A list of puns related to "Soft despotism"
The new leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops on religious liberty has warned of a “soft despotism” of religious intolerance in the U.S. Archbishop Thomas Wenski told CNA that “new Jacobins” are driving Catholics from the public square for their beliefs.
“We’re not second-class citizens because we are people of faith,” said Wenski, Archbishop of Miami and head of the U.S. bishops’ religious freedom committee, in an interview with CNA on Tuesday.
The archbishop said a new wave of religious intolerance is forcing believers and belief out of public life.
Wenski pointed to laws forbidding public funding of religious schools—overruled by the Supreme Court this week—but also in the HHS contraceptive mandate case of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and 21 year-old Jack Denton, who was removed from his student government position at Florida State University for defending Church teaching. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/soft-despotism-of-anti-catholicism-on-the-rise-catholic-bishops-religious-liberty-chair-warns-90987
Is the United States of America heading towards a state of soft despotism as described by Alexis de Tocqueville in "Democracy in America"?
Figured I'd get much better answers here than /r/askreddit
poster: strokethekitty, original conspiracy link
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_despotism
It reminds me quite a bit of whats happening in america, and probably other countries, too, though i dont follow them as closely.
Anyhow, i feel that nepotism in the corporate world as well as in the political theaters are helping to push us towards this exact form of tyranny.
>Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people.
>Soft despotism gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government. Soft despotism breeds fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the general populace.
Discourse level: 100%
Shills: 0%
I wonder what everyone's favorite despot, Jessica Morgan, has been up to?
Probably cuddling puppies, or petting kittens, or some shit...
The rest of the series can be found here
***
(A few weeks ago)
“What in the four manifestations of God’s will have you presented me with?” a grey and black patterned face with a central mouth ringed by four eyes laughed.
“Can you make it or not?” Jessica Morgan chuckled at her screen, already knowing the answer.
“Sure, how many million do you want?” the strange visage on her OLED screen replied, “But what is it? I mean I know what it is but not what it is. My engineers have a pool running.”
“You mean you don’t know?” Jessica smirked, “Oh that’s right. You never got this far. You guys watched the Juon invasion of your world on cathode-ray tubes.”
“Which is why we’re pretty sure we know what this bit is for,” the weird xeno replied pointing at a diagram appearing in front of him. “Is it some kind of weapon? Because it wouldn’t be a very good one.”
“Actually,” Jessica replied, “It can be a very good weapon but you’re right. That’s not its primary application. We’re reviving a bit of ancient history to save a buck and far more importantly, a great deal of time and resources.”
“Is it related to this other thing?” the figure asked as another diagram appeared. “Now this one we know, but why do you need gyroscopes of this size and power? The overall scale of the two components seems to be compatible, though. Are they part of a larger assembly?”
“That they are,” Jessica replied.
“Would you be interested in what you call a ‘turn-key’ arrangement. I’m certain we can build whatever these are involved in quite quickly and reasonably.”
“Op-sec,” Jessica replied, “And I have quite the large workforce at the minute even if they are shrinking by the fucking day that I need to utilize. It’s getting ugly and even The Penitent are having problems maintaining order. A project, even a forced one, will focus their anger and dispel the helplessness that is destroying my people faster than the plague.”
“You’re using infected workers on this project?” the creature asked in surprise. “Aren’t you worried about contamination?”
“It isn’t a concern for these,” Jessica replied grimly.
“Very well,” the creature smiled, “We will start expedited production immediately.”
“Great!” Jessica enthused with a smile, “Now, Horace (his ‘human’ name – His
... keep reading on reddit ➡Nakteti used one thumb to scroll down the display, looking at the changes that had been applied to New Tnvaru over the last six months since the majority of the refugees from Lost Tnvaru had arrived on the new planet.
Nanoforges and creation engines, something that permeated Terran Confederate worlds, had been restricted to government oversight and only preferred manufacturers. Nutriforges had been restricted following a declaration of a board of inquiry to determine if it was safe for the Tnvaru to eat what the nutriforge produces.
Despite the fact that every single member species of the Confederacy used nutriforges tailored to their biology and tastes.
