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Cake day: March 19th, 2024

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  • There are 2 issues here that are being mixed.

    One is women not being allowed to positions of power. The other is with women being underrepresented in certain fields (e.g., stem).

    The second issue is what I am talking about and I don’t think at all that men “choose” not to try certain careers in the same way women don’t “choose” not to study stem and pursue stem careers. For both, social pressure and expectations, an existing field dominated by the other sex with all its implications are factors of discrimination. Strict gender roles are damaging for both men and women, and this is a perfect example.



  • Not OP, but positions like nurses or teachers are very female dominated. It’s not like males cannot reach those positions, but there are social obstacles to that. To make an example from my country, in Italy primary school teachers are > 90% female. I believe in kindergarten they reach 97 or 98%. This is also partially the result of strict gender roles than discriminate both men and women in terms of caring for children (I.e., women are de facto forced to do that, men are pushed away), which then reinforces the social practice of women doing all the caring jobs.

    This is IMHO a problem for both men and women, but probably it’s not from the same perspective as what OP meant…



  • I actually disagree that a book is “problematic” because it touches, presents, includes etc. any topic that morally we disagree with. Not every book has to be a manifesto or a depiction for a moral and just society, which is why I find most of the arguments against HP to be weak (some points were listed in a sibling comment thread).

    subjecting any popular series to close reading with an eye for affront is likely to show up its flaws

    I am quite sure this is true for any book (especially fiction), in fact. Which is why I think it’s an activity that makes sense only to justify the pre-existing opinion about the book, rather than having a value in itself.

    if you have the chance to pick it up second-hand I’d encourage you to see if you can finish it.

    To be clear, I know that Dan Brown stuff is garbage. I just have seen people who I think never read a book in the previous 10 years read that one (in translation though, so who knows…). So the book must at least be interesting and intriguing to keep the attention of people who are not used to read. For me this means not fitting in the “terrible writing” category, but maybe we mean different things by that.


  • The DaVinci code sold 80 millions copies. The first HP book alone sold 120 millions, and the whole series 600 millions, being the most sold series of books.

    Not only they are one order of magnitude apart, but I think they sold for different reasons.

    I haven’t read Dan Brown’s stuff, but I also doubt it’s terribly written by the way. Books that capture the interest of a population more and more unused to read can be shallow, banal, inconsistent, whatever, but not terribly written. Casual readers can hardly finish a terribly written book. In any case, HP books are children’s books. Children or teenagers are not literary critics, it’s not about reading “great literature”, however you define that.

    I also can’t help to notice the coincidence that all the HP critiques started appearing in the last years, when the author went bananas. A series this popular, which ended in 2007, and suddenly 15 years later people notice that it’s “terribly written”? This smells more to me of a damnatio memoriae than genuine critique.


  • Honestly, I read the books translated + I could not and still cannot relate with the issues that I often see raised against the book (like the way diversity is represented). Especially when I was a kid, those issues were so not in my mind that I would never ever flag as issues.

    To make an example: for me as a kid, slavery was something that mostly had to do with the roman empire. The whole debacle about house elves etc. is completely disconnected from real societal probelsm, recent history etc. I have always rooted for the elves because that’s what I was pushed to do emotionally, but without really ever reflecting on slavery as a whole. I am picking this example because it’s one of the most used ones to critique the book.

    In general I also believe that authors can build worlds that do not represent their views, I find a lot of the critique I have read a stretch and I am especially suspicious that most of these critiques started appearing recently. I believe people started with the thesis (she is an asshole) and then backtracked the analysis trying to find anything at all in the books that could support the conclusion (rather than viceversa).

    Either way, all of this is relatively irrelevant. People can like or dislike books - especially fiction - freely. For me the book is mostly associated with a vibe of being young, thinking about those stories, relating with the characters etc., not with the actual books content. So it’s more about thinking back of childhood/past than appreciating the literary value.


  • I found it very fun, interesting and captivating when I read those books (that is, when I was maybe 13-16?). If it was “terribly written” it wouldn’t have made the success it did, and also the target audience is generally not made of literary critics.

    So I don’t think there is much to judge, especially since many people’s good opinion on the story is based on their lived experience with it, from when they were younger etc. And you can’t erase that from your life because the author turned out to be an asshole 15 years later.


  • So, to be clear the “MAGA” stuff is all in the context of that tweet. I put it in quotes because it was not MAGA, but that’s another topic.

    If he wanted to move out of Switzerland, why is he not doing that? It seems quite clear to me that he provides clear and obvious motivations why he would move away from Switzerland if this or that law passes. If the swiss law doesn’t protect privacy anymore, I expect them to move, if anything.

    maybe he thinks that setting up educational programs about privacy and security so the Swiss push their politicians towards it are a waste of time

    Have you seen to whom they donate the money for their annual charity fundraiser?

    Anyway, educating the population is a decennial investment. How does it help when the Parliament discusses a law today?

    or any number of alternatives instead of just uprooting and moving

    Like what? And most importantly, why? Switzerland is often chosen by privacy companies because it has privacy-friendly laws. If these laws go away or change, why would I care for them to remain in Switzerland?

    But given the track record of enshittificiation

    Their is no such track record. Enshittifying is a term invented to describe companies degrading the services for their users in pursuit of bigger profits.

    “if this happens, we would move to XYZ”

    This means having made an enormous amount of due diligence which is realistic only if you actually want to move there.

    I no longer trust rich CEOs supporting MAGA when they say “trust us with your data!”

    Good call. But proton organizational structure is completely different, and so are their business model and target clientele, compared to other tech companies. I trust business interests more than anything else, because this is why companies do what they do.

    P.s. His opinion is rightfully shared by other companies in the privacy space. I legitimately can’t find one single wrong thing in his position on this matter.


  • He keeps saying some sketchy MAGA shit

    Keeps saying? Any source or link? Are you aware of anything else besides that tweet?

    keeps taking every opportunity he can to advocate for moving out of Switzerland,

    He is not advocating to move out. He is clearly saying that he would be forced to IF the law passes because the whole reasons to advocate for being in Switzerland would be no more. Which brings us to the next point…

    instead of working to keep Switzerland’s laws privacy-focused

    How can you not see his statements as a way (The Way for him) to apply pressure on the government, which is exactly what he should be doing to “keep Switzerland’s laws privacy-focused”?

    How else would you imagine he would “work” to keep laws privacy-focused? He is not in parliament, so bringing media attention and threatening to move a relatively big company seems the best way to me. What would be your idea?





  • Tbh, I have been to Iceland twice and I have managed to eat very well! (Italian here)

    There is no much variety, but I have eaten very good lamb (as you are saying), stews (both mean and fish), even baked goods (there was a tiny house with very good cakes in the middle of nowhere in Westfjords).

    My favorite probably was a fusion sushi place (I.e. sushi with local fish) in Seydisfiordur (the town where Ben Stiller arrives to in the Walter Mitty movie BTW). I don’t think the place exists anymore (that was in 2018) but it was very good.

    Sometimes you can find very good food in unexpected places (for example, I have never eaten better Mexican food than in Rovaniemi, in Finnish Lapland!).