antonim

The “actual” story/plot (message?) only really came together after watching a long YouTube video (actually, I read the transcript / script as a blog post so it wasn’t as long for me to get through it).

Can you link it? If you still remember what/where it was...

it’s something that you’re actually supposed to think about while watching it

Says who? IMO the strongest aspect of Lain is the vibe (style, sound, art, the whole world). The overall narrative is jarringly structured, a bit chaotic, with sudden introductions and resolutions of subplots, and especially on the first watch it's futile to try to treat it as some sort of a (solvable) puzzle, or, even worse, a philosophical tractate. Not that it might not be treated that way on a rewatch sometime down the line (though honestly I wouldn't expect that to be possible even then), but the first time around it has to draw you into the world and into Lain's mind. Just relax, make yourself comfortable, and let it be an irrational, intimate experience that it's probably meant to be. (Or, well, don't, if you've already given up.)

the small minority of retards did the salute

The words "za dom spremni" are the salute, and everyone participated in that, Thompson initiated it.

There was little to no actual anti-communism at play at that point (although it was still relevant symbolically). Both sides were already capitalist. Yugoslavia had been on the path of liberalisation for quite a while before the breakup.

Btw, that excuse that Thompson and his fans regularly use is bullshit, the phrase was picked by Croatian extremists (especially the paramilitary HOS) in the 90s because it was used by ustašas (fascists) half a century earlier in the first place.

unless the ustashe independently invented it

They did, they weren't instructed by German nazis on what words to use. Not that it makes any difference, ustašas were just the local variant of fascists.

That's true. But people pointing out that the whole attempt is absurd and senseless also reinforces the point that current AI isn't what companies tout it as.

then you likely live in a bubble of tech nerds

Well, we are on Lemmy...

Also it’s not like this is some important topic with societal implications. It’s just a technical question that I had (and still doesn’t) that doesn’t mandate researching.

So why "research" it with AI in the first place, if you don't care about the results and don't even think it's worth researching? This is legitimately absurd to read.

are you comfortable with a single corporation having control over this sort of service?

Honestly? A tiny bit more than a single country. I have at least some miniscule control over the corporation through voting and local regulations that international corporations must follow, whereas I have absolutely no formal influence on US govt.

Which govt? I'm not comfortable with the idea of the current US govt having control over this sort of service.

This is mainly why I signed it. I honestly don't care about new games, and the whole narrative around the campaign is frankly infantile, but it should at the very least be a start towards fighting such practices in general.

He has audiobooks? For reals? OMFG.

He reads/records other people's books and puts it on his YT channel that's linked on his profile, it's not his own writing.

I guess I should've posted the reddit comments earlier on in the comment chain.

seemed very subjective

Him literally saying it is subjective? Operating from a US address is subjective? His language (including his natural American pronunciation that you can hear in his audiobooks) and the language of all of his sources is subjective?

And yeah, sorry chief, CIA saying that people saying bad stuff about CIA is SSSR propaganda is a bit too much even for me. I'll go ahead and say it - suggesting that a tankie, despite the actual evidence in his online activity, has simply got to be a non-American because clearly he just hates USA too much, is a very American-brained and Red-Scare-ish idea.

I've no problem with you being skeptical, but consider the actual examples:

What's messed up, is that my US cell carrier, recently told me that my currently working 4g Xiaomi phone "won't be supported" in like 3 months. They aren't even turning off 4g, its just I suspect they're trying to find ways to make sure chinese phones aren't usable in the US.

They can really arrest all of us. Police and prison budgets have been skyrocketing for 30+ years, its the biggest item in most city and state budgets.

Leaf through his other comments as well, let me know what's your impression.