saxons causing the creation of the Danevirke and possibly riling up the Norse as a whole eventually leading to Lindisfarne and the Viking age. Though this seems to just be a thing Scandinavians do, kinda like hordes invading from the Steppe.
But yeah the Viking age has a lot of Nazis obsessed with it, I just happen to have Norman and Gaelo-Norse ancestors so I became interested in how they came to be.
Also colonization of North America with Vinland, integration into the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and possible contact with China. For as relatively small as their population was, they sure explored a lot and went interesting places. Possibly because their home was unpleasantly cold.
It may have actually been the opposite, the medieval warm period overlaps quite well with the Viking age meaning it’s entirely possible that the longer growing period caused a population surplus and overflow. I actually have a hypothesis that the same thing happened in antiquity causing the Germanic migration out of Scandinavia. Same thing possibly caused the Nordic Bronze age.
I don’t think I have a “favorite period” anymore, but the classical period is super interesting to me mostly with regards to the “losers” like Bactria (current day Afghanistan, conquered by Alexander the Great), Phoenicia/Carthage, Persia (several empires that “annoyed” the yuropeeans).
That just means you grew up in the 90s with the History Channel
People who follow those “wellness” influencers who sell random supplements and shit and basically make up all sorts of shit as if it’s medical knowledge.
Those people tend to be super ableist and anti-disabled. As a disabled person whenever you interact with that sort of person they always lecture you about “not trying hard enough” to find a treatment and recommend you expensive magic powders.
These same kind of people mistreat their disabled kids, refuse to vaccinate, that kind of bs.
You know what the worst part of that is? The sellers make bank from the idiots buying. I met two people the other day who left their jobs as aerospace engineers because selling the online supplements increased their income by 6-7 times.
They have that “If you find the right blend of essential oils to rub onto your legs you will be able to walk again.” energy.
