Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[PenguinPablo]

I mean something with both qualities. Style and luxury.

If you over do it, it reeks of insecurity and overcompensating.

But a fine balance that is well thought out--comes across more sophisticated and elegant. 

I think if your whole life becomes about acquiring luxury, you've lost the plot.

But a few carefully selected quality pieces can be nice. 

Or you can dress like a homeless person if that's more enlightened. 

I changed my mind. Luxury is fucking retarded. It is anti truth.

Edited May 29 by PenguinPablo
I changed my mind

[LoneWonderer]

I want to thank you again Leo for all the content being posted on the blog. It's super interesting, intellectually stimulating and thought provoking.

Thank you!

[Nemra]

7 minutes ago, LoneWonderer said:

I want to thank you again Leo for all the content being posted on the blog. It's super interesting, intellectually stimulating and thought provoking.

Thank you!

It is the golden age.

[Leo Gura]

@LoneWonderer My pleasure

[koops]

For me aesthetics, beauty, art and stye is different from luxury.

 

[Leo Gura]

You can dress well without luxury. I am not against dressing well.

Luxury isn't about utility or even aesthetics, it's about status.

Must I post this?:

 

Edited May 29 by Leo Gura

[Guest Nilsi]

16 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You can dress well without luxury. I am not against dressing well.

Luxury isn't about utility or even aesthetics, it's about status.

Must I post this?:

 

Have you ever watched an haute couture show?

It’s not about status, signaling, or sales. It’s about art. Pure excess. It’s the surplus of creativity that spills over once all the perfume and leather goods have paid the bills. A brand name so overfull with mythic intensity that it can’t help but stage its own mythology - live, on the runway.

There’s an excellent documentary on John Galliano, who was creative director at Dior during the ’90s and 2000s. In my humble opinion, the greatest fashion designer of all time.

You can literally watch this on mute and still be mesmerized. The dresses alone are among the most beautiful things you’ll ever see. This is pure luxury. Decadence. Excess - for its own sake.

And by the way, that Valentino suit Christian Bale wears in American Psycho? Pristine. I don’t know what you’re smoking if you think you could find anything that beautiful outside the world of luxury.

[Leo Gura]

@Nilsi Do you understand why luxury is an obstacle to truth?

Don't get lost in nitpicking the things I say, grasp the larger point. There's always a larger point at stake.

Edited May 29 by Leo Gura

[Daniel Balan]

Hi Leo! Thank you so much for the actualized quote on leftism and even more thanks for the blog post "How the left got lost"! That blog post is easily one of the best I have ever read. I'm a centrist but I have a soft spot in my heart for the left. I find that the left, even though it is massively delusional and flawed, at least cares for mankind and for the planet, as opposed to the right, which I totally hate with all my being. The right only does things in a selfish egotistical manner, without giving a fuck about others or the planet. All their policies are done to maximize profit, rape the earth of its resources, and dominate the weak. But this blog post is like a wake up call for every leftist to touch grass immediately and make contact with the harsh and brutal nature of survival. A message for the more ambitious of the leftists: Those lunatic right wingers all have their billion dollar businesses with which they control politics while you stand crying for gay rights. Man up and build your amazing business too, so that you can truly combat their selfish, corrupt interests! 

Edited May 29 by Daniel Balan

[Guest Nilsi]

10 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Nilsi Do you understand why luxury is an obstacle to truth?

Don't get lost in nitpicking the things I say, grasp the larger point. There's always a larger point at stake.

I get your point. It’s a classic Platonic move.

But there’s a larger issue at stake in what I’m saying as well.

Isn’t the real question this: Would you rather have the truth - or do cocaine with Naomi Campbell at a John Galliano runway show?

My point is this: You can try to reduce singularity to identity, to the Platonic ideal. But difference remains non-fungible. It escapes any fixed notion of truth.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

So is art a luxury?

[integral]

That's why I'm starting a sports betting platform, we need conscious people to occupy the spaces of every business niche, to then funnel that welt to better things. 

[Daniel Balan]

Haha! that leftsplaining word is so true. But you should come up with a similar word for the ape like right wingers. They need one too!

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Nilsi said:

Isn’t the real question this: Would you rather have the truth - or do cocaine with Naomi Campbell at a John Galliano runway show?

My point is this: You can try to reduce singularity to identity, to the Platonic ideal. But difference remains non-fungible. It escapes any fixed notion of truth.

I don't understand your point.

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

So is art a luxury?

No, unless you're using art for status or as part of the pursuit of luxury.

Art as luxury would be buying a famous painting so you can show it off to your rich friends.

[Majed]

@Leo Gura Hey leo, is me trying to explain that the best argument against veganism is the preservation of culinary diversity and traditions, and then them proceeding by reengaging in classic vegan rhetoric, an example of leftsplaining ? 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, integral said:

That's why I'm starting a sports betting platform

That's why I'm starting a whorehouse

[Guest Nilsi]

18 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I don't understand your point.

