I generally don’t talk about it, but because you asked, I have seen a lot of anime and hate most of it. I have seen Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate, about 9/10 of the OG run of Fullmetal Alchemist, a lot of Ranma 1/2, Serial Experiments Lain, Akira, some Death Note, La Blue Girl, some tennis one I can’t remember the name of, Castlevania, a few Studio Ghibli movies, Attack on Titan S1 & 2, random episodes of Samurai Pizza Cats, all of One Punch Man, Interspecies Reviewers, Slayers, some DiC Sailor Moon, some early Pokemon, and a few Dragonball, YuGiOh, Digimon, and Naruto episodes.

I don’t count early GI Joe or Transformers even though they’re technically anime, but I didn’t like those either.

Of those, I liked Interspecies Reviewers, about 1.5 seasons of OPM, 1 season of Castlevania, and Hellsing Abridged (because it’s fucking hilarious).

Here’s a random top 10 of reasons:

1. Anime has a horrible habit of having a great premise, a lot of repeated setup, and then zero payoff followed by a new season escalating with the same. In short, great at premise, poor at developing it into a story. And endings? They have no idea how to end a series except for fighting bigger bad guys…
2. And that’s IF they can even be arsed to finish a series. I’m aware of the timeframe dynamic between manga and anime. It fucked over Game of Thrones too. Maybe we just agree not to start a show before the source material is done?
3. Much of the animation looks abysmal and the “serious” ones seem to have an awful habit of just… panning over a background or frozen characters in a scene for fucking ever to fill time. I made note of this during Serial Experiments Lain to my friend who was making me watch it and it basically ruined the show for him. It completely wrecked the pacing and was done CONSTANTLY. There were 45 second pans (which I would start audibly counting after 10 seconds) while the main character just monologued “I’m 12 and this is deep” bullshit that was nearly completely disconnected from the plot. There was no reason to do this. Even recent shows like Castlevania did this.
4. Shit just happens that doesn’t make any sense in context of the world they’ve set up. This is endemic from anime I’ve seen. Anime fans think that randomness is “creative” instead of just “throwing shit at a screen because the writer had a fever dream and it doesn’t matter at all if it makes any fucking sense”. Spirited Away is basically just this. No, randomness is not creativity, Katy the Penguin of Doom.
5. They’re just a different set of tropes than American cartoons, many of which I find to be nonsensical, twee, or cringe-inducing. Bloody nose when you get a boner trope, I’m looking at you.
6. I fucking hate Japanese voice acting (and often for the most part the Americans who dub it, especially in kids shows). This started when Sailor Moon came over and I wanted to kill everyone in the immediate vicinity whenever most of the characters spoke. That shrill panic screaming that was in SM and Pokemon was awful.
7. In the same vein, I also can’t stand constant “reaction sounds”. Someone saying something mildly surprising that you should have easily realized 10 episodes ago isn’t an excuse to stare blankly and make an “AH”, “OH”, or “UH” noise (sometimes followed by a small choking sound) roughly four hundred times per episode. Humans don’t do this.
8. They make movies that just do random shit and don’t have anything to do with the show (if not outright contradict the show). Dragonball is especially notorious for this.
9. A really weird number of them throw in Nazis seemingly at random, appropriate time and setting be damned. Need a bad guy? Fucking Nazis!
10. I am constantly inundated with friends that like anime telling me that I should watch whatever their new anime obsession is despite it conforming to 3/4 of bad things on this list because obviously I just haven’t watched the right anime.

