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Kit Noussis's avatar

I thought it was funny, and it works better than most travelogues because the wretched parts stir little FOMO or envy in me.

The interaction with the blue-blood and his harem of gigglers is the type of conversation I might have in my head but I would not expect to ever happen to me.

I find it hard to see how the different settings relate, but that's no proof against there being a theme.

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Daniel Gavilovski's avatar

Thanks, Kit.

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Greg's avatar

Really well-written and engaging piece. Which makes it a profound disappointment, akin to a betrayal, to see "autistic" used thus. This sickening Internet trope needs to die.

Also, not a vatniki but reading Dugin? Unsettles everything that came before, makes your narrator a shifty opportunist.

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Daniel Gavilovski's avatar

It's not a protagonist that's just ME!

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Kit Noussis's avatar

Special interests are typical of autism. If someone who is not autistic has an engrossing interest, what's wrong with saying they are autistic about it? It's not a 'diagnosis' in this example.

Is there any cruelty in the deployment of the term here? I don't think so. You use very strong language to condemn it.

If I say that someone is acting neurotic or psychotic in a piece, but that's not what is literally happening, I suppose you would consider that ableism as well?

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Greg's avatar

I have worked closely with people on the spectrum, and I know exactly what is "typical" of autism. "Neurotic" is not a diagnosis of any specificity and is of longstanding use, so no I would not be bothered by it. If you described someone as acting "psychotic" and failed to demonstrate how that was so, I would object.

The use of "autistic" on Internet spaces is one that is callous and ignorant, but is spreading to people who have no idea. It's jarring because it is a specific, but extremely wide-ranging diagnosis, symptomatically. So reducing to "special interests" is actually inaccurate and fails to appropriately describe what the author means. Moreover, it is used casually and consistently by people with their heads up their asses about how "contrarian" and "free speech" they are, and has on a number of occasions I've seen it deployed, been akin to a slur they were getting away with, and that kind of shit is not ok.

You seem very bothered by my dismay at it. Strange. Is there some special interest you have in why I am bothered by something?

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Kit Noussis's avatar

I don't know why you want to play the 'u mad bro' card on me. I was commenting in good faith.

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Greg's avatar

Whatevs.

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Kit Noussis's avatar

What do you think of the comparison of a red-light district to a zoo, or short men being likened to dwarves?

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Greg's avatar

As described the zoo analogy is apt, and correctly dehumanizing. Dwarves is a bit much, but at least matches the description, unlike the gratuitous diagnosis that Internet douchebags are proud of

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tevan's avatar

This is undoubtedly the correct way to experience Germany as a tourist

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Daniel Gavilovski's avatar

Truly an adventure

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Michelle Ma's avatar

Prostitutes when they have a mean pimp perform like their lives depend on it. When you have a terribly mean father it's the same situation. But no matter how well you perform, no one good notices or tries or stays. You are barren, you are lost, you are immiserated.

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May 30
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Daniel Gavilovski's avatar

THIS SO MUCH THIS

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May 30
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Daniel Gavilovski's avatar

I appreciate the kind words Michelle.

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May 30
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Daniel Gavilovski's avatar

ABSOLUTELY MICHELLE I FOLLOW ANYONE

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