Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Richard R

@richardr.bsky.social

210 followers 240 following 2.3K posts

He/him. Former academic nomad (west coast, east coast). Now happily settled in Minnesota. 2 great kids.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · Oct 22

Richard's stupid thread of stuff to ignore

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 15h

I think if we compare impact
"Platner is a dangerous leftist" coming from GOP during general is weak
"Mills loves AIPAC and genocide" during primary can't be taken back if she's nominee. Too many Dems will check out entirely.

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 16h

One reason to fear primaries is if you're the kind of people who say shit during a primary that fucks over the candidate during the general, and you assume other people will do the same to your candidate (they won't because they aren't shitty people)

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 17h

Actively defending rights is the moderate position.
Rights for trans people, immigrants, anyone whose rights are under attack.
Ceding the battlefield is not moderation when rights are under attack. You can't say "I believe in those rights but I'm choosing not to talk about them right now."

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 19h

Anyone using this guy on signs?

Woodblock print of a frog. It's dark grey and appears to be frowning.

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 19h

Maybe this is a good sign that
a) people who aren't Extremely Online are mobilizing and
b) black bloc is fading to irrelevance

But also google is free and if you jump to "this person is racist" out of ignorance that's on you

Reposted by Richard R

common squirrel @commonsquirrel.bsky.social · 21h

blink

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 1d

Jeffries should endorse Mamdani

Also, Ilhan Omar who is pretty fucking connected to Minneapolis made her endorsement for Omar Fateh yesterday and somehow nobody thought it was a months long crisis that she delayed it

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 1d

Meant for kids/teens:
Return to Oz
Song of the Sea
Coraline

Well made but problematic story:
Stardust

Obvious, but just in case:
Princess Bride

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 1d

I think if you pushed "Biden fucked up Afghanistan withdrawal" you shouldn't be shitting on the old man today

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 1d

Jared Leto do Star Wars next please

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 1d

She wants to help as many people as possible and she has a level of drive towards that goal that is so far above my personal experience that I'll never truly understand it
You don't get as far as she has if you listen to internal whispers telling you to slow down

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

To which I'd say yes multiple people can arrive at the same criticism but if smart people do that they'll see the point is already made and walk away instead of recycling a worn out zinger for attention

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

Because 50 people dogpiling in a seemingly random way looks way worse than 50 pathetic followers of a single 100k account all trying to dunk

People will also answer this with you just don't like your heroes getting shit on and we all independently arrived at the exact same phrasing

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

And every person in the aggregate is like I have 500 followers or less why hold me to literally any standard
Because when you're clustered saying the same thing the reach is 1000x greater
And if anything more dangerous than a single person spouting bullshit to their 100k followers

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

And people always answer this with of course there's dissension
But there never fucking is because people who post like this are craven conformists first and will never ever risk ostracism
So terrible behavior is ignored if a person keeps saying this week's correct magic words

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

If you post the same stuff repeatedly and there are a bunch of people also posting that same stuff repeatedly and this group of people has essentially zero internal dissension
You're part of an aggregate large account

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

On another day when big accounts take no responsibility for their impact I have a related gripe: too many small accounts willfully ignore the way they're effectively part of an aggregate large account

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 2d

Let me assure you that implying that specific person didn't do enough to help elect Democrats serves one purpose only: making you look like an ignorant asshole

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 4d

I showed my son a video on my phone and that fucking ad autoplayed after it.
Fuck those ads and fuck YouTube for autoplaying them.

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 4d

I bet his party invitations and shady donations are both drying up and he's looking forward to a long lonely retirement

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 4d

People joke about "X was load bearing for society" but I genuinely wonder if delayed parenthood has been more disruptive than anyone anticipated.
Not that we could or should go back but a bunch of people now have time and energy and are choosing terrible outlets

Reposted by Richard R

GPT-Ern Malley @denam.bsky.social · 4d

Academic lab leak theory: there are a lot of ideas that are useful or even true within the ivory tower which are nonetheless invasive and disruptive if brought into the wider discourse ecosystem

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 4d

People saying GOP will fuck with elections clearly don't live in the places where there are long lines every single year, and people who care about democracy more than internet clout stand in those lines to cast their votes

Richard R @richardr.bsky.social · 4d

when I ask myself which American electorate is most similar to the one in New York City the only answer I can come up with is Maine's statewide electorate