1. As someone who runs an IT firm, I’m in agreement that all of those country-based firewall policies are bad EXCEPT in the case of actual defence of the internet (things like DDOS attacks, active hack attempts, etc.). Some of the businesses we manage have users that travel abroad, so I feel China is raised more as a concern because it’s the most… overreaching in what they block and is in the top 3 for executing the most cyberattacks worldwide (along with Russia and, since the war, Ukraine). In the case of the Chinese great firewall, not only is the content blocked, but it’s one of the the only places where you can also be flagged as a user for trying to access some pretty common data which has some ramifications I really don’t care for. It’s similar to rules in place for North Korea, but they have more talented SysAdmins and better equipment in China by a long shot, so getting around things is harder.
2. I’d agree that SOME of the people are responsible for their elected officials in democracies - namely the ones who voted for that leader. I’d also agree that people are responsible for not having better options by allowing two-party systems to continue (though I’m not sure how to get rid of those parties at this stage). In that same vein, I’d also hold the people responsible in dictatorships as they haven’t overthrown the government that claims to speak for them. In some cases, leaders can not roll back policy implementation from a past leader due to the way the political system functions or due to treaties as I said. In the US, they kinda ARE Israel’s bitch because Israel is theirs. It’s the only safe US foothold in the area and keeps Iran in check and allows for a base of operations. An overwhelming majority of the weapons being shipped to Israel aren’t even in use against Palestine; they had all they needed to do the horrible shit they’re doing at the outset. The weapons are being used for other purposes, be those future conflicts, or to have a cache of weapons should the US need them for future issues. Is it a bad look? Sure. Is the US still going to try to exert control? Also sure. That’s how geopolitics works at present. We don’t have to like it, but everyone does it to some extent. It’s not good, but again, I don’t know how to remove it, and there are certainly worse systems.
3. I totally agree that it may be heavy-handed. It also only applies to US government-funded agencies. At present, these new samples seem to be a carrot to help relax the restrictions, and it may work as researchers are quite unhappy with Wolf since the US isn’t funding missions like they once did. Who knows if they’ll relax restrictions, but ODS data shared with other countries is freely accessible to China through those other countries, so it hasn’t been much of an issue beyond the initial grandstanding. For example, if the US shares ODS data with Canada, and Canada gives data to China, the data shared is the same. China simply can’t make requests for non-shared data (again, like ballistic schematics) or be a full partner in US projects without FBI approval. How much does that matter? I legitimately don’t know. Samples have never been affected by Wolf, however, and have been shared freely upon request to my knowledge.

But they are portrayed differently and there are entire threads about how “modern audiences” don’t like the American Pie way.

The three things you mentioned there in The Boys were not for titillation, they were played for humor or shock as was the (overwhelmingly) male nudity. And the actions are mostly done by the bad guys. A butt shot of a Starlight body double in the most recent season isn’t comparable and is a stinger to someone being raped. Sex and sexuality is portrayed poorly and as kinda gross throughout.

American Pie had a scene for titillation and the actions were carried out by the protagonists. Sex and sexuality is portrayed as fun, nothing to be ashamed of, and a normal part of life.

The OP is correct. It was never about not being able to reference creepy sex practices by bad people. That was never off the table.

Things are different now, and I would argue in a very unhealthy way.

All good! Very glad to have you back.

So… a few things in order to actually change your view. Some of these may sound like snark, but I promise they aren’t. I love CMV threads and sometimes the best way to do that is to show a weak or broken logic chain and I know those can look like an attack.

1. This may be a “politicians” thing, and not a “the West” thing. Every political leader denounces things that other countries shouldn’t do and turns a blind eye to things their friendlier countries do. Hell, every religion does it too. So do political parties. And friend groups. And marriages. No country is innocent because humans can be fucking monsters and can excuse things from the devil they know.

2. Somewhat conversely, I don’t know how much you can hold current people accountable for previous regimes. If you can, how far back? Is Biden responsible for things Trump did? How about for Nixon? How about for Taft? How about the Native tribes who were at war and trying to genocide other tribes and take slaves long before white settlers arrived? I bring this up because I’ve known a good number of diplomats and many of these political deals (one of which being providing weapons to Israel currently) was a previous regime. Breaking those agreements make you a bad “partner country” to deal with. Breaking a treaty deal is… bad news internationally. The country you broke that deal with may also have leverage on you to make sure you keep it as well. Maybe things the public doesn’t know about. You also can’t come out and say that the only reason you’re abiding by the treaty is so as to not piss off other people because it makes you seem weak internationally.