There had been some private ownership of vehicles, usually run off from one of the massive industrial creation engines. However, four months ago, private ownership was banned, citing 'safety concerns' and 'public responsibility', with mass-transit being mandated for everyone.
Nakteti had envisioned New Tnvaru as a sprawled out world, hundreds, thousands of small communities tied together by high speed maglev rail, private vehicle highways, and digital communications. She had set aside vast swaths of property for automated farms to provide luxury food for those who preferred to eat 'real' food rather than food from a nutriforge.
She had done her best to outline a society fueled and sustained by automation, with plenty of luxuries, relaxation activities, education, and private ownership.
It had all been wiped away.
She opened another window and scrolled backwards in the timeline.
Nakteti had envisioned elections for the planetary leader, once every ten years, with every five leader for the area representatives, with education eventually providing judges to assist the Confederate digital sentiences and Terran lawyers currently handling legal issues.
But the Confederacy's mantra of "Do whatever you want on your planet as long as you follow some basic rules" had looped back around to bite Nakteti's on her backside and ruin her plans.
There had been no election. The heads of five trading consortiums, all of them now defunct as they were no longer trading in Lanaktallan space and had been ejected from Council Space, had taken over the governm
... keep reading on reddit ➡As is well known and established by certified peer reviewed journals, the Randian disease is something which affects a sizeable majority of people in the sub-continent. It transcends all boundaries of various breeds (although Jaat is more contextually suitable) of losers and holds them under its all encompassing umbrella patheticness. A cure to this disease is not only necessary but fortunately imminent based on the ever increasing number of self-aware Randians who voluntarily seek the guidance of Marxallah (PBUH).
Although, the malevolence, elitism, and superiority complex of Libgands such as u/MatthewMcdontgivafok makes assimilation of Randians into the Marxallah (PBUH) fold, mentally and emotionally taxing, rest assured there is a soft spot that Libgands hold for Randians. For every man was born into darkness and eventually found light. It is therefore morally reprehensible to judgmentally assume that Randians do not seek the same light that those under Marxallah (PBUH) dwell in.
This series is thus aptly named, De-Randiafication and will aim at radicalization of unsuspecting Randians into the Marxallah (PBUH) fold. It will contain excerpts and summaries from all folds of thought (Of course superior Left though will be highlighted more) aimed at taking off the blindfolds that the Randian in all of us wears.
Janaab Said defines Orientalism using three main definitions which will be explained soon. However, there is no sentence which encapsulates Orientalism as succinctly as that by Marxallah (PBUH) himself:
“They cannot represent themselves. They must be represented”
For a fruitful reading and learning experience I would highly suggest you keep this quotation in mind during the entirety of the reading and furthermore in whatever thoughts and opinions you encounter or form regarding Orientalism. In addition, pay attention to terms mentioned in quotations.
Janaab Said stresses that the three main definitions (meanings) that he assigns to Orientalism are in fact interdependent and interactive, as will become clearer further into the series.
“*Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient- and this applies whether the person is an anthropologist, sociologist, historian or philologist – either in its specific or its general aspec
... keep reading on reddit ➡Let's say I showed you two articles of clothing, and I told you the first was made out of Indian wool, and the second was made our of Italian wool. Which of these would you think was more expensive? If you're like most people in the contemporary world, you'd assume the latter was, of course, more expensive. After all, Italian wool has the connotation of class, doesn't it? An 'elegant and classy' European name like Giorgio Armani would certainly be a better brand name when targeting pretentious upmarket consumers than a Chinese name like Wong Ah Fu, doesn't it?
Have you ever wondered how we came to these perceptions? Consider that for hundreds of years, Kashmiri wool, not Italian wool, was considered THE premium wool of the world, and European merchants would sail thousands of miles to acquire it.
How about if I showed you two different people, person A and person B? Person A graduated from the London School of Economics, and person B from the National University of Singapore. Who has the more prestigious degree? Person A or person B? Of course, it must be person A, right? After all, the top universities of the world are from the West, right?
