User talk:Smerdis of Tlön

I've noticed something
You're a linguist (right?) and you've made lots of language-related edits in the past, but more recently you've been mostly focusing on political commentary. That reminds me of a certain someone, but I can't for the life of me remember who...--Кřěĵ (ṫåɬк) 14:15, 4 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Noam Chomsky? 141.134.75.236 (talk) 15:07, 4 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I tend to do about half and half of each here. It depends on how the spirit moves me.  I am not a linguist; in fact I am something much, much, worse: a conlanger.  If you're interested, most of my conlangs are documented here. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 04:55, 5 November 2018 (UTC)
 * @BoN That was the joke, yes.
 * @Smerdis Interesting. Can you read Cree?--Кřěĵ (ṫåɬк) 05:44, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I wish. I do have a copy of Valentine's Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar, though.  The used bookstore called me when someone brought it in, saying that I was the only person he knew that would ever buy it. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 01:53, 8 November 2018 (UTC)

Cernunnos
Hey, I had to do some research on fertility, life, and death deity for a role-playing game I staff (behind myself, the cultural and social elite) and was having a lot of trouble. The deity could not be anything like Mother Earth or Gaia, but had to be a masculine deity about how new life springs from the fertile corpses of rotting wood and viscera liquefying under the sun.

Glad I came across your article on Cernunnos as I've been sick and not on top of my game looking up deities and had not realized just how little evidence of Cernunnos being a deity. I'd known about the Triple Goddess and Horned God being way over applied when talking about religions and being a new movement, but had no idea just how much of a new religious movement neopaganism was. It makes sense, given that the original pagans could not read/write or compare thematic similarities between deities across cultures throughout the whole world.

Just wanted to give you some props!

Eponymous (talk) 08:35, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Glad to be of assistance. For a "fertility, life, and death deity", I would suggest the Etruscan, who becomes  in Latin.  If that's too obscure there's always Persephone/Proserpina. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 01:15, 10 November 2018 (UTC)
 * On the Cernunnos front, it really is a shame that we know so little about Celtic deities, aside from the Tuatha, and even that isn't much.
 * If you want a feminine Freya is always a good option, though she's less a "nature goddess," and more a "goddess of fertility, war, magic, and death." Seriously, Freya is criminally underrated. RoninMacbeth (talk) 05:44, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Long Delayed Answer

 * Sorry for the delay, the language is Sekele, a Khoisan language. I'm currently learning Juǀ'hoan. Mí má kȍhà hńg gǀȕì ō ǁȁhìn-ā ō hȁ ō gǀè gù ǀxūúnnu. (talk) 04:07, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Translation
Scribo hunc translationem de Carolo Magno. Habesne ullas cogitationes? 21:10, 30 November 2018 (UTC)

Question about Christianity
Hello stranger. I saw you on Saloon Bar mentioning you are a Christian but you couldn't be a Roman Catholic for various reasons, like papal infallibility. What kind of Christian are you (if you don't mind me asking)? I'm a Roman Catholic, but I'm actually pretty sceptical about stuff like papal infallibility (I know it is one of those things Catholics are "supposed" to believe, but a heck of a lot of Catholics, probably even the majority in some places, actually don't believe more than half the things we are "supposed" to.) DepressedAustralian (talk) 06:11, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm a Methodist, myself. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 19:32, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * United Methodist Church? Or something else? What do you think of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral? That's one idea associated with Methodism that I've always felt some attraction to. DepressedAustralian (talk) 00:52, 6 February 2019 (UTC)
 * United Methodist, and yes, I am familiar with the Quadrilateral. It is covered by the Disciple bible study class put out by the UMC, which was refreshing by its lack of extremism and acceptance of scholarship. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 02:13, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Sounds interesting. Their "Disciple bible study class", would there by any chance happen to be an online version of it somewhere? (I'm in Australia and there is no UMC here... the main Methodist denomination here is the Uniting Church, which is actually a merger of the Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists. I think there are also some independent Methodists, who either didn't want to participate in the merger, or belonged to smaller Methodist churches, but they are rare enough that I've never bumped into them...) DepressedAustralian (talk) 06:10, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

Do you wanna discuss paganism and Christianity.
I myself am an odinist. For one, it's much more natural than worshipping a religion that came out of a desert (for me at least but I'm european descended.) If I had to choose a denomination I would go with catholicism. Why have you chosen the methodist church ? What's it like ? Have you been sexually abused by a priest ? (i'm joking). 2601:CA:8200:34A:34ED:B2AF:8894:54AE (talk) 12:19, 25 March 2019 (UTC)
 * If you want to, fine with me. I used to be a Wiccan myself; then in the 1980s Wicca got heavily politicized and a lot less 'witchy'.  I joined the Methodists specifically out of convenience, and because of the general absence of right-wing politics and dispensationalist bullshit in that church.  Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 18:17, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

I hate judges
Look here, you damn bastard. I hate people who judge others by putting everyone inside a “pen”. This makes my blood fucking boil and your essay on cockfighting made it boil so much i could fry a shrimp.

Oh, now I can’t support multiculturalism and oppose bullfighting because I would be a hypocrite you say? Because i eat meat and i and I’m cruel when supporting the industry? How fucking cute. Well, you make a mistake that the world is mostly gray. The world is gray, black, white, and the sliding scale of morals is a fucking lie, to quote Worm, except I added a few insults to show just how pissed I am there.

The line is simple. I myself only eat fish meat because I want no minimize suffering in animals. I believe one day we will be able to create artificial meat, so animal suffering will become irrelevant. The point is, I take no pleasure in eating meat. Oh sure, I can say it’s tasty, just like some humans think human meat is tasty (Apparently it’s made of pork). But do I like the implications an animal died to fill my belly? Hell no. That’s why I think even if we can’t stop killing animals now, because that would disrupt the human economy to fucking hell, it’s possible to make a transition. A slow one, yes, but possible. One where less chickens need to be killed and more artificial meat is made. That kind of bullshit.

The thing is, cockfighting is no “killing for meat”. It’s human beings taking pleasure on the death of an animal. I myself refuse to call the trash that like seeing a living being die for their entertainment humans, much less animals, so let’s call them just trash here because even bacteria have their uses in the environment, shall we. The suffering is not only prolonged from a normal culling, it’s made an exhibition: Everyone laughs at death. So fucking funny. It’s culture don’t you see? Except, no.

Cockfighting is outlawed in many fucking places. And i mean a lot. The only places that have it the law generally only “tolerate” it, as in, it is allowed, but it’s a controversial topic inside and outside. To the point where many people are opposed to it. So, for something in a culture, it’s very unpopular. What gives? Well, the explanation is simple: Evolution. Or rather, society evolution.

To quote Ulysses from new Vegas “War. War never changes. But man changes.” that is perfect here. Even if a culture exists, living in it doesn’t mean adhering to it. Living in Brazil doesn’t mean I suck the cock of Saci Pererê and being born in Italy doesn’t make me me a spaghetti sucking bitch. The fact that people oppose cockfighting and are against it in cultures that it exists to this day, same as cultures outside it that have a few in favor of it doesn’t mean a person will like and approve of it on the same time. This is basically me. This is the proof you are, simply and put,wrong.

I will, and I repeat, I will not accept something as right or wrong just because a “culture” said so. I respect a person traditions. If they, by tradition, require you to cut your ear at 18 years old to live in a village, that’s fine. By that doesn’t mean that can’t be changed or that i have to approve of it. And most importantly, I have not to accept something as part of that culture just because if “always existed there”. That’s not an argument. The moment you use your culture to justify doing bad things to others for amusement, be it human, animal, or even a bacteria, you are literal living trash for me. Now, I’m a pacifist, for the most part. I don’t hurt people, unless it’s life or death, and even then I always avoid fatal blows. I won’t pull a gun on someone because they are snorting coke on the street.

But if I discover someone is doing something to animals for fun, something that can only be called living torture... them fuck off. I’m going to free them. Putting animals in enclosed space and forcing them to fight for amusement is not culture. It’s laughing at death. Too bad that outside of circle of 30 or so people nobody else is laughing there.

