Notices by The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz), page 4

@polarisera Oh it’s perfectly doable. You can even do ancient Greek metres. Takes a good hand at poetry though. One which seems to be largely missing these days.

@Piss_Ant Health is an absolutely fantastic thing to have.

I remember when I first got into sport seriously, the difference in how I felt when I finally started to get proper fit was mind blowing.

@Piss_Ant We’re so freaking happy that you’re sober too.
And that you’re happy about it.

And hope you’re happy that we’re happy about you being happy about it.

Image cropped from original screenshot posted by @Ladyfat

All right class, here’s a lesson on language trickery, courtesy of Contrapoints.

Contrapoints has a goal, and that is to make people think Keen is a dangerous individual who shouldn’t be listened to, or given a platform. But Contrapoints also has a problem, in that Keen hasn’t actually said or done anything that would make her such a dangerous individual. So what can he do? He can lie.

But he doesn’t want to lie straight up, because ordinary lies are easy to spot, and it would take away any deniability he might have. So he sneaks in a dishonest claim by using a specific type of subordinate clause, and this allows him to pretend that his dishonest claim is in fact an established fact.

He says:
…she’s a full-on eliminationist who denies the existence of trans people.

That little word there, “who”, is effectively the equivalent of “=”. In formulating his words like this, Contrapoints is saying that being an “eliminationist” is the same as not believing in the concept of “trans people”.

This little clause does two things. It maintains that:
1 - “eliminationist” means someone who does not believe that there’s any such thing as “trans”
2 - those who don’t believe there’s any such thing as “trans” want trans-identified people to die/disappear

And it does so in a manner, which suggests that both of these propositions are unquestionable, obvious, well-established facts.

Contrapoints apparently has a degree in philosophy. I therefore find it unlikely that he wouldn’t know what he’s doing here. Obviously then, the only conclusion left for me is that he is deliberately engaging in trickery through his language. So if there’s anyone here who should not be listened to, it’s Contrapoints. Not Keen.

(It’s also worth noting, that in saying “ PP is not a ‘valid concerns’ transphobe”, he smuggles in the claim “people with ‘valid concerns’ are transphobic”, as if it was an established fact. Just more of the same tactics.)

@Ilongedformuskrats What happened?
Was it a planned action or were you accosted while minding your business?

@Ilongedformuskrats Damn. That’s straight up political violence.

I honestly think this will only escalate as long as there’s no crackdown and all the major voices keep patting them on the back and telling them how threatened “trans” people are.

Good that you’re all right.

@FeartnTired My impression is that is what it means.
But my observation seems to be that people behave as if it means “on that day at the latest”.

So I thought I’d ask.

@FeartnTired Someone suggested that people use it as a synonym for “by the end of business hours on x day”, just skipping the middle part.

Much like “half past four” turns into “half four” when the middle word is left out.

@Piss_Ant Oh I already have one, I compete in a sport (normally, haven’t done any competitions for over half a year now…). And as soon as I’ve built a routine to doing it it feels good. The problem is getting over the initial 2-4 weeks of convincing my mind that “yes, this is what I want to do, remember how good it feels??”

I actually have several things I enjoy doing on my list. My main sport, but then also gym (weights & for mobility yoga), when the weather is warm enough also running, swimming, cycling and hiking. But all of them require the mindset of doing them regularly, as just a normal everyday thing. It’s so easy to fill that time with other things, that are easier to get around to.

@Piss_Ant insert envy emoticon

I’ve been trying to get a sport routine going again. It’s just so bloody hard to get back going every time I fall out of the routine, no matter what reason.
Annoyingly big part of it is getting into the habit mentally. My body could absolutely handle it, my mind just refuses to realise it until it’s forced to.

@Flick @Piss_Ant What???

That’s definitely not the one I heard about.
That sounds absolutely ridiculous.

@Piss_Ant What’s the C-11 again? I know I’ve seen mentions of something like that but it was a while ago and now I’m drawing a blank.

@Flick @Piss_Ant I hate sloppily worded legislation, and so few people understand when I rail against it. Way too many people seem to be fine with the idea that it’ll be up to the courts to figure out what the law “meant”.

From the sound of it, sounds like VPNs will become a lot more popular if this thing passes.

@Cousin_Isobel I can’t shake the feeling that he’s dishonest and perfectly willing to present a story in a misleading way (perhaps even willing to lie) if he thinks it’ll serve his purposes.

Not that everything he says is automatically wrong. Just that I wouldn’t take anything he says as is, without verifying through a non-related source first.

@Piss_Ant @FemaleIsNotAFeeling We should definitely get together for bears and football/(proper) football then.

And buy a couple of stress balls each so we have something to scratch.

@Piss_Ant @FemaleIsNotAFeeling I’ve actually been called a man by someone ON Spinster.

Apparently my thinking was insufficiently womanly.
So how do you do, Fellow Man? Nice to meet you.

@Kay @Piss_Ant Nope. Never been an issue.

Neither has it been an issue to any of the other liquorice and salty liquorice fiends I know.
There are entire nations where people practically grow up on this stuff and never have serious issues.

@Piss_Ant @Kay I think that might just be her.

Speaking as someone who has no problem downing a whole bag of the stuff, let alone the salty version.

(MK & Alex, question for you at the end!)

Looks like my prediction of Europe-wide hate speech legislation has already come true, though not exactly literally (enforcement to follow this and next year).
The Digital Services Act, a law which would obligate service providers on the Internet to remove speech from their services, or face massive fines.

Upshot: expect more, not less censorship of social media when it comes to “offensive” speech. Even more suppression of gender-critical views, or criticisms of religions, or “wrong” political views in general.

Quotes from the article:

The stated purpose of the law is to end the supposed “Wild West” of the internet and replace it with a rules-based digital order across the EU’s member states. The sweeping piece of legislation includes an obligation for platforms to evaluate and remove illegal content, such as “hate speech,” as fast as possible. It also mandates that the largest social networks assess and mitigate “systemic risks,” which may include the nebulous concept of “disinformation.”

Removing illegal content sounds innocent enough. It’s not. “Illegal content” is defined very differently across Europe. … The Digital Services Act will essentially oblige Big Tech to act as a privatized censor on behalf of governments — censors who will enjoy wide discretion under vague and subjective standards. Add to this the EU’s own laws banning Russian propaganda and plans to toughen EU-wide hate speech laws, and you have a wide-ranging, incoherent, multilevel censorship regime operating at scale.

The obligation to assess and mitigate risks relates not only to illegal content, though. Lawful content could also come under review if it has “any actual or foreseeable negative effect” on a number of competing interests, including “fundamental rights,” “the protection of public health and minors” or “civic discourse, the electoral processes and public security.

But given the legal uncertainty, and the risk of huge fines, platforms are likely to further err on the side of safety and adopt even more restrictive policies than required by the new law.

Serious question to @mk and @alex : Do you think this will have an effect on Spinster’s accessibility in the EU area?

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-12-23/europe-digital-services-act-social-media-regulation-free-speech