Tachanka

joined 2 years ago
[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 25 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)
[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

racial myths like 13/50

this one in particular is a problem of framing. Obviously the statistics are made up, but let's pretend they're true (just pretending, not as an intellectual jagoff but to show that the conclusions they draw from 13/50 are false even if 13/50 is true). They say POC make up 13 percent of the population but "commit" 50 percent of the crimes? No. The framing should be they are convicted of 50 percent of the crimes. Because there are no real statistics for "committing" crimes. There are only conviction rates. Reactionaries love to treat conviction as synonymous with guilt, because they don't want to admit that the justice system is racially biased, and regularly makes false convictions which are overturned at a later date (the central park 5 were all exonerated of their convictions after years of racists using them as "evidence" of POC proclivity to commit heinous crimes).

But let's say most convictions are true. Let's say for the sake of argument that 13/50 is really true (it isn't obviously) and 99.9999% of convictions truly are for crimes that were really committed, and not false convictions based on shoddy evidence...

OK. And? What do the racists want us to do with this information? edgeworth-shrug

Racists want us to conclude from this that POC are bad people and... well they won't always say it out loud, but they are saying that POC should be exterminated. They want the listener to come to that conclusion. That's why they bring up 13/50. They want to lead you to their "final solution." But what are some other conclusions that can be made if 13/50 is true?

  • It means that POC are convicted for more crimes despite committing them at the same rate as whites. This is because of existing systemic racism in the justice system as well as the legacy of segregation, colonialism, chattel slavery, etc.
  • The root causes of crime are poverty, mental illness, and substance addiction. If the function of police is to protect bourgeois property from the property-less masses, then that means police are disproportionately placed in impoverished neighborhoods. This means the police are constantly ignoring the crimes of the wealthy and constantly investigating the crimes of the poor. A businessman is free to do line after line of coke in the comfort of his office, but if a homeless man does it on the street, he will be seen by police, because he has no property to protect him from the capitalist police panopticon.
  • It means that POC are disproportionately targeted by the police and justice system so that they can be imprisoned, where they will be forced to do labor in prison. This is a continuation of slavery in a new "colorblind" disguise that justifies itself as "correctional" despite the fact that nothing is corrected through it.
  • It means that POC are disproportionately impoverished, and suffering from things like homelessness, mental illness, and substance addiction, not through their own essential nature, but through, again, systemic racism and the ripple effects of past injustices which were never properly repaired. These tendencies arising from systemic racism are used as an excuse to further criminalize, harrass and imprison POC.

These above conclusions are demonstrably true based off of decades of research whether or not 13/50 is true. If 13/50 were true (it isn't) it would simply correlate with the above, and not with the deranged genocidal fantasies of the racists.

TL;DR Never focus on the arguments racist make. They're bullshit and a waste of time. instead focus on the conclusions they are trying to lead people to (genocide).

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 15 points 2 years ago

but i was so excited to hear more about boomer xoomer moomer zoomer aoomer for the rest of time bawllin-sad

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 29 points 2 years ago (4 children)

it's in flattened-bernie's home turf. Wonder if that gives him the wherewithal to call for a cease fire 🙄

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 11 points 2 years ago

Rear Admiral Matthew C. Perry pointing his gunboats at Japan to force open their markets to the Americans, 1852, colorized

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Nah you didn't sound like an ass, no worries

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 9 points 2 years ago

I never said the bot made choices. I said it removed choices from the artist.

you said

but every pixel that was generated that you don't change is a choice that the bot made that you didn't

Now that you have clarified what you really meant, that is helpful, but I hope you can see why I was confused by your original wording (bolded above). Also I don't think it removes choices from the artist since the artist is still free to discard whatever the AI makes and re-generate it or use a more traditional method. The freedom to reject the output if you don't like it is a choice along with the choice to make the prompt.

Also I never said you need technical ability to make art

That's fair. I'm sorry for misunderstanding you in that regard. I just find this subject interesting. I'm not coming at this from a place of anger or trying to annoy people.

untold billions of hours of stolen labor from poor countries.

Your correct and I wouldn't dream of disagreeing with this.

Last thing: don't fucking come at me with an argument about gatekeeping based on class and wealth when the only reason this fucking toy exists for you to play with in the first place is

Nevertheless I think it's more of a tool than a toy. The problem is that the tools are made by the workers and owned by the capitalists. We should be reacting to that economic arrangement and not the tools themselves.

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago

turning each Israeli city mentioned in the bible into its own vatican-like city state

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

but every pixel that was generated that you don't change is a choice that the bot made that you didn't

the bot made zero choices. It consulted your prompt (a choice you made) and then it consulted a database full of pre-existing human-made art that has been curated and labelled and statistically sorted. Also at some point some random noise is introduced so it doesn't generate the same thing twice. Bots do not make choices. These are statistical models. It's helpful not to mystify them or attribute agency to them.

Also I don't get the point of gatekeeping art according to technical ability, which just comes down to how much free time you have to practice, your level of educational attainment, how much disposable income you have to pay for said education, and your physical ability. If a person with no arms decides to generate a painting with AI from a carefully written prompt they came up with, and someone says "that's not real art because you didn't use your hands"... what is the point of that? If an idea comes to mind, you should be free to make it however you want.

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Fair point; my bad

I dont really get the comparison here.

I was just thinking about the original reaction painters had to photography and extending that to other fields which was lazy on my part.

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 19 points 2 years ago

"Tradtrots" and I'm sitting here wondering wtf is that even

probably this

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