nerdspeak

Yeah when I was 19 I wanted to end the world over all kinds of dumb stuff. The thought of using guns never occurred to me because they weren’t around me growing up.

The shooter was not a leftist. Leftism means organized left-wing political groups, this guy appears to have been a lone weirdo with over-exposure to firearms from a young age.

I agree propaganda of the deed doesn’t work. But this murder was not directed by any kind of “left” organization. So, yelling at the “left” is sort of pointless. if there was some kind of underground party directing this murder, then we could talk about this as political violence and discuss how it’s an ineffective strategy, even if you’re a revolutionary. but there wasn’t…it was just a random dude.

Lenin opposed assassinations and terrorism because it does not get you any closer to power and provokes repression by the state.

NYC sucks in many ways but it has 20 million people in the metro area, you can find all kinds of people. The “hypergamy” you describe (I hesitate to agree that’s what it is) is specific to club culture, there are lots of women who want all kinds of relationships.

You didn’t ask me, but “mastering” pickup is not worth the opportunity cost. There are transferable skills but a lot of them are extremely specific and it’s very time-intensive to get to mastery level. You would have to make it almost a full-time job for several years to reach “mastery” unless you have very high natural talent. It’s like trying to “master” skiing or billiards. Not worth it for most people, doesn’t mean you can’t go skiing sometimes or play pool. Another way of putting it that’s more analogous, is whether, in sales, it’s worth it to master cold-calling. Probably not—there are many other way more efficient marketing funnels. Doesn’t mean you can’t cold-call sometimes but you don’t need to master it like the Wolf of Wall Street guy. Night game, in particular, is one of the most exhausting and self-destructive things you can do to yourself. Even if you don’t drink.

If you’re good looking you can just use dating apps and be normal on the dates and do fine. No need to do cold approach really. But you need to move to at least a medium-sized city. it’s like any other kind of funnel, you need volume at the top or it’s not going to work.

Hitler was not meticulous, clever, or skilled at hiding bias. Which is why the German elite thought he was a clown they could control Social forces have their own momentum and produce demagogues that reflect them. I don’t think these demagogues are puppet master manipulators at all.

Great way of putting it.

Figuring out how to live somewhat off-the-grid and avoid intensive exploitation is a form of "success within capitalism." It depends on how you define "success."

The best way to get over hustle culture is to make friends with people who aren’t caught up with it and are doing what they find exciting, regardless of the material payoff. They know how to deal with material insecurity without it driving them insane.

In the age of mass politics, in the 20s and 30s, and again in the 50s and 60s, people fought in the street over wages and political gerrymandering. People are capable of getting fired up over economics and corruption, there is something else about the current context which is suppressing this process.

I live in Belgium, which is similar to Sweden culturally and even somewhat weather-wise. If I could do it again I’d have moved to south of France or Vienna. Better balance of decent welfare state and good weather.

Reno also seems super cool. If I moved back to the USA, I would seriously consider it.

@Magnanimous London is not good for pickup, there’s a reason all the “Euro jaunt” borderline incel people come from there. Pick a cheap walkable city where you can live close to the clubs and aren’t competing with billionaires for girls.