Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
@mikesenters.bsky.social
9.6K followers 1.1K following 11K posts
PhD Candidate at Virginia Tech researching the translation of 4chan culture to American politics. MILR from Cornell. LGBTQ+ Ally. Former weeb. Militant defender of Democracy. The collapse of democratic rule is the sin of every citizen! Byline: MSNBC
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mikesenters.bsky.social
Okay. Time for a thread about the Accelerationist propaganda mod for Hearts of Iron 4 and why it's bad that I don't see anyone in the field really talking about how video games and the networks around them are working to radicalize young men at an alarming rate. It urgently needs to be addressed /1
mikesenters.bsky.social
ESPN has to be paying Pat McAfee to be the dude everyone hates, right?
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social
Our experience of the world is subjective- the world is not. Even from the Buddhist perspective that all reality is illusion, it's not an illusion we bend to our liking simply by saying things. All the belief in the world didn't make the Boxers bulletproof.
mikesenters.bsky.social
“There is still a reality that exists independent of attempts to weaken it’s authority”reminds me of this @seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social thread:
seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social
Even if you get a million people to all agree that arscenic is the finest cureall, your first Arscenic Fest will end with everyone in the city dead from poison. Even if you get everyone in the world to say there's a bridge instead of empty air, you will fall into the gorge when you try to cross it.
mikesenters.bsky.social
Thinking about Susan Sontag today for no particular reason:
mikesenters.bsky.social
We are in a bad place in so many ways.
bildoperationen.bsky.social
This is both fascinating & frightening. There is a demand for images that show and confirm what people already know and believe to be true, and AI slop meets that demand—with visual content that emblematically visualizes what the headlines report. One could call it synthetic hypervisualization
1/
paleofuture.bsky.social
That TikTok account has a few fake videos of reporters getting detained. They make these videos because it’s a big story in the news. Real reporters are getting arrested. And so people are making AI videos to get engagement on TikTok.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
bildoperationen.bsky.social
This is both fascinating & frightening. There is a demand for images that show and confirm what people already know and believe to be true, and AI slop meets that demand—with visual content that emblematically visualizes what the headlines report. One could call it synthetic hypervisualization
1/
paleofuture.bsky.social
That TikTok account has a few fake videos of reporters getting detained. They make these videos because it’s a big story in the news. Real reporters are getting arrested. And so people are making AI videos to get engagement on TikTok.
dontbeonline • 1d ago
Journalist gets detained while doing her job #ForYou, #viral, #foryoupage, #tikto... more
• Contains: Bad Boys (The...
mikesenters.bsky.social
I’m glad people are talking about the death of social virtue and how an anti-social has come to dominate society and weakened the bonds that hold the social contract together because beyond all the stupid, racist and sexist memes, that is 4chan/fandom culture’s greatest sin when we get down to it.
mikesenters.bsky.social
Not paying your troops and
making them line up in bread lines to feed their families when you are going to be depending on them to cement your authoritarian regime is certainly a choice!
drewharwell.com
Military families on day 9 of the shutdown lining up at the food bank
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
trt.bsky.social
Not to make this religious but it’s what I do.

The sustained assault on public empathy is bigger than genuine skepticism of performative empathy.

It’s a country where people’s anger for each other has become so intense that they gravitate toward that which will communicate hatred
utopia-defer.red
anyone else notice that the west took a turn for the worse once the concept of signaling one’s own social virtue became derogatory, almost as if cynically deriding all displays of charity and good will is indicative of a deeply cynical and nihilistic society capable of collaborating in genocide
larrrrrry.bsky.social
her advocacy for Palestinians doesn't bother me nearly as much as she is so desperately doing all this as an actual act of transparent virtue signaling, to fill the absence she has in depth of character
mikesenters.bsky.social
Thanks 2010s internet for doing that for us!