3. Data sharing in astronomy seems like a universal win and NASA does share date with China. The US shared data and samples from lunar missions past at the time. China is just barred from joint-ops missions from government-funded agencies without FBI approval which is not the same thing. This was due to some suspicion of previous data requested that weren’t about space or a mission, but about rocket launching tech that was then put into use for armaments. “It was alleged that technical information provided by American commercial satellite manufacturers to China in connection with satellite launches could have been used to improve Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile technology.” Sharing ICBM information with a hostile foreign government is generally a poor move, defensively.

Are any of those seeming like something you’d like to discuss further?

Now this is going to be largely anecdotal as many of the places I’m speaking about don’t allow studies for things like this, but… Having now lived in over a dozen countries and been on scores of ExPat compounds the world over, I can safely say that every country and race on the planet has those that think they are superior to everyone else. This isn’t an exclusive thing about the West. Heck, Canada and the US aren’t even in the top 3 worst examples I can think of. I’ve seen it in a much stronger form in Saudi Arabia. We’re talking US slavery-era levels of racism there, and that’s currently.

Re-appointed you! Wasn’t removing for any reason other than I keep a clean house and thought you were away for a good long time.

This was actually the topic I wanted to bring out as the inaugural Steelman! I’m conflicted for a few reasons.

I’d like to know more on the subject, but there’s some conflicting science on the issue. I’ve seen papers that discuss brain differences saying both that there are no differences between male and female brains, but in other papers that there are. Similarly, I’ve read papers that talked about no differences in trans brains vs. their biological sex, and also ones that state there are. It’s kinda wild and I don’t know enough about brains to confidently decode the research properly.

In a similar vein, I also know studies are not being funded (and at least two that were actively shuttered) due to not researching the subject in a manor that was explicitly pro-trans, which I have a problem with. Not that I’m anti-trans by any means, but I don’t like “activist” research. Put another way, if neutral science and review doesn’t support an issue, maybe it’s not the science that’s wrong.

What changed your mind?

As I said in other threads, I can’t even partially understand how people don’t want to have a more cohesive / logically sound opinion, so this is close to the heart for me.

I had a major opinion shift on drugs when I was in my mid 20s; I was straight-edge without knowing what straight-edge was until then. No drinking, and no drugs of any kind. My experiences with drugs were of the potheads-that-drop-out-of-school and abusive family kind. Seeing people I cared about become burnouts way too young and do themselves permanent damage really drove home how much harm they could do. As such, I used to think that there was no good reason to do so.

I had a conversation in a forum that changed things when another user spoke about something I hadn’t factored in.

Art.

I had no quarrel with the majority of art that came from drugs (and to a much lesser extent, drinking) and actively loved a lot of it. Turns out it wasn’t drugs or drinking I had a hate-on for, it was addiction in general.

And to answer my own question, I really want to do that Steelman group thingie if we get a few people in on it.

I don’t know if it’s the one you’re thinking of, but this guy does motion comic stuff and makes fun of superheroes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWBpBjdp8Hg

It looks like I will be nearly the only dissenter here. I didn’t care for the game.

PROS:

• The music and sound design were completely appropriate and fit the world.
• An initially interesting story setup.
• Some of the planets have a SUPER cool premise and are a joy to explore.
• The DLC adds some much-needed (albeit mild) horror elements.

NEUTRALS:

• Achievements are implemented, but are mostly for irrelevant side activities. Do you like using a guide to figure out how to get all the achievements? Well, you will have to.

