John Dule 5,332nd Post AMA Extravaganza!

[John Dule]

Obviously to celebrate this important milestone, an AMA is in order. Ask me anything, plebes.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

What is your opinion of Richard Dawkins?

[PSOL]

Who are you voting for in 2020 at this moment?

[John Dule]

What is your opinion of Richard Dawkins?

Maybe it's because I wasn't on the internet in the mid-2000s, but I never got caught up in the whole Dawkins/Hitchens fad. I appreciate their arguments (and, of course, agree with them), but they've had virtually no impact on my beliefs. From what I can tell, Dawkins seems to be more popular among the former Christian/now atheist crowd, whereas people like me don't see him as particularly unique or revolutionary simply because we arrived at the same conclusions he does at a very young age.

Who are you voting for in 2020 at this moment?

I am agonizing over whether to vote Biden or write in Yang. California's outcome is rock solid either way, and I'd like to be ideologically consistent. I also hate Kamala Harris. But on the other hand, I'd like to see Trump lose by as many votes as is humanly possible.

[Fuzzy Bear]

If you wish to be ideologically consistent, why would you not vote for Jo Jorgensen?

[John Dule]

If you wish to be ideologically consistent, why would you not vote for Jo Jorgensen?

I believe that women belong in the kitchen.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

If you wish to be ideologically consistent, why would you not vote for Jo Jorgensen?

I believe that women belong in the kitchen.

John Dule: C-CA.

[afleitch]

If you wish to be ideologically consistent, why would you not vote for Jo Jorgensen?

I believe that women belong in the kitchen.

That'll get busy in a lesbian household.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I note your signature and your screen name, which I heartily endorse on its face. 

Still, how can you equate the Mobs in the streets with large crowds of Trump supporters?

I'm like you in that I'm not a "crowds" guy, but I can't see the equivalence.

[Continential]

What about supporting Rocky de la Fuente, the person who ran for like 10 senate seats in 2018?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Thoughts on the education you got at UC Berkeley, separately (if it can be separated) from the campus's political culture?

[Hindsight was 2020]

Do you think libertarianism has a political future in this country?

[RFayette]

What are your thoughts on abortion and the question of when personhood begins?

[John Dule]

I note your signature and your screen name, which I heartily endorse on its face. 

Still, how can you equate the Mobs in the streets with large crowds of Trump supporters?

I'm like you in that I'm not a "crowds" guy, but I can't see the equivalence.

You're not going to like this take, Fuzzy, but the BLM rioters and the hardcore Trump supporters have quite a lot in common. Both groups are comprised of people who view themselves as victims of a system that's rigged against them. Both groups have suffered from economic and educational disadvantages, and feel as though they've been left out of the American dream. And when they feel like they're not being listened to, both groups feel the need to smash something-- for BLM, it's local businesses; for Trump supporters, it's the institutions of government.

With both groups, I'm sympathetic to the situation they've found themselves in. Rural whites in the Rust Belt have had their livelihoods destroyed in the last 30 years. Urban blacks have found themselves the victims of an indifferent system that limits their economic opportunities and throws them in prison. However, in both instances, I cannot condone the outlets that they have chosen for their anger. These people see themselves as downtrodden, and so they feel justified in doing just about anything to hurt, harm, and antagonize those who they consider "the enemy." Because of their self-righteousness (and their stubbornness), they can't be reasoned with. At the very least though, BLM is addressing a real problem with our government. The other group is going after the fictional Satanic pedophile Reptillian cabal of Jewish goblins that exists only in their schizophrenic nightmares.

[Crumpets]

Who do you support in the Syrian civil war?

Was the WOW! signal from aliens or human activity?

Who is your favorite UK PM?

Do you have any phobias?

[John Dule]

What about supporting Rocky de la Fuente, the person who ran for like 10 senate seats in 2018?

That guy is endlessly fascinating. Maybe we should elect him to some lower office just out of pity. I think he's been on every ballot I've ever gotten.

Thoughts on the education you got at UC Berkeley, separately (if it can be separated) from the campus's political culture?

After four years of college, I've come to the conclusion that many undergraduate programs are nothing more than initiation rituals for the economic and social elite classes of this country. The Berkeley classes I took were (with one exception) all extremely well-taught and engaging. They were not, however, vastly different from the classes I took at community college for two years before transferring. To be fair, I went to a very good community college, but the fact remains that the extra $15,000 or so was for the brand of "Berkeley," not for the intrinsic quality of the classes. I am so, so glad that I didn't fritter away money on general ed classes for those first two years. Imagine spending thousands of dollars a year taking some bogus class in order to fulfill your science requirement... ugh. I checked all those boxes in two years at my community college. It was easy and cheap, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's thinking about getting a four-year degree.

As for Berkeley professors, from my experience they're entertaining and enthusiastic about their jobs. To be honest, my favorite classes were the ones outside of my major that I took for fun (Mediterranean History and Law & Economics stood out). This was somewhat necessitated by the fact that the Berkeley Poli Sci department is woefully underequipped to handle such a large number of students, and they don't offer a wide enough variety of classes. Overall, I very much enjoyed most of my classes (aside from the BS "American Cultures" requirement which I've complained about before).

[John Dule]

Do you think libertarianism has a political future in this country?

