torbrycemitchell.bsky.social
I write words and make music.
ghostsandmachines.com
61 posts
83 followers
332 following
Active Commenter
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I think Trump is an idiot too. But I don't think the people surrounding him are idiots necessarily – I think a lot of them are amoral pieces of human garbage who are enabling him for their own personal gain.
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Australia doesn't have nukes mate
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I really, really hope the DPP knows what it's doing here. String Trump along or give him some meaningless concession, but do not trust him or risk anyone else gaining an advantage/replacing Taiwan's own capabilities.
Right now, I think they'd genuinely be safer without the US than without TSMC.
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This does appear to have been a red line for a fair few Republican voters.
That said, I really hope Dems don't rely on Trump losing support through some unpopular policy, because they really need to get their act together.
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If it's standalone or sentence-ending, I'll put a little motion in. But that rise should only be the tiniest possible flick up if anything, and the dip is just functionally not there for me. But yeah, IME the 'lowness' of it is by far the more important element in speaking comprehensibly. 祝你學業有成
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As a non-native veteran learner, I'd say you're thinking along the right lines. I wouldn't think of it as 'flat' per se tho, just as a 'low tone.' The fall-and-rise is SUPER easy to overshoot and turn into a 4th or (more likely) 2nd tone, and for practical speaking purposes is cart-before-horse.
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I think conservatives also have an overly-holistic view of 'intelligence' where success in one STEM field + being right-wing makes one a genius qualified to speak on all matters. Also thinking that 'smart' = a confident, abrasive maverick-type. Musk plays into this a LOT, as does Jordan Peterson.
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You also make good points about dunking on social media not equating to real-world victory, plus the complaint about historians/humanities.
But there's an element of prescriptivism here too. Republicans don't just see Elon as a 'Great Man', they also think he deserves 100% trust because of this.
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I'm not as automatically skeptical of autodidacts and polymaths as a lot of lefties are (though it's a reasonable skepticism IMO). But Elon's obvious lies and his habit of tripping up whenever he's asked to speak substantially on a topic make it hard to give his other boasts the benefit of the doubt
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I think you're right that some people are coping when they insult his intelligence. And I agree he's neither stupid nor incompetent in absolute terms
But I also think the main reason people do this is the seemingly large disparity between what he claims to know vs what he actually knows.
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Also, I think some types of story are too elemental to auto-label 'conservative' or whatever, and I'd say the Reacher template is one of them. What matters is the particular spin those stories have.
This is also why I don't much like the 'copaganda' label, esp. when applied to shows like B99.
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'It's loaded up with intelligence'
Not for long
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Elon: But but y'know there is there but but but yeah it wuh it wuh it was essentially to to y'know
Host: *Nods in agreement* Yeah.
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So uhhh yeah, I'm pretty comfortable ignoring whatever facts you claim to have, cause I already know they're trash.
Best just stick to posting watermelon emojis, 'cause I don't think you've got much else to offer your cause. Same to anyone else out there who thinks that resistance = mass murder
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1. You cited a source that agrees with me without reading it
2. You barely seem to have heard of Ukraine, much less understand what's happening there
3. You ProPals just helped elect a guy who wants to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Like, you actually outdid most Lib Zionists in harming Palestinians. 🤷♂️
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Okay welp I'm no longer taking anything you say seriously, so we might as well end it here
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I'm guessing you didn't read through what you just posted, because it agrees with me:
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You're playing this weird game where you pretend there's no middle ground between 'rolling over and passively accepting one's occupation' and 'indiscriminately slaughtering/raping/kidnapping civilians.'
Well, okay. So go on. Say it with your chest. You think the tactics used by Hamas are justified.
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The phrase: 'Fighting back' is doing some heavy lifting there
I have no idea WTF you think is actually happening in Ukraine, but they ARE fighting back and they AREN'T doing horrific Oct 7-style shit.
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... You sure about that?
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3am is where I tell myself: 'It's fine, if I fall asleep now I'll be okay when I wake up.'
4am is where I realise I messed up
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I'm not arguing any of that. I'm simply arguing against the wisdom of celebrating/trying to justify/marching in the streets for a terrorist attack that deliberately targeted civilians.
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FWIW the only post of yours I saw was 'Bibi is an authoritarian terrorist.' Which, technical definitions aside, is not something I particularly disagree with.
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Easy dude. I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to St Jude, who asserts that Israelis 'cannot separate themselves from the horror they inflict'. In doing so he appears to be arguing that adult Israeli civilians are legitimate military targets by virtue of having (at one point) served in the IDF.