And please, if you think i am a hypocrite, at least know that i have already stopped eating most meat, adopted 8 dogs dying on the street, nursed a bird to health and donated to animal preservation causes AND planted trees on my park AND never trashed the street AND i capture cockroaches and rats that enter my house and free them instead of killing AND never killed an insect outside of the ones that could genuinely kill my family (A few wasp with the dengue virus). What have YOU done towards Mother Nature, huh? Choke on a fucking dick. Judgemental prick.
 * What exactly was that outburst supposed to do? What does it accomplish? 01:50, 16 February 2020 (UTC)
 * One of the points missed here is that cockfighting just wouldn't work unless the chickens weren't already indelibly programmed for it. They obey their burnt-in internal programs, and we do likewise. I was curious about the allusion to Saci Pererê; that's a story I was not familiar with, and I'm always happy to learn something new. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱs. 03:57, 16 February 2020 (UTC)

Interlingua
I see that you’re a Conlanger. Have you tried Giuseppe Peano’s Interlingua? Leucippus Talk 11:57, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Cloned meat
I want to sell you on the benefit of it. Especially cloned beef. So, in the tradional system, animals are reared en masse and then slaughtered, butchered, and sent to stores. Cloned meat would basically cut out the rearing process, which is especially long for cows and bulls, and significantly streamline the butchering process. Obviously the actual killing would be eliminated. It wouldn't eliminate all agriculture by the way, since dairy products would still require livestock (I don't know of a viable replacement for the dairy industry at the moment). Now, as to the ethical and moral concerns. While I am somewhat compelled by the idea of humane animal treatment, ultimately this is a minor issue when designing a production chain. I'd rather focus on the practical concerns, as I did in the saloon bar, i.e. cost, production efficiency, and emissions. 01:21, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
 * My basic problem I have with it is that we'd be handing over even more power to JBS, Tyson, and other food conglomerates.  I can't imagine that the tech needed to make this stuff would be cheap or available to small operations.  I suspect the recipes and cell lines needed to make it would be jealously guarded.  And somehow I suspect it would not have the right taste or mouthfeel.  I'd rather see ordinary agriculture be somehow deconglomerated and made more local.  The USA has millions of acres of marginal land best suited for grazing.  A return to older means of production might be welcome.  But if greenhouse gas from livestock really concerns you, step one is to bring them all indoors so you can scrub the air from the barns. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱsos. 01:39, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Emissions are only one element of it. (I'd like to point out, again, that emissions from fertilizer and livestock make up less than less than a fraction of overall emisions) I just don't like inefficiency existing because why? Romantization of a idealized bygone era? So? I don't care. So some company doesn't have to improve their supply lines? So? I don't give a fuck about their happiness. I care about optimizing socioeconomic systems. As for this course of action contributing to the oligopoly um... Why does everyone assume my suggestions are supposed to happen on their own? Is it some kind of problem with human cognition? I mean I'm an avowed anti-capitalist for fuck's sake, yet people act like I just want one reform and then to call it a day. I want to overhaul EVERYTHING. Every reform I suggest should be assumed to be part of a New Deal style plan unless stated otherwise. Venting aside, obviously I would want to break up the oligopoly and replace it with local and regional WSDEs which in turn are held to strong trade union standards. Why? Because it works better of course. Why else would I want it?  01:58, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I have never read your manifesto, so I don't know what your whole program is. Tnese things tend to be implemented one at a time, incrementally, and I think there are also sound reasons to do it that way. Wake up in the morning and all the rules have changed?  That's going to draw a lot of blowback.   Drop lab grown meat on today's society and you will have the problems I foresee.  I agree with you about the need to revive unions.  It astonishes me the power that the police unions wield, amd how they can serve as a roadblock to reforming the department.  On the one hand it serves a corrupt and racist system; on the other hand every worker needs to be able to say 'no' to the boss like they can.  Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱsos. 04:24, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't have a manifesto. But most of this stuff makes more sense as a broader push so if I were in your place I'd reserve judgement on that front. In terms of cloned meat copyrights, we do need to overhaul the copyright system to be more conducive to the public good. I say make meat cloning open source and let the co-ops figure out how to sell it. The profit motive would help fund R&D (especially if we mandate that a relative percentage of profits have to go to R&D.) I too have mixed opinions on police unions.  12:03, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

Rest in peace Smerdis
News broke out you've passed away in December 19, 2021, see user talk page on Wikipedia and diff Saloon Bar post. Rest in peace, editor, have fun with SusanG. 02:33, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Very sad to hear this. Rest in peace, Smerdis. --RWRW (talk) 04:18, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Godspeed you magnificent bastard o7 16:27, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Rest in peace, have a good night wherever you are now. armed_roomba (she/her)What am I doing wrong this time? 07:56, 25 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Rest in peace, Smerdis. RoninMacbeth (talk) 15:24, 21 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Rest in peace. --Andrew5 (talk) 17:11, 7 May 2022 (UTC)

"I will see you in the next life"
17:02, 24 December 2021 (UTC)