polishgenius

Yeah. And the plot is by all accounts an anticapitalist environmentalist satire.

To go back to this (as a response to my claim that trans people know full well 'biological sex' is important)- sure, probably true, but making it into a huge, nationwide (international even) subject of discussion (and mockery, in many places) is ultimately whacking trans people for something cis people have done. Even from people not intending it maliciously at all. If her argument is as TrackerNeil presented it, then while it might not be a super helpful response to the debate (I don't think every trans person has an obligation to be super-helpful all the time but I haven't seen the interview so I don't know exactly what she was aiming for), then surely presenting it as an answer to a medical/scientific position is... well, not accurate? It seems like all she really said there is 'trans women are women' in a more flippant way. @Conflicting Thought I'm sorry mate but all you're achieving with that post is antagonising people (not necessarily just the people engaging in the topic directly, either, lurkers too) whose resulting anger is not necessarily or mostly going to be directed at you. I disagree - in some cases pretty viscerally- with a great deal of the posting in this topic and sometimes I just want to cut the fuck loose but there's a reason people are trying to engage in the first place. Like, seriously, at least two people in this topic have credited past discussions on here for helping influence them away from ignorant or hateful views and change their minds. And I'm not saying a sharp word never helps either, because it surely can do, but you appear to be deliberately trying to entrench people in viewpoints opposite to yours? And if it's not on purpose it's still a likely result of a substantial chunk of your post. Please, please don't. I don't want to say stop calling people out or anything, but I just don't see how that post in this instance is helping. Or rather, I think it's potentially harming.

This which just came out

That may well be true. But America has other enemies, and she's nowhere near as aggressive in her rhetoric- which she has repeatedly stated to be genuine- towards those. She isn't preaching that the US should nuke North Korea, or move in and slaughter everyone in Cuba.

I can argue with it it should be Ollie Watkins

The NHS is literally one of the greatest achievements in human history in my book. It's in bad straits right now because of bastard who want to sell it but that being actually allowed to happen would be a horrendous tragedy.

Well, yeah. But you consider Muslims to be people. I'm not sure that Jace does based on the evidence of her recent posting.

Has this discussion about gomads and gamettes and what biological sex means actually achieved anything for anyone, like? It seems completely off the main point we started on about whether it's right or fair to separate trans women from women's wards. Like I get that that issue is tricky to tackle head on for some, and being a man my opinion on this is basically an outsider's view- but it's a policy that comes pretty much directly from the fact that some women feel uncomfortable around men because men are bastards. Sure, that's true. But I think we can all agree that no-one is transitioning to be a creep? Like even the most sceptical people here aren't saying that. It's a wildly transphobic view to hold and while people definitely hold it I don't think it's any of us. The thing is, without that taking that mental step, a policy like that exists only to punish trans women for something a man might have done or prevent something a hypothetical man might do. Nothing to do with anything about the women being excluded. And like I say- there's absolutely no reason why any of the other patients on the ward would even need to know that a specific patient is trans, so what are we even doing there? On the latter discussion about medical accuracy and all of that- sure, but it strikes me as a bit disingenuous to use it here because, it's not trans people or pro-trans-rights people who typically object to language designed to make sure things like that don't happen. Like that is literally the point of language like 'person with a cervix' or 'birthing person' etc- but when language like that is used there's a stink kicked up. Also: does anyone, anyone at all, genuinely believe that trans people don't know that the biological sex you are born with isn't important or can easily be done away with? That's the thing about being trans. That's what gender dysmorphia is about! They've lived it their whole lives, they don't need to be taught about it ffs!

Yeah this is just completely untrue. Lord of the Rings was a humongous cultural phenomenon and one of the best-selling books in history long before 2001.

fuuuuuuucking hell

Yeah, his understanding of theology and religious belief itself are childish at best, and his views on organised religion, its influence, and dogma are, while understandable and in many respects correct, laughably hypocritical. Both in terms of the fact that he himself is incredibly dogmatic and bad-faith about it, and in the fact that recently he's decided that actually, Christian moral values (you know, the things instilled by that dogma) are important and should be kept alive against the rise of Islam or some such shit.

This is off-topic but ooof. Why would you admit this.

The thing about keeping trans women out of women's wards is particularly wild- and grim- to me because why would the other patients on the ward even need to know? Who are they protecting by doing this and from what?

Big Keir, Arsenal's saviour.

Not really sure what the point being made is here: no-one said it wasn't. Me, CT and kbf weren't arguing that the west is uniquely bad (at least I wasn't, but I think they agree)- just that it (and the west, as per the original quote I responded to) isn't uniquely better than anyone else either.

Absolutely. I was just sticking to direct military conflict but yes. There's also the heinous amount of destruction caused by economic exploitation by Western companies that aren't a result of any official government policy but could be curtailed by it if Western governments had the will for it.

Meh. Even as someone who because of my background really fucking hates Russia I'd suggest that this is largely dependent on where you live. Sure, Russia is willing to invade European nations directly, while, say, America typically doesn't do that to its central and south american neighbours but ask... well, quite a lot of the middle east who they think is more dangerous.

The best looking game is this: Not an RPG though admittedly

Has anyone ever claimed Zelda is an RPG?

I don't know at all but if I had to guess I'd hazard that Hitchhiker's sales were held up by Adams' enormous popularity in the UK.

Yeah it's a bit 'will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest on this day when he's going to be vulnerable with these weapons I happen to have left lying around'.

The year of the Metroidvania continues, just been trying Tales of Kenderia: Zau. Sadly, despite coming with a bit of hype and a story behind it that made me positively inclined, early signs just... aren't great. I don't mind checkpoint-chasing Metroidvanias, some are very very good, but I do mind when I'm just rushed through areas without any time or reason to appreciate them. Sense of place is the most important thing to me in a Metroidvania (beyond basics like movement being undistracting as a minimum), and this doesn't have any. I've been in I think four or five areas and I could not tell you what any of them are. I'm also not actually sure it's a true Metroidvania at all- which isn't an inherent negative but is kind of weird given how strongly it's pretending to be one. It's also just a little ropey in its level design. Not as extreme as something like the otherwise much more appealing-to-me Ghost Song (the jump arc didn't match the level structure in that, an unforgiveable mistake tbqh), but a little clunky, and visually it's messy. That last might be an effect of playing on Switch handheld though. I wouldn't entirely warn people off it- I feel like its closest inspiration in terms of its design and style is Ori, and I didn't love Ori either, so fans of that might like it more. But... well, it's not as good as Ori. It also seems to have reasonably decent combat, though having played Prince of Persia a couple months ago the bar there is high right now for Metroidvanias and it's not up to that standard. Ah well. I'll give it a bit more, see if a point comes where it opens up and improves, but mostly it looks like it's on to Animal Well in a few days. That seems like it's definitely going to slap - huge hype from journos who've played advance builds.

I think you're probably better off asking that kind of question here: But also surely use both and also whatever we use to distinguish the mass of climate/environment-disaster novels on the market these days, and see who bites?