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Finally – for the record, your post argues that the killing of every Israeli adult (civilian or not) is justified.
You do realize that, right? Because I'd like to see you explicitly state that this is your position. Let's see you own it.
And you wonder why people call antisemitism. Jesus Christ
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I'm sorry... Why is it that Israelis are personally responsible for their *mandatory conscription* but Russians aren't?
Also, you're aware that conscription in Israel ≠ becoming a soldier?
Also, what do you think happens to Israel when there's no IDF? You think Hamas wants a two-state solution?
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To be clear: I'm saying this as a supporter of Ukraine. This scenario is hypothetical, and I don't think the 🇺🇦 army does stuff like this.
But I know that, if they did, I'd have a problem with it. As would every pro-Ukrainian voice in the Western hemisphere.
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To ppl in this thread:
Pretend this was 🇷🇺 vs 🇺🇦. Pretend that Ukrainian soldiers did to Russian civilians what Hamas did on Oct 7 – the slaughter, the rapes, the hostage-taking. Now, imagine what the response to that would be in the US/UK, and how it would differ from Oct 7.
That's the issue here.
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I'm not familiar with your content and haven't seen your Bridges ep, but I found you on here through the DGG starter pack.
I'd say if you've been invited and think it'll work, go for it. I'd like to see the show continue, and for more political voices of that kind to be amplified.
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Due to certain comments here, I'll just say: What Destiny did is terrible, but Kyla is demonstrably not at fault and did not 'whitewash' anything.
Also, FWIW, in my experience DGG (at least the subreddit) is nowhere near as toxic as it's claimed to be. Edgy, yes, but not toxic.
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You think an appeal from Zelensky, of all things, would've swayed the MAGAts?
He was hedging his bets. Clearly it didn't work. But I'm not gonna fault him for being unable to predict the future when he's trying to save his country.
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Be reasonable. Zelensky is trying to fend off an invasion. He knew that his only hope of getting support from Trump was to stroke his ego.
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Most of Europe has Holocaust Denial laws in place, and aside from a handful of lying antisemitic wankers everyone gets on just fine. 'Freedom of speech' is still intact, the discourse is still lively, debates are still spirited. Conservatives, hell, even racists can say whatever else they want.
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And I'm not convinced there's no way to excise the tumor without killing the patient. Legal categories can be defined and subjected to certain laws. Factual inaccuracies can be distinguished from wrongheaded opinions. Patterns of behaviour can be outlined and links to foreign governments exposed
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FoS is predicated on good-faith discourse. All rights come with responsibilities. Democracies cannot survive mass delusion, nor can they survive when their own freedoms are being abused and leveraged against them by a cabal of snake oil salesmen and foreign dictatorships.
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Sure, it's a worrying thought that we might have to legislate that. But lying, treacherous cunts like JD Vance are precisely the ones who've made doing so now seem like a necessity.
To him and the other wretched fucks in the MAGAsphere 'Freedom of speech' just means 'Freedom to lie with impunity.'
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Between the standards of 'absolute freedom of speech' and 'no FoS at all' – but landing much, much closer to the former – there is the standard of: 'Freedom of speech, but NOT to drown society with misinformation designed to undermine both free speech itself and society as a whole.'
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Pickemi Badenoch
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Thanks! 🙏 No pressure though, I know you're busy.
Best of luck to you for 2025. Looking forward to seeing what you've got on
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Hi Mr Spicer. Big fan of TRND but especially love your Chris Nolan + 'Half of British Television' vids.
Me: aspiring writer, working on an online spec-fic novel w/ music and artwork. First part's up, it's all free, link in bio.
No requests for you ATM, but it's awesome of you to do this 👍
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I see your posts pop up from time to time, and I enjoy them. They're funny and entertaining.
That being said, I also have no idea who you are or why you're in my timeline
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Also Grok:
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But that's my point. AFAIK those specific fantasy tropes come from the Tolkien/NE-folklore template, while outside of those tropes it can come from anywhere.
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They already do this.
Ex: If you acknowledge that the 2020 election WASN'T stolen, you MUST conclude that Trump is either treasonous or psychotic/delusional, but either way grossly unfit to be President.
But his fans say: 'Nope, he was just wrong about this one little thing!'
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My understanding is that much of what we often think of as 'fantasy' these days – i.e. orcs, goblins, elves, fairies, medieval settings etc. – stems from North European folklore, re-mixed and popularized by Tolkien and others. Outside of those specific elements, it's anyone's game.