User:TheTimesAreAChanging: Difference between revisions

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NB: I hope you don't find the opinions I express here (or have been known to express in talk page discussions) too off-putting. I am aware that many of my beliefs differ from the "reliable sources."

" had tortured a number of its own members to death in Japan. (One, for instance, was a young woman. They had buried her alive under the floorboards of the rooms in which the gang lived. Her crime had been to ask one of the comrades to pass her a paper handkerchief. The leader of the group, Fusako Shigenobu had seen this as proof that she was 'too bourgeois', for which she deserved to die. The murdered woman was pregnant at the time.)"-From Jillian Becker's 1984 classic The PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization, pg. 129. If I were still reading as many neo-reactionary blogs as I used to, I would probably include the caption "Leftism in a nutshell." From the fanaticism with which the Khmer Rouge set out to kill (after the most extravagant tortures) every Cambodian guilty of thinking insufficiently virtuous thoughts (or of wearing glasses—which could indicate intelligence—or having received a Western education, like the French-educated intellectual leaders of the Khmer Rouge themselves) in a massacre with few parallels in recorded history, to the censorious campus Left that threatens violence to block a feminist speaker due to her "transphobic" belief that a biological male cannot draw on the same reservoir of experience as an individual that has been female for their entire life, examples such as the above may merely be caricatures, but revealing caricatures nevertheless.

Hello, and welcome to my userpage. My name is Jake Murrin. I am an extreme introvert from Lombard, Illinois, whose primary interests are reading books and editing Misplaced Pages. (I wish there was more to me than that, but sadly, I live a rather unremarkable life.) As "TheTimesAreAChanging," I am best known for my work on Dreamcast and other articles about Sega gaming consoles, as well as articles on the modern history of the Middle East. Creating this account in October 2010 but not accomplishing much until 2012, I frequently indulged in absurdly over-the-top edit warring and POV-pushing (which I considered necessary at the time), but mellowed a bit and have been making more significant contributions since January 2014 (if not slightly earlier). In addition to being one of the major contributors to the GAs and FA listed under "Fast Facts," I reviewed Resident Evil (2002 video game) for GA.

Fast Facts

This user is from Illinois.

This user lives in or hails from Chicagoland.

This user is left-handed.

This user considers himself self-educated.

31Y

This Wikipedian was born on 01 November 1993 and is 31 years, 2 months, and 16 days old.

13,000+

This user has made more than 13,000 contributions to Misplaced Pages.

This user helped promote Sega Saturn to featured article status.

This user helped promote Dreamcast to good article status.

This user helped promote Sonic R to good article status.

This user helped promote Sonic Lost World to good article status.

This user helped promote Super Monkey Ball (video game) to good article status.

My love for Sega is rooted in a natural sympathy for the underdog, as well as the inimitable charm and appeal of Sega games.

Politically, I've evolved from a radical Leftist fooled by Chomsky into thinking that the Khmer Rouge were framed for the after-effects of U.S. bombing (a conclusion anyone would reach if they knew absolutely nothing about Cambodia and Chomsky were their only source of information on the matter), to a neo-neocon in the vein of Hitchens (and then an actual neo-con), to an Objectivist/libertarian, then a neo-reactionary, and, finally, I've recently been converted 99% of the way to Progressivism by the likes of Scott Alexander (cf. Deirdre McCloskey's "How the West (and the Rest) Got Rich"). (Of course, there is still that remaining 1%...) (David Frum's admonition "Just generally, whenever anybody praises an arrangement from the past, it's a smart idea to ask: 'If this system was so great, why did people abandon it?'"—albeit in reference to Ron Paul's nostalgia for pre-Civil War bimetalism—is something far too few of the radicals on the "alt-right" grapple with, instead suggesting that all change is due to a vast Leftist conspiracy.)