utopia-defer.red
anyone else notice that the west took a turn for the worse once the concept of signaling one’s own social virtue became derogatory, almost as if cynically deriding all displays of charity and good will is indicative of a deeply cynical and nihilistic society capable of collaborating in genocide
larrrrrry.bsky.social
her advocacy for Palestinians doesn't bother me nearly as much as she is so desperately doing all this as an actual act of transparent virtue signaling, to fill the absence she has in depth of character
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
reshetz.bsky.social
Some kid is doing the standard “ur mom” voice chat trash talk and they got no idea they’re talking to bashar al assad
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
unavaleable.bsky.social
Some thirteen year old from Arkansas: Mooooooooom, former president of Syria bashar al-assad is making fun of me on Fortnite
reshetz.bsky.social
Some kid is doing the standard “ur mom” voice chat trash talk and they got no idea they’re talking to bashar al assad
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
aubreygilleran.bsky.social
Relatedly, I recall a lot of "the joy of canceling plans" jokes and memes from the 2010s and now folks are talking about a loneliness epidemic, and, well...
aubreygilleran.bsky.social
People will scoff at virtue signaling and then wonder why today’s billionaires don’t build museums, libraries, hospitals, and universities like Gilded Age ones did.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
figgityfigs.bsky.social
I feel lots of things that felt like, were billed as, self-actualization read in retrospect as canaries in the coal mine for the fraying commitments we owe to each other as members of a society.
aubreygilleran.bsky.social
Relatedly, I recall a lot of "the joy of canceling plans" jokes and memes from the 2010s and now folks are talking about a loneliness epidemic, and, well...
aubreygilleran.bsky.social
People will scoff at virtue signaling and then wonder why today’s billionaires don’t build museums, libraries, hospitals, and universities like Gilded Age ones did.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
komododad.bsky.social
I really am enjoying BF6 I promise but I also can't get over the fact they were like "ok so we can't make Russia the bad guys because no one takes them seriously anymore and we can't make China the bad guys because we want that sweet sweet Chinese market so uhhh the bad guys are Eurotrash mercs."
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social
On an unrelated note, I think people who respond to clumsy and imperfect expressions of sympathy and support with withering contempt have something wrong with them.
"Don't try and be positive, just let me stew in my misery" okay, fuck everyone else for trying to show you compassion IG.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
aelkus.bsky.social
the contradiction generally lurking in this is the marriage of "sexuality is an evolutionary program not a choice" and "you can be a stud if you are not one already"
flawlessangel.bsky.social
idk why the youtube algo fed me this but i can't describe how scary & weird it is being a woman knowing these freaks are doing presentations on how to understand & conquer us like. we are just people. have you tried being fucking normal. i will never get used to society being like this
a man stood in front of a whiteboard that is just covered in loads of text because he's solved the 'woman' conspiracy he looks like a meme
mikesenters.bsky.social
Once we are out of this mess I’m hoping I can get a job in the government and I feel there are a lot of people out there who will want to join up as well to help right the ship as they say.
seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social
I'll be honest, I think some level of degradation-of-talent in USG is unavoidable in, like... short to medium term, next cycle or two, but I think a lot of the conversations about it, like conversations about literally everything in America right now, ignore how fuckoff big the country is.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
irhottakes.bsky.social
Isekai is the funniest genre because exactly one good one was written and it was by Mark Twain in 1889 before Isekai was invented.
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
aelkus.bsky.social
BF and COD should just emulate games like Front Mission and Ace Combat and try making wars in imaginary countries
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
skullmandible.bsky.social
"even if it's AI, it's at least true" hard to overstate the damage this stuff is doing to people's brains. we're gonna be cleaning the slop out of archives for decades
Reposted by Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)
tomscocca.bsky.social
“The fact that figures like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have seemingly done better — or at the very least no worse — than credentialed diplomatic professionals has striking implications for how we think about expertise in foreign policy” hmm also the fact that they take huge foreign bribes—?
daniellarison.bsky.social
In his foreign policy, Trump launches illegal attacks, murders people, and starts pointless and destructive trade wars. Is that what Douthat wants at home? Because he’s already getting it. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/o...
Opinion | Why Can’t Trump’s Domestic Policy Be More Like His Foreign Policy?
www.nytimes.com