When the word 'inventor', 'scientist', or 'pioneer' are mentioned, historical images of Caucasian people often spring to mind, don't they? We think of Henry Ford, Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and a host of other white men and wonen, but not many know that the hot air balloon was invented by a Chinese man by the name of Zhuge Liang, the Prime minister of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period. A famous American academic whose name I shall not metion for fear of offending his vast fanbase boldly stated that science was a Western breakthrough. Yet a cursory study into the history of science will show you that a great deal of the things that are fixtures of the 'civilized' Western world, such as convex lens, anaesthetic, buttons, shampoo, hot air balloon, algebra, and pediatrics are certainly not Western in origin. The man who invented the N 95 mask which is saving millions of lives across the world was, in fact, a Malaysian doctor named Wu Lien Teh. Yet how many know of him?
Everybody of course knows the name of William Shakespeare, the English gentleman whose name has become ubiquitous with Literature and verbal intellect. But how many are aware that the first novel of the world was written by a Japanese woman named Lady Musaraki? I'm willing to say less than a quarter of people who consider Emily Bron
... keep reading on reddit ➡Howdy y'all! Welcome to the Album of the Year 2013, our special throwback writing series where indieheads users discuss some of their favorite records of 2013 through their own unique perspectives as writers. Today, to start the series, we have u/danitykane discussing Blood Orange's Cupid Deluxe.
Listen:
Background by /u/danitykane
Blood Orange is the moniker of Devonté “Dev” Hynes, English-born singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical debut came as the guitarist for punk trio Test Icicles before he broke off solo as Lightspeed Champion, producing emo-tinged indie that made a moderate splash in some circles.
It wasn’t until 2011, with the release of Coastal Grooves, that Hynes both officially adopted the Blood Orange name and struck artistic gold. Produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, Coastal Grooves introduced what would become Hynes’ calling card as Blood Orange: funky R&B dipped in a retro aesthetic that eschewed both chillwave and lo-fi bedroom pop’s roadmaps to sounds of the past. What made Coastal Grooves so different was how authentic it seemed, as well as Hynes’ uncanny ability to make a guitar sound like any instrument he wanted it to.
Following his debut as Blood Orange, Dev Hynes became a bit of a secret weapon as a producer for indie and pop acts. Two of his efforts would affect the indie pop world on a tectonic scale - “Everything is Embarrassing” by Sky Ferreira and “Losing You” by Solange sound forward-thinking to this day, and they both feature one of Hynes’ favorite calling cards: warmly-tinged and moody synths that sound slightly warbled, as if they were pulled from a cassette tape run one too many times. You can hear this over future Blood Orange releases, as well as some other pop gems that also feature some of his great guitar work. My favorites include “All That” by Carly Rae Jepsen and “[Flatlin
... keep reading on reddit ➡Abigail Adams wrote about the troubles and concerns she had as an 18th-century woman. She is known for her March, 1776 letter to John and the Continental Congress, requesting that they, "remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."
John declined Abigail's "extraordinary code of laws," and said, "Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems. Although they are in full force, you know they are little more than theory. We dare not exert our power in its full latitude. We are obliged to go fair and softly, and, in practice, you know we are the subjects. We have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this, which would completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General Washington and all our brave heroes would fight.”
This was from the 1700s. More than 250 years ago and now you see similar analysis of history by some modern MRA . Namely, that the obligation to protect and provide that men had, the social convention of being chivalrous towards women and that women could influence their husbands, had some control on some part of finance management and production management, that male social gender norms meant "abused men couldn't seek help", means women had "a lot of power"/"indirect power"/" the real power"/"privileges"/"was the privileged gender" etc.
As the title says, this post will contain spoilers for the entire game. Also rampant speculation.
So the official version of HADES' activation and GAIA's death is pretty well known, but let's reiterate for people like me, who haven't played in a while: HADES' function is to reset the terraforming process in case it goes wrong. It never gets activated, but somehow, an unknown signal unshackles it and all other subroutines, making them independent of GAIA. GAIA realises this means HADES will kill everything, so she does the only thing she thinks will work and blows herself up, taking HADES with her. HADES doesn't die, though, and continues being a nuisance while GAIA becomes a smouldering hole in a mountain. Nice going, GAIA!
As we all know, the source of the signal that set the subroutines free is The Mystery everyone is looking forward to in the sequel. However, I posit that there was no signal, at least not an external, unknown one, but rather what happened was HADES working as intended and GAIA overreacting.