Despite being an editor, I don't actually recommend that you take the vast majority of Misplaced Pages articles on politics or history remotely seriously. I'm not sure I'd even be here if I didn't think it necessary to minimize the harm Misplaced Pages can do. My brief experience editing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict convinced me that Misplaced Pages's anti-Israel bias is pervasive and probably insurmountable. You're certainly not going to learn the true history of the Reagan administration's Latin America policy from Misplaced Pages. (Yes, including Guatemala!) (For a biting analysis of why four more years of the Carter administration would have accidentally—or "accidentally" if you're on the "alt-right"—delivered all of Central America to Communist autocrats, see Jeane Kirkpatrick's exceptionally wise and still deeply relevant "Dictatorships and Double Standards." For Leftist academics rewriting history in real time, see Misplaced Pages articles such as List of authoritarian regimes supported by the United States.) I'm sure Moldbug would say that Misplaced Pages is merely the voice of "the Cathedral," and he might be right (though I have always been as allergic to Moldbug as I am to Chomsky, even when I closely identified with the neo-reactionaries). It may be worth noting, however, that some Misplaced Pages articles are more truthful than others: For example, 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état obscures the truth entirely, but 1953 Iranian coup d'état barely even tries to conceal the fact that Mossadegh was an authoritarian dictator whose ruinous policies had brought Iran to the brink of disaster.

Times on Trump:

To my everlasting relief, the "Trumpslide" proves that most Americans still have enough sense not to care about the hateful lies peddled by depraved intellectuals—let alone Misplaced Pages's endless litany of absurdities. (It probably won't be enough to save the country, but one can dream.) The results of the 2016 election will undoubtedly force me to reexamine many of the Progressive lies I have swallowed whole since I began moving to the Left in 2015, as it has become clear that the status quo was not fine and acceptable to many tens of millions of Americans, who cannot simply be dismissed as racist and "deplorable"; I will certainly not be joining the ranks of these lunatics in the intemperate demonization of ordinary people. (Indeed, the aftermath of Trump's victory has only underscored the terrifying extent to which all U.S. media speaks with one voice, and that voice is screaming "Kill whitey!") It is now obvious that everything Misplaced Pages's "reliable sources" were reporting about Trump was the exact opposite of reality; for example, this spectacularly inaccurate Slate article on how any one of the generic RINO ladyboys would have been infinitely more electable than Trump now seems more like a plea for the Republicans to lose rather than win with the support of the horribly vulgar white working class. A few observations:

Some are already drawing the wrong conclusions from the exit polls showing Trump only received a 1% greater share of the white vote nationwide than Romney had. It is certainly worth noting that Trump did significantly better among blacks and Hispanics—i.e., the people most directly hurt by mass immigration—than Romney or any plausible Republican alternative, because it reminds us that Republicans will always be subject to the same ruthless dehumanization quite apart from how "moderate" their policies actually are. Any attempt to redeem the notion that Romney had more or less "maxed out" the white vote in 2012—thus Republicans could only win by trying to out-Democrat the Democrats—is fundamentally flawed, however, because statistics such as the "percentage of white votes nationwide" are meaningless, given the vast fluctuation between states and the crucial role of the Electoral College. Trump brought out something like 10% more rural white voters (previously disillusioned with politics or registered Democrats) to pierce the "Blue Wall" in a handful of key swing states, thereby showing Paul Ryan "how to win," as he promised. Ann Coulter was nearly alone in accurately predicting this outcome, presumably because the Republican Establishment—which united with the Democratic Establishment to destroy Trump—wanted amnesty and was prepared to fabricate whatever data it needed to justify it.)
I find the alt right theory that the growing "authoritarian" trend demonstrated by leaders like Rodrigo Duterte reflects a disenchantment with due process in an age of "anarcho-tyranny" quite compelling. (In the alt right's terminology, "anarcho-tyranny" is when virtually all productive citizens are guilty of some infraction or another, committing "Three Felonies a Day" is simply the price of doing business, and the outrageously corrupt U.S. Department of Justice is constantly forcing corporations into large 'disparate impact' settlements to be paid to those politically connected to the Department of Justice—but Black Lives Matter is free to burn down a city every time a black person is killed by a non-black person, with the police standing by and private security/the Second Amendment offering the only means of self-defense.) If "due process" merely coddles criminals while everyone else is drowning in red tape, people stop caring.
Trump is almost certainly completely innocent of all the incessant smears peddled by the powers that be. Of course Trump never kicked a baby out of a rally; of course Trump never mocked a reporter's disability; the Trump University lawsuit was naked extortion by Shakedown Schneiderman. More importantly, my entire perception of Trump changed after I began listening to his speeches and following his Tweets directly. If you can't fathom what anyone would like about Trump, consider this epic Twitter smackdown.
The Leftist theory of history (official history as reported by Misplaced Pages) is sheer nonsense, requiring one to believe six impossible things before breakfast—i.e., race and gender are social constructs, Muhammad was the first feminist, the U.S. opposed Aristide when it sent troops to install him in power, the Bush administration was only forced to hold elections in Iraq by non-violent protests organized by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Russia isn't bombing ISIS but rather "moderate" and friendly jihadists allied with ISIS, and the arc of history inevitably moves towards greater Leftism. Scott Alexander got me to thinking this myself, but a second look is all it takes to reveal that Leftist protest is overwhelmingly astroturf in nature, intended merely to manufacture consent for policies the permanent government has already decided on. (In the same way, the domestic barbarian is "deplorable" because he is the most potent threat to the Left's grip on power, whereas only a "racist bigot Islamophobe" would call Afghans that enslave women and lynch Shias "deplorable"; after all, importing foreign barbarians to outbreed and replace the existing electorate once that electorate cannot be expanded or bribed any further not only serves the purpose of creating a permanent Democratic majority, but also provides the Leftist coalition with much-needed muscle.) Reagan talked about defunding the Left, but—recognizing the scale of the problem—did not seriously attempt it; whether Trump really intends to "drain the swamp" and tell all the "non-political" bureaucrats and affiliated "NGOs" (c.f. Nigel Farage's brush with "the Cathedral" from 1:40 to 3:50) "You're fired!" remains to be seen, given the chaos and violence that would likely ensue.

