Earlier quoted context omitted.
I take it you are a fan of the Laundry Files then? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files
You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment.
Or your head catches fire?
Cthulhu Ventures
71–80 of 80 posts
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#72I appreciate their commitment to the bit. I wish their team included slightly more diversity however.
I just had mandatory diversity training, and TBH I'm genuinely confused about what is considered acceptable by its proponents. If your comment is based on diversity of gender, it seems to run afoul of several "diversity" tenets I was just taught: - It infers their physical gender based on their appearance. - It conflates physical gender with gender identity. - It infers race based on physical appearance. - It infers…
What they want is that you need a diversity counselor for every action or endeavor you undertake in daily life. So it is deliberately confusing, to make it impossible to navigate without a gender studies degree.
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#73Slightly off-topic, but is "The Call of Cthulu" still worth reading? I haven't read it yet, so I'm curious if it's somewhat dated, or tame according to modern sensibilities.
It's not what you expect and probably other of his stories are better. But it became the most famous one of his tales. You can get a copy of most of them together: http://arkhamarchivist.com/free-complete-lovecraft-ebook-noo...
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#74Slightly off-topic, but is "The Call of Cthulu" still worth reading? I haven't read it yet, so I'm curious if it's somewhat dated, or tame according to modern sensibilities.
There is much that has been done since Lovecraft's work that has vastly improved on the basics, and his writing feel a bit rough to me.
John Dies at the End might be a good read, though keep in mind it is also comedic (so dark comedy), so if you're looking for that serious horror tone then you might want to look elsewhere.
My friends have played a video game called Bloodborne and they claim it's the best cosmic horror story they have seen. Supposedly to really get the story though, you have to either spend a lot of time trying to piece it out by playing it, or just read/watch a synopsis.
Synopsis if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjWOy6ioVHI&feature=emb_logo
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#75I appreciate their commitment to the bit. I wish their team included slightly more diversity however.
I'm assuming you mean racial, sexual, ethnic, which is rubbish. There's greater diversity WITHIN the groups than BETWEEN them. Categorizing diversity based on superficial traits is WRONG, bordering on racist. It's the fundamental racist idea. (Dont get hung up on the word racist, we are talking about quantifying diversity) Genuine diversity is done by selecting on competence across individuals, NOT BY SKIN COLOR, GEN…
Jordan Peterson is a favored voice of the alt-right and his views are not generally consistent with evidence based research. [1] [2]
Recognizing that people have different life experiences based on their gender, race, etc. is not racist. The goal is not homogenizing everyone and everything. You cannot recreate that sort of diversity within a single group. That isn't to say there isn't diversity within that group - obviously there is. But the idea that you can have more diversity in a group made up of all white men than one that has a larger mix of genders, races, and ethnicities is, if I'm being totally honest, absurd in its basic premise.
Understanding that there are differences between people isn't racist. I cannot respect cultural differences that I refuse to see because I'm "colorblind." I can't respect different life experiences and difficulties faced if I refuse to see them. I can't accept differing inputs that are fundamentally based on those different life experiences if I am unable to modulate my treatment of someone based on who they are.
It's a common misconception that the way to beat racism, sexism, etc. is to be "colorblind" or "genderblind" - but it isn't. One size fits all approaches are fundamentally flawed, and ultimately result in the group in power attempting to force everyone else to conform to their mold. This isn't exclusive to white men - it's just generally the group in power wherever they are. You see the same behavior with different outcomes all over the world, so I'm not framing this as a "white men are bad". You have to treat people fairly - I should pay a black person as much as a white person - but if the topic of racial issues in America comes up, I should take the input of the black person over that of a white person. If I was in Japan and that came up vis a vis treatment of foreigners there, I should take the input of the white person over the Japanese person.
Fair treatment means equal treatment in many ways, but not all of them. Some experiences and viewpoints are impossible to recreate if you are not part of that group. That diversity can never be recreated by a homogenous group.
1. https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter 2. http://gap.hks.harvard.edu/impact-gender-diversity-performan... (There's a very large body of research on this. Hundreds of studies. I have picked two based on them being high on my google results, but if you really want I can link dozens or hundreds more.)
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#76I appreciate their commitment to the bit. I wish their team included slightly more diversity however.
I just had mandatory diversity training, and TBH I'm genuinely confused about what is considered acceptable by its proponents. If your comment is based on diversity of gender, it seems to run afoul of several "diversity" tenets I was just taught: - It infers their physical gender based on their appearance. - It conflates physical gender with gender identity. - It infers race based on physical appearance. - It infers…
You're overthinking this.
Humans have to make basic baseline assumptions when interacting with people. This is normal, and there is no majority voice in the community that advocates for increasing diversity that is saying you can't do this. The 'DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER?' stuff is is an out of the norm reaction that has largely been co-opted into a meme by those that are against increased diversity as an attempt to ridicule it. The same with the 'identifying as an attack helicopter' crap. There are definitely extreme voices, but they are a small minority.
The goal for those who are pushing for diversity and continuing to combat sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. is not to alienate everyone and force them to never believe anything about someone's race, gender, etc. unless explicitly informed. The goal is to make sure you respect that sometimes appearances don't match reality.
I have a lot of good friends. Some of them happen to be trans. I have never seen any of them get upset at someone who misgendered them prior to transition, as long as they made an effort to correctly gender them after being informed. During transition, largely the same. Post-transition it's usually quite obvious, but I still see them exercise patience, at least at first, if the person's demeanor isn't hostile.
As for bringing up the topics - they might not want to rehash it with you, or anyone. That means that if they ask you to drop it or are otherwise expressing discomfort with the subject, do so. Don't debate it right around them (and I'm guilty of this one!). But that doesn't mean don't discuss the issues. They can ignore comment threads on the internet they don't want to read, and those of us not facing those issues need to be cognizant of them and discuss them. In person, not so much - especially in the workplace, where they might not have any way to escape the discussion.
The goal isn't to be the thought police. The goal is to be courteous to others.
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#77The percentage put into advertising is kinda low
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#78"Our goal, as Cthulhu, is to support initiatives designed to rise from the dark depths of R’lyeh (metaphorically speaking!) and end up destroying or at least disrupting, some market paradigm." Happy to maintain social paradigms though - only one woman on then entire team...
Well, Lovecraft was not exactly a progressive either.
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#79"Our goal, as Cthulhu, is to support initiatives designed to rise from the dark depths of R’lyeh (metaphorically speaking!) and end up destroying or at least disrupting, some market paradigm." Happy to maintain social paradigms though - only one woman on then entire team...
What would you suggest they do to resolve this?
Re: Cthulhu Ventures
#80Cthulhu Mythos is the best example of open source in the genre we now know as Weird Fiction.
All Hail, Cthulhu!