First of all, why was HADES even necessary? Couldn't GAIA have handled the reversing operations herself? She was, after all, a growing and learning AI that, as Travis Tate, the Alpha of HADES, says, probably wouldn't get it right the first time. In case of a failed terraforming operation, she should be able to cancel it and revert changes, then start again knowing what went wrong the first time. Repeat as many times as necessary, and you'll get a working biosphere eventually.
Here's the thing, though. For some reason, Sobeck thought it would be a great idea to make GAIA feel. She was made to nurture and protect life at all costs, even given the name of Mother Earth itself. She would never destroy life, even if it was necessary for the big picture. Hence, HADES. They had trouble getting them to work together... Or rather, they had trouble making GAIA let HADES do his work. Tate notes as much: with the two of them running at the same time, GAIA would either break or just undo all of HADES' work behind his back.
The solution was to take GAIA out of the picture. She would have to be suspended in order for HADES to successfully reverse operations, then given back control once the work was done. Otherwise, she would fight HADES, and as we know, that would compromise everything.
I suspect what we know as the unknown signal was simply the HADES protocol working as intended.
If you've read so far, you probably have the following questions: 1) GAIA
... keep reading on reddit ➡[I] | [II]
SUMMARY
Druugon mercenaries-turned-pirates have taken over a planet known primarily for its college campuses. The only ones who heard anything from this now-dark colony are the Republic of Terra's Forward Line, its pinnacle combat fleet. On top of an impressive, self-sustaining fleet of warships, the Forward Line holds four of Earth's mightiest supersoldier, the BELLATOR. Of those four, is the infamous Praeses Pater, renowned for fighting a necrotic hive mind to a standstill to save his daughter.
And now a Republic Navy Technician's son is under threat by a Druugon Lord-Captain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Beerurukt hissed, having corralled a few dozen aliens into a lecture hall and holding them at gunpoint, by proxy of his goons. He had effectively captured the entire colony, all by threatening the 'brightest minds' on the planet. The youngest. For some reason, he had to peel Humans from children with actual physical exertion, some of his men had become afraid of the Humans' screams, and some had felt uneasy at intimidating hatchlings.
"Silence," he hissed after one final protest, "They will be food or they will get us paid. Either way, we will treat them as nothing sacred. What are you, a whelp? Know what riches we can hold through this!" He shouted, grabbing a smaller Human. He recognized it as a female by her long hair and chest swellings. He held her by her shirt, waving her about as if she were not within the shirt.
"We stand to knock them down, take their riches, and leave before any response can be made, so shut your mouths, and be the Druugonni Warriors I hired so many years ago! Our innards may be soft, but our horns are strong!" He tossed the woman down, drawing a pistol. He held it level, pointing it at the woman who screamed in terror, "Back to your fellow prisoners, tell them what you will, but stay quiet. I cannot have you lot acting like you're anything more than meat."
The woman cried out as she tripped, desperately scrambling to recover and run to the safety of her fellow captors.
"That one was stringy, and weak. Disgusting," Beerurukt spat, "I could tell by how uncoordinated she was, coupled with the lean limbs. If the next one to break our rules is more plump, I will eat it."
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Admiral Alexandria Hayman IV considered
... keep reading on reddit ➡Phil
The New Order: Last Days of Europe
v1.1.1 “After Midnight”
Major Additions
Minor Additions
Bug Fixes
Sudden Lee
Go post NSFW jokes somewhere else. If I can't tell my kids this joke, then it is not a DAD JOKE.
If you feel it's appropriate to share NSFW jokes with your kids, that's on you. But a real, true dad joke should work for anyone's kid.
Mods... If you exist... Please, stop this madness. Rule #6 should simply not allow NSFW or (wtf) NSFL tags. Also, remember that MINORS browse this subreddit too? Why put that in rule #6, then allow NSFW???
Please consider changing rule #6. I love this sub, but the recent influx of NSFW tagged posts that get all the upvotes, just seem wrong when there are good solid DAD jokes being overlooked because of them.
Thank you,
A Dad.
Because a toothbrush works better
Had to ground him until he could conduct himself properly.
So far nobody has given me a straight answer
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