CONS:

• This is not an adventure game, this is a puzzle game first and foremost. If you are not down with figuring out hundreds of vague Dark Souls-style lore blurbs scattered all over in order to work out how to solve environmental puzzles to progress, do not get this game.
• In the same vein, if you are not down with having a loop end before you’re done exploring an area only to have to trek all the way back there and go through everything all over again in case you missed something, do not get this game. This could be partially solved by having the logs you find on a planet permanently NOT GLOW any more after you had read their chain, or maybe a ship notice letting you know there were undecyphered texts on a planet still. I had to re-tread an astounding amount of ground just to make sure I wasn’t missing something.
• When your ship directs you to a planet that you need something from, the navigation on some of them is so obtuse that I found several places I could not find again even after dozens of visits to their planets. A map or better signposting would alleviate this.
• The characters were deeply forgettable, and you are constantly inundated with dozens of gibberish alien names so unless you follow a lore guide or take notes, you’re not going to figure out who did what. And speaking of…
• The story has a veneer of “pretty good sci-fi” but is told quite poorly. You will beat the game, get the incredibly lacklustre ending that doesn’t close out the story in any way, and watch one of many lore explanation videos that will make things click into place. The fact that the lore videos have SO MANY HITS is endemic of the fact that this is a narrative poorly delivered. You will find the lore in random order. If spread over multiple sessions like I played, this will mean you will not make some absolutely needed connections.
• Many things do not make sense within the context of the world and there is no reason for them to be happening at the time except for the hand-waving “It’s a video game” excuse, which breaks immersion. Why only now is sand being moved from one planet to another at the beginning of a cycle? Why only now is one planet being broken by lava? These (and other that I can not speak about due to spoilers) are not explained - the systems have existed for ages and would have (and should have given the environments they set up) occurred before this, but because it makes for a more interesting setup, it all happens now.
• The controls are… an acquired taste at best. Look at many of the negative reviews; many state the controls as an issue. There is a reason for this, even though I did become accustomed to them over time. I swapped to a controller and it was less bad. The keyboard and mouse controls are abysmal.
• I played the final build after the DLC came out, and even this far in development, I had some severe bugs. Controls would get “stuck” and force a game restart, achievements didn’t unlock correctly, etc.
• I wound up quitting because I didn’t know what to do next and didn’t care to watch yet another video to figure it out. There were hundreds of text logs that may or may not have been useful, and no idea how to find what was missing to help me progress without consulting guides, and it became too much. I eventually realized that I was just throwing time into a hole with nothing to show for it. It genuinely felt like it wanted me to give up and I couldn’t help but oblige. I just… stopped. I hated it. I kept doing the same thing over and over and eventually felt that I wasn’t enjoying anything. I hate the very concept of repetition as a game mechanic unless executed well; this wasn’t executed well.
• Despite quitting, I have seen all the endings. The real ending is legitimately nonsense and is basically an appeal to emotion while leaving the reality of the universe behind. It abandons the premise with what can only be described as a narrative hug that does essentially nothing, but presents the veneer of “feel good.” It is nothing. It is empty. Everyone but me loves it for this, and I can’t figure out why.

CONCLUSION: Meh? I really don’t understand the adoration people have for this game. It’s a mediocre non-combat roguelike with about 3 hour of content they’ve spread over 20 hours. It feels very much like a case of style over substance. This game genuinely makes me sad. I really wanted to like it, but… ugh. It feels like work.

They are? Where? I mod a Community and I’ve never seen anything that isn’t explicitly for Admins that can see them.

For my community ( !actual_discussion@lemmy.ca ) I would adore this as long as it’s available to Mods of the community the downvotes are in and Admins of that instance only. It should absolutely not be visible for normal users.

We are hit with downvotes nearly every time we post a new thread on anything even remotely controversial so it would really help us filter out people who simply downvote to bury the thread and contribute nothing whatsoever to the discussion.

If you disagree, we want to know why and discuss that with you. It’s the entire point of our Community.

Heck, we actively made it a rule to not downvote unless the user is not adding to the discussion, and that it should not be used as a disagree button. People generally ignore this, however.

That or just add the moderator option to disable downvotes for Communities. It would be an incredibly handy toggle.

EDIT: For an example as to why it should be implemented, see this post you’re currently viewing where I give reasons, how it’s been impacting us, some alternatives, and people hit the “fuck you” button with zero discussion and that’s all. This is the problem.

Figured I’d make a new reply in hopes the system notifies of a response.

1. It’d be cool to do an instance, but I don’t have the time (or maybe resources) to manage such a thing. Even getting help to manage one Community is hard. We have had two mods vanish, and I can only imagine running an instance being much harder. Our largest issue is actually getting replies instead of drive-by-downvotes. New threads that aren’t pretty obviously tuned to the attitudes of Lemmy at large get buried quickly in no-discussion downvotes. For example, the thread about overpopulation was insanely downvoted, with very little actual discussion occurring. It was reported to admins, and I was told multiple times that it was a fascist dogwhistle. I have no idea how or why this is, because nobody explained it or responded to questions. I replied with data, and was told in no uncertain terms to fuck off in PMs. People don’t respond because they don’t see the thread due to downvoting, won’t reply if they do see it due to dogpiling, or can’t back up their opinions and stop responding after making insults. This has been my experience of trying to discuss anything of substance on Lemmy. It’s a huge problem. I would absolutely help run a new instance, but I couldn’t spearhead the effort.

2. I like the multiple vote system, but my preference would be to simply disable downvotes altogether and leave it at “upvote only.” I don’t think we’ll ever get through to users that a downvote isn’t a “disagree button” to many people. Disabling downvotes would have to be done instance-side, or so I’ve been told. I don’t think the entire instance wishes to do that however. I’ve requested more Community controls, but there’s been a distinct lack of them at present.

I’m totally open to any ideas to help though!

A trash heap where it fucking belongs.

There isn’t a thing that you can put ketchup on that a good BBQ sauce or hot sauce isn’t better on. I will die on this hill.

So… it isn’t ALWAYS a fallacy. In its purest, a slippery-slope argument is of the following form:

“If A, which some people want, is done or allowed, then B, which most people don’t want, will inevitably follow. Therefore, let’s not do or allow A.”

The fallacy occurs when that form is not fleshed out by sufficient reasons to believe that B will inevitably follow from A, such as in the following examples:

• “The US should put the Ten Commandments into schools. If they don’t, then everyone will be worshipping Satan within a few generations."
• “We’ve got to stop them from banning pornography. Once they ban one form of literature, they will never stop. Next thing you know, they will be banning all books!”

In these examples, the conclusion does not follow deductively from the premise. Nor is any reason given to believe that a chain of events set in motion by the act described in the premise will inevitably lead to what’s described in the conclusion. Heck, the above examples are not even good inductive logic.

So you’re absolutely correct in saying that not all slippery-slope arguments are fallacies, it just takes logic in between, and that’s something a lot of people struggle with.

I do use discussion and debate as linked terms, yes, but they aren’t the same. I’d like to see more of both.

Debate like how you’re used to seeing “Debate Teams” engage in? To me it’s as useless as most online commentary. They’re bending rules to steamroll or Gish Gallop opposition. It’s not interesting or enlightening and there’s a distinct lack of substance.

Real debate with (as you mentioned) citations, respect, a point, and actual experts? Love it. At my college there was a debate between two professors who had differing opinions about research in their field and it was awesome.

But there CAN be value in internet discussion. Moreover, I feel there SHOULD be value. I’ve experienced it many times in the past and even somewhat recently in this community. When it happens and you get someone who thinks differently than yourself, and who treats you like a real person instead of “the opposition,” it’s absolutely wonderful.

Looks like what I’d want to use, but to reach broad support it needs a Windows client as well.

Well, it’s definitely more wrong , so there’s that.