Hot, Bad & Unpopular Takes

[RINO Tom]

The idea of having a cat or dog in your house just sounds terrible.  I don't particularly get the appeal of a guinea pig, fish, or something like that, but they are at least contained.  A cat or dog is essentially a wild animal that climbs on you and barks at you when you are trying to relax.  I could never deal with that.

You really should reconsider your position on abortion, because if you ever have a baby.....

Completely different (less animal-like, furry, and I won't worry they will eat me)

You ... worry that a cat or dog will eat you?  You worry that your OWN hypothetical cat or dog will eat you??

[Mr. Smith]

We're better off with censorship than without, and too often are we focused on being offended by someone being offended and then doubling down, rather than figuring out why we've offended that offended person.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I prefer The Five Discs' version of Let's Fall In Love to the Nat King Cole version.

[Xing]

Being “independent” (personally, not politically) is overrated in America, and being a good team player is underrated.

[Deblano]

This might be my hottest take...


If you talk to the average conservative, they will usually complain that the Republicans compromise too much, rarely fight, and are always playing nice while the Democrats are going full-steam ahead with their left-wing agenda.

If you talk to the average progressive, they will usually complain that the Democrats compromise too much, rarely fight, and are always playing nice while the Republicans are going full-steam ahead with their right-wing agenda.

Being “independent” (personally, not politically) is overrated in America, and being a good team player is underrated.

I think the problem is that there is an extremely cliche and banal idea that most independents are just mild-mannered centrists. The (political) types of people that identify as independent are much more diverse.

[Mr. Smith]

Ok, now for a less serious one:

The 1970's Hobbit cartoon was better than Peter Jackson's Trilogy.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Ok, now for a less serious one:

The 1970's Hobbit cartoon was better than Peter Jackson's Trilogy.

No reason for this to be bad or unpopular.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Claiming "Communism is bad and doesn't work" entirely on the results of marxist-leninism inspired dictatorships is dumb.

[DC Al Fine]

Some relatively unpopular opinions and hot takes about Atlas

1) Libertarian posters are on average less smug than the average poster.
2) Socons and hard leftists have a bathtub curve of quality. That is, they are over represented among the best and the worst posters.
3) The international posters are mostly way better than the American ones.
4) American politics are SUPER boring.
5) An underrated aspect of Atlas is that our forum is surprisingly hostile to eugenics for a place dominated by < 25 Western males.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Condolence threads (e.g., the John McCain thread) are largely a masturbatory waste of space. Most of the posts are simple "RIP" posts which are tantamount to posting "I am a human being and I breathe air". The pages of people empty-quoting "RIP" posts are either virtue signaling or trying hard to earn bipartisan points for expressing an emotion that literally every person on Earth should be capable of showing for someone they don't like. People who put thoughtful effort to their posts and post something of substance or creativity are exempted, but rare.

Of course, people who go into a thread about someone dying just to post snide comments about how horrible they were are vile no-lives, but that's not an unpopular opinion.

[here2view]

I want a Trump of the left. The left is dominated by pussies that are weak and rely on vague social liberal platitudes and never get to the crux of the problem.

[RINO Tom]

Claiming "Communism is bad and doesn't work" entirely on the results of marxist-leninism inspired dictatorships is dumb.

While effectively the same, I think the claim is more that communism will inevitably stumble into authoritarian dictatorship, if you don't believe it is inherently that way anyway.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

If there was a vote to re-instate slavery the Republicans would be in favor of it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Benedict was the best Pope of my lifetime.

He was an utter reactionary, but he was the only one to actually take sexual abuse seriously. And actually by resigning he did a lot of good too.

That sounds like a back handed swipe but its really not. He set the precedent Popes can resign, which is kind of needed as it is for any office.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Benedict was the best Pope of my lifetime.

He was an utter reactionary, but he was the only one to actually take sexual abuse seriously. And actually by resigning he did a lot of good too.

That sounds like a back handed swipe but its really not. He set the precedent Popes can resign, which is kind of needed as it is for any office.

He wasn't the first pope to resign though.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Claiming "Communism is bad and doesn't work" entirely on the results of marxist-leninism inspired dictatorships is dumb.

While effectively the same, I think the claim is more that communism will inevitably stumble into authoritarian dictatorship, if you don't believe it is inherently that way anyway.

There is also the issue of (a) whether or not a non-ML communist revolution could succeed without the sort of top-down manner of party organization involved, and (b) whether a non-ML government could effectively govern. I recall Sam Huntington mentioning that the real effect of communism was to deliver a largely unprecedented level of modern political organization and involvement to the countries where it succeeded. What could we expect of a less authoritarian version of communism? Could it win? How would it—or could it—transform the country/community/etc.?

[Goldwater]

3) The international posters are mostly way better than the American ones.

I was under the impression that this was the conventional opinion.

[RFayette]

4) American politics are SUPER boring..

This one surprises me most, as to me the past few years have been anything but.   Are you referring to policy, the biennial horserace, or a mixture of both?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Benedict was the best Pope of my lifetime.

He was an utter reactionary, but he was the only one to actually take sexual abuse seriously. And actually by resigning he did a lot of good too.

That sounds like a back handed swipe but its really not. He set the precedent Popes can resign, which is kind of needed as it is for any office.

He wasn't the first pope to resign though.

Yes, but the first in centuries. The first of the "modern era".

[DC Al Fine]

3) The international posters are mostly way better than the American ones.

I was under the impression that this was the conventional opinion.

Yeah you're probably right.

4) American politics are SUPER boring..

This one surprises me most, as to me the past few years have been anything but.   Are you referring to policy, the biennial horserace, or a mixture of both?

There's a certain amount of repetitiveness to the latest presidency and your party system is boring. Anything less than a new major party per decade is tedious to a Canadian

[Mr. Smith]

The Florida Gubernatorial is not cut-and-dried for DeSantis and will likely be a narrow win little different from how another so-called criminal [now running for Senate] got themselves elected and re-elected in GOP favorable years.

[Politician]

Andrew Gillum will win.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Rick Scott has a 0% chance of winning in the general, and will almost certainly lose by double digits too.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Getting elected on a racist platform and exploiting racists for votes does not necessarily mean you are a racist. (This is probably why Solid stupidly and wrongly believes that Ike was the most recent non-racist Republican president.)

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

Andrew Gillum will win.