Think of it this way: you have all of eternity to contemplate the truth - to dwell in the stillness of the Platonic One, in the cool serenity of the eternal. But life? Life is utterly singular. Every instant is unrepeatable. Every moment vanishes as it arrives. If you blink, you miss it.

This is less a critique of you than of Plato - though I’m not sure how aligned you are with him. Plato saw the world of the senses, the particular, the fleeting, as a distortion - a shadow of the true, the good, and the beautiful, which dwell beyond time in the realm of unchanging forms. The task of philosophy, for him, was to renounce the sensory, the contingent, the perishable - and ascend.

But I say: yes, this world may be imperfect. It may be broken, mad, chaotic, base. And yet it is singular. Non-fungible. Charged with strangeness and beauty precisely because it does not last. My ethics begins there - not in renunciation, but in reverence for the ephemeral. In honoring the fact that I, too, have been and will be here for all of eternity, but only ever like this, right now, once.

So what’s the big deal with getting a little lost in the play? With letting the dream move through you? This world isn’t a prison - it’s a masquerade. And knowing that, I choose to dance.

[Leo Gura]

36 minutes ago, Majed said:

@Leo Gura Hey leo, is me trying to explain that the best argument against veganism is the preservation of culinary diversity and traditions, and then them proceeding by reengaging in classic vegan rhetoric, an example of leftsplaining ? 

I don't know. That's up to you to decide.

Be careful not to overuse the leftplaining concept. It can easily become a thought-terminating cliche.

Edited May 29 by Leo Gura

[Xonas Pitfall]

I think what's needed is a good counter-term or rhetorical trap, similar in tone and function to leftsplaining. Something that calls out the mindset where people hide behind cynicism, blackpilling, status quo bias, TINA ("There Is No Alternative"), toxic or weaponized realism, hard-nosed pragmatism, or doomerism to justify inaction and block change.

The ideal term would expose this move for what it is: a way to shut down deeper vision, dodge responsibility, and defend broken systems by pretending to be “realistic.”

Examples:

• “People are just selfish and violent by nature, they need to be controlled - that’s why authoritarianism is the only thing that works.”
• “Most people are too stupid to vote correctly, so democracy is a joke. I want a strong, masculine dictator who will set real order!”
• “Racism will always exist - there’s no point trying to fix it.”
• “Most people can't grasp complex ideas, so why even bother with education reform? Just tell them what to think.”
• “Climate change solutions are a pipe dream - people will never sacrifice convenience.”
• "If people are too closed-minded to accept LGBTQ+ rights, then maybe the issue isn't even worth fighting for."

Cynisplaining, Defeatplaining? 

... is the rhetorical move where someone uses "harsh reality" as a weapon to dismiss effort, imagination, growth, or responsibility. It's a kind of realism-worship that blocks change, often disguised as wisdom or pragmatism. This mindset accepts the world as it is - flawed, dumb, unfair - and uses that acceptance as an excuse to avoid higher thought or ethical responsibility. Instead of acknowledging the need for a better system, the person doubles down on the broken one as “just the way things are.”

Another version of this is when someone selectively uses realism and harsh truths to push their agenda, but the moment their ego needs comfort or validation, they suddenly cling to softer, more hopeful, or lenient ideas.

Examples:

• "Look, poverty exists because some people are just lazy. You give them free money like UBI, and they'll just waste it. The rich? They worked hard, made smart moves, and took risks. They deserve what they have. We shouldn't be rewarding mediocrity."

  Later (when it touches their own life):
  "Man, ever since I got laid off, it's been tough. I've applied to like 20 places and still nothing. It's not that I don’t want to work, I just need a chance. Honestly, if there were some kind of program to help out with bills while people get back on their feet, that would change everything. Not like UBI exactly... but you know, something for people like me who actually try."

• "The truth is, most people are idiots. They can't think for themselves, they follow trends, they need someone strong to lead them and keep them in line. You give the average person freedom, they ruin everything. A strong hand is the only thing that works."

  Later (when it's about them):
  "I’m not gonna be anyone’s puppet. I make my own path. I don’t need some system or leader telling me what to do. I don’t fit in with the herd. I need to live free, on my terms. I hate when people try to box me in or act like they know what’s best for me."

• "Emotions have no place in politics. We need cold, rational decision-making. Leaders shouldn’t care about feelings - they should focus on results. That’s why soft, compassionate policies always fail. We need logic, not bleeding hearts."

  Later (defending their favorite leader):
  "No, you don’t understand. He gets it. When he speaks, I feel it. He’s not just about numbers, he understands the struggle. He’s passionate, he cares. That’s what makes him a real leader, not like those fake ones reading off scripts. He speaks to something deeper."

Edited May 29 by Xonas Pitfall