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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 10m

my guess is that decreasing religious identification might have weakened the pull for unification *if* not for Brexit. but Brexit gives the north a big reason to want to be with the Republic rather than the UK.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 1h

I just wrote (of a practice exam) "Please try it over the weekend and we will go over it on Monday," which is a request/assertion coordination that's not conditional.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 1h

I hear through people I know in NI that younger people are also much less sectarian, though this was before the recent wave of anti-immigrant riots

also that the open border is *very* important

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Reposted by Matt Weiner

Sandy Ernest Allen @sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h

I'm once again asking anyone else who's trans/gnc affiliated with Brown University who wants to speak on record to please reach out ...

More info here:

www.sandyernestallen.com/announcements

reposts/sharing this with anyone you know is greatly appreciated, thanks!

#brownuniversity

STORY SOURCE CALL: I’m looking for Brown University-affiliated trans/gnc people (especially trans/gnc alumni, students, staff) and any others who feel affected by the university’s transphobic actions and are interested in speaking with me for a potential upcoming reported piece. (If you’ve not read them already, check out my Boston Globe op-ed blasting the university’s administration, as well as my Assigned Media essay about my time as a closeted trans student back when.) For those who want to share their stories and are concerned for whatever reason, you can request anonymity if you like in your initial email. Please write me via my contact form.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 3h

twist! the mush is orange because it's carrots. 1/10 QDUs

what foods are named for being prepared like other foods? pumpkin spice latte, chicken fried steak, anything else?

Smiling Lois puts a bowl of orange mush in front of Trixie. Trixie: Ah, we're going seasonal...

[disgusted] Pumpkin spice mush.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 4h

[because Arizona and Nevada voted for Biden]

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 4h

AFAICT, support for unification went up 7 points in NI from 2022 to 2024, and two more such jumps would give unification a plurality. reasonable for Liam to hope to last that long

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Support for Irish unification growing in Northern Ireland, poll finds

While unity vote would be soundly defeated in North a growing number of unionists support the holding of a border poll

www.irishtimes.com

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 12h

speculation: California would've been pretty green in 2023

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 12h

wouldn't surprise me. apparently Vermont's relatively lax gun laws create a situation where people buy guns here to trade for drugs

what confuses me is, what red state is Maine getting half its guns from?
www.sevendaysvt.com/news/one-man...

One Man's Buying Spree Exposes the Drugs-for-Guns Trade in Vermont | Seven Days

Over 18 months, Dylan Russell, an opioid user, purchased at least 15 guns at shops around the state. The weapons were for drug dealers, authorities say.

www.sevendaysvt.com

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 12h

so AFAICT, the recent explosion in use of "clanker" came from something modeled off a racist video. so I think it's subject to the "why are using something modeled off racism?" question, though not as transparent as "wireback"

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 13h

for my great sins I was involved in this discussion, but it seems like the word we are talking about gained its recent virality from a video that was recreating something incredibly racist. which I think makes it impossible to separate from its use in different contexts, where it harms people

2025 TikTok Virality

In mid-2025, the term "clanker" became the subject of memes on TikTok as a catch-all, derogatory term for robots in general.

On June 18th, 2025, TikToker @texantrooper posted an AI-generated video recreating the Jetblue Burger King Racist video but with a storm trooper, garnering over 420,000 views in a month.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 12h

this is also the use that people are finding really objectionable (people were posting it on a video of a woman with prosthetic arms)

just going off the KnowYourMeme page, it was in a Star Wars game in 2005, but the video I mentioned above seems to have made it much more common?

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 13h

for my great sins I was involved in this discussion, but it seems like the word we are talking about gained its recent virality from a video that was recreating something incredibly racist. which I think makes it impossible to separate from its use in different contexts, where it harms people

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 14h

please don't do this, and insofar as I'm responsible for you seeing this, *especially* please don't do this

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

ok, sorry for not @-ing you, I didn't realize you would rather me do that

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

yeah that's fair

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

apparently shortly after the Star Wars usage people were making "C-Word" jokes which is dubious but has a little deniabiliity maybe. (like the title of "The L Word" isn't racist I don't think?) nothing has less deniability than an AI recreation of a video with "racist" in its name

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

def. did start in Star Wars! I was thinking of the explosion of use in the last couple months. according to Know Your Meme, it seems to come from an imitation of an incredibly racist TikTok

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

alright I give. current use seems to be downstream from this which is racist as fuck.

still maintain that Hailey is being full of shit (and Timnit didn't evoke the bigoted stuff there) but miming a slur to criticize something is bad, even if that thing isn't itself properly slurrable

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

my contention is that hailey and the other person are painting with an extremely broad brush that catches tons of people who are not defending gerard (or the word) and have never heard of him (or it). go off on the defenders, that doesn't justify their calling all the critics bigots

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

yeah but not all the anti-AI fanatics (or what have you) are manufacturing slurs

like the anti-AI people are 90% of this site, most of them aren't into using "clanker" let alone manufacturing it

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

like one of my moots said "there's good reason not to say 'please' when interacting with an LLM because you don't want to start thinking about them as people" and while I disagree, I don't think it's toxic because LLMs aren't people. and it seems like the kind of thing hailey *was* talking about

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

I think the "this" she was saying goes way beyond the word "clanker." this was the op in the thread she was responding to (the one she directly quoted said "dismissive ai discourse") and this really seems like it includes non-slur-imitative criticism

in much of 20th century science fiction, anti-ai/anti-progress bigots are depicted variously as religious fanatics, right wing social conservatives, and so on. it has turned out quite differently.

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

yeah there's an effect where it's wise to watch what comes out of your mouth because cruelty is habit forming.

also in another part of the thread Gyges convinced me that "clanker" in its current form completely originates as the deliberate imitation of some horribly racist shit, and is bad

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

update: have been convinced that the world "clanker" itself was popularized as a deliberate imitation of a racial slur, and should be avoided

bsky.app/profile/matt...

Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

alright I give. current use seems to be downstream from this which is racist as fuck.

still maintain that Hailey is being full of shit (and Timnit didn't evoke the bigoted stuff there) but miming a slur to criticize something is bad, even if that thing isn't itself properly slurrable

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

alright I give. current use seems to be downstream from this which is racist as fuck.

still maintain that Hailey is being full of shit (and Timnit didn't evoke the bigoted stuff there) but miming a slur to criticize something is bad, even if that thing isn't itself properly slurrable

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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 15h

that is obviously super racist. let me check KYM on the history

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