No lol. A sizable majority of people in this country want to take your money while at the same time dictating what you can and can't do with your personal life. America may have been founded on libertarian principles, but without better economic/educational opportunities, that promise is going to continue to sound very hollow to the people who believe they're owed something.

What are your thoughts on abortion and the question of when personhood begins?

This is one of those instances in which humans try to impose an arbitrary barrier on a natural process that is by definition gradual and incremental. Like the age of consent, it clearly varies from culture to culture, and also like the age of consent, people generally agree on what the extremes are. Very few people would say that the age of consent should be six, and very few people would say that you should be able to kill a baby after it's been born. At the same time, few people would say that sex should be illegal before marriage, and correspondingly few people would say that destroying a frozen, fertilized egg is the same as murder.

Nature is totally indifferent to how we decide to regulate these processes. Nature doesn't draw any distinction whatsoever between a "lump of cells" and a fully grown person. So if you're going to regulate this, you have to accept that whatever conclusion you reach is going to be at least somewhat arbitrary, and not necessarily grounded 100% in a wholly quantifiable definition of "personhood." So understanding that, I have very little patience for the debate over whether the cutoff should be 20 weeks, or 28 weeks, or 32 weeks, or whatever. It's just plain silly. Calling someone a "murderer" because they put that arbitrary barrier in a different spot on the timeline than you do is ridiculous.

For all legal purposes, I think that abortion should be legal up until the point at which the fetus becomes capable of surviving outside of the womb. The alternative is to force millions of women to have children who they didn't want to begin with and don't want to be saddled with, which would result in far more damage to the social fabric. And honestly, if a woman's maternal instinct doesn't prevent her from terminating a fetus, then I don't see how anyone else gets off telling her that she did something wrong.

[HillGoose]

what's good bruh

how do u handle thots sliding in ur DMs

[Xing]

Since you've criticized it: What is your vision for higher education? What should it look like? How would you ensure that those who desire higher education for their career would be able to pursue it even if they did not come from a wealthy family?

[John Dule]

Who do you support in the Syrian civil war?

I'm sympathetic to Rojava, partially due to their admirable goals, partly by process of elimination. The big difference between me and Hillgoose libertarians is that I'm generally not supportive of violent revolutions except in the most extreme cases, or when they're guided by some sort of recognized, legitimized authority. And obviously Assad and ISIS are pure evil.

Was the WOW! signal from aliens or human activity?

Unlikely. The fact that the incident was so unique is honestly the best argument against its validity; if an alien race had really developed radio transmissions, we should've received at least more than one at this point. I do think it's possible that alien life exists, but it is probably much too far away and much too different from our conception of life for us to attempt communication with it (yet).

Who is your favorite UK PM?

... Well, it has to be Churchill, doesn't it? Mind you, I really can't stand the Tories or Labor. They are too focused on representing financial interests and workers, respectively, to the point that business and industry have found themselves repeatedly shafted in UK politics.

Do you have any phobias?

I hate having things on my hands. Oily stuff, greasy stuff, and slimy stuff on my hands is just the worst. I wear gloves if I ever have to look under the hood of my car, and I try to avoid cooking or baking things that require me to knead dough or get my hands dirty. Also Muslims.

[John Dule]

what's good bruh

how do u handle thots sliding in ur DMs

bruh u know me, i just start quoting atlas shrugged at them and they leave me alone

Since you've criticized it: What is your vision for higher education? What should it look like? How would you ensure that those who desire higher education for their career would be able to pursue it even if they did not come from a wealthy family?

Well, as I alluded to earlier, I'm a big fan of community college. However, at the same time I recognize that not everyone in the country has access to CCs as good as the one I attended. Ok, it's true that it almost lost its accreditation one year, but it has modern facilities and excellent teachers, which isn't true for a lot of CCs.

I think the simplest way to force college reform in this country is to invest in CCs to the point that they can genuinely compete with universities for the pool of high school graduates. There are a lot of students in this country who are smart but not economically well off, and CC should be the natural choice for them-- but they are scared off by the stigma of attending community college right out of high school. If we could have some sort of nationwide initiative to make this option more palatable for prospective students, people would soon realize that they could save half their money simply by attending CC for two years and then transferring to whichever university they choose. A lot of this has to do with peer pressure, which is admittedly harder to fix.

I should also mention that some CCs are "pipeline" CCs that tend to feed into specific universities. Mine was a pipeline for the UC system, which at first glance is somewhat unfair to people in other states-- what if they want to go to a UC? Well, given the sheer expense of college these days, it's actually cheaper for someone to move to another town in another state, find an apartment, attend a CC there, and then transfer. These are the kinds of options that guidance counselors in high school should be promoting-- not shilling for $30,000-a-year degrees at Midwestern liberal arts colleges.

Hopefully, promoting community college as a viable option would gradually put a strain on expensive universities that rely on a large number of incoming freshmen. If they're forced to cut costs, they know where they can start-- the ridiculous amount of ancillary staff, resources, and administrators that they've employed over the past few decades, which is directly responsible for the increase in tuition costs. One way or another, incentivizing colleges to eliminate these bulls**t jobs should be the main priority.

[HillGoose]

is the Volcker Rule ass?

should SOX be repealed?

[Big Abraham]

What's your stance on Israel/Palestine?

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Is there any religion you appreciate more / dislike less than the others? Why?

[DC Al Fine]

What are your thoughts on where the Republican and Democratic parties are headed in a post-Trump world?