tanadrin
@tanadrin.bsky.social
I also poast at tanadrin.tumblr.com. Fiction, worldbuilding, and other nonsense at tanadrin.de. Aurë entuluva!
Reposted by tanadrin
>find new habitable planet
>they're blasting out radio signals
>oh boy i can't wait to discover alien life with brand new inscrutable cognition
>they're fristonian predictive processors
>they're all buddhist
>all their stories are the hero's journey
>mfw it happened again
>they're blasting out radio signals
>oh boy i can't wait to discover alien life with brand new inscrutable cognition
>they're fristonian predictive processors
>they're all buddhist
>all their stories are the hero's journey
>mfw it happened again
November 27, 2025 at 11:23 PM
>find new habitable planet
>they're blasting out radio signals
>oh boy i can't wait to discover alien life with brand new inscrutable cognition
>they're fristonian predictive processors
>they're all buddhist
>all their stories are the hero's journey
>mfw it happened again
>they're blasting out radio signals
>oh boy i can't wait to discover alien life with brand new inscrutable cognition
>they're fristonian predictive processors
>they're all buddhist
>all their stories are the hero's journey
>mfw it happened again
Whether you attempt to evade prison by anonymity or leaving the country, it doesn't seem to make any difference. You are still evading prison (as you should! prison sucks!)
November 28, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Whether you attempt to evade prison by anonymity or leaving the country, it doesn't seem to make any difference. You are still evading prison (as you should! prison sucks!)
You're being deliberately inconsistent with your standards here. None of the three volunteered to go to prison, nor should they have. Volunteering to go to prison is not a necessary component of doing the right thing.
November 28, 2025 at 1:43 PM
You're being deliberately inconsistent with your standards here. None of the three volunteered to go to prison, nor should they have. Volunteering to go to prison is not a necessary component of doing the right thing.
Given that Snowden went public with his story in a way Manning and Winner didn't (they leaked anonymously), saying Snowden was more cowardly than them just doesn't make sense to me.
November 28, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Given that Snowden went public with his story in a way Manning and Winner didn't (they leaked anonymously), saying Snowden was more cowardly than them just doesn't make sense to me.
I certainly don't think they were cowards, which is why I think that standard is stupid.
November 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM
I certainly don't think they were cowards, which is why I think that standard is stupid.
Neither Manning nor Winner turned themselves in. Winner was burned by The Intercept's incompetence, and Manning was betrayed by Adrian Lamo. By the "anybody who doesn't volunteer to face federal prison is a coward" standard, they would be cowards. They certainly didn't volunteer!
November 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Neither Manning nor Winner turned themselves in. Winner was burned by The Intercept's incompetence, and Manning was betrayed by Adrian Lamo. By the "anybody who doesn't volunteer to face federal prison is a coward" standard, they would be cowards. They certainly didn't volunteer!
wait, valinorean fukuyama is probably just mandos, isn't it.
November 28, 2025 at 1:17 PM
wait, valinorean fukuyama is probably just mandos, isn't it.
of two minds. one, perhaps utopia is only the end of history to us bc of the limits our imagination. two, valinorean francis fukuyama predicting the noldor going insane and falling prey to morgoth's lies bc of civilizational ennui is very funny.
November 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
of two minds. one, perhaps utopia is only the end of history to us bc of the limits our imagination. two, valinorean francis fukuyama predicting the noldor going insane and falling prey to morgoth's lies bc of civilizational ennui is very funny.
(but also i think the invitation of the elves to valinor was kind of a weird choice on the valar's part)
November 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
(but also i think the invitation of the elves to valinor was kind of a weird choice on the valar's part)
like yes on the one hand immortal utopia makes a crappy setting for fiction bc it is by definition hard to describe and make interesting. but i don't think that means we should understand it as being boring and static *in-universe*. it's just a limitation of language/experience in arda marred
November 28, 2025 at 1:00 PM
like yes on the one hand immortal utopia makes a crappy setting for fiction bc it is by definition hard to describe and make interesting. but i don't think that means we should understand it as being boring and static *in-universe*. it's just a limitation of language/experience in arda marred
why would the legends of middle earth have anything to say abt what the vanyar are up to? they could be living it up in fully automated luxury valarin space communism for all we know
November 28, 2025 at 12:58 PM
why would the legends of middle earth have anything to say abt what the vanyar are up to? they could be living it up in fully automated luxury valarin space communism for all we know
Marsha Blackburn is a huge piece of shit and everybody who has spent any amount of time working with her knows it.
November 28, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Marsha Blackburn is a huge piece of shit and everybody who has spent any amount of time working with her knows it.