Awards:

		The Video Game Barnstar
		For your incredible research and editing at Sega Saturn, which I am sure will reach FA status soon. Indrian (talk) 18:11, 4 June 2014 (UTC)

		The Sega Task Force Barnstar
		For your absolutely awesome work at Sega Saturn, one of the task force's most important articles.
		_{this WikiAward was given to TheTimesAreAChanging by Red Phoenix on 01:44, 5 June 2014 (UTC)}

"TTAAC's Greatest Hits" include:

Debunking the standard narrative that the Sega Saturn was originally designed around a single SH-1 CPU prior to Sony's famous January 1994 PlayStation tech demo (see also "Proof that the Saturn was always designed around the SH-2 and vice-versa," and note that Indrian—who I have admired since 2012, when I first became aware of his work exposing the innumerable propaganda hoaxes of the infamous Jagged85—persuasively argues that Sega doubled down on the Saturn's 2D proficiency by adding the VDP2 and some additional RAM to the system);
Exposing numerous examples of Hamas propaganda during the 2014 Israel-Gaza war (see, e.g., government salaries, causes—although the question of when Hamas started firing is purely academic since even extreme Hamas apologist Nishidani's own sources openly admit Hamas was no longer enforcing the ceasefire on other groups—targets, power plant, shields, Nishidani can't do math);
After sufficient nudging from Guccisamsclub—a Leftie that not infrequently gets the better of our exchanges—concluding that estimates of 500,000-650,000 deaths during the 1979-1980 famine in Cambodia are highly exaggerated (for other instances where Gucci has corrected me, see here and here, though there are more);
Questioning the veracity of Jerry Robinson's claims regarding the creation of the Joker, which have been widely repeated despite the contrary testimony of undisputed co-creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger;
Revisiting Sega Genesis sales figures (plus Saturn and Dreamcast, and with acknowledgement to the true experts at NeoGAF);
Refuting allegations that the CIA helped the Iraqi Ba'th Party seize power for the first time in February 1963 (see also here and here; note that I am the lead author of Iraq–United States relations and sister page CIA activities in Iraq covering the period 1958 to 1975);
And discrediting the Iranian "Grand Bargain" panacea supposedly neglected by the George W. Bush administration (see also this analysis of the Iranian conspiracy theory that President Carter gave Saddam a "green-light" to invade Iran).
Of lesser interest: Sorting out arcane discrepancies regarding Sega's financial losses during the fiscal years 1998 to 2000 (the figures in the second link are extremely valuable for quantifying the dramatic collapse in Saturn sales outside Japan following the U.S. launch of the Nintendo 64 in late 1996); nailing down Saturn launch titles.
I have also uncovered my fair share of fake quotes (e.g., /, , ) and sockpuppets (e.g., , , , ). And one more hoax debunked for good measure.

Fun Facts About The History of Sega:

Categories: