Aesthetics, plus the seductive appeal that pre-modern, pre-liberal-democratic societies (when the governments were authoritarian, the women were submissive, and the men “were men”) have for reactionaries, incels, and cryptofacists.

While I’d personally argue that the quality of the character development, writing, and storytelling in the show doesn’t even achieve the level of “fine”, you’re right in that 1) people should be allowed to enjoy things in peace and 2) RoP in particular attracts criticism which is often hyperbolic. At the same time, however, there should also be the freedom to honestly critique a piece of media without being labeled as a hater, obsessive fanboy, or a neckbeard, etc. Especially when dealing with an IP as treasured as Tolkien’s.

Whether you find this article excessive in its criticism or not, the writer makes the very valid point that the media landscape today is becoming increasingly saturated with this 'memberberries/nostalgia/callback type of storytelling, along with the constant stream of prequels and sequels based on this formula. People are growing tired of it, and Rings of Power has it deep in its bones.

For a good examination of the showrunners’ over-reliance on referencing the Jackson movie trilogy in lieu of interesting, original storytelling, I highly recommend this YouTube video. I think it really gets to the core of why so many people find RoP frustrating or disappointing as a show in its own right, let alone as a Tolkien adaptation.

Hard to argue with him about the JJ-Abramsification of all things, or the perplexing fact that modern audiences appear to lap it up.

Watching season one of RoP felt undeniably reminiscent of watching The Force Awakens and almost hearing the audible *ding as yet another callback got checked off the list. It’s not art any more; it’s just content to be consumed.

Could you share any specific examples? I haven’t seen or read any instances of him being that off the mark.

All true, but that doesn’t disprove my point. The risk was non-zero, so it was still worth investigating.

Yes but the difference is that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that prolonged exposure to RF waves might possibly cause some harmful effects. The WHO didn’t categorize radio frequency radiation as a potential carcinogen based on no evidence at all:

https://www.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/pr208_E.pdf

The possibility of there being a link was not absurd, per se.

To be fair, the evidence about a link between cell phone radiation and cancer has been inconclusive for quite some time. After all, a series of inconclusive or null results doesn’t mean there is categorically no link – it could equally mean that more research is needed.

That said, I do agree that if there were a casual link in this case then it would have made itself apparent by now, given the huge increase in cell phone usage over the past few decades.

Ear buds or IEMs typically have a much higher sensitivity than full sized headphones. The higher the output power of your PC’s headphone out, the louder your earbuds will be at any given volume %.

There isn’t anyway around this except to manually change the volume whenever you use your earbuds.

Actually, it’s nothing more than lazy slander pepetuated by duopoly apologists.

There’s zero proof Stein is “Putin backed”. She once sat at the same table at an international conference and barely spoke to the man. That’s it.

Meanwhile, AOC has been publicly performing as a genuine progressive for her voters and constituents all while voting and acting like a corporate Democrat behind the scenes.

1. Israel primarily needs bombs, and lots of them. No other country could provide Israel with bombs and planes on the scale that the US currently supplies them. A US arms embargo would force Israel to use up its current stockpiles, and could seriously affect their war effort.

2. Israel has initiated all of the recent military strikes in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon and despite this, none of Israel’s neighbors, not even Iran, want escalation to a full scale conflict. The idea that they would all suddenly attack Israel following a US arms embargo is sheer fantasy.

3. The US State department is imposing restrictions on Israel’s use of US weaponry? Uh, since when? They are not currently imposing any restrictions, even though they should be under the Leahy Laws, so imposing an embargo would not change Israel’s behavior in this regard whatsoever. All this talk of being “in compliance with international humanitarian law” when it comes to Israel is a total PR farce.

They allowed the family of an Israeli hostage on stage. Why not afford Palestinian Americans the same courtesy to have one of their own represented? Hell, they could have stood alongside the hostage’s family to show solidarity and hope for peace in the future.

The Uncommitted movement did everything the “right way” – they went through the official channels and offered the DNC a list of speakers and gave them permission to vet the speech however they wanted. But apparently that was still too big of an ask.

It’s a perfectly good source. Is there anything about their argument that you find unsound, or is it simply because it makes you uncomfortable?

I’m not advocating either way, although the horrors I’ve seen committed in Gaza are on a whole other level than anything I’ve witnessed before.

I wouldn’t blame anyone who votes third party, or even sits this one out.

I’m not advocating either way, although the horrors I’ve seen happening in Gaza are on a whole other level than anything I’ve witnessed before.

I wouldn’t blame anyone who votes third party, or even sits this one out

Sorry, that’s completely wrong. Israel is still extremely reliant on the US military hardware – tanks, planes, missiles, guns, you name it. The vast majority of the bombs being dropped on Gaza come from the US, also.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/04/1242911786/a-closer-look-at-u-s-military-support-for-israel

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/us/israel-gaza-bombs.html

Also, the Biden administration merely delayed one shipment of 2,000 lb bombs. Netanyahu claimed that the Biden administration was holding back more, but this was just a PR move. The US is still happily sending tank engines, planes, guns, and smaller bombs to Israel.

Al in all, the Biden administration has done very little to effectively restrain Netanyahu. The “bear hug” strategy has been an unmitigated failure.

Huh, not paywalled for me but here’s an archived version anyway:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240821013836/https://theintercept.com/2024/08/20/dnc-harris-gaza-uncommitted-protest/

Smacking a muslim woman protesting a genocide on the head with a WE LOVE JOE sign is a very specific type of irony.

Did any of the main news channels in the US even cover this panel? I haven’t seen any.

The media and online punditry seem far more happy to obsess over a few Hamas-flag-waving protesters outside than to listen to experienced doctors relay the horrors they saw in Gaza. What a shocker.

An arms embargo in some form is literally the only leverage the US has that could change Netanyahu’s mind, at this stage. Personally, I don’t think Kamala has the guts for it.

A translation of the top caption says

The last Iron Swords survey was conducted between the dates 07-11.8.24 led by the data collection and analysis desk at the Institute for National Security Studies. The fieldwork was carried out by the “iPanel” Institute, during which 772 men and women were interviewed on the Internet and by telephone in the Hebrew language and 200 in the Arabic language, which constitute a representative sample of the adult Israeli population in Israel aged 18 and over. The maximum sampling error for the entire sample is 3.5% ± at a 95% confidence level.