(It’s a very Catholic notion that suffering sanctifies a cause. But I’m not Catholic, and I think suffering is just suffering. Whether Snowden did the right thing or not isn’t contingent on how self-negating he felt afterward. It has to be judged on its own merits.)
November 28, 2025 at 7:17 AM
(It’s a very Catholic notion that suffering sanctifies a cause. But I’m not Catholic, and I think suffering is just suffering. Whether Snowden did the right thing or not isn’t contingent on how self-negating he felt afterward. It has to be judged on its own merits.)
(We love a good martyr after all. A righteous person who doesn’t martyr themselves is rather inconvenient in a way a good martyr isn’t. But I don’t want martyrs. Martyrdom sucks!)
November 28, 2025 at 7:07 AM
(We love a good martyr after all. A righteous person who doesn’t martyr themselves is rather inconvenient in a way a good martyr isn’t. But I don’t want martyrs. Martyrdom sucks!)
(Chelsea Manning didn’t turn herself in, either, by the way. By your criteria she ought to be equally as cowardly as Snowden. But of course she did actually get caught; and I think people are especially hard on Snowden because they feel he got away with it.)
November 28, 2025 at 7:06 AM
(Chelsea Manning didn’t turn herself in, either, by the way. By your criteria she ought to be equally as cowardly as Snowden. But of course she did actually get caught; and I think people are especially hard on Snowden because they feel he got away with it.)
And performative self destruction for the sake of allaying others’ concerns about the righteousness of your cause does not impress me.
November 28, 2025 at 7:03 AM
And performative self destruction for the sake of allaying others’ concerns about the righteousness of your cause does not impress me.
If just, why not support it in its current form? If unjust, why be particularly hard on Snowden for not wanting to risk them? There are a lot of things to rightly criticize Snowden for, but “I don’t want to go to prison” seems unreasonable to me. Most people don’t. Even good people.
November 28, 2025 at 7:03 AM
If just, why not support it in its current form? If unjust, why be particularly hard on Snowden for not wanting to risk them? There are a lot of things to rightly criticize Snowden for, but “I don’t want to go to prison” seems unreasonable to me. Most people don’t. Even good people.
You say you don’t support the Espionage Act in its current form, but at the same time Snowden should have gladly submitted to its punishment as a token of his moral purity. I think that’s quite contradictory. Either its punishments are just or unjust.
November 28, 2025 at 7:01 AM
You say you don’t support the Espionage Act in its current form, but at the same time Snowden should have gladly submitted to its punishment as a token of his moral purity. I think that’s quite contradictory. Either its punishments are just or unjust.
I wish Chelsea Manning had gotten away (relatively) scot-free too. I think demanding people suffer prison so their whistleblowing is more morally pure is unrealistic, and bad for the thing I want more of (the US government not doing evil shit)
November 28, 2025 at 6:59 AM
I wish Chelsea Manning had gotten away (relatively) scot-free too. I think demanding people suffer prison so their whistleblowing is more morally pure is unrealistic, and bad for the thing I want more of (the US government not doing evil shit)
A world where US government whistleblowers feel they can’t evade getting imprisoned for their actions is a world with fewer of them, and frankly I would like a world where we are more likely to know the US government is behaving badly.
November 28, 2025 at 6:57 AM
A world where US government whistleblowers feel they can’t evade getting imprisoned for their actions is a world with fewer of them, and frankly I would like a world where we are more likely to know the US government is behaving badly.
I don’t think it’s cowardly not to want to spend the rest of (or a big chunk of) your life in federal prison. I don’t want people who feel like they have legitimate whistles to blow to feel like they have to make that trade off. Most people are scared of that, for good reason.
November 28, 2025 at 6:56 AM
I don’t think it’s cowardly not to want to spend the rest of (or a big chunk of) your life in federal prison. I don’t want people who feel like they have legitimate whistles to blow to feel like they have to make that trade off. Most people are scared of that, for good reason.
Would love for TN to be in the news for something not horrible for once. Fingers crossed.
November 28, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Would love for TN to be in the news for something not horrible for once. Fingers crossed.
More cynical people have proposed Assange basically sold him out to Russia but I think it’s pretty clear Snowden himself was trying to reach Ecuador.
November 28, 2025 at 6:38 AM
More cynical people have proposed Assange basically sold him out to Russia but I think it’s pretty clear Snowden himself was trying to reach Ecuador.
He was stranded in Russia by the US government revoking his passport and putting pressure on Cuba not to allow his transit; if they didn’t want him in Russia, they could have not done that!
November 28, 2025 at 6:37 AM
He was stranded in Russia by the US government revoking his passport and putting pressure on Cuba not to allow his transit; if they didn’t want him in Russia